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+***Project Gutenberg Etext: The Circus Boys Across The Continent**
+Or Making the Start in the Sawdust Life, by Edgar B. P. Darlington
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+The Circus Boys Across The Continent
+Or
+Winning New Laurels on the Tanbark
+
+by Edgar B. P. Darlington
+
+January, 2001  [Etext #2475]
+
+
+***Project Gutenberg Etext: The Circus Boys Across The Continent***
+*Or Winning New Laurels on the Tanbark, by Edgar B. P. Darlington*
+*******This file should be named 2475.txt or 2475.zip*******
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+
+The Circus Boys Across The Continent
+Or
+Winning New Laurels on the Tanbark
+
+by Edgar B. P. Darlington
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+
+CHAPTER
+
+I     The Boys Hear Good News
+II    On The Road Once More
+III   Phil to Rescue
+IV    Renewing Old Acquaintances
+V     Doing a Man's Work
+VI    The Showman's Reward
+VII   Trying The Culprit
+VIII  Phil Makes a New Friend
+IX    The Mule Distinguishes Himself
+X     His First Bareback Lesson
+XI    Summoned Before The Manager
+XII   The Human Football
+XIII  Ducked by an Elephant
+XIV   In Dire Peril
+XV    Emperor to The Rescue
+XVI   An Unexpected Promotion
+XVII  The Circus Boys Win New Laurels
+XVIII Doing a Double Somersault
+XIX   Marooned in a Freight Car
+XX    The Barnyard Circus
+XXI   When The Crash Came
+XXII  What Happened to a Pacemaker
+XXIII Searching The Train
+XXIV  Conclusion
+
+
+
+
+
+The Circus Boys Across the Continent
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE BOYS HEAR GOOD NEWS
+
+"You never can guess it--you never can guess the news, Teddy,"
+cried Phil Forrest, rushing into the gymnasium, his face flushed
+with excitement.
+
+Teddy Tucker, clad in a pair of linen working trunks and a
+ragged, sleeveless shirt, both garments much the worse for their
+winter's wear, was lazily swinging a pair of Indian clubs.
+
+"What is it, some kind of riddle, Phil?" he questioned, bringing
+the clubs down to his sides.
+
+"Do be serious for a minute, won't you?"
+
+"Me, serious?  Why, I never cracked a smile.  Isn't anything to
+smile at.  Besides, do you know, since I've been in the circus
+business, every time I want to laugh I check myself so suddenly
+that it hurts?"
+
+"How's that?"
+
+"Because I think I've still got my makeup on and that I'll crack
+it if I laugh."
+
+"What, your face?"
+
+"My face?  No!  My makeup.  By the time I remember that I haven't
+any makeup on I've usually forgotten what it was I wanted to
+laugh about.  Then I don't laugh."
+
+Teddy shied an Indian club at a rat that was scurrying across the
+far end of their gymnasium, missing him by half the width of
+the building.
+
+"If you don't care, of course I shan't tell you.  But it's good
+news, Teddy.  You would say so if you knew it."
+
+"What news?  Haven't heard anything that sounds like news,"
+his eyes fixed on the hole into which the rat had disappeared.
+
+"You can't guess where we are going this summer?"
+
+"Going?  Don't have to guess.  I know," answered the lad with an
+emphasizing nod.
+
+"Where do you think?"
+
+"We're going out with the Great Sparling Combined Shows,
+of course.  Didn't we sign out for the season before we closed
+with the show last fall?"
+
+"Yes, yes; but where?" urged Phil, showing him the letter he
+had just brought from the post office.  "You couldn't guess if
+you tried."
+
+"No.  Never was a good guesser.  That letter from Mr. Sparling?"
+he questioned, as his eyes caught the familiar red and gold
+heading used by the owner of the show.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"What's he want?"
+
+"You know I wrote to him asking that we be allowed to skip the
+rehearsals before the show starts out, so that we could stay here
+and take our school examinations?"
+
+Teddy nodded.
+
+"I'd rather join the show," he grumbled.
+
+"Never did see anything about school to go crazy over."
+
+"You'll thank me someday for keeping you at it," said Phil.
+"See how well you have done this winter with your school work.
+I'm proud of you.  Why, Teddy, there are lots of the boys a long
+way behind you.  They can't say circus boys don't know anything
+just because they perform in a circus ring."
+
+"H-m-m-m!" mused Teddy.  "You haven't told me yet where we are
+going this summer.  What's the route?"
+
+"Mr. Sparling says that, as we are going to continue our
+last year's acts this season, there will be no necessity
+for rehearsals."
+
+The announcement did not appear to have filled Teddy Tucker
+with joy.
+
+"We do the flying rings again, then?"
+
+"Yes.  And we shall be able to give a performance that will
+surprise Mr. Sparling.  Our winter's practicing has done a lot
+for us, as has our winter at school."
+
+"Oh, I don't know."
+
+"You probably will ride the educated mule again, while I expect
+to ride the elephant Emperor in the grand entry, as I did before.
+I'll be glad to get under the big top again, with the noise and
+the people, the music of the band and all that.  Won't you,
+Teddy?"
+questioned Phil, his eyes glowing at the picture he had drawn.
+
+Teddy heaved a deep sigh.
+
+"Quit it!"
+
+"Why?"
+
+" 'Cause you make me think I'm there now."
+
+Phil laughed softly.
+
+"I can see myself riding the educated mule this very minute,
+kicking up the dust of the ring, making everybody get out of the
+way, and--"
+
+"And falling off," laughed Phil.  "You certainly are the
+most finished artist in the show when it comes to getting
+into trouble."
+
+"Yes; I seem to keep things going," grinned the lad.
+
+"But I haven't told you all that Mr. Sparling says in
+the letter."
+
+"What else does he say?"
+
+"That the show is to start from its winter quarters, just outside
+of Germantown, Pennsylvania, on April twenty-second--"
+
+"Let's see; just two weeks from today," nodded Teddy.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I wish it was today."
+
+"He says we are to report on the twenty-first, as the show leaves
+early in the evening."
+
+"Where do we show first?"
+
+"Atlantic City.  Then we take in the Jersey Coast towns--"
+
+"Do we go to New York?"
+
+"New York?  Oh, no!  The show isn't big enough for New York quite
+yet, even if it is a railroad show now.  We've got to grow some
+before that.  Mighty few shows are large enough to warrant taking
+them into the big city."
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"All the show people say that."
+
+"Pshaw!  I'd sure make a hit in New York with the mule."
+
+"Time enough for that later.  You and I will yet perform in
+Madison Square Garden.  Just put that down on your route card,
+Teddy Tucker."
+
+"Humph!  If we don't break our necks before that!  Where did you
+say we were--"
+
+"After leaving New Jersey, we are to play through New York State,
+taking in the big as well as the small towns, and from Buffalo
+heading straight west.  Mr. Sparling writes that we are going
+across the continent."
+
+"What?"
+
+"Says he's going to make the Sparling Shows known from the
+Atlantic to the Pacific--"
+
+"Across the continent!" exclaimed Teddy unbelievingly.
+"No; you're fooling."
+
+"Yes; clear to the Pacific Coast.  We're going to
+San Francisco, too.  What do you think of that, Teddy?"
+
+"Great!  Wow!  Whoop!" howled the boy, hurling his remaining
+Indian Club far up among the rafters of the gymnasium, whence it
+came clattering down, both lads laughing gleefully.
+
+"We're going to see the country this time, and we shan't have to
+sleep out in an open canvas wagon, either."
+
+"Where shall we sleep?"
+
+"Probably in a car."
+
+"It won't be half so much fun," objected Teddy.
+
+"I imagine the life will be different.  Perhaps we shall not have
+so much fun, but we'll have the satisfaction of knowing that we
+are part of a real show.  It will mean a lot to us to be with an
+organization like that.  It will give us a better standing in the
+profession, and possibly by another season we may be able to get
+with one of the really big ones.  Next spring, if we have good
+luck, we shall have finished with our school here.  If they'll
+have us, we'll try to join out with one of them.  In the meantime
+we must work hard, Teddy, so we shall be in fine shape when we
+join out two weeks from today.  Come on; I'll wrestle you a
+few falls."
+
+"Done," exclaimed Teddy.
+
+Phil promptly threw off his coat and vest.  A few minutes later
+the lads were struggling on the wrestling mat, their faces
+dripping with perspiration, their supple young figures twisting
+and turning as each struggled for the mastery of the other.
+
+The readers of the preceding volume in this series, entitled,
+THE CIRCUS BOYS ON THE FLYING RINGS, will recognize Phil and
+Teddy
+at once as the lads who had so unexpectedly joined the Sparling
+Combined Shows the previous summer.  It was Phil who, by his
+ready resourcefulness, saved the life of the wife of the owner of
+the show as well as that of an animal trainer later on.  Then,
+too,
+it will be remembered how the lad became the fast friend of the
+great elephant Emperor, which he rescued from "jail," and with
+which he performed in the ring to the delight of thousands.
+Ere the close of the season both boys had won their way to the
+flying rings, thus becoming full-fledged circus performers.
+Before leaving the show they had signed out for another season
+at a liberal salary.
+
+With their savings, which amounted to a few hundred dollars, the
+boys had returned to their home at Edmeston, there to put in the
+winter at school.
+
+That they might lose nothing of their fine physical condition,
+the Circus Boys had rented an old carpenter shop, which they
+rigged up as a gymnasium, fitting it with flying rings, trapeze
+bars and such other equipment as would serve to keep them in trim
+for the coming season's work.
+
+Here Phil and Teddy had worked long hours after school.
+During the winter they had gained marked improvement in
+their work, besides developing some entirely new acts on
+the flying rings.  During this time they had been living with
+Mrs. Cahill, who, it will be remembered, had proved herself a
+real friend to the motherless boys.
+
+Now, the long-looked-for day was almost at hand when they should
+once more join the canvas city for a life in the open.
+
+The next two weeks were busy ones for the lads, with their
+practice and the hard study incident to approaching examinations.
+Both boys passed with high standing.  Books were put away,
+gymnasium apparatus stored and one sunlit morning two slender,
+manly looking young fellows, their faces reflecting perfect
+health and happiness, were at the railroad station waiting for
+the train which should bear them to the winter quarters of
+the show.
+
+Fully half the town had gathered to see them off, for Edmeston
+was justly proud of its Circus Boys.  As the train finally drew
+up and the lads clambered aboard, their school companions set up
+a mighty shout, with three cheers for the Circus Boys.
+
+"Don't stick your head in the lion's mouth, Teddy!" was the
+parting salute Phil and Teddy received from the boys as the train
+drew out.
+
+"Well, Teddy, we're headed for the Golden Gate at last!"
+glowed Phil.
+
+"You bet!" agreed Teddy with more force than elegance.
+
+"I wonder if old Emperor will remember me, Teddy?"
+
+"Sure thing!  But, do you think that 'fool mule,' as Mr. Sparling
+calls him, will remember me?  Or will he want to kick me full of
+holes before the season has really opened?"
+
+"I shouldn't place too much dependence on a mule," laughed Phil.
+"Come on; let's go inside and sit down."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+ON THE ROAD ONCE MORE
+
+All was bustle and excitement.
+
+Men were rushing here and there, shouting out hoarse commands.
+Elephants were trumpeting shrilly, horses neighing; while, from
+many a canvas-wrapped wagon savage beasts of the jungle were
+emitting roar upon roar, all voicing their angry protest at being
+removed from the winter quarters where they had been at rest for
+the past six months.
+
+The Great Sparling Combined Shows were moving out for their long
+summer's journey.  The long trains were being rapidly loaded when
+Phil Forrest and Teddy Tucker arrived on the scene late in
+the afternoon.
+
+It was all new and strange to them, unused as they were to the
+ways of a railroad show.  Their baggage had been sent on ahead of
+them, so they did not have that to bother with.  Each carried a
+suitcase, however, and the boys were now trying to find someone
+in authority to ask where they should go and what they should do.
+
+"Hello, Phil, old boy!" howled a familiar voice.
+
+"Who's that?" demanded Teddy.
+
+"Why, it's Rod Palmer, our working mate on the rings!" cried
+Phil, dropping his bag and darting across the tracks, where he
+had espied a shock of very red hair that he knew could belong
+only to Rodney Palmer.
+
+Teddy strolled over with rather more dignity.
+
+"Howdy?" he greeted just as Phil and the red-haired boy were
+wringing each other's hands.  "Anybody'd think you two were long
+lost brothers."
+
+"We are, aren't we, Rod?" glowed Phil.
+
+"And we have been, ever since you boys showed me the brook where
+I could wash my face back in that tank town where you two lived.
+That was last summer.  Seems like it was yesterday."
+
+"Yes, and we work together again, I hear?  I'm glad of that.
+I guess you've been doing something this winter," decided Rodney,
+after a critical survey of the lads.  "You sure are both in
+fine condition.  Quite a little lighter than you were last
+season, aren't you, Phil?"
+
+"No; I weigh ten pounds more."
+
+"Then you must be mighty hard."
+
+"Hard as a keg of nails, but I hope not quite so stiff,"
+laughed Phil.
+
+"What you been working at?"
+
+"Rings, mostly.  We've done some practicing on the trapeze.
+What did you do all winter?"
+
+"Me?  Oh, I joined a team that was playing vaudeville houses.
+I was the second man in a ring act.  Made good money and saved
+most of it.  Why didn't you join out for the vaudeville?"
+
+"We spent our winter at school," answered Phil.
+
+"That's a good stunt at that.  In the tank town, I suppose?"
+grinned the red-haired boy.
+
+"You might call it that, but it's a pretty good town, just the
+same," replied Phil.  "I saw many worse ones while we were out
+last season."
+
+"And you'll see a lot more this season.  Wait till we get to
+playing some of those way-back western towns.  I was out there
+with a show once, and I know what I'm talking about.  Where are
+you berthed?"
+
+"I don't know," answered Phil.  "Where are you?"
+
+"Car number fourteen.  Haven't seen the old man, then?"
+
+"Mr. Sparling?  No.  And I want to see him at once.  Where shall
+I find him?"
+
+"He was here half an hour ago.  Maybe he's in his office."
+
+"Where is that?"
+
+"Private car number one.  Yes; the old man has his own elegant
+car this season.  He's living high, I tell you.  No more sleeping
+out in an old wagon that has no springs.  It will be great to get
+into a real bed every night, won't it?"
+
+Teddy shook his head doubtfully.
+
+"I don't know 'bout that."
+
+"I should think it would be pretty warm on a hot night,"
+nodded Phil.
+
+"And what about the rainy nights?" laughed Rodney.  "Taking it
+altogether, I guess I'll take the Pullman for mine--"
+
+"There goes Mr. Sparling now," interjected Teddy.
+
+"Where?"
+
+"Just climbing aboard a car.  See him?"
+
+"That's number one," advised Rodney.  "Better skip, if you want
+to catch him.  He's hard to land today.  There's a lot for him to
+look after."
+
+"Yes; come on, Teddy.  Get your grip," said Phil, hurrying over
+to where he had dropped his suitcase.
+
+"But it's going to be a great show," called Rodney.
+
+"Especially the flying-ring act," laughed Phil.
+
+A few minutes later both boys climbed aboard the private car,
+and, leaving their bags on the platform, pushed open the door
+and entered.
+
+Mr. Sparling was seated at a roll-top desk in an office-like
+compartment, frowning over some document that he held in
+his hand.
+
+The boys waited until he should look up.  He did so suddenly,
+peering at them from beneath his heavy eyebrows.  Phil was not
+sure, from the showman's expression, whether he had recognized
+them or not.  Mr. Sparling answered this question almost at once.
+
+"How are you, Forrest?  Well, Tucker, I suppose you've come back
+primed to put my whole show to the bad, eh?"
+
+"Maybe," answered Teddy carelessly.
+
+"Oh, maybe, eh?  So that's the way the flag's blowing, is it?
+Well, you let me catch you doing it and--stand up here, you two,
+and let me look at you."
+
+He gazed long and searchingly at the Circus Boys, noting every
+line of their slender, shapely figures.
+
+"You'll do," he growled.
+
+"Yes, sir," answered Phil, smiling.
+
+"Shake hands."
+
+Mr. Sparling thrust out both hands toward them with almost
+disconcerting suddenness.
+
+"Ouch!" howled Teddy, writhing under the grip the showman gave
+him, but if Phil got a pressure of equal force he made no sign.
+
+"Where's your baggage?"
+
+"We sent our trunks on yesterday.  I presume they are here
+somewhere, sir."
+
+"If they're not in your car, let me know."
+
+"If you will be good enough to tell me where our car is I will
+find out at once."
+
+The showman consulted a typewritten list.
+
+"You are both in car number eleven.  The porter will show you the
+berths that have been assigned to you, and I hope you will both
+obey the rules of the cars."
+
+"Oh, yes, sir," answered Phil.
+
+"I know you will, but I'm not so sure of your fat friend here.
+I think it might be a good plan to tie him in his berth, or he'll
+be falling off the platform some night, get under the wheels and
+wreck the train."
+
+"I don't walk in my sleep," answered Teddy.
+
+"Oh, you don't?"
+
+"I don't."
+
+Mr. Sparling frowned; then his face broke out into a broad smile.
+
+"I always said you were hopeless.  Run along, and get
+settled now.  You understand that you will keep your berth
+all season, don't you?"
+
+"Yes, sir.  What time do we go out?"
+
+"One section has already gone.  The next and last will leave
+tonight about ten o'clock.  We want to make an early start, for
+the labor is all green.  It'll take three times as long to put up
+the rag as usual."
+
+"The rag?  What's the rag?" questioned Teddy.
+
+"Beg pardon," mocked Mr. Sparling.  "I had forgotten that you are
+still a Reuben.  A rag is a tent, in show parlance."
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"Any orders after we get settled?" asked Phil.
+
+"Nothing for you to do till parade time tomorrow.  You will look
+to the same executives that you did last year.  There has been no
+change in them."
+
+The lads hurried from the private car, and after searching about
+the railroad yard for fully half an hour they came upon car
+number eleven.  This was a bright, orange-colored car with the
+name of the Sparling Shows painted in gilt letters near the roof,
+just under the eaves.  The smell of fresh paint was everywhere,
+but the wagons being covered with canvas made it impossible for
+them to see how the new wagons looked.  There were many of these
+loaded on flat cars, with which the railroad yard seemed to
+be filled.
+
+"Looks bigger than Barnum & Bailey's," nodded Teddy,
+feeling a growing pride that he was connected with so great
+an organization.
+
+"Not quite, I guess," replied Phil, mounting the platform of
+number eleven.
+
+The boys introduced themselves to the porter, who showed them
+to their berths.  These were much like those in the ordinary
+sleeper, except that the upper berths had narrow windows looking
+out from them.  Across each berth was stretched a strong piece
+of twine.
+
+Phil asked the porter what the string was for.
+
+"To hang your trousers on, sah," was the enlightening answer.
+"There's hooks for the rest of your clothes just outside
+the berths."
+
+"This looks pretty good to me," said Phil, peering out through
+the screened window of his berth.
+
+"Reminds me of when I used to go to sleep in the woodbox behind
+the stove where I lived last year in Edmeston," grumbled Teddy
+in a muffled voice, as he rummaged about his berth trying to
+accustom himself to it.  Teddy never had ridden in a sleeping
+car, so it was all new and strange to him.
+
+"Say, who sleeps upstairs?" he called to the porter.
+
+"The performers, sah--some of them.  This heah is the performers'
+car, sah."
+
+"How do they get up there?  On a rope ladder?"
+
+Phil shouted.
+
+"You ninny, this isn't a circus performance.  No; of course they
+don't climb up on a rope ladder as if they were starting a
+trapeze act."
+
+"How, then?"
+
+"The porter brings out a little step ladder, and it's just like
+walking upstairs, only it isn't."
+
+"Huh!" grunted Teddy.  "Do they have a net under them all night?"
+
+"A net?  What for?"
+
+"Case they fall out of bed."
+
+"Put him out!" shouted several performers who were engaged in
+settling themselves in their own quarters.  "He's too new for
+this outfit."
+
+Phil drew his companion aside and read him a lecture on not
+asking so many questions, advising Teddy to keep his ears and
+eyes open instead.
+
+Teddy grumbled and returned to the work of unpacking his bag.
+
+Inquiry for their trunks developed the fact that they would have
+to look for these in the baggage car; that no trunks were allowed
+in the sleepers.
+
+Everything about the car was new and fresh, the linen white and
+clean, while the wash room, with its mahogany trimmings, plate
+glass mirrors and upholstered seats, was quite the most elaborate
+thing that Teddy had ever seen.
+
+He called to Phil to come and look at it.
+
+"Yes, it is very handsome.  I am sure we shall get to be very
+fond of our home on wheels before the season is ended.  I'm going
+out now to see if our trunks have arrived."
+
+Phil, after some hunting about, succeeded in finding the baggage
+man of the train, from whom he learned that the trunks had
+arrived and were packed away in the baggage car.
+
+By this time night had fallen.  With it came even greater
+confusion, while torches flared up here and there to light the
+scene of bustle and excitement.
+
+It was all very confusing to Phil, and he was in constant fear of
+being run down by switching engines that were shunting cars back
+and forth as fast as they were loaded, rapidly making up the
+circus train.  The Circus Boy wondered if he ever could get used
+to being with a railroad show.
+
+"I must be getting back or I shall not be able to find number
+eleven," decided Phil finally.  "I really haven't the least idea
+where it is now."
+
+The huge canvas-covered wagons stood up in the air like a
+procession of wraiths of the night, muttered growls and guttural
+coughs issuing from their interiors.  All this was disturbing to
+one not used to it.
+
+Phil started on a run across the tracks in search of his car.
+
+In the meantime Teddy Tucker, finding himself alone, had
+sauntered forth to watch the loading, and when he ventured abroad
+trouble usually followed.
+
+The lad soon became so interested in the progress of the work
+that he was excitedly shouting out orders to the men, offering
+suggestions and criticisms of the way they were doing that work.
+
+Now, most of the men in the labor gang were new--that is, they
+had not been with the Sparling show the previous season, and
+hence did not know Teddy by sight.  After a time they tired of
+his running fire of comment.  They had several times roughly
+warned him to go on about his business.  But Teddy did not heed
+their advice, and likewise forgot all about that which Phil had
+given him earlier in the evening.
+
+He kept right on telling the men how to load the circus, for,
+if there was one thing in the world that Teddy Tucker loved more
+than another it was to "boss" somebody.
+
+All at once the lad felt himself suddenly seized from behind and
+lifted off his feet.  At the same time a rough hand was clapped
+over his mouth.
+
+The Circus Boy tried to utter a yell, but he found it impossible
+for him to do so.  Teddy kicked and fought so vigorously that it
+was all his captor could do to hold him.
+
+"Come and help me.  We'll fix the fresh kid this time," called
+the fellow in whose grip the lad was struggling.
+
+"What's the matter, Larry?  Is he too much for you?" laughed the
+other man.
+
+"He's the biggest little man I ever got my fists on.  Gimme a
+hand here."
+
+"What are you going to do with him?"
+
+"I'll show you in a minute."
+
+"Maybe he's with the show.  He's slippery enough to be
+a performer."
+
+"No such thing.  And I don't care if he is.  I'll teach him not
+to interfere with the men.  Grab hold and help me carry him."
+
+Together they lifted the kicking, squirming, fighting boy,
+carrying him on down the tracks, not putting him down until they
+had reached the standpipe of a nearby water tank, where the
+locomotives took on their supply of fresh water.
+
+"Jerk that spout around!" commanded Larry, sitting down on Tucker
+with a force that made the lad gasp.
+
+"Can't reach the chain."
+
+"Then get a pike pole, and be quick about it.  The foreman will
+be looking for us first thing we know.  If he finds us here he'll
+fire us before we get started."
+
+"See here, Larry, what are you going to do?" demanded the
+other suspiciously.
+
+"My eyes, but you're inquisitive!  Going to wash the kid down.
+Next time mebby he won't be so fresh."
+
+And "wash" they did.
+
+Suddenly the full stream from the standpipe spurted down.
+Larry promptly let go of his captive.  Teddy was right in the
+path of the downpour, and the next instant he was struggling in
+the flood.
+
+The showman dropped him and started to run.
+
+Teddy let out a choking howl, grasping frantically for his
+tormentor.
+A moment later the lad's hands closed over Larry's ankles, and
+before
+the man was able to free himself from the boy's grip Teddy had
+pulled
+him down and dragged him under the stream that was pouring down
+in a
+perfect deluge.  The Circus Boy, being strong and muscular, was
+able
+to accomplish this with slight exertion.
+
+Larry's companion was making no effort to assist his fallen
+comrade.
+Instead, the fellow was howling with delight.
+
+No sooner, however, had Teddy raised the man and slammed him down
+on his back under the spout, than the lad let go of his victim
+and darted off into the shadows.  Teddy realized that it was high
+time he was leaving.
+
+The man, fuming with rage, uttering loud-voiced threats of
+vengeance, scrambled out of the flood and began rushing up and
+down the tracks in search of Teddy.
+
+But the boy was nowhere to be found.  He had hastily climbed over
+a fence, where he crouched, dripping wet, watching the antics of
+the enraged Larry.
+
+"Guess he won't bother another boy right away," grinned Teddy,
+not heeding his own wet and bedraggled condition.
+
+The two showmen finally gave up their quest, and all at once
+started on a run in the opposite direction.
+
+"Now, I wonder what's made them run away like that?  Surely they
+aren't scared of me.  I wonder?  Guess I'll go over and
+find out."
+
+Leaving his hiding place, the lad retraced his steps across the
+tracks until finally, coming up with a man, who proved to be the
+superintendent of the yard, Teddy asked him where sleeping car
+number eleven was located.
+
+"Eleven?  The sleepers have all gone, young man."
+
+"G-g-gone?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"But I thought--"
+
+"Went out regular on the 9:30 express."
+
+Teddy groaned.  Here he was, left behind before the show
+had all gotten away from its winter quarters.  But he noted
+that the train bearing the cages and other equipment was still
+in the yard.  There was yet a chance for him.
+
+"Wha--what time does that train go?" he asked pointing to the
+last section.
+
+"Going now.  Why, what's the matter with you youngster?
+The train is moving now."
+
+"Going?  The matter is that I've got to go with them," cried the
+lad, suddenly darting toward the moving train.
+
+"Come back here!  Come back!  Do you want to be killed?"
+
+"I've got to get on that train!" Teddy shouted back at
+the superintendent.
+
+The great stock cars were rumbling by as the boy drew near the
+track, going faster every moment.  By the light of a switch lamp
+Teddy could make out a ladder running up to the roof of one of
+the box cars.
+
+He could hear the yard superintendent running toward
+him shouting.
+
+"He'll have me, if I don't do something.  Then I will be wholly
+left," decided Teddy.  "I'm going to try it."
+
+As the big stock car slipped past him the lad sprang up into the
+air, his eyes fixed on the ladder.  His circus training came in
+handy here, for Teddy hit the mark unerringly, though it had been
+considerably above his head.  The next second his fingers closed
+over a rung of the ladder, and there he hung, dangling in the
+air, with the train now rushing over switches, rapidly gaining
+momentum as it stretched out headed for the open country.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+PHIL TO RESCUE
+
+Phil Forrest was in a panic of uneasiness.
+
+No sooner had his own section started than he made the discovery
+that Teddy Tucker was not on board.  Then the lad went through
+the train in the hope that his companion had gotten on the
+wrong car.  There was no trace of Teddy.
+
+In the meantime Teddy had slowly clambered to the roof of the
+stock car, where he stretched himself out, clinging to the
+running board, with the big car swaying beneath him.  The wind
+seemed, up there, to be blowing a perfect gale, and it was all
+the boy could do to hold on.  After a while he saw a light
+approaching him.  The light was in the hands of a brakeman who
+was working his way over the train toward the caboose.
+
+He soon came up to where Teddy was lying.  There he stopped.
+
+"Well, youngster, what are you doing here?" he demanded, flashing
+his light into the face of the uncomfortable Teddy.
+
+"Trying to ride."
+
+"I suppose you know you are breaking the law and that I'll have
+to turn you over to a policeman or a constable the next town we
+stop at?"
+
+"Nothing of the sort!  What do you take me for?  Think I'm some
+kind of tramp?" objected the lad.  "Go on and let me alone."
+
+The brakeman looked closer.  He observed that the boy was soaking
+wet, but that, despite this, he was well dressed.
+
+"What are you, if not a tramp?"
+
+"I'm with the show."
+
+The brakeman laughed long and loud, but Teddy was more interested
+in the man's easy poise on the swaying car than in what he said.
+
+"Wish I could do that," muttered the lad admiringly.
+
+"What's that?"
+
+"Nothing, only I was thinking out loud."
+
+"Well, you'll get off at the next stop unless you can prove that
+you belong here."
+
+"I won't," protested Teddy stubbornly.
+
+"We'll see about that.  Come down here on the flat car behind
+this one, and we'll find out.  I see some of the show people
+there.
+Besides, you're liable to fall off here and get killed.  Come
+along."
+
+"I can't."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"I'll fall off if I try to get up."
+
+"And you a showman?" laughed the brakeman satirically, at the
+same time grabbing Teddy by the coat collar and jerking him to
+his feet.
+
+The trainman did not appear to mind the giddy swaying of the
+stock car.  He permitted Teddy to walk on the running board while
+he himself stepped carelessly along on the sloping roof of the
+car, though not relaxing his grip on the collar of Teddy Tucker.
+
+Bidding the boy to hang to the brake wheel, the brakeman began
+climbing down the end ladder, so as to catch Teddy in case he
+were to fall.  After him came the Circus Boy, cautiously picking
+his way down the ladder.
+
+"Any of you fellows know this kid?" demanded the trainman,
+flashing his lantern into Teddy's face.  "He says he's with
+the show."
+
+"Put him off!" howled one of the roustabouts who had been
+sleeping on the flat car under a cage.  "Never saw him before."
+
+"You sit down there, young man.  Next stop, off you go,"
+announced the brakeman sternly.
+
+"I'll bet you I don't," retorted Teddy Tucker aggressively.
+
+"We'll see about that."
+
+"Quit your music; we want to go to sleep," growled a showman
+surlily.
+
+The brakeman put down his lantern and seated himself on the side
+of the flat car.  He did not propose to leave the boy until he
+had seen him safely off the train.
+
+"How'd you get wet?" questioned Tucker's captor.
+
+"Some fellows ducked me."
+
+The trainman roared, which once more aroused the ire of the
+roustabouts who were trying to sleep.
+
+They had gone on for an hour, when finally the train slowed down.
+
+"Here's where you hit the ties," advised the brakeman,
+peering ahead.
+
+"Where are we?"
+
+"McQueen's siding.  We stop here to let an express by.  And I
+want to tell you that it won't be healthy for you if I catch you
+on this train again.  Now, get off!"
+
+Teddy making no move to obey, the railroad man gently but firmly
+assisted him over the side of the car, dropping him down the
+embankment by the side of the track.
+
+"I'll make you pay for this if I ever catch you again,"
+threatened Teddy from the bottom of the bank, as he scrambled to
+his feet.
+
+Observing that the trainman was holding his light over the side
+of the car and peering down at him, Teddy ran along on all fours
+until he was out of sight of the brakeman, then he straightened
+up and ran toward the rear of the train as fast as his feet would
+carry him, while the railroad man began climbing over the cars
+again, headed for the caboose at the rear.
+
+Teddy had gained the rear of the train by this time, but he did
+not show himself just yet.  He waited until the flagman had come
+in, and until the fellow who had put him off had disappeared in
+the caboose.
+
+At that, Teddy sprang up, and, swinging to the platform of the
+caboose, quickly climbed the iron ladder that led to the roof of
+the little boxlike car.  He had no sooner flattened himself on
+the roof than the train began to move again.
+
+Only one more stop was made during the night and that for water.
+Just before daylight they rumbled into the yards at Atlantic
+City, and Teddy scrambled from his unsteady perch, quickly
+clambering down so as to be out of the way before the trainmen
+should discover his presence.
+
+But quickly as he had acted, he had not been quick enough.
+The trainman who had put him off down the line collared the lad
+the minute his feet touched the platform of the caboose.
+
+"You here again?" he demanded sternly.
+
+Teddy grinned sheepishly.
+
+"I told you you couldn't put me off."
+
+"We'll see about that.  Here, officer."  He beckoned to a
+policeman.
+"This kid has been stealing a ride.  I put him off once.  I turn
+him
+over to you now."
+
+"All right.  Young man, you come with me!"
+
+Teddy protested indignantly, but the officer, with a firm grip on
+his arm, dragged the lad along with him.  They proceeded on up
+the tracks toward the station, the lad insisting that he was with
+the show and that he had a right to ride wherever he pleased.
+
+"Teddy!" shouted a voice, just as they stepped on the long
+platform that led down to the street.
+
+"Phil!" howled the lad.  "Come and save me!  A policeman's got me
+and he's taking me to jail."
+
+Phil Forrest ran to them.
+
+"Here, here!  What's this boy done?" he demanded.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+RENEWING OLD ACQUAINTANCES
+
+"Well, Teddy, I must say you have made a good start," grinned
+Phil, after necessary explanations had been made and the young
+Circus Boy had been released by the policeman who had him
+in tow."  A few minutes more and you would have been in a
+police station.  I can imagine how pleased Mr. Sparling would
+have been to hear that."
+
+Teddy hung his head.
+
+"Your clothes are a sight, too.  How did--what happened?
+Did you fall in a creek, or something of that sort?"
+
+The lad explained briefly how he had been captured by the two men
+and ducked under the standpipe of the water tank.
+
+"But I soaked him, too," Tucker added triumphantly."  And I'm
+going to soak him again.  The first man I come across whose name
+is Larry is going to get it from me," threatened the lad, shaking
+his fist angrily.
+
+"You come over to the sleeper with me and get into some decent
+looking clothes.  I'm ashamed of you, Teddy Tucker."
+
+"So am I," grinned the boy as they turned to go, Phil leading
+the way to the car number eleven, from which the performers
+were beginning to straggle, rubbing their eyes and
+stretching themselves.
+
+The change of clothing having been made, the lads started for the
+lot, hoping that they might find the old coffee stand and have a
+cup before breakfast.  To their surprise, upon arriving at the
+lot, they found the cook tent up and the breakfast cooking.
+
+"Why, how did you ever get this tent here and up so quickly?"
+asked Phil after they had greeted their old friend of the
+cook tent.
+
+"Came in on the flying squadron.  This is a railroad show now,
+you know," answered the head steward, after greeting the boys.
+
+"Flying squadron?  What's that?" demanded Teddy, interested
+at once.
+
+"The flying squadron is the train that goes out first.
+It carries the cook tent and other things that will be
+needed first.  We didn't have that last year.  You'll find a lot
+of new things, and some that you won't like as well as you did
+when we had the old road show.  What's your act this year?"
+
+"Same as last."
+
+"Elephant?"
+
+"Yes, and the rings.  My friend Teddy I expect will ride the
+educated mule again."
+
+While they were talking the steward was preparing a pot of
+steaming coffee for them, which he soon handed over to the lads
+with a plate of wafers, of which they disposed in short order.
+
+It was broad daylight by this time, and the boys decided to go
+out and watch the erection of the tents.  It was all new and full
+of interest to them.  As they caught the odor of trampled grass
+and the smell of the canvas their old enthusiasm came back to
+them with added force.
+
+"It's great to be a circus man, isn't it, Phil?" breathed Teddy.
+
+"It is unless one is getting into trouble all the time, the way
+you do.  I expect that, some of these days, you'll get something
+you don't want."
+
+"What?"
+
+"Oh, I don't know.  But I am sure it will be something
+quite serious."
+
+"You better look out for yourself," growled Teddy.  "I'll take
+care of myself."
+
+"Yes; the way you did last night," retorted Phil, with a
+hearty laugh.  "Come on, now; let's not quarrel.  I want to find
+some of our old friends.  Isn't that Mr. Miaco over there by the
+dressing tent?"
+
+"Sure."
+
+Both lads ran toward their old friend, the head clown, with
+outstretched hands, and Mr. Miaco, seeing them coming, hastened
+forward to greet them.
+
+"Well, well, boys!  How are you?"
+
+"Oh, we're fine," glowed Phil.  "And we are glad to be back
+again, let me tell you."
+
+"No more so than your old friends are to have you back.
+Same old act?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"What have you boys been doing this winter?"
+
+"Studying and exercising."
+
+"Yes; I knew, from your condition, that you have been keeping up
+your work.  Got anything new?"
+
+"Not much.  Trapeze."
+
+"Good!  I'll bet you will be in some of the flying-bar acts
+before the season is over.  We have a lot of swell performers
+this season."
+
+"So I have heard.  Who are some of them?"
+
+"Well, there's the Flying Four."
+
+"Who are they?" questioned Teddy.
+
+"Trapeze performers.  They're great--the best in the business.
+And then there's The Limit."
+
+"Talk United States," demanded Teddy.  "The Limit?  Whoever heard
+of that?"
+
+"In other words, the Dip of Death."
+
+Teddy shook his head helplessly.
+
+"That is the somersaulting automobile.  A pretty young woman
+rides in it, and some fine day she won't.  I never did like those
+freak acts.  But the public does," sighed the old circus man.
+"The really difficult feats, that require years of practice,
+patrons don't seem to give a rap for.  But let somebody do a
+stunt in which he is in danger of suddenly ending his life, then
+you'll see the people howl with delight.  I sometimes think they
+would be half tickled to death to see some of us break our necks.
+There's a friend of yours, Phil."
+
+"Who?"
+
+"Emperor, the old elephant that you rode last year.  They are
+taking him to the menagerie tent."
+
+"Whistle to him, Phil," suggested Teddy.
+
+Phil uttered a low, peculiar whistle.
+
+The big elephant's ears flapped.  The procession that he was
+leading came to a sudden stop and Emperor trumpeted shrilly.
+
+"He hasn't forgotten me," breathed Phil happily.  "Dear old
+Emperor!"
+
+"Pipe him up again," urged Teddy.
+
+"No; I wouldn't dare.  He would be likely to break away from
+Mr. Kennedy and might trample some of the people about here.
+See, Mr. Kennedy is having his troubles as it is."
+
+"Done any tumbling since you closed last fall?" questioned
+Mr. Miaco.
+
+"We have practiced a little.  I want to learn, if you will
+teach me--"
+
+"Why, you can tumble already, Phil."
+
+"Yes; but I want to do something better--the springboard."
+
+"They've got a leaping act this year."
+
+"How?"
+
+"Performers and clowns leap over a herd of elephants.
+You've seen the act, haven't you?"
+
+"Oh, yes; I know what it is.  I wish I were able to do it."
+
+"You will be.  It is not difficult, only one has to have a
+natural bent for it.  Now, your friend Teddy ought to make a
+fine leaper."
+
+"I am," interposed Teddy pompously.  "I always was."
+
+"Yes; you're the whole show from your way of thinking," laughed
+Mr. Miaco.  "I must go see if my trunk is placed.  See you
+later, boys."
+
+After leaving the clown, the lads strolled about the lot.  They
+soon
+discovered that the Sparling Shows was a big organization.  The
+tents
+had been very much enlarged and the canvas looked new and white.
+
+In the menagerie tent the boys found many new cages, gorgeous in
+red and gold, with a great variety of animals that had not been
+in the show the previous summer.
+
+Emperor's delight at seeing his little friend again was expressed
+in loud trumpetings, and his sinuous trunk quickly found its way
+into Phil Forrest's pocket in search of sweets.  And Emperor was
+not disappointed.  In one coat pocket he found a liberal supply
+of candy, while the other held a bag of peanuts, to all of which
+the big elephant helped himself freely until no more was left.
+
+"Have you got my trappings ready, Mr. Kennedy?" asked Phil
+of the keeper.
+
+"You'll find the stuff in fine shape.  The old man has had a new
+bonnet made for Emperor and a new blanket.  He'll be right smart
+when he enters the ring today.  Been over to the cook tent yet?"
+
+"Yes; but not for breakfast.  We are going soon now.  We want to
+see them raise the big top first."
+
+When the boys had passed out into the open they observed the
+big circus tent rising slowly from the ground where it had been
+laid out, the various pieces laced together by nimble fingers.
+Mr. Sparling was on the lot watching everything at the same time.
+This was the first time the tent had been pitched, and, as has
+been said before, most of the men were green at their work.
+Yet, under the boisterous prodding of the boss canvasman,
+the white city was going up rapidly and with some semblance
+of system.
+
+As soon as the dome of the big top left the ground the boys
+crawled under and went inside.  Here all was excitement
+and confusion.  Men were shouting their commands, above which
+the voice of the boss canvasman rose distinctly.
+
+The dome of the tent by this time was halfway up the long, green
+center pole, while men were hurrying in with quarter poles on
+their shoulders, and which they quickly stood on end and guided
+into place in the bellying canvas.
+
+The eyes of the Circus Boys sparkled with enthusiasm.
+
+"I wish we were up there on the rings," breathed Teddy.
+
+"We shall be soon, old fellow," answered Phil, patting him on
+the shoulder.  "And for many days after this, I hope.  Hello, I
+wonder what's wrong up there?"
+
+Phil's quick glance had caught something up near the half-raised
+dome that impressed him as not being right.
+
+"Look out aloft!" he sang out warningly.
+
+"The key rope's going.  Grab the other line!" bellowed the
+boss canvasman.
+
+"You fools!" roared Mr. Sparling from the opposite side
+of the tent, as he quickly noted what was happening.  "Run for
+your lives!  You'll have the whole outfit down on your heads!"
+
+The men fled, letting go of ropes and poles, diving for places of
+safety, many of them knowing what it meant to have that big tent
+collapse and descend upon them.
+
+The man who had held the key rope was the one who had been
+at fault.  Some of the new men had called to him to give them
+a hand on another line, and he, a new man himself, all forgetful
+of the important task that had been assigned to him, dropped the
+key rope, as it is called, turning to assist his associate.
+
+Instantly the dome of the big top began to settle with a grating
+noise as the huge iron ring in the peak began slipping down the
+center pole.
+
+The key rope coiled on the ground was running out and squirming
+up into the air.  Only a single coil of it remained when Phil
+suddenly darted forward.  With a bound, he threw himself upon the
+rope, giving it a quick twist about his arm.
+
+The instant Phil had fastened his grip upon the rope he shot up
+into the air so quickly that the onlookers failed to catch the
+meaning of his sudden flight.
+
+One pair of eyes, however, saw and understood.  They belonged to
+Mr. Sparling, the owner of the show.
+
+"The boy will he killed!" he groaned.  "Let go!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+DOING A MAN'S WORK
+
+For one brief instant Phil Forrest's head was giddy and his
+breath fairly left his body from the speed with which he was
+propelled upward on the key rope.
+
+But the lad had not for a second lost his presence of mind.
+Below him was some eight feet of the rope dangling in the air.
+
+With a sudden movement that could only have been executed by one
+with unusual strength and agility, Phil let the rope slip through
+his hands just enough to slacken his speed.  Instantly he threw
+himself around the center pole, twisting the rope around and
+around it, each twist slackening his upward flight a little.
+He knew that, were his head to strike the iron ring in the dome
+at the speed he was traveling, he would undoubtedly be killed.
+It was as much to prevent this as to save the tent that Phil took
+the action he did, though his one real thought was to save his
+employer's property.
+
+Now the rapid upward shoot had dwindled to a slow, gradual
+slipping of the rope as it moved up the center pole inch by inch.
+But Phil's peril was even greater than before.  The moment that
+heavy iron ring began pressing down on his head and shoulders
+with the weight of the canvas behind it, there would be nothing
+for him to do but to let go.
+
+A forty-foot fall to the hard ground below seemed inevitable.
+Yet he did not lose his presence of mind for an instant.
+
+"Give him a hand!" yelled the boss canvasman.
+
+"How?  How?" shouted the canvasmen.  "We can't reach him."
+
+"Get a net under that boy, you blockheads!" thundered Mr.
+Sparling,
+rushing over from his station.  "Don't you see he's bound to
+fall,
+and if he does he'll break his neck?"
+
+The boss canvasman ordered three of his men to get the trapeze
+performers' big net that lay in a heap near the ring nearest the
+dressing tent, for there were two rings now in the Great Sparling
+Combined Shows.
+
+They dragged it over as quickly as possible; then willing hands
+grabbed it and stretched the heavy net out.  At Mr. Sparling's
+direction the four corners of the net were manned and the
+safety device raised from the ground, ready to catch the lad
+should he fall.
+
+"Now let go and drop!" roared Mr. Sparling.
+
+They heard Phil laugh from his lofty perch.
+
+"Jump, I say!"
+
+"What, and let the tent down on you all?"
+
+By this time the lad had curled his feet up over his head, and
+they saw that he was bracing his feet against the iron ring,
+literally holding the tent up with his own powerful muscles.
+Of course, as a matter of fact, Phil was holding a very small
+part of the weight of the tent, but as it was, the strain
+was terrific.
+
+Hanging head down, his face flushed until it seemed as if the
+blood must burst through the skin, he hung there as calmly as if
+he were not in imminent peril of his life.  Then, too, there was
+the danger to those below him.  If the tent should collapse some
+of them would be killed, for there were now few quarter poles in
+place to break the fall of the heavy canvas.
+
+"I say, down there!" he cried, finally managing to make himself
+heard above the uproar.
+
+"Are you going to drop?" shouted Mr. Sparling.
+
+"No; do you want me to let the tent drop on you?  If you'll all
+get out there'll be fewer hurt in case I have to let go."
+
+"That boy!" groaned the showman.
+
+"Toss me a line and be quick about it," called Phil shrilly.
+
+"What can you do with a line?" demanded the showman, now more
+excited than he had ever been in his life.
+
+"Toss it!"
+
+"Give him a line!"
+
+"A strong one," warned Phil, his voice not nearly as far reaching
+as it had been.
+
+"A line!" bellowed Mr. Sparling.  "He knows what he wants it for,
+and he's got more sense than the whole bunch of us."
+
+A coil of rope shot up.  But it missed Phil by about six feet.
+
+Another one was forthcoming almost instantly.  This time,
+however, Mr. Sparling snatched it from the hands of the showman
+who had made the wild cast.
+
+"Idiot!" he roared, pushing the man aside.
+
+Once more the coil sailed up, unrolling as it went.  This time
+Phil grasped it with his free hand, which he had liberated for
+the purpose.
+
+"Now, be careful," warned Mr. Sparling.  "I don't know what you
+think you're going to do; but whatever you start you're sure
+to finish."
+
+To this Phil made no reply.  He was getting too weak to talk, and
+his tired body trembled.
+
+In the end of the key rope a big loop had been formed, this
+after the tent was up, was slipped over a cleat to prevent a
+possibility of the rope slipping its fastenings and letting the
+tent down.
+
+Phil had discovered the loop when it finally slipped up so his
+one hand was pressed against the knot.
+
+Every second the weight on his feet--on his whole body, in fact,
+was getting heavier.
+
+"If I can hold on a minute longer, I'll make it!" he muttered,
+his breath coming in short, quick gasps.
+
+What he was seeking to do was to get the rope they had tossed to
+him, through the big loop.  In his effort to do so, the coil
+slipped from his hands, knocking a canvasman down as it fell,
+but the lad had held to the other end with a desperate grip.
+
+Now he began working it through the loop inch by inch.  It was
+a slow process, but he was succeeding even better than he
+had hoped.
+
+Mr. Sparling now saw what Phil's purpose was.  About the same
+time the others down there made the same discovery.
+
+They set up a cheer of approval.
+
+"Wait!" commanded the owner of the show.  "The lad isn't out of
+the woods yet.  You men on the net look lively there.  If you
+don't catch him should he fall, you take my word for it, it'll go
+mighty hard with you."
+
+"We'll catch him."
+
+"You'd better, if you know what's good for you.  Goodness, but
+he's got the strength and the grit!  I never saw anything like it
+in all my circus experience."
+
+They could not help him.  There was no way by which any of them
+could reach Phil, and all they could do was to stand by and do
+the best they could at breaking his fall should he be forced to
+let go, as it seemed that he must do soon.
+
+Nearer and nearer crept the line toward the ground, but it was
+yet far above their heads.  It was moving faster, however, as
+Phil got more weight of rope through the loop, thus requiring
+less effort on his part to send it along on its journey.
+
+"Side pole!  Side pole!" shouted the boy, barely making himself
+heard above the shouts below.
+
+At first they did not catch the meaning of his words.
+Mr. Sparling, of course, was the first to do so.
+
+"That's it!  Oh, you idiots!  You wooden Indians!  You thick
+heads!
+Get a side pole, don't you understand?" and the owner made a dive
+at the nearest man to him, whereat the fellow quickly
+side-stepped
+and started off on a run for the pole for which Phil had asked.
+But, even then, some of the hands did not understand what he
+could want of a side pole.
+
+The instant it was brought Mr. Sparling snatched it from the
+hands of the tentman.  Raising the pole, assisted by the boss
+canvasman, he was able to reach the loop.  The iron spike in the
+end of the pole was thrust through the loop, and by exerting
+considerable pressure they were able to force the loop slowly
+toward the ground.
+
+"You'll have to hurry!  I can't hang on much longer," cried
+Phil weakly.
+
+"We'll hurry, my lad.  It won't be half a minute now," encouraged
+Mr. Sparling.  "Stand by here you blockheads, ready to fall on
+that rope the minute it gets within reach.  Three of you grab
+hold of the coil end and pay it out gradually.  Be careful.
+Watch your business."
+
+Three men sprang to do his bidding.
+
+"Here comes the loop!"
+
+Ready hands grasped the dangling rope.
+
+The two strands were quickly carried together and the weight of a
+dozen men thrown on them, instantly relieving the strain on Phil
+Forrest's body.
+
+Phil had saved the big top, and perhaps a few lives at the
+same time.  Now a sudden dizziness seemed to have overtaken him.
+Everything appeared to be whirling about him, the big top
+spinning like a giant top before his eyes.
+
+"Slide down the rope!" commanded Mr. Sparling.
+
+The lad slowly unwound the rope from his arm and feebly motioned
+to them that they were to walk around the pole with their end so
+they might hoist the iron ring to the splice of the center pole.
+
+"Never mind anything but yourself!" ordered Mr. Sparling.
+"We'll attend to this mix-up ourselves."
+
+Very cautiously and deliberately, more from force of habit
+than otherwise, the lad had let his feet down, and with them
+was groping for the rope.
+
+"Swing the line between his legs!" roared the owner.  "Going to
+let him stay up there all day?"
+
+"That's what we're trying to do," answered a tentman.
+
+"Yes, I see you trying.  That's the trouble with you fellows.
+You always think you're trying, and if you are, you never
+accomplish anything.  Got, it, Phil?"
+
+"Y--ye--yes."
+
+Twisting his legs about the rope the boy next took a weak grip on
+it with both hands, then started slowly to descend.  This he knew
+how to do, so the feat was attended with no difficulty other than
+the strength required, and of which he had none to spare just at
+the present moment.
+
+"Look out!" he called.  He thought he had shouted it in a
+loud tone.  As a matter of fact no sound issued from his lips.
+
+But Mr. Sparling whose eyes had been fixed upon the boy,
+saw and understood.
+
+"He's falling.  Catch him!"
+
+Phil shot downward head first.  Yet with the instinct of the
+showman he curled his head up ever so little as he half
+consciously felt himself going.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE SHOWMAN'S REWARD
+
+Phil struck the net with a violent slap that was heard outside
+the big top, though those without did not understand the meaning
+of it, nor did they give it heed.
+
+Mr. Sparling was the first to reach him.  The lad had landed on
+his shoulders and then struck flat on his back, the proper way
+to fall into a net.  Perhaps it was instinct that told him what
+to do.
+
+The lad was unconscious when the showman lifted him tenderly from
+the net and laid him out on the ground.
+
+"Up with that peak!" commanded Mr. Sparling.  "Get some water
+here,
+and don't crowd around him!  Give the boy air!  Tucker, you hike
+for the surgeon."
+
+A shove started Teddy for the surgeon.  In the meantime
+Mr. Sparling was working over Phil, seeking to bring him back
+to consciousness, which he finally succeeded in doing before
+the surgeon arrived.
+
+"Did I fall?" asked Phil, suddenly opening his eyes.
+
+"A high dive," nodded Mr. Sparling.
+
+Phil cast his eyes up to the dome where he saw the canvas
+drawing taut.  He knew that he had succeeded and he
+smiled contentedly.
+
+By the time the surgeon arrived the boy was on his feet.
+
+"How do you feel?"
+
+"I'm a little sore, Mr. Sparling.  But I guess I'll be fit in a
+few minutes."
+
+"Able to walk over to my tent?  If not, I'll have some of the
+fellows carry you."
+
+"Oh, no; I can walk if I can get my legs started moving.
+They don't seem to be working the way they should this morning,"
+laughed the lad.  "My, that tent weighs something doesn't it?"
+
+"It does," agreed the showman.
+
+Just then the surgeon arrived.  After a brief examination he
+announced that Phil was not injured, unless, perhaps, he might
+have injured himself internally by subjecting himself to the
+great strain of holding up the tent.
+
+"I think some breakfast will put me right again," decided
+the lad.
+
+"Haven't you had your breakfast yet?" demanded Mr. Sparling.
+
+"No; I guess I've been too busy."
+
+"Come with me, then.  I haven't had mine either," said
+the showman.
+
+Linking his arm within that of the Circus Boy, Mr. Sparling
+walked from the tent, not speaking again until they had reached
+the manager's private tent.  This was a larger and much more
+commodious affair than it had been last year.
+
+He placed Phil in a folding easy chair, and sat down to his desk
+where he began writing.
+
+After finishing, Mr. Sparling looked up.
+
+"Phil," he said in a more kindly tone than the lad had ever
+before heard him use, "I was under a deep obligation to you
+last season.  I'm under a greater one now."
+
+"I wish you wouldn't speak of it, sir.  What I have done is
+purely in the line of duty.  It's a fellow's business to be
+looking out for his employer's interests.  That's what I have
+always tried to do."
+
+"Not only tried, but have," corrected Mr. Sparling.  "That's an
+old-fashioned idea of yours.  It's a pity young men don't feel
+more that way, these days.  But that wasn't what I wanted to say.
+As a little expression of how much I appreciate your interest,
+as well as the actual money loss you have saved me, I want to
+make you a little present."
+
+"Oh, no no," protested Phil.
+
+"Here is a check which I have made out for a hundred dollars.
+That will give you a little start on the season.  But it isn't
+all that I am going to do for you--"
+
+"Please, Mr. Sparling.  Believe me I do appreciate your kindness,
+but I mustn't take the check.  I couldn't take the check."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because I haven't earned it."
+
+"Haven't earned it?  He hasn't earned it!"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+The showman threw his hands above his head in a hopeless sort of
+a way.
+
+"I should not feel that I was doing right.  I want to be
+independent, Mr. Sparling.  I have plenty of money.  I have
+not spent more than half of what I earned last summer.
+This season I hope to lay by a whole lot, so that I shall be
+quite independent."
+
+"And so you shall, so you shall, my boy," Sparling exclaimed,
+rising and smiting Phil good naturedly with the flat of his hand.
+
+Instead of tearing up the check, however, Mr. Sparling put it in
+an envelope which he directed and stamped, then thrust in his
+coat pocket.
+
+"I--I hope you understand--hope you do not feel offended,"
+said Phil hesitatingly.  "I should not like to have you
+misunderstand me."
+
+"Not a bit of it, my lad.  I can't say that I have any higher
+opinion of you because of your decision, but--"
+
+Phil glanced up quickly.
+
+"I already have as high an opinion of you as it is possible for
+me to have for any human being, and--"
+
+"Thank you.  You'll make me have a swelled head if you keep on
+that way," laughed Phil.
+
+"No danger.  You would have had one long ago, if that was
+your makeup.  Have you seen Mrs. Sparling yet?"
+
+"No, and I should like to.  May I call on her in your car?"
+
+"Not only may, but she has commissioned me to ask you to.
+I think we had better be moving over to the cook tent, now,
+if we wish any breakfast.  I expect the hungry roustabouts
+have about cleaned the place out by this time."
+
+They soon arrived at the cook tent.  Here Phil left Mr. Sparling
+while he passed about among the tables, greeting such of his old
+acquaintances as he had not yet seen that morning.  He was
+introduced to many of the new ones, all of whom had heard pretty
+much everything about Phil's past achievements before he reached
+their tables.  The people of a circus are much like a big family,
+and everyone knows, or thinks he knows, the whole family history
+of his associates.
+
+Even Phil's plucky work in the big top, less than an hour before,
+had already traveled to the cook tent, and many curious glances
+were directed to the slim, modest, boy as he passed among his
+friends quietly, giving them his greetings.
+
+Teddy, on the other hand, was not saying a word.  He was
+busy eating.
+
+"How's your appetite this morning, Teddy?" questioned Phil,
+sinking down on the bench beside his companion.
+
+"Pretty fair," answered Teddy in a muffled voice.  "I began at
+the top--"
+
+"Top of what?"
+
+"Top of the bill of fare.  I've cleaned up everything halfway
+down the list, and I'm going through the whole bill, even if I
+have to get up and shake myself down like the miller does a bag
+of meal."
+
+"Be careful, old chap.  Remember you and I have to begin our real
+work today.  We shall want to be in the best of shape for our
+ring act.  You won't, if you fill up as you are doing now,"
+warned Phil.
+
+"Not going to work today."
+
+"What's that?"
+
+"No flying rings today."
+
+"I don't understand."
+
+"No flying rings, I said.  Mr. Sparling isn't going to put on our
+act today."
+
+"How do you know?" asked Phil in some surprise.
+
+"Heard him say so."
+
+"When?"
+
+"Just now."
+
+"Why, I came in with him myself less than ten minutes ago--"
+
+"I know.  He stopped right in front of my table here to speak to
+the ringmaster.  Heard him say you were not to be allowed to go
+on till tomorrow.  We don't have to go in the parade today if we
+don't want to, either.  But you are to ride Emperor in the
+Grand Entry, and I'm to do my stunt on the educated mule."
+
+"Pshaw, I can work today as well as I ever could," said Phil in a
+disappointed tone.  "And I'm going on, too, unless Mr. Sparling
+gives me distinct orders to the contrary."
+
+Phil got the orders before he had finished his breakfast.
+
+"Believe me, Phil, I know best," said Mr. Sparling, noting the
+lad's disappointment.  "You have had a pretty severe strain this
+morning, and to go on now with the excitement of the first day
+added to that, I fear might be too much for you.  It might lay
+you up for some weeks, and we cannot afford to have that happen,
+you know.  I need you altogether too much for that."
+
+"Very well, sir; it shall be as you wish.  I suppose I may go on
+in the Grand Entry as usual?"
+
+"Oh, yes, if you wish."
+
+"I do."
+
+"Very well; then I'll let Mr. Kennedy know.  You had better lie
+down and rest while the parade is out."
+
+"Thank you; I hardly think that will be necessary.  I feel fit
+enough for work right now."
+
+"Such is youth and enthusiasm," mused the showman, passing on out
+of the cook tent, once more to go over his arrangements, for
+there were many details to be looked after on this the first day
+of the show's season on the road.
+
+Phil called on Mrs. Sparling after breakfast, receiving from the
+showman's wife a most hospitable welcome.  She asked him all
+about how he had spent the winter, and seemed particularly
+interested in Mrs. Cahill, who was now the legal guardian of
+both the boys.  Mrs. Sparling already had a letter in her pocket,
+with the check for one hundred dollars which the showman had
+drawn for Phil.  It was going to Mrs. Cahill to be deposited to
+the lad's credit, but he would know nothing of this until the
+close of the season.  After he had gone home he would find
+himself a hundred dollars richer than he thought.
+
+His call finished, Phil went out and rejoined Teddy.  Together
+they
+started back toward the dressing tent to set their trunks in
+order
+and get out such of their costumes as they would need that
+afternoon and evening.  Then again, the dressing tent was really
+the most attractive part of the show to all the performers.  It
+was
+here that they talked of their work and life, occasionally
+practiced
+new acts of a minor character, and indulged in pranks like a lot
+of
+schoolboys at recess time.
+
+As they were passing down along the outside of the big top,
+Phil noticed several laborers belonging to the show sitting
+against the side wall sunning themselves.  He observed that one
+of the men was eyeing Teddy and himself with rather more than
+ordinary interest.
+
+Phil did not give it a second thought, however, until suddenly
+Teddy gave his arm a violent pinch.
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"See those fellows sitting there?"
+
+"Yes.  What of it?"
+
+"One of them is the fellow who ducked me under the water tank
+back at Germantown."
+
+"You don't say?  Which one?"
+
+"Fellow with the red hair.  I heard them call him Larry as I
+passed, or I might not have noticed him particularly.  His hair
+is redder than Rod Palmer's.  I should think it would set him
+on fire."
+
+"It certainly would seem so."
+
+"Mister Larry has got something coming to him good and proper,
+and he's going to get it, you take my word for that."
+
+Phil laughed good naturedly.
+
+"Please, now, Teddy, forget it.  Don't go and get into any
+more mix-ups.  You'll be sending yourself back home first thing
+you know.  Then it will be a difficult matter to get into any
+other show if you are sent away from this one in disgrace."
+
+"Don't you worry about me.  I'll take care of myself.  I always
+do, don't I?"
+
+"I'm afraid I can't agree to that," laughed Phil.  "I should say
+that quite the contrary is the case."
+
+Teddy fell suddenly silent as they walked on in the bright
+morning light, drinking in the balmy air in long-drawn breaths.
+Entering the paddock they turned sharply to the left and pushed
+their way through the canvas curtains into the dressing tent.
+
+"Hurrah for the Circus Boys," shouted someone.  "Hello Samson,
+are you the strong-armed man that held the tent up by your feet?"
+
+"Strong-footed man, you mean," suggested another.  "A
+strong-armed
+man uses his arms not his feet."
+
+"Come over here and show yourself," shouted another voice.
+
+Phil walked over and stood smilingly before them.  Nothing seemed
+to disturb his persistent good nature.
+
+"Huh, not so much!  I guess they stretched that yarn," grunted
+a new performer.
+
+"I guess not," interposed Mr. Miaco.  "I happened to see that
+stunt pulled off myself.  It was the biggest thing I ever saw
+a man--let alone a boy--get away with."  Then Mr. Miaco went over
+the scene with great detail, while Phil stole away to his own
+corner, where he busied himself bending over his trunk to hide
+his blushes.
+
+But Teddy felt no such emotion.  Almost as soon as he entered the
+dressing tent he began searching about for something.  This he
+soon found.  It was a pail, but he appeared to be in a hurry.
+Picking up the pail he ran with it to the water barrel, that
+always stands in the dressing tent, filled the pail and skulked
+out as if he did not desire to attract attention.
+
+Once outside the dressing tent Teddy ran at full speed across the
+paddock and out into the big top.  A few men were working here
+putting up apparatus for the performers.  They gave no heed to
+the boy with the pail of water.
+
+Teddy ran his eye along the inside of the tent, nodded and went
+on to the middle section where he turned, climbing the steps to
+the upper row.
+
+Arriving there he cautiously peered out over the top of the
+side wall.  What he saw evidently was not to his liking, for once
+more he picked up the pail of water and ran lightly along the top
+seat toward the menagerie tent.
+
+All at once he paused, put down his pail and peered out over the
+side wall again.  Nodding with satisfaction he picked up the
+pail, lifted it to the top of the side wall, once more looked out
+measuring the distance well, then suddenly turned the pail bottom
+side up.
+
+In his course through the big top Teddy had gathered up several
+handfuls of sawdust and dirt which he had stirred well into the
+water as he ran, making a pasty mess of it.
+
+It was this mixture that he had now poured out over the
+side wall.  Teddy waited only an instant to observe the effect
+of the deluge that he had turned on.  Then he fled down the
+rattling board seats.
+
+Outside a sudden roar broke the stillness.  No sooner had he
+reached the bottom of the seats than several men raised up the
+side wall and came tumbling in, yelling like Comanche Indians.
+Teddy cast one frightened look at them, then ran like
+all possessed.  What he had seen was a red-haired man in the
+lead, dripping wet with hair and clothes plastered with mud
+and sawdust.  Larry was after the lad in full cry.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+TRYING THE CULPRIT
+
+"Stop him!" howled Larry, as he, followed by half a dozen
+blue-shirted fellows, bolted into the arena in pursuit of the lad
+who had emptied the pail of muddy water over him.
+
+Teddy, still clinging to the pail, was sprinting down the
+concourse as if his very life depended upon it.  A canvasman,
+hearing Larry's call, and suspecting the boy was wanted for
+something quite serious, rushed out, heading Teddy off.
+It looked as if the lad were to be captured right here.
+
+But Teddy Tucker was not yet at the end of his resources.  He ran
+straight on as if he had not observed the canvasman.  Just as he
+reached the man, and the latter's hands were stretched out to
+intercept him, Teddy hurled the pail full in the fellow's face.
+Then the lad darted to one side and fled toward the paddock.
+
+The canvasman had joined the procession by this time.  Into the
+dressing tent burst the boy, followed by Larry, the others having
+brought up sharply just before reaching the dressing room,
+knowing full well that they had no business there and that
+their presence would be quickly and effectively resented.
+Larry, consumed with rage, did not stop to think about this,
+so he dashed on blindly to his fate.
+
+At first the circus performers in the dressing tent could not
+imagine what was going on.  Clotheslines came down, properties
+were upset and in a moment the tent was in confusion.
+
+"Stop that!" bellowed an irate performer.
+
+Larry gave no heed to the command, and Teddy was in too big a
+hurry to stop to explain.
+
+Suddenly Phil Forrest, realizing that his little companion was in
+danger, gave a leap.  He landed on Larry's back, pinioning the
+fellow's arms to his sides.
+
+"You stop that now!  You let him alone!" commanded Phil.
+
+Before the canvasman could make an effort to free himself,
+Mr. Miaco, the head clown, took a hand in the proceedings.
+Throwing Phil from the tentman, Miaco jerked Larry about,
+and demanded to know what he meant by intruding on the privacy
+of the dressing tent in that manner.
+
+"I want that kid," he growled.
+
+"Put him out!" howled a voice.
+
+"What do you want him for?"
+
+"He--he dumped a pail of water over me.  I'll get even with him.
+I'll--"
+
+"How about this, Master Teddy?" questioned Mr. Miaco.
+
+Teddy explained briefly how the fellow Larry and a companion
+had ducked him under the water tank, and had ruined his clothes,
+together with causing him to miss his train.
+
+"This demands investigation," decided Mr. Miaco gravely.
+"Fellows, it is evident that we had better try this man.
+That is the best way to dispose of his case."
+
+"Yes, yes; try him!" they shouted.
+
+"Whom shall we have for judge?"
+
+"Oscar, the midget!"
+
+The Smallest Man on Earth was quickly boosted to the top of a
+property box.
+
+"Vot iss?" questioned the midget, his wizened, yellow little face
+wrinkling into a questioning smile.
+
+"We are going to try this fellow, Larry, and you are to be
+the judge."
+
+"Yah," agreed Oscar, after which he subsided, listening to the
+proceedings that followed, with grave, expressionless eyes.
+It is doubtful if Oscar understood what it was all about, but his
+gravity and judicial manner sent the whole dressing tent into an
+uproar of merriment.
+
+After the evidence was all in, the entire company taking part in
+testifying, amid much merriment--for the performers entered into
+the spirit of the trial like a lot of schoolboys--Oscar was asked
+to decide what should be done with the prisoner Larry.
+
+Oscar was at a loss to know how to answer.
+
+"Duck him," suggested one.
+
+This was an inspiration to Oscar.  He smiled broadly.
+
+"Yah, dat iss."
+
+"What iss?" demanded the Tallest Man On Earth.  "Talk
+United States."
+
+"Yah," agreed Oscar, smiling seraphically.  "Duck um."
+
+"Larry, it is the verdict of this court that you be ducked,
+as the only fitting punishment for one who has committed the
+crime of laying hands on a Circus Boy.  Are we all agreed on the
+punishment meted out by the dignified judge?"
+
+"Yes, yes!" they shouted.  "The rain barrel for him."
+
+"Men, do your duty!" cried Mr. Miaco.
+
+"I wouldn't do that," interposed Phil.  "You haven't any more
+right to duck him than he had to put Teddy under the water tank.
+It isn't right."
+
+But they gave no heed to his protests.  Willing hands
+grabbed the red-headed tentman, whose kicks and struggles
+availed him nothing.  Raising him over the barrel of water
+they soused him in head first, ducking him again and again.
+
+"Take him out.  You'll drown him," begged Phil.
+
+Then they hauled Larry out, shaking the water out of him.
+As soon as his coughing ceased, he threatened dire vengeance
+against his assailants.
+
+Four performers then carried their victim to the opening of the
+dressing tent and threw him out bodily.
+
+Instantly Larry's companions saw him fall at their feet, and
+heard his angry explanation of the indignities that had been
+heaped upon him.  There was a lively scrambling over the ground,
+and the next instant a volley of stones was hurled into the
+dressing tent.
+
+Phil was just coming out on his way to the main entrance as the
+row began.  A stone just grazed his cheek.  Without giving the
+least heed to the assailants, he turned to cross the paddock in
+order to slip out under the tent and go on about his business.
+Most lads would have run under the circumstances.  Not so Phil.
+His were steady nerves.
+
+"There he is!  Grab him!" shouted Larry, catching sight of Phil
+and charging that Phil had been one of those who had helped
+duck him.
+
+Such was not the case, however, for instead of having taken part
+in the ducking, Phil Forrest had tried to prevent it.
+
+Larry and another man were running toward him.  The lad halted,
+turned and faced them.
+
+"What do you want of me?" he demanded.
+
+"I'll show you what I want of you.  You started this row."
+
+"I did nothing of the sort, sir.  You go on about your business
+and I shall do the same, whether you do or not."
+
+Phil raised the canvas and stepped out.  But no sooner had he
+gotten out into the lot than the two men burst through the
+flapping side wall.
+
+The boy saw them coming and knew that he was face to face
+with trouble.
+
+He adopted a ruse, knowing full well that he could not hope
+to cope with the brawny canvasmen single handed and alone.
+Starting off on a run, Phil was followed instantly, as he felt
+sure he would be, but managing to keep just ahead of the men and
+no more.
+
+"I've got you!"
+
+The voice was almost at his ear.
+
+Phil halted with unexpected suddenness and dropped on all fours.
+
+The canvasman was too close to check his own speed.  He fell over
+Phil, landing on his head and shoulders in the dirt.
+
+The lad was up like a flash.  Larry was close upon him now, and
+with a snarl of rage launched a blow full at Phil Forrest's face.
+But he had not reckoned on the lad's agility, nor did he know
+that Phil was a trained athlete.  Therefore, Larry's surprise was
+great when his fist beat the empty air.
+
+Thrown off his balance, Larry measured his length on the ground.
+
+"I advise you to let me alone," warned Phil coolly, as the
+tentman was scrambling to his feet.  Already Larry's companion
+had gotten up and was gazing at Phil in a half dazed sort of way.
+
+"Get hold of him, Bad Eye!  What are you standing there like a
+dummy for?  He'll run in a minute."
+
+Phil's better judgment told him to do that very thing, but he
+could not bring himself to run from danger.  Much as he disliked
+a row, he was too plucky and courageous to run from danger.
+
+Bad Eye was rushing at him, his eyes blazing with anger.
+
+Phil side-stepped easily, avoiding his antagonist without the
+least difficulty.  But now he had to reckon with Larry, who,
+by this time, had gotten to his feet.
+
+It was two to one.
+
+"Stand back unless you want to get hurt!" cried Phil, with a
+warning glint in his eyes.
+
+Larry, by way of answer, struck viciously at him.  Phil, with a
+glance about him, saw that he could not expect help, for there
+was no one in sight, the performers being engaged at that moment
+in driving off the angry laborers, which they were succeeding in
+doing with no great effort on their part.
+
+The lad cleverly dodged the blow.  But instead of backing away
+as the canvasman's fist barely grazed his cheek, Phil, with a
+short arm jolt, caught his adversary on the point of his chin.
+Larry instantly lost all desire for fight.  He sat down on the
+hard ground with a bump.
+
+Now Bad Eye rushed in.  Again Phil sidestepped, and, thrusting a
+foot between the fellow's legs, tripped him neatly.
+
+Half a dozen men came running from the paddock.  They were the
+fellows whom the performers had put to rout.  At that moment the
+bugle blew for all hands to prepare for the parade.
+
+"I guess I have done about enough for one day," decided Phil.
+"And for a sick man it wasn't a half bad job."
+
+With an amused glance at his fallen adversaries Phil ran to the
+big top, less than a rod away, and, lifting the sidewall, slipped
+under and disappeared within.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+PHIL MAKES A NEW FRIEND
+
+"Tweetle!  Tweetle!"
+
+Two rippling blasts from the ringmaster's whistle notified the
+show people that the performance was on.  In moved the procession
+for the Grand Entry, as the silken curtains separating the
+paddock from the big top slowly fell apart.
+
+Phil, from his lofty perch on the head of old Emperor, peering
+through the opening of the bonnet in which he was concealed,
+could not repress an exclamation of admiration.  It was a
+splendid spectacle--taken from a story of ancient Rome--
+that was sweeping majestically about the arena to the music
+of an inspiring tune into which the big circus band had
+suddenly launched.
+
+Gayly-caparisoned, nervous horses pranced and reared; huge
+wagons, gorgeous under their coat of paint and gold, glistened
+in the afternoon sunlight that fell softly through the canvas top
+and gave the peculiar rattling sound so familiar to the lover of
+the circus as they moved majestically into the arena; elephants
+trumpeted shrilly and the animals back in the menagerie tent sent
+up a deafening roar of protest.  After months of quiet in their
+winter quarters, this unusual noise and excitement threw the wild
+beasts into a tempest of anger.  Pacing their cages with upraised
+heads, they hurled their loud-voiced protests into the air until
+the more timid of the spectators trembled in their seats.
+
+It was an inspiring moment for the circus people, as well as for
+the spectators.
+
+"Tweetle!  Tweetle!" sang the ringmaster's whistle after the
+spectacle had wound its way once around the concourse.
+
+At this the procession wheeled, its head cutting between the
+two rings, slowly and majestically reaching for the paddock
+and dressing tent, where the performers would hurry into their
+costumes for their various acts to follow.
+
+This left only the elephants in the ring.  The huge beasts now
+began their evolutions, ponderous but graceful, eliciting great
+applause, as did their trainer, Mr. Kennedy.  Then came the
+round-off of the act.  This, it will be remembered, was of Phil
+Forrest's own invention, the act in which Phil, secreted in the
+elephant's bonnet, burst out at the close of the act, and, by the
+aid of wires running over a pulley above him, was able to descend
+gracefully to the sawdust arena.
+
+He was just a little nervous in this, the first performance of
+the season, but, steadying his nerves, he went through the act
+without a hitch and amid thunders of applause.  As in the
+previous season's act, old Emperor carried the lad from the ring,
+holding Phil out in front of him firmly clasped in his trunk.
+No similar act ever had been seen in a circus until Phil and
+Emperor worked it out for themselves.  It had become one of the
+features of the show last year, and it bade fair to be equally
+popular that season.  Phil had added to it somewhat, which gave
+the act much more finish than before.
+
+"Very good, young man," approved Mr. Sparling, as the elephant
+bore the lad out.  Mr. Sparling was watching the show with keen
+eyes in order to decide what necessary changes were to be made.
+"Coming back to watch the performance?"
+
+"Oh, yes.  I wouldn't miss that for anything."
+
+As soon as the lad had thrown off his costume and gotten back
+into his clothes, he hurried into the big top, where he found
+Teddy, who did not go on in his bucking mule act until later.
+
+"How's the show, Teddy?" greeted Phil.
+
+"Great.  Greatest thing I ever saw.  Did you see the fellows jump
+over the herd of elephants and horses?"
+
+"No.  Who were they?"
+
+"Oh, most all of the crowd, I guess.  I'm going to do that."
+
+"You, Teddy?  Why, you couldn't jump over half a dozen
+elephants and turn a somersault.  You would break your neck the
+first thing."
+
+"Mr. Miaco says I could.  Says I'm just the build for that sort
+of thing," protested the lad.
+
+"Well, then, get him to teach you.  Of course we can't know how
+to do too many things in this business.  We have learned that it
+pays to know how to do almost everything.  Have you made friends
+with the mule since you got back?"
+
+"Yes.  He spooned over me and made believe he loved me like
+a brother."
+
+Teddy paused reflectively.
+
+"Then what?"
+
+"Well, then he tried to kick the daylight out of me."
+
+"I thought so," laughed Phil.  "I'm glad I chose an elephant for
+my friend, instead of an educated mule.  When are you going to
+begin on the springboard--begin practicing, I mean?"
+
+"Mr. Miaco says he'll teach me as soon as we get settled--"
+
+"Settled?  I never heard of a show getting settled--that is, not
+until the season is ended and it is once more in winter quarters.
+I suppose by 'settled' he means when everything gets to
+moving smoothly."
+
+"I guess so," nodded Teddy.  "What are you going to do?"
+
+"The regular acts that I did last year."
+
+"No; I mean what are you going to learn new?"
+
+"Oh!  Well, there are two things I'm crazy to be able to do."
+
+"What are they?"
+
+"One is to be a fine trapeze performer," announced Phil
+thoughtfully.
+
+"And the other?"
+
+"To ride bareback."
+
+"Want to be the whole thing, don't you?" jeered Teddy.
+
+"No; not quite.  But I should like to be able to do those two
+things, and to do them well.  There is nothing that catches the
+audiences as do the trapezists and the bareback riders.  And it
+fascinates me as well."
+
+"Here, too," agreed Teddy.
+
+"But there is one thing I want to talk with you about--to read
+you a lecture."
+
+"You needn't."
+
+"I shouldn't be surprised if there was some sort of an inquiry
+about the row in the dressing tent.  You know Mr. Sparling won't
+stand for anything of that sort."
+
+"He doesn't know about it," interposed Teddy.
+
+"But we do.  Therefore, we are just as much to blame as if he
+did know.  And I am not so sure that he doesn't.  You can't fool
+Mr. Sparling.  You ought to know that by this time.  There isn't
+a thing goes on in this show that he doesn't find out about,
+sooner or later, and he is going to find out about this."
+
+"I didn't do anything.  You did, when you had a scrap with those
+two fellows out on the lot."
+
+"You forget that you started the row by emptying a pail of water
+on Larry's head.  Don't you call that starting doing anything?
+I do."
+
+Phil had to laugh at the comical expression on his
+companion's face.
+
+"Well, maybe."
+
+"And we haven't heard the last of those fellows yet.  They're mad
+all through.  I am sorry I had to hit them.  But they would have
+used me badly had I not done something to protect myself.
+I should tell the whole matter to Mr. Sparling, were it not that
+I would get others into trouble.  That I wouldn't do."
+
+"I should think not."
+
+"By the way, Teddy, there come the bareback riders.  Don't you
+follow after their act?"
+
+"My!  That's so.  I had forgotten all about that.  Thought I was
+watching the show just like the rest of the folks."
+
+"Better hustle, or you won't get into your makeup in time
+to go on.  There'll be a row for certain if you are late."
+
+But Teddy already had started on a run for the dressing tent,
+bowling over a clown at the entrance to the paddock and bringing
+down the wrath of that individual as he hustled for the
+dressing tent and began feverishly getting into his ring clothes.
+These consisted of a loose fitting pair of trousers, a slouch hat
+and a coat much the worse for wear.  A "Rube" act, it was called
+in show parlance, and it was that in very truth, more because of
+Teddy's drollery than for the makeup that he wore.
+
+Phil quickly forgot all about the lecture he had been reading to
+his companion as the bareback riders came trotting in.  His eyes
+were fixed on a petite, smiling figure who tripped up to the
+curbing, where she turned toward the audience, and, kicking one
+foot out behind her, bowed and threw a kiss to the spectators.
+
+Phil had walked over and sat down by the center pole right
+near the sawdust ring, so that he might get a better view
+of the riding.
+
+The young woman who so attracted his attention was known
+on the show bills as "Little Miss Dimples, the Queen of the
+Sawdust Arena."  Phil, as he gazed at her graceful little figure,
+agreed that the show bills did not exaggerate her charms at all.
+
+Little Dimples, using the ringmaster's hand as a step, vaulted
+lightly to the back of the great gray ring horse, where she sat
+as the animal began a slow walk about the ring.
+
+Phil wondered how she could stay on, for she appeared to be
+sitting right on the animal's sloping hip.
+
+The band struck up a lively tune, the gray horse began a slow,
+methodical gallop.  The first rise of the horse bounded Little
+Dimples to her knees, and the next to her feet.
+
+With a merry little "yip! yip!" she began executing a fairy-like
+dance, keeping time with her whip, which she held grasped in
+both hands.
+
+"Beautiful!" cried Phil, bringing his hands together sharply.
+In fact, he had never seen such artistic riding.  The girl seemed
+to be treading on air, so lightly did her feet touch the rosined
+back of the ring horse.
+
+Little Dimples heard and understood.  She flashed a brilliant
+smile at Phil and tossed her whip as a salute.  Phil had never
+met her, but they both belonged to the same great family, and
+that was sufficient.
+
+His face broke out into a pleased smile at her recognition and
+the lad touched his hat lightly, settling back against the
+center pole to watch Dimples' riding, which had only just begun.
+It made him laugh outright to see her big picture hat bobbing up
+and down with the motion of the horse.
+
+"Works just like an elephant's ear when the flies are thick,"
+was the lad's somewhat inelegant comparison.
+
+But now Dimples removed the hat, sending it spinning to the
+ringmaster, who, in turn, tossed it to an attendant.  The real
+work of the act was about to start.  Phil never having seen the
+young woman ride, did not know what her particular specialty was.
+Just now he was keenly observing, that he might learn
+her methods.
+
+Dimples' next act was to jump through a series of paper hoops.
+This finished, she leaped to the ring, and, taking a running
+start, vaulted to the back of her horse.
+
+"Bravo!" cried Phil, which brought another brilliant smile from
+the rider.  She knew that it was not herself, but her work,
+that had brought this expression of approval from the Circus Boy,
+whom she already knew of by hearing some of the other performers
+tell of his achievements since he joined the circus less than a
+year ago.
+
+"The ring is rough.  I should have thought they would have
+leveled it down better," Phil grumbled, noting the uneven surface
+of the sawdust circle with critical eyes.  "I'll bet Mr. Sparling
+hasn't seen that, or he would have raised a row.  But still
+Dimples seems very sure on her feet.  I wonder if she does any
+brilliant stunts?"
+
+As if in answer to the lad's question, the "tweetle" of the
+ringmaster's whistle brought everything to a standstill under the
+big top.  Even the band suddenly ceased playing.  Then Phil knew
+that something worthwhile was coming.
+
+"Ladies and gentlemen!" announced the ringmaster, holding up
+his right hand to attract the eyes of the spectators to him,
+"Little Miss Dimples, The Queen of the Sawdust Arena, will now
+perform her thrilling, death-defying, unexcelled, unequaled feat
+of turning a somersault on the back of a running horse.  I might
+add in this connection that Little Miss Dimples is the only woman
+who ever succeeded in going through this feat without finishing
+up by breaking her neck.  The band will cease playing while this
+perilous performance is on, as the least distraction on the part
+of the rider might result fatally for her.  Ladies and gentlemen,
+I introduce to you Little Miss Dimples," concluded the
+ringmaster, with a comprehensive wave of the hand toward the
+young woman and her gray ring horse.
+
+Dimples dropped to the ring, swept a courtesy to the audience,
+then leaped to the animal's back with a sharp little "yip! yip!"
+
+During the first round of the ring she removed the bridle,
+tossing it mischievously in Phil's direction.  He caught it
+deftly, placing it on the ground beside him, then edged a little
+closer to the ring that he might the better observe her work.
+
+The ring horse started off at a lively gallop, the rider allowing
+her elbows to rise and fall with the motion of the horse,
+in order that she might the more thoroughly become a part of the
+animal itself--that the motion of each should be the same.
+
+Suddenly Dimples sprang nimbly to her feet, tossing her riding
+whip to the waiting hands of the ringmaster.
+
+Phil half scrambled to his feet as he saw her poise for a
+backward somersault.  He had noted another thing, too.  She was
+going to throw herself, it seemed, just as the horse was on the
+roughest part of the ring.  He wondered if she could make it.
+To him it was a risky thing to try, but she no doubt knew better
+than he what she was about.
+
+The ringmaster held up his hand as a signal to the audience that
+the daring act was about to take place.
+
+Phil crept a little nearer.
+
+All at once the girl gracefully threw herself into the air.
+He judged she had cleared the back of the animal by at least
+three feet, a high jump to make straight up with unbent knees.
+
+But just as she was leaving the back of the horse, the animal
+suddenly stumbled, thus turning her halfway around, and for the
+instant taking her mind from her work.  Dimples already had
+begun to turn backward, but he noted that all at once she
+stopped turning.
+
+Phil knew what that meant.  As show people term it, she had
+"frozen" in the air.  She was falling, head first, right toward
+the wooden ring curbing.
+
+"Turn!  Turn!" cried Phil sharply.
+
+The girl was powerless to do so, while the ringmaster, being on
+the opposite side of the ring, could be of no assistance to her.
+
+"Turn!" shouted Phil, more loudly this time, giving a mighty
+spring in the direction of the falling woman.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE MULE DISTINGUISHES HIMSELF
+
+The audience had half risen, believing that the girl would surely
+be killed.  It did seem that it would be a miracle if she escaped
+without serious injury.
+
+But the Circus Boy, his every faculty centered on the task before
+him, proposed to save her if he could.
+
+He sprang up on the ring curbing, stretching both hands above his
+head as far as he could reach, bracing himself with legs wide
+apart to meet the shock.
+
+It is not an easy task to attempt to catch a person, especially
+if that person be falling toward you head first.  But Phil
+Forrest calculated in a flash how he would do it.  That is,
+he would unless he missed.
+
+It all happened in much less time than it takes to tell it,
+of course, and a moment afterwards one could not have told how it
+had occurred.
+
+The Circus Boy threw both hands under Dimples' outstretched
+arms with the intention of jerking her down to her feet,
+then springing from the curbing with her before both should
+topple over.
+
+His plan worked well up to the point of catching her.
+But instantly upon doing so he realized that she was moving
+with such speed as to make it impossible for him to retain
+his balance.
+
+Dimples was hurled into his arms with great force, bowling Phil
+over like a ninepin.  Yet, in falling, he did not lose his
+presence of mind.  He hoped fervently that he might be fortunate
+enough not to strike on a stake, of which there were many on that
+side of the ring.
+
+"Save yourself!" gasped the girl.
+
+Instead, Phil held her up above him at arm's length.  When he
+struck it was full on his back, the back of his head coming in
+contact with the hard ground with such force as to stun him
+almost to the point of unconsciousness.  As he struck he gave
+Dimples a little throw so that she cleared his body, landing on
+the ground beyond him.
+
+The girl stretched forth her hands and did a handspring, once
+more thorough master of herself, landing gracefully on her feet.
+But Phil had undoubtedly saved her life, as she well knew.
+
+Without giving the slightest heed to the audience, which was
+howling its delight, Dimples ran to the fallen lad, leaning over
+him anxiously.
+
+"Are you hurt?" she begged, placing a hand on his head.
+
+"I--I guess not," answered Phil, pulling himself together
+a little.  "I'll get up or they'll think something is the matter
+with me."
+
+"Let me help you."
+
+"No, thank you," he replied, brushing aside the hand she had
+extended to him.  But his back hurt him so severely that he could
+only with difficulty stand upright.
+
+Phil smiled and straightened, despite the pain.
+
+At that Dimples grasped him by the hand, leading him to the
+concourse facing the reserved seats, where she made a low bow to
+the audience; then, throwing both arms about Phil, she gave him a
+hearty kiss.
+
+Thunders of applause greeted this, the audience getting to its
+feet in its excitement.  Had it been possible, both the boy and
+Miss Dimples would have been borne in triumph from the ring.
+
+"Come back and sit down while I finish my act," she whispered.
+
+"You're not going to try that again, are you?" questioned Phil.
+
+"Of course I am.  You'll see what a hit it will make."
+
+"I saw that you came near making a hit a few moments ago,"
+answered the lad.
+
+"There, there; don't be sarcastic," she chided, giving him a
+playful tap.  "If you feel strong enough, please help me up."
+
+Phil did so smilingly; then he retired to his place by the center
+pole, against which he braced his aching back.
+
+"Turn after you have gotten over the rough spot," he
+cautioned her.
+
+Dimples nodded her understanding.
+
+This time Phil held his breath as he saw her crouching ever so
+little for her spring.
+
+Dimples uttered another shrill "yip!" and threw herself into the
+air again.
+
+He saw, with keen satisfaction, that this time she was not
+going to miss.  Dimples turned in the air with wonderful grace,
+alighting far back on the broad hips of the gray horse with
+bird-like lightness.
+
+Phil doffed his hat, and, getting to his feet, limped away,
+with the audience roaring out its applause.  They had forgotten
+all about the boy who but a few moments before had saved Little
+Dimples' life, and he was fully as well satisfied that it should
+be so.
+
+Just as he was passing the bandstand the educated mule,
+with Teddy Tucker on its back, bolted through the curtains
+like a projectile.  The mule nearly ran over Phil, then brought
+up suddenly to launch both heels at him.  But the Circus Boy had
+seen this same mule in action before, and this time Phil had
+discreetly ducked under the bandstand.
+
+Then the mule was off.
+
+"Hi-yi-yi-yip-yi!" howled Teddy, as the outfit bolted into
+the arena.  The old hands with the show discreetly darted for
+cover when they saw Teddy and his mule coming.  Like Phil
+Forrest,
+they had had experience with this same wild outfit before.
+There was no knowing what the bucking mule might not do,
+while there was a reasonable certainty in their minds as
+to what he would do if given half a chance.
+
+"Hi!  Hi!  Look out!" howled Teddy as they neared the entrance
+to the menagerie tent, where a number of people were standing.
+The boy saw that the mule had taken it into his stubborn head
+to enter the menagerie tent, there to give an exhibition of
+his contrariness.
+
+In they swept like a miniature whirlwind, the mule twisting this
+way and that, stopping suddenly now and then and bracing its feet
+in desperate efforts to unseat its rider.
+
+But Teddy held on grimly.  This rough riding was the delight of
+his heart, and the lad really was a splendid horseman, though it
+is doubtful if he realized this fact himself.
+
+A man was crossing the menagerie tent with a pail of water in
+each hand.  The mule saw him.  Here was an opportunity not to
+be lost.
+
+Teddy's mount swept past the fellow.  Then both the beast's heels
+shot out, catching both the pails at the same time.  The two
+pails took the air in a beautiful curve, like a pair of rockets,
+distributing water all the way across the tent, a liberal portion
+of which was spilled over the water carrier as the pails left
+his hands.
+
+The man chanced to be Larry, Teddy's enemy.  Teddy was traveling
+at such a rapid rate that he did not recognize the fellow,
+but Larry recognized him, and thereby another account was charged
+up against the Circus Boy.
+
+But the mule, though the time limit for his act had expired,
+had not quite satisfied his longing for excitement.
+Whirling about, he plunged toward the big top again.
+
+"Whoa!  Whoa!" howled Teddy, tugging at the reins.  But he might
+as well have tried to check the wind.  Nothing short of a stone
+wall could stop the educated mule until he was ready to stop.
+The ringmaster had blown his whistle for the next act and the
+performers were running to their stations when Teddy and his
+mount suddenly made their appearance again.
+
+"Get out of here!" yelled the ringmaster.
+
+"I am trying to do so," howled Teddy in a jeering voice.
+"Can't go any faster than I am."
+
+"Stop him!  You'll run somebody down!" shouted Mr. Sparling,
+dodging out of the way as the mule, with ears laid back on his
+head, dashed straight at the showman.
+
+"Can't stop.  In a hurry," answered Teddy.
+
+On they plunged past the bandstand again, the mule pausing
+at the paddock entrance long enough to kick the silk curtains
+into ribbons.  Next he made a dive for the dressing tent.
+
+In less time than it takes to tell it, the dressing tent looked
+as if it had been struck by a cyclone.
+
+Clubs and side poles were brought down on the rump of the wild
+mule,
+most of which were promptly kicked through the side of the tent.
+Teddy, in the meantime, had landed in a performer's trunk,
+smashing
+through the tray, being wedged in so tightly that he could not
+extricate himself.  Added to the din was Teddy's voice howling
+for help.
+
+The performers, in all stages of dress and undress, had fled to
+the outside.
+
+Then, the mule becoming suddenly meek, pricked forward his ears,
+ambled out into the paddock and began contentedly nibbling at the
+fresh grass about the edges of the enclosure.
+
+About this time Mr. Sparling came running in.  His face was red
+and the perspiration was rolling down it.
+
+"Where's that fool boy?" he bellowed.  "Where is he, I say?"
+
+"Here he is," answered the plaintive voice of Teddy Tucker.
+
+"Come out of that!"
+
+"I can't.  I'm stuck fast."
+
+The showman jerked him out with scant ceremony, while Teddy began
+pulling pieces of the trunk tray out of his clothes.
+
+"Do you want to put my show out of business?  What do you think
+this is--a cowboy picnic?  I'll fire you.  I'll--"
+
+"Better fire the mule.  I couldn't stop him," answered the boy.
+
+By this time the performers, after making sure that the mule had
+gone, were creeping back.
+
+"I'll cut that act out.  I'll have the mule shot.  I'll--
+Get out of here, before I take you over my knee and give you
+what you deserve."
+
+"I'm off," grinned Teddy, ducking under the canvas.
+
+He was seen no more about the dressing tent until just before it
+was time to go on for the evening performance.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+HIS FIRST BAREBACK LESSON
+
+"Where's that boy?"
+
+"He'll catch it if he ever dares show his face in this dressing
+tent again."
+
+This and other expressions marked the disapproval of the
+performers of the manner in which their enclosure had been
+entered and disrupted.
+
+"Don't blame him; blame the mule," advised Mr. Miaco, the
+head clown.
+
+"Yes; Teddy wasn't to blame," declared Phil, who had entered at
+that moment.  "Did he do all this?" he asked, looking about at
+the scene of disorder.
+
+"He did.  Lucky some of us weren't killed," declared one.
+"If that mule isn't cut out of the programme I'll quit
+this outfit.  Never safe a minute while he and the kid
+are around.  First, the kid gets us into a scrimmage with the
+roustabouts, then he slam bangs into the dressing tent with a
+fool mule and puts the whole business out of the running."
+
+"Was Mr. Sparling--was he mad?" asked Phil, laughing until the
+tears started.
+
+"Mad?  He was red headed," replied Miaco.
+
+"Where's Teddy?"
+
+"He got stuck in the strong man's trunk there.  The boss had to
+pull him out, for he was wedged fast.  Then the young man
+prudently made his escape.  If the boss hadn't skinned him we
+would have done so.  He got out just in time."
+
+"Are you Phil Forrest?" asked a uniformed attendant entering the
+dressing tent.
+
+"Yes; what is it?"
+
+"Lady wants to see you out in the paddock."
+
+"Who is it?"
+
+"Mrs. Robinson."
+
+"I don't know any Mrs. Robinson."
+
+"He means Little Dimples," Mr. Miaco informed him.
+
+"Oh."
+
+
+Phil hurried from the tent.  Dimples was sitting on a property
+box,
+industriously engaged on a piece of embroidery work.  She made a
+pretty picture perched up on the box engaged in her peaceful
+occupation with the needle, and the lad stopped to gaze at
+her admiringly.
+
+Dimples glanced down with a smile.
+
+"Does it surprise you to see me at my fancy work?  That's what
+I love.  Why, last season, I embroidered a new shirt waist every
+week during the show season.  I don't know what I'll do with
+them all.  But come over here and sit down by me.  I ought to
+thank you for saving my life this afternoon, but I know you would
+rather I did not."
+
+Phil nodded.
+
+"I don't like to be thanked.  It makes me feel--well, awkward,
+I guess.  You froze, didn't you?"
+
+"I did," and Dimples laughed merrily.
+
+"What made you do so--the horse?"
+
+"Yes.  I thought he was going to fall all the way down,
+then by the time I remembered where I was I couldn't turn to save
+my life.  I heard you call to me to do so, but I couldn't.
+But let's talk about you.  You hurt your back, didn't you?"
+
+"Nothing to speak of.  It will be all right by morning.  I'm just
+a little lame now.  Where were you--what show were you with
+last year?"
+
+"The Ringlings."
+
+"The Ringlings?" marveled Phil.  "Why, I shouldn't think you
+would want to leave a big show like that for a little one such
+as this?"
+
+"It's the price, my dear boy.  I get more money here, and I'm
+a star here.  In the big shows one is just a little part of a
+big organization.  There's nothing like the small shows for
+comfort and good fellowship.  Don't you think so?"
+
+"I don't know," admitted Phil.  "This is the only show I have
+ever been with.  I 'joined out' last season--"
+
+"Only last season?  Well, well!  I must say you have made pretty
+rapid progress for one who has been out less than a year."
+
+"I have made a lot of blunders," laughed Phil.  "But I'm
+learning.
+I wish, though, that I could do a bareback act one quarter as
+well
+as you do.  I should be very proud if I could."
+
+"Have you ever tried it?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Why don't you learn, then?  You'd pick it up quickly."
+
+"For the reason that I have never had an opportunity--I've had no
+one to teach me."
+
+"Then you shall do so now.  Your teacher is before you."
+
+"You--you mean that you will teach me?"
+
+"Of course.  What did you think I meant?"
+
+"I--I wasn't sure.  That will be splendid."
+
+"I saw your elephant act.  You are a very finished performer--
+a natural born showman.  If you stay in the business long enough
+you will make a great reputation for yourself."
+
+"I don't want to be a performer all my life.  I am going to own
+a show some of these days," announced the boy confidently.
+
+"Oh, you are, are you?" laughed Dimples.  "Well, if you say so,
+I most surely believe you.  You have the right sort of pluck
+to get anything you set your heart on.  Now if my boy only--"
+
+"Your boy?"
+
+"Yes.  Didn't you know that I am a married woman?"
+
+"Oh my, I thought you were a young girl," exclaimed Phil.
+
+"Thank you; that was a very pretty compliment.  But, alas, I am
+no longer young.  I have a son almost as old as you are.  He is
+with his father, performing at the Crystal Palace in London.
+I expect to join them over there after my season closes here."
+
+"Is it possible?"
+
+"Yes, and as my own boy is so far away I shall have to be a sort
+of mother to you this season.  You have no mother, have you?"
+
+"No.  My mother is dead," answered the lad in a low voice,
+lowering his eyes.
+
+"I thought as much.  Mothers don't like to have their boys join
+a circus; but, if they knew what a strict, wholesome life a
+circus performer has to lead, they would not be so set against
+the circus.  Don't you think, taking it all in all, that we are
+a pretty good sort?" smiled Dimples.
+
+"I wish everyone were as good as circus folks," the boy made
+answer so earnestly as to bring a pleased smile to the face of
+his companion.
+
+"You shall have a lesson today for that, if you wish."
+
+"Do I?"
+
+"Then run along and get on your togs.  As soon as the performance
+is over we will get out my ring horse and put in an hour's work."
+
+"Thank you, thank you!" glowed Phil as Mrs. Robinson rolled up
+her work.  "I'll be out in a few moments."
+
+Full of pleasurable anticipation, Phil ran to the dressing
+tent and began rummaging in his trunk for his working tights.
+These he quickly donned and hurried back to the paddock.
+There he found Dimples with her ring horse, petting the
+broad-backed beast while he nibbled at the grass.
+
+"Waiting, you see?" she smiled up at Forrest.
+
+"Yes.  But the performance isn't finished yet, is it?"
+
+"No.  The hippodrome races are just going on.  Come over to this
+side of the paddock, where we shall be out of the way, and I'll
+teach you a few first principles."
+
+"What do you want me to do first?"
+
+"Put your foot in my hand and I will give you a lift."
+
+The lad did as directed and sprang lightly to the back of
+the gray.
+
+"Move over on the horse's hip.  There.  Sit over just as
+far as you can without slipping off.  You saw how I did it
+this afternoon?"
+
+"Yes--oh, here I go!"
+
+Phil slid from the sloping side of the ring horse, landing in a
+heap, to the accompaniment of a rippling laugh from Dimples.
+
+"I guess I'm not much of a bareback rider," grinned the lad,
+picking himself up.  "How do you manage to stay on it in
+that position?"
+
+"I don't know.  It is just practice.  You will catch the trick of
+it very soon."
+
+"I'm not so sure of that."
+
+"There!  Now, take hold of the rein and stand up.
+Don't be afraid--"
+
+"I'm not.  Don't worry about my being afraid."
+
+"I didn't mean it that way.  Move back further.  It is not good
+to stand in the middle of your horse's back all the time.
+Besides throwing too much weight on the back, you are liable to
+tickle the animal there and make him nervous.  The best work is
+done by standing over the horse's hip.  That's it.  Tread on the
+balls of your feet."
+
+But Phil suddenly went sprawling, landing on the ground again,
+at which both laughed merrily.
+
+Very shortly after that the show in the big top came to a close.
+The concert was now going on, at the end nearest the menagerie
+tent,
+so Phil and Dimples took the ring at the other end of the tent,
+where they resumed their practice.
+
+After a short time Phil found himself able to stand erect with
+more confidence.  Now, his instructor, with a snap of her little
+whip, started the gray to walking slowly about the ring, Phil
+holding tightly to the bridle rein to steady himself.
+
+"Begin moving about now.  Tread softly and lightly.  That's it.
+You've caught it already."
+
+"Why not put a pad on the horse's back, as I've seen some
+performers do?" he questioned.
+
+"No.  I don't want you to begin that way.  Start without a pad,
+and you never will have to unlearn what you get.  That's my
+advice.
+I'm going to set him at a gallop now.  Stand straight and lean
+back
+a little."
+
+The ring horse moved off at a slow, methodical gallop.
+
+Phil promptly fell off, landing outside the ring, from where he
+picked himself up rather crestfallen.
+
+"Never mind.  You'll learn.  You are doing splendidly,"
+encouraged Dimples, assisting him to mount again.  "There's the
+press agent, Mr. Dexter, watching you.  Now do your prettiest.
+Do you know him?"
+
+"No; I have not met him.  He's the fellow that Teddy says blows
+up his words with a bicycle pump."
+
+"That's fine.  I shall have to tell him that.  Remember, you
+always want to keep good friends with the press agent.  He's the
+man who makes or unmakes you after you have passed the eagle eyes
+of the proprietor," Dimples laughed.  "From what I hear I guess
+you stand pretty high with Mr. Sparling."
+
+"I try to do what is right--do the best I know how."
+
+She nodded, clucking to the gray and Phil stopped talking at
+once, for he was fully occupied in sticking to the horse,
+over whose back he sprawled every now and then in the most
+ridiculous of positions.  But, before the afternoon's practice
+had ended, the lad had made distinct progress.  He found himself
+able to stand erect, by the aid of the bridle rein, and to keep
+his position fairly well while the animal took a slow gallop.
+He had not yet quite gotten over the dizziness caused by the
+constant traveling about in a circle in the narrow ring,
+but Dimples assured him that, after a few more turns, this would
+wear off entirely.
+
+After finishing the practice, Dimples led her horse back
+to the horse tent, promising Phil that they should meet the
+next afternoon.
+
+Phil had no more than changed to his street clothes before he
+received a summons to go to Mr. Sparling in his private tent.
+
+"I wonder what's wrong now?" muttered the lad.  "But, I think
+I know.  It's about that row we had this morning out on the lot.
+I shouldn't be surprised if I got fined for that."
+
+With a certain nervousness, Phil hurried out around the
+dressing tent, and skirting the two big tents, sought out
+Mr. Sparling in his office.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+SUMMONED BEFORE THE MANAGER
+
+The lad was not far wrong in his surmise.  That Mr. Sparling was
+angry was apparent at the first glance.
+
+He eyed Phil from head to foot, a fierce scowl wrinkling his face
+and forehead.
+
+"Well, sir, what have you been up to this afternoon?"
+
+"Practicing in the ring since the afternoon performance closed."
+
+"H-m-m-m!  And this forenoon?"
+
+"Not much of anything in the way of work."
+
+"Have any trouble with any of the men?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Who?"
+
+"A man by the name of Larry, and another whom they call Bad Eye."
+
+"Humph!  I suppose you know it's a bad breach of discipline in a
+show to have any mixups, don't you?"
+
+"I do.  I make no apologies, except that I was acting wholly in
+self defense.  All the same, I do not expect any favoritism.
+I am willing to take my punishment, whatever it may be," replied
+the lad steadily.
+
+There was the merest suspicion of a twinkle in the eyes of
+the showman.
+
+"Tell me what you did."
+
+"I punched Larry, tripped his friend, and--well, I don't
+exactly know all that did happen," answered Phil without a change
+of expression.
+
+"Knock them down?"
+
+"I--I guess so."
+
+"H-m-m.  I suppose you know both those fellows are pretty bad
+medicine, don't you?"
+
+"I may have heard something of the sort."
+
+"Larry has quite a reputation as a fighter."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"And you knocked him out?"
+
+"Something like that," answered Phil meekly.
+
+"Show me how you did it?" demanded Mr. Sparling, rising and
+standing before the culprit.
+
+"It was like this, you see," began Phil, exhibiting a sudden
+interest in the inquiry.  "I was chased by the two men.
+Suddenly I stopped and let the fellow, Larry, fall over me.
+During the scrimmage I tripped Bad Eye.  I didn't hit anyone
+until Larry crowded me so I had to do so in order to save myself,
+or else run away."
+
+"Why didn't you run, young man?"
+
+"I--I didn't like to do that, you know."
+
+Mr. Sparling nodded his head.
+
+"How did you hit him?"
+
+"He made a pass at me like this," and the lad lifted
+Mr. Sparling's hand over his shoulder.  "I came up under his
+guard with a short arm jolt like this."
+
+"Well, what next?"
+
+"That was about all there was to it.  The others came out,
+about that time, and I ducked in under the big top."
+
+To Phil's surprise Mr. Sparling broke out into a roar
+of laughter.  In a moment he grew sober and stern again.
+
+"Be good enough to tell me what led up to this assault.
+What happened before that brought on the row?  I can depend
+upon you to give me the facts.  I can't say as much for all
+the others."
+
+Phil did as the showman requested, beginning with the ducking of
+Teddy by the men when the show was leaving Germantown, and ending
+with Teddy's having emptied a pail of muddy water over Larry's
+red head that morning.
+
+He had only just finished his narration of the difficulty,
+when who should appear at the entrance to the office tent but
+Larry himself.  He was followed, a few paces behind, by Bad Eye.
+
+Mr. Sparling's stern, judicial eyes were fixed upon them.
+He demanded to hear from them their version of the affair,
+which Larry related, leaving out all mention of his having
+ducked Teddy.  His story agreed in the main details with what
+Phil already had said, excepting that Larry's recital threw the
+blame on Teddy and Phil.
+
+Mr. Sparling took a book from his desk, making a
+memorandum therein.
+
+"Is that all, sir?" questioned Larry.
+
+"Not quite.  If I hear of any further infraction of the rules of
+this show on the part of either of you two, you close right then.
+Understand?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"That's not all; I'll have you both jailed for assault.  As it
+is, I'll fine you both a week's pay.  Now get out of here!"
+
+Larry hesitated, flashed a malignant glance at Phil Forrest;
+then, turning on his heel, he left the tent.
+
+"Don't you think you had better fine me, too, sir?" asked Phil.
+
+"What for?"
+
+"Because I shall have to do it again some of these days."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"That fellow is going to be even with me at the very
+first opportunity."
+
+Mr. Sparling eyed the lad for a moment.
+
+"I guess you will be able to give a good account of yourself
+if he tries to do anything of the sort.  Let me say right here,
+though you need not tell your friend so that I think Teddy
+did just right, and I am glad you gave Larry a good drubbing.
+But, of course, we can't encourage this sort of thing with
+the show.  It has to be put down with an iron hand."
+
+"I understand, sir."
+
+"Mind, I don't expect you to be a coward."
+
+"I hope not.  My father used to teach me not to be.
+He frequently said, 'Phil, keep out of trouble, but if you
+get into it, don't sneak out.' "
+
+"That's the talk," roared Mr. Sparling, smiting his desk with
+a mighty fist.  "You run along, now, and give your young friend
+some advice about what he may expect if he gets into any
+more difficulty."
+
+"I have done that already."
+
+"Good!  Tell it to him again as coming from me.  He's going to
+make a good showman, though he came near putting this outfit out
+of business with the fool mule this afternoon.  I would cut the
+act out, but for the fact that it is a scream from start
+to finish.  Feeling all right?"
+
+"Yes, thank you.  I am perfectly able to go on in the ring act
+tonight, if you think best."
+
+"Wait until tomorrow; wait until tomorrow.  You'll be all the
+better for it."
+
+The cook tent was open, as Phil observed.  The red flag was
+flying from the center pole of the tent, indicating that supper
+was being served.  In a short time the tent would come down and
+be on its way in the flying squadron to the next stand.
+
+The show was now less than a day out, but many things
+had happened.  Not a moment had been without its interest or
+excitement, and Phil realized that as he walked toward the
+cook tent.  He found Teddy there, satisfying his appetite, or
+rather exerting himself in that direction, for Teddy's appetite
+was a thing never wholly satisfied.
+
+After supper Phil took the boy aside and delivered
+Mr. Sparling's message.  Teddy looked properly serious,
+but it is doubtful if the warning sank very deep into his mind,
+for the next minute he was turning handsprings on the lot.
+
+"Know what I'm going to do, Phil?" he glowed.
+
+"There's no telling what you will do, from one minute to the
+next, Teddy," replied Phil.
+
+"Going to practice up and see if I can't get in the leaping act."
+
+"That's a good idea.  When do you begin taking lessons?"
+
+"Taking 'em now."
+
+"From Mr. Miaco?"
+
+"Yes.  I did a turn off the springboard this afternoon with the
+'mechanic on,' " meaning the harness used to instruct beginners
+in the art of tumbling.
+
+"How did you make out?"
+
+"Fine!  I'd have broken my neck if it hadn't been for
+the harness."
+
+Phil laughed heartily.
+
+"I should say you did do finely.  But you don't expect to be able
+to jump over ten elephants and horses the way the others do?"
+
+"They don't all do it.  Some of 'em leap until they get half a
+dozen elephants in line, then they stand off and watch the real
+artists finish the act.  I can do that part of it now.  But I
+tell you I'm going to be a leaper, Phil."
+
+"Good for you!  That's the way to talk.  Keep out of trouble,
+work hard, don't talk too much, and you'll beat me yet,"
+declared Phil.  "And say!"
+
+"What?"
+
+"Be careful with that mule act tonight.  You know Mr. Sparling
+will be in there watching you.  It wouldn't take much more
+trouble to cause him to cut that act out of the programme,
+and then you might not be drawing so much salary.  Fifty dollars
+a week is pretty nice for each of us.  If we don't get swelled
+heads, but behave ourselves, we'll have a nice little pile of
+money by the time the season closes."
+
+"Yes," agreed Teddy.  "I guess that's so; but we'll be losing a
+lot of fun."
+
+"I don't agree with you," laughed Phil.
+
+The lads strolled into the menagerie tent on their way through to
+the dressing tent.  The gasoline men were busy lighting their
+lamps and hauling them on center and quarter pole, while the
+menagerie attendants were turning the tongues of the cages about
+so that the horses could be hitched on promptly after the show in
+the big top began.
+
+Some of the animals were munching hay, others of the caged beasts
+were lying with their noses poked through between the bars of
+their cages, blinking drowsily.
+
+"I'd hate to be him," announced Teddy with a comprehensive wave
+of the hand as they passed the giraffe, which stood silent in his
+roped enclosure, his head far up in the shadows.
+
+"Why?"
+
+"For two reasons.  Keeper tells me he can't make a sound.
+Doesn't bray, nor whinny, nor growl, nor bark, nor--
+can't do anything.  I'd rather be a lion or a tiger or
+something like that.  If I couldn't do anything else, then,
+I could stand off and growl at folks."
+
+Phil nodded and smiled.
+
+"And what's your other reason for being glad you are not
+a giraffe?"
+
+"Because--because--because when you had a sore throat think what
+a lot of neck you'd have to gargle!"
+
+Phil laughed outright, and as the giraffe lowered its head and
+peered down into their faces, he thought, for the moment, that he
+could see the animal grin.
+
+After this they continued on to the dressing tent, where they
+remained until time for the evening performance.  This passed off
+without incident, Teddy and his mule doing nothing more
+sensational than kicking a rent in the ringmaster's coat.
+
+After the show was over, and the tents had begun to come down,
+Phil announced his intention of going downtown for a lunch.
+
+"This fresh air makes me hungry.  You see, I am not used to it
+yet," he explained in an apologetic tone.
+
+"You do not have to go down for a lunch, unless you want to,"
+the bandmaster informed him.
+
+"Why, is there a lunch place on the grounds?"
+
+"No.  We have an accommodation car on our section."
+
+"What kind of car is that?"
+
+"Lunch car.  You can't get a heavy meal there, but you will
+find a nice satisfying lunch.  The boss has it served at cost.
+He doesn't make any money out of the deal.  You'll find it on
+our section."
+
+"Good!  Come along Teddy."
+
+"Will I?  That's where I'll spend my money," nodded Teddy,
+starting away at a jog trot.
+
+"And your nights too, if they would let you," laughed Phil,
+following his companion at a more leisurely gait.
+
+As they crossed the lot they passed "Red" Larry, as he had now
+been nicknamed by the showmen.  Larry pretended not to see the
+boys, but there was an ugly scowl on his face that told Phil he
+did, and after the lads had gone on a piece Phil turned, casting
+a careless look back where the torches were flaring and men
+working and shouting.
+
+"Red" Larry was not working now.  He was facing the boys, shaking
+a clenched fist at them.
+
+"I am afraid we haven't heard the last of our friend, Larry,"
+said Phil.
+
+"Who's afraid?" growled Teddy.
+
+"Neither of us.  But all the same we had better keep an eye on
+him while we are in his vicinity.  We don't want to get into any
+more trouble--at least not, if we can possibly avoid it."
+
+"Not till Mr. Sparling forgets about today?  Is that it?"
+
+"I guess it is," grinned Phil.
+
+"He might take it seriously?"
+
+"He already has done that.  So be careful."
+
+Teddy nodded.  But the lads had not yet heard the last of
+"Red" Larry.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE HUMAN FOOTBALL
+
+"Ever try clowning, young man?" asked the Iron-Jawed Man.
+
+Teddy Tucker shook his head.
+
+"Why don't you?"
+
+"Nobody ever asked me."
+
+"Then you had better ask the boss to let you try it.  Tell him
+you want to be a clown and that we will take you in and put you
+through your paces until you are able to go it alone."
+
+The show had been on the road for nearly two weeks now, and every
+department was working like a piece of well-oiled machinery.
+The usual number of minor disasters had befallen the outfit
+during the first week, but now everything was system and method.
+The animals had become used to the constant moving, and to the
+crowds and the noise, so that their growls of complaint were few.
+
+In that time Teddy and Phil had been going through their act on
+the flying rings daily, having shown great improvement since they
+closed with the show the previous fall.  Their winter's work had
+proved of great benefit, and Mr. Sparling had complimented them
+several times lately.
+
+Teddy was now devoting all his spare time to learning to
+somersault and do the leaping act from the springboard.
+He could, by this time, turn a somersault from the board,
+though his landing was less certain.  Any part of his anatomy
+was liable to sustain the impact of his fall, but he fell in so
+many ludicrous positions that the other performers let it go at
+that, for it furnished them much amusement.
+
+However, Teddy's unpopularity in the dressing tent had been
+apparent ever since he and the educated mule had made their
+sensational entry into that sacred domain, practically wrecking
+the place.  Teddy and his pet had come near doing the same thing
+twice since, and the performers were beginning to believe there
+was method in Tucker's madness.
+
+It had come to the point where the performers refused to remain
+in the dressing tent while Teddy and the mule were abroad,
+unless men with pike poles were stationed outside to ward off
+the educated mule when he came in from the ring.  But Teddy
+didn't care.  The lad was interested in the suggestion of the
+Iron-Jawed Man.  Had he known that the suggestion had been made
+after secret conference of certain of the performers, Tucker
+might have felt differently about it.  There was something in the
+air, but the Circus Boy did not know it.
+
+"What kind of clown act would you advise me to get up?" he asked.
+
+"Oh, you don't have to get it up.  We'll do that for you.
+In fact, there is one act that most all clowns start with, and
+it will do as well as anything else for you.  You see, you have
+to get used to being funny, or you'll forget yourself, and then
+you're of no further use as a clown."
+
+"Yes, I know; but what is the act?"
+
+"What do you say, fellows--don't you think the human football
+would fit him from the sawdust up?"
+
+"Just the thing," answered the performers thus appealed to.
+
+Mr. Miaco, the head clown, was bending over his trunk, his sides
+shaking with laughter, but Teddy did not happen to observe him,
+nor had he noticed that the head clown had had no part in
+the conversation.
+
+"The human football?" questioned Teddy dubiously.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"What's that?"
+
+"Oh, you dress up in funny makeup so you look like a huge ball."
+
+"But what do I do after I have become a football?"
+
+"Oh, you roll around in the arena, falling all over yourself and
+everybody who happens to get in your way; you bounce up and down
+and make all sorts of funny--"
+
+"Oh, I know," cried Teddy enthusiastically.  "I saw a fellow do
+that in a show once.  He would fall on the ground on his back,
+then bounce up into the air several feet."
+
+"You've hit it," replied a clown dryly.
+
+"I remember how all the people laughed and shouted.  I'll bet I'd
+make a hit doing that."
+
+"You would!" shouted the performers in chorus.
+
+The show was playing in Batavia, New York, on a rainy night,
+with rather a small house expected, so no better time could have
+been chosen for Teddy's first appearance as a clown.
+
+"Had I better speak to Mr. Sparling about it?"
+
+"Well, what do you think, fellows?"
+
+"Oh, no, no!  The old man won't care.  If you make them laugh,
+he'll be tickled half to death."
+
+"What do you say?  Is it a go, Tucker?"
+
+"Well, I'll think about it."
+
+Teddy strolled out in the paddock, where he walked up and down a
+few times in the rain.  But the more he thought about the
+proposition, the more enthusiastic he grew.  He could see himself
+the center of attraction, and he could almost hear the howls of
+delight of the multitude.
+
+"They'll be surprised.  But I don't believe I had better go on
+without first speaking to Mr. Sparling.  He might discharge me.
+He's had his eye on me ever since the mule tore up the
+dressing tent.  But I won't tell Phil.  I'll just give him
+a surprise.  How he'll laugh when he sees me and finds out
+who I am."
+
+Thus deciding, the lad ran through the tents out to the front
+door, where he asked for Mr. Sparling, knowing that by this time
+the owner's tent had been taken down and packed for shipment,
+even if it were not already under way on the flying squadron.
+
+He learned that Mr. Sparling was somewhere in the menagerie tent.
+Hurrying back there, Teddy soon came upon the object of
+his search.  At that moment he was standing in front of the cage
+of Wallace, the biggest lion in captivity, gazing at that shaggy
+beast thoughtfully.
+
+"Mr. Sparling," called Teddy.
+
+The showman turned, shooting a sharp glance at the flushed face
+of the Circus Boy.
+
+"Well, what's wrong?"
+
+"Nothing is wrong, sir."
+
+"Come to kick about feed in the cook tent?"
+
+"Oh, no, no, sir!  Nothing like that.  I've come to ask a favor
+of you."
+
+"Humph!  I thought as much.  Well, what is it?"
+
+"I--I think I'd like to be a clown, sir."
+
+"A clown?" asked the showman, with elevated eyebrows.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+Mr. Sparling laughed heartily.
+
+"Why, you're that already.  You are a clown, though you may not
+know it.  You've been a clown ever since you wore long dresses,
+I'll wager."
+
+"But I want to be a real one," urged Teddy.
+
+"What kind of clown?"
+
+"I thought I'd like to be a human football."  This time
+Mr. Sparling glanced at the boy in genuine surprise.
+
+"A human football?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"What put that idea into your head?"
+
+"Some of the fellows suggested it."
+
+"Ah!  I thought so," twinkled Mr. Sparling.  "Who, may I ask?"
+
+"Well, I guess most all of them did."
+
+"I know, but who suggested it first?"
+
+"I think the Iron-Jawed Man was the first to say that I ought to
+be a clown.  He thought I would make a great hit."
+
+"No doubt, no doubt," snapped the showman in a tone that led
+Teddy to believe he was angry about something.
+
+"May I?"
+
+Mr. Sparling reflected a moment, raised his eyes and gazed at the
+dripping roof of the menagerie tent.
+
+"When is this first appearance to be made, if I may ask?"
+
+"Oh, tonight.  The fellows said it would be a good time, as there
+would not be a very big house."
+
+"Oh, they did, eh?  Well, go ahead.  But remember you do it at
+your own risk."
+
+"Thank you."
+
+Teddy was off for the dressing room on a run.
+
+"I'm It," he cried, bursting in upon them.
+
+"Get the suit," commanded a voice.  "He's It."
+
+Somebody hurried to the property room, returning with a full
+rubber suit, helmet and all.  As yet it was merely a bundle.
+They bade Teddy get into it, all hands crowding about him,
+offering suggestions and lending their assistance.
+
+"My, I didn't know I was so popular here," thought the lad,
+pleased with these unusual attentions.  "They must think I'm the
+real thing.  I'll show them I am, too."
+
+"Get the pump," directed the Iron-Jawed Man.
+
+A bicycle pump was quickly produced, and, opening a valve, one of
+the performers began pumping air into the suit.
+
+"Here, what are you doing?" demanded Teddy.
+
+"Blowing you up--"
+
+"Here, I don't want to be blown up."
+
+"With a bicycle pump," added the performer, grinning through the
+powder and grease paint on his face.
+
+"Say, you ought to use that on the press agent!"
+
+The performers howled at this sally.
+
+Teddy began to swell out of all proportion to his natural size,
+as the bicycle pump inflated his costume.  In a few moments
+he had grown so large that he could not see his own feet,
+while the hood about his head left only a small portion of his
+face visible.
+
+"Monster!" hissed a clown, shaking a fist in Teddy's face.
+
+"I guess I am.  I'd make a hit as the Fattest Boy on Earth in
+this rig, wouldn't I?  I'll bet the Living Skeleton will be
+jealous when he sees me."
+
+"There, I guess he's pumped up," announced the operator of the
+bicycle pump.
+
+"Try it and see," suggested a voice.
+
+"All right."
+
+Teddy got a resounding blow that flattened him on the ground.
+But before he could raise his voice in protest he had bounded to
+his feet, and someone caught him, preventing his going right on
+over the other way.
+
+The performers howled with delight.
+
+"He'll do.  He'll do," they shouted.
+
+"Don't you do that again," warned the boy, a little dazed.
+
+The time was at hand for the clowns to make their own
+grand entry.
+
+"Come on, that's our cue!" shouted one, as the band struck up a
+new tune.
+
+"I--I can't run.  I'm too fat."
+
+"We'll help you."
+
+And they did.  With a clown on either side of him, Teddy was
+rushed through the silk curtains and out past the bandstand, his
+feet scarcely touching the ground.  Part of the time the clowns
+were half dragging him, and at other times carrying him.
+
+At first the audience did not catch the significance of it.
+Straight for ring No. 1 Tucker's associates rushed him.
+But just as they reached the ring they let go of him.
+
+Of course Teddy fell over the wooden ring curbing, and went
+rolling and bouncing into the center of the sawdust arena.
+Phil had made his change in the menagerie tent after finishing
+his elephant act, and was just entering the big top as Teddy
+made his sensational entrance.  He caught sight of his companion
+at once.
+
+"Who's that?" he asked of Mr. Sparling, who was standing at the
+entrance with a broad grin on his face.
+
+"That, my dear Phil, is your very good friend, Mr. Teddy Tucker."
+
+"Teddy?  You don't mean it?"
+
+"Yes; he has decided to be a clown, and I guess he is on the way.
+The people are kicking on the seats and howling."
+
+"I should judge, from appearances, that the other clowns
+were getting even more entertainment out of his act than
+is the audience."
+
+"It certainly looks that way.  But let them go.  It will do
+Master Teddy a whole lot of good."
+
+A clown jumped to the ring curbing and made a speech about the
+wonderful human football, announcing at the same time that the
+championship game was about to be played.
+
+Then they began to play in earnest.  Some had slapsticks,
+others light barrel staves, and with these they began to belabor
+the human football, each blow being so loud that it could be
+heard all over the tent.  Of course the blows did not hurt
+Teddy at all, but the bouncing and buffeting that he got aroused
+his anger.
+
+One clown would pick the lad up and throw him to a companion,
+who, in turn, would drop him.  Then the audience would yell
+with delight as the ball bounced to an upright position again.
+This the clowns kept up until Teddy did not know whether he were
+standing on his feet or his head.  The perspiration was rolling
+down his face, getting into his eyes and blinding him.
+
+"Quit it!" he howled.
+
+"Maybe you'll ride the educated mule through the dressing
+tent again?" jeered a clown.
+
+"Bring the mule out and let him knock the wind out of the
+rubber man!" suggested another.
+
+"How do you like being a clown?"
+
+This and other taunts were shouted at the rubber man, Teddy
+meanwhile expressing himself with unusual vehemence.
+
+Mr. Sparling had in the meantime sent a message back to
+the paddock.  He was holding his sides with laughter, while
+Phil himself was leaning against a quarter pole shouting
+with merriment.
+
+Suddenly there came the sound of a clanging gong, interspersed
+with shouts from the far end of the tent.
+
+The spectators quickly glanced in that direction, and they saw
+coming at a rapid rate the little patrol wagon drawn by four
+diminutive ponies, the outfit so familiar to the boys who attend
+the circus.
+
+The clowns were surprised when they observed it, knowing that the
+patrol was not scheduled to enter at this time.  Their surprise
+was even greater when the wagon dashed up and stopped where they
+were playing their game of football.  Three mock policemen leaped
+out and rushed into the thick of the mock game.
+
+As they did so they hurled the clowns right and left, standing
+some of them on their heads and beating them with their clubs,
+which, in this instance, proved to be slapsticks, that made a
+great racket.
+
+This was a part of the act that the clowns had not arranged.
+It was a little joke that the owner of the show was playing
+on them.  Quick to seize an opportunity to make a hit, Sparling
+had ordered out the show patrol, and the audience, catching
+the significance of it, shouted, swinging their hats
+and handkerchiefs.
+
+The three policemen, after laying the clowns low, grabbed the
+helpless human football by the heels, dragging him to the wagon
+and dumping him in.  They dropped the human football in so
+heavily that it bounced out again and hit the ground.  The next
+time, as they threw Teddy in, one of the officers sat on him to
+hold him.
+
+The gong set up an excited clanging, and the ponies began racing
+around the arena the long way, and took the stretch to the
+paddock at a terrific speed, with the howls of the multitude
+sounding in their ears.
+
+Reaching the dressing tent, the mock policemen let the air out
+of the rubber ball, whereat Teddy sat down heavily in a pail
+of water.
+
+The performers danced around Tucker, singing an improvised song
+about the human football.  Gradually the angry scowl on the face
+of the Circus Boy relaxed into a broad grin.
+
+"How do you like being a clown now?" jeered the Iron-Jawed Man.
+
+"Yes; how does it feel to be a football?" questioned another.
+
+"I guess you got even with me that time," answered Teddy
+good-naturedly.  "But say, that's easy compared with riding
+the educated mule."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+DUCKED BY AN ELEPHANT
+
+The great white billows of the Sparling Combined Shows were
+moving steadily across the continent.  The receipts had exceeded
+Mr. Sparling's most sanguine expectations, and he was in great
+good humor.
+
+Only one unpleasant incident had happened and that occurred at
+Franklin, Indiana.  Phil and Teddy, while on their way to their
+car after the performance late at night, had been set upon by two
+men and quite severely beaten, though both lads had given a good
+account of themselves and finally driven off their assailants.
+
+They did not report their experience to Mr. Sparling until the
+next morning, having gone directly to their car and put
+themselves to bed after having been fixed up with plasters and
+bandages by some of their companions.  The next morning neither
+lad was particularly attractive to look at.  However, bearing the
+taunts of the show people good-naturedly, they started for the
+cook tent just as they were in the habit of doing every day.
+
+But Mr. Sparling had seen them as they passed his car on
+their way.
+
+"Now, I wonder what those boys have been up to?" he scowled,
+watching their receding forms thoughtfully.  "I'll find out."
+
+And he did.  He summoned the lads to his office in the tent soon
+after breakfast.
+
+"I expected you would send for us," grinned Phil, as he walked in
+with Teddy.
+
+"What about it?  You are both sights!"
+
+"Grease paint and powder will cover it up, I guess,
+Mr. Sparling."
+
+"I'll hear how it happened."
+
+"I can't tell you much about it," said Phil.  "We were on our way
+to the car when a couple of men suddenly jumped out from a fence
+corner and went at us hammer and tongs.  That's when we got these
+beauty spots.  If we had seen the fellows coming we might not
+have been hit at all."
+
+"Wait a minute; where did this occur?" demanded the showman.
+
+"Just outside the lot at Franklin.  It was very dark there, and,
+as you know, the sky was overcast."
+
+"Did you know the men--had you ever seen them before?"
+
+"I couldn't say as to that."
+
+"No, sir; we couldn't say," added Teddy, nodding.
+
+Mr. Sparling turned a cold eye upon Tucker.
+
+"I haven't asked for remarks from you, young man.  When I do you
+may answer."
+
+Teddy subsided for the moment.
+
+"But, had it been anyone you knew, you must have recognized
+their voices."
+
+"They didn't say a word.  Just pitched into us savagely.  I think
+they might have done us serious injury had we not defended
+ourselves pretty well."
+
+"It occurs to me that you were rather roughly handled as it was,"
+said the showman, with a suspicion of a grin on his face.
+"Doctor fixed you up, I suppose?"
+
+"Oh, no; it wasn't so bad as that."
+
+"Have you any suspicion--do you think it was any of the
+show people?" demanded Mr. Sparling, eyeing Phil penetratingly.
+
+"I don't know.  Here is a button I got from the coat of one of
+the men.  That may serve to identify him if he is one of our men.
+I haven't had a chance to look around this morning."
+
+The showman quickly stretched forth his hand for the button,
+which he examined curiously.
+
+"And here's a collar, too," chuckled Teddy.
+
+"A collar?  Where did you get that, young man?"
+
+"Oh, I just yanked it off the other fellow.  Guess it hasn't been
+to the laundry this season."
+
+Mr. Sparling leaned back and laughed heartily.
+
+"Between you, you boys will be the ruination of me.  You take my
+mind off business so that I don't know what I'm about half of
+the time.  But I can't get along without you.  I'll look into
+this matter," he went on more gravely.  "Tell the boss canvasman
+to send Larry and Bad Eye to me."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+The lads delivered the message.
+
+Mr. Sparling's eyes twinkled as these two worthies sneaked
+into his tent, each with a hangdog expression on his face.
+"Red" Larry had a black eye, while Bad Eye's nose appeared
+to have listed to one side.
+
+The showman glanced at Larry's coat, then at the button in his
+own hand.  He nodded understandingly.  Bad Eye was collarless.
+
+"Here's a button that I think you lost off your coat last night,
+Larry," smiled Mr. Sparling sweetly.  "And, Bad Eye, here's
+your collar.  Better send it to the washerwoman."
+
+The men were speechless for the moment.
+
+"Go to the boss, both of you, and get your time.  Then I want you
+to clear out of here."
+
+"Wha--what--we ain't done nothing," protested Larry.
+
+"And you had better not.  If I see you about the circus lot again
+this season, I'll have you both in the nearest jail quicker than
+you can say 'scat!' Understand?  Get out of here!"
+
+The showman half rose from his chair, glaring angrily at them.
+His good-nature had suddenly left him, and the canvasmen, knowing
+what they might expect from the wrathful showman, stood not upon
+the order of their going.  They ran.
+
+Larry had left some of his belongings behind a cage in the
+menagerie tent, and he headed directly for that place to get it
+out and foot it for the village before Mr. Sparling should
+discover him on the grounds.
+
+In going after his bundle Larry was obliged to pass the elephant
+station, where the elephants were taking their morning baths,
+throwing water over their backs from tubs that had been placed
+before them.  A pail full of water had been left near old
+Emperor's tub by the keeper, because the tub would hold no more.
+
+Emperor apparently had not observed it, nor did he seem to
+see the red-headed canvasman striding his way.  Mr. Kennedy,
+the keeper, was at the far end of the line sweeping off the baby
+elephant with a broom, while Phil and Teddy were sitting on a
+pile of straw back of Emperor discussing their experience the
+previous evening.
+
+"There's Red," said Teddy, pointing.
+
+"Yes, and he seems to be in a great hurry about something.
+I'll bet Mr. Sparling has discharged him.  I'm sorry.  I hate
+to see anybody lose his job, but I guess Red deserves it if
+anybody does.  He's one of the fellows that attacked us
+last night.  I haven't the least doubt about that."
+
+"Yes, and he's got a button off his coat, too," added Teddy,
+peering around Emperor.  "What I want now is to see a fellow with
+his collar torn off.  I got a tent stake here by me that I'd like
+to meet him with."
+
+"You would do nothing of the sort, Teddy Tucker!  Hello, what's
+going on there?"
+
+As Larry passed swiftly in front of Emperor, the old elephant's
+trunk suddenly wrapped itself about the pail of water unobserved
+by the discharged canvasman.
+
+Emperor lifted the pail on high, quickly twisted it bottom side
+up and jammed it down over the head of Larry.  The latter went
+down under the impact and before he could free himself from the
+pail and get up, Emperor had performed the same service for him
+with the tub of water.
+
+Under the deluge Red Larry was yelling and choking, making
+desperate efforts to get up.  He struggled free in a moment,
+and in his blind rage he hurled the empty pail full in Emperor's
+face, following it with a blow over the animal's trunk with a
+tent stake.
+
+It was the elephant's turn to be angry now.  He did not take into
+consideration that it was he that was to blame for the assault.
+Stretching out his trunk, he encircled the waist of the yelling
+canvasman, and, raising him on high, dashed him to the ground
+almost under his ponderous feet.
+
+Phil had risen about the time the tub came down.  At first he
+laughed; but when the elephant caught his victim, the lad knew
+that the situation was critical.
+
+"Emperor!  Down!" he shouted.
+
+It was then that the elephant cast Red under his feet.
+
+Phil darted forward just as a ponderous foot was raised to
+trample the man to death.  Without the least sense of fear the
+lad ran in under Emperor, and, grabbing Larry by the heels,
+dragged him quickly out.
+
+The elephant was furious at the loss of his prey, and, raising
+his trunk, trumpeted his disapproval, straining at his chains and
+showing every sign of dangerous restlessness.
+
+After getting Larry out of harm's way, Phil sprang fearlessly
+toward his elephant friend.
+
+"Quiet, Emperor, you naughty boy!" Forrest chided.  "Don't you
+know you might have killed him?  I wouldn't want anything to do
+with you if you had done a thing like that."
+
+Gradually the great beast grew quiet and his sinuous trunk sought
+out the Circus Boy's pockets in search of sweets, of which there
+was a limited supply.
+
+While this was going on Mr. Kennedy, the keeper, had hurried
+up and dashed a pail of water into the face of the now
+unconscious Larry.  By this time Larry was well soaked down.
+He could not have been more so had he fallen in a mill pond.
+But the last bucketful brought him quickly to his senses.
+
+"You--you'll pay for this," snarled Larry, shaking his fist at
+Phil Forrest.
+
+"Why, I didn't do anything, Larry," answered the lad
+in amazement.
+
+"You did.  You set him on to me."
+
+"That'll be about all from you, Mr. Red Head," warned Kennedy.
+"The kid didn't do anything but save your life.  I wouldn't
+let a little thing like that trouble me if I were you.
+You've been doing something to that bull, or he'd never have
+used you like that.  Why, Emperor is as gentle as a young kitten.
+He wouldn't hurt a fly unless the fly happened to bite him
+too hard.  Phil, did you see that fellow do anything to him?"
+
+Phil shook his head.
+
+"Not now.  He may have at some other time."
+
+"That's it!"
+
+Just then Mr. Sparling came charging down on the scene, having
+heard of the row out at the front door.
+
+Larry saw him coming.  He decided not to argue the question any
+further, but started on a run across the tent, followed by the
+showman, who pursued him with long, angry strides.  But Larry
+ducked under the tent and got away before his pursuer could
+reach him, while Phil and Teddy stood holding their sides
+with laughter.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+IN DIRE PERIL
+
+Two days had passed and nothing more had been seen of the
+discharged canvasmen.  Believing they were well rid of them
+all hands proceeded to forget about the very existence of Larry
+and Bad Eye.
+
+As Phil was passing the roped-off enclosure where the elephants
+were tethered, the next morning just before the parade, he saw
+Mr. Kennedy regarding one of the elephants rather anxiously.
+
+"What's the trouble?  Anything gone wrong?" sang out the
+lad cheerily.
+
+"Not yet," answered the keeper without turning his head.
+
+"Something is bothering you or else you are planning out
+something new for the bulls," decided Phil promptly.
+"What is it?"
+
+"I don't like the way Jupiter is acting."
+
+"How?"
+
+"He is ugly."
+
+Phil ducked under the ropes and boldly walked over toward the
+swaying beast.
+
+"Better keep away from him.  He isn't to be trusted today."
+
+"Going to send him out in the parade?"
+
+"Haven't decided yet.  I may think it best to leave Jupiter here
+with perhaps the baby elephant for company.  He would cut up, I'm
+afraid, were I to leave him here alone.  No; I think, upon second
+thought, that we had better take him out.  It may take his mind
+from his troubles."
+
+"What do you think is the matter with him?" questioned the
+Circus Boy, regarding the beast thoughtfully.
+
+"That's what bothers me.  He has never acted this way before.
+Usually there are some signs that I told you about once before
+that tells one an elephant is going bad."
+
+"You mean the tear drops that come out from the slit under
+the eye?"
+
+"Yes.  There has been nothing of that sort with Jupiter."
+
+"He acts to me as if he had a bad stomach," suggested
+Phil wisely.
+
+"That's right.  That expresses it exactly.  I guess we'll have to
+give him a pill to set him straight.  But Jupiter never was much
+of a hand for pills.  He'll object if we suggest it."
+
+"Then don't suggest it.  Just give it to him in his food."
+
+"You can't fool him," answered Mr. Kennedy, with a shake of
+the head.  "He'd smell it a rod away, and that would make him
+madder than ever.  The best way is to make him open his mouth and
+throw the pill back as far as possible in his throat."
+
+"Have you told Mr. Sparling?"
+
+"No.  He doesn't like to be bothered with these little things.
+He leaves that all to me.  It's a guess, though, as to just
+what to do under these conditions.  No two cases, any more
+than any two elephants, are alike when it comes to disposition
+and treatment."
+
+"No; I suppose not."
+
+"Where are you going now, Phil?"
+
+"Going back to the dressing tent to get ready for the parade.
+Hope you do not have any trouble."
+
+"No; I guess I shan't.  I can manage to hold him, and if I don't,
+I'll turn Emperor loose.  He makes a first-rate policeman."
+
+Phil hurried on to the dressing tent, for he was a little late
+this morning, for which he was not wholly to blame, considerable
+time having been lost in his interview with Mr. Sparling.
+
+In the hurry of preparation for the parade, Phil forgot all about
+Mr. Kennedy's concern over Jupiter.  But he was reminded of it
+again when he rode out to fall in line with the procession.
+Mr. Kennedy and his charges, all well in hand, were just
+emerging from the menagerie tent to take their places for
+the parade.  Jupiter was among them.  He saw, too, that
+Mr. Kennedy was walking by Jupiter's side, giving him almost
+his exclusive attention.
+
+Phil's place in the parade this season was with a body of
+German cavalry.  He wore a plumed hat, with a gaudy uniform and
+rode a handsome bay horse, one of the animals used in the running
+race at the close of the circus.  Phil had become very proficient
+on horseback and occasionally had entered the ring races, being
+light enough for the purpose.  He had also kept up his bareback
+practice, under the instruction of Dimples, until he felt quite
+proud of his achievements.
+
+Vincennes, where the show was to exhibit that day, was a large
+town, and thousands of people had turned out to view the parade
+which had been extensively advertised as one of the greatest
+features ever offered to the public.
+
+"They seem to like it," grinned Phil, turning to the rider
+beside him.
+
+"Act as if they'd never seen a circus parade before," answered
+the man.  "But wait till we get out in some of the way-back towns
+in the West."
+
+"I thought we were West now?"
+
+"Not until we get the other side of the Mississippi, we won't be.
+They don't call Indiana West.  We'll be getting there pretty
+soon, too.  According to the route card, we are going to make
+some pretty long jumps from this on."
+
+"We do not go to Chicago, do we?"
+
+"No.  Show's not quite big enough for that town.  We go south of
+it, playing some stands in Illinois, then striking straight west.
+Hello, what's the row up ahead there?"
+
+"What row, I didn't see anything."
+
+"Something is going on up there.  See!  The line is breaking!"
+
+The part of the parade in which Phil was located was well up
+toward the elephants, the animals at that moment having turned
+a corner, moving at right angles to Phil's course.
+
+"It's the elephants!" cried the lad aghast.
+
+"What's happening?"
+
+"They have broken the line!"
+
+All was confusion at the point on which the two showmen had
+focused their eyes.
+
+"It's a stampede, I do believe!" exclaimed Phil.  "I wonder where
+Mr. Kennedy is?  I don't see him anywhere."
+
+"There!  They're coming this way."
+
+"What, the elephants?  Yes, that's so.  Oh, I'm afraid somebody
+will be killed."
+
+"If there hasn't already been," growled Phil's companion.
+"I'm going to get out of this while I have the chance.  I've seen
+elephants on the rampage before."  Saying which, the showman
+turned his horse and rode out of the line.  His example was
+followed by many of the others.
+
+People were screaming and rushing here and there, horses
+neighing, and the animals in the closed cages roaring in a
+most terrifying way.
+
+Phil pulled his horse up short, undecided what to do.  He had
+never seen a stampede before, but desperate as the situation
+seemed, he felt no fear.
+
+The elephants, with lowered heads, were charging straight ahead.
+Now Phil saw that which seemed to send his heart right up into
+his throat.
+
+Little Dimples had been riding in a gayly bedecked two-wheeled
+cart, drawn by a prancing white horse.  Dressed in white from
+head to foot, she looked the dainty creature that she was.
+
+Dimples, seeing what had happened, had wheeled her horse
+quickly out of line, intending to turn about and drive back along
+the line.  It would be a race between the white horse and the
+elephants, but she felt sure she would be able to make it and
+turn down a side street before the stampeding herd reached her.
+
+She might have done so, had it not been for one unforeseen
+incident.
+As she dashed along a rider, losing his presence of mind, if
+indeed,
+he had had any to lose, drove his horse directly in front of her.
+The result was a quick collision, two struggling horses lying
+kicking in the dust of the street, and a white-robed figure lying
+stretched out perilously near the flying hoofs.
+
+The force of the collision had thrown Little Dimples headlong
+from her seat in the two wheeled cart, and there she lay,
+half-dazed with the herd of elephants thundering down upon her.
+
+Phil took in her peril in one swift glance.
+
+"She'll be killed!  She'll be killed!" he cried, all the color
+suddenly leaving his face.
+
+All at once he drove the rowels of his spurs against the sides of
+his mount.  The animal sprang away straight toward the oncoming
+herd, but Phil had to fight every inch of the way to keep the
+horse from turning about and rushing back, away from the peril
+that lay before it.
+
+The lad feared he would not be able to reach Dimples in time,
+but with frequent prods of spur and crop, uttering little
+encouraging shouts to the frightened horse, he dashed on,
+dodging fleeing showmen and runaway horses at almost every jump.
+
+He forged up beside the girl at a terrific pace.  But, now that
+he was there, the lad did not dare dismount, knowing that
+were he to do so, his horse would quickly break away from him,
+thus leaving them both to be crushed under the feet of the
+ponderous beasts.
+
+It was plain to Phil that Jupiter must have gone suddenly bad,
+and, starting on a stampede, had carried the other bulls
+with him.  And he even found himself wondering if anything
+had happened to his friend Kennedy, the elephant trainer.
+If Kennedy were on his feet he would be after them.
+
+As it was, no one appeared to be chasing the runaway beasts.
+
+Phil leaned far from the saddle grasping the woman by her
+flimsy clothing.  It gave way just as he had begun to lift her,
+intending to pull her up beside him on the horse's back.
+
+Twice he essayed the feat, each time with the same result.
+The bay was dancing further away each time, and the elephants
+were getting nearer.  The uproar was deafening, which, with
+the trumpetings of the frightened elephants, made the stoutest
+hearts quail.
+
+With a grim determination Forrest once more charged alongside
+of Dimples.  As he did so she opened her eyes, though Phil did
+not observe this, else he might have acted differently.
+
+As it was he threw himself from the bay while that animal was
+still on the jump.  Keeping tight hold of the saddle pommel,
+the reins bunched in the hand that grasped it, Phil dropped down.
+When he came up, Dimples was on his arm.
+
+He then saw that she was herself again.
+
+"Can you hold on if I get you up?"
+
+"Yes.  You're a good boy."
+
+Phil made no reply, but, with a supreme effort, threw the girl
+into the saddle.  To do so he was obliged to let go the pommel
+and the reins for one brief instant.  But he succeeded in
+throwing Dimples up to the saddle safely, where she quickly
+secured herself.
+
+The bay was off like a shot, leaving Phil directly in front of
+the oncoming elephants.
+
+"Run!  I'll come back and get you," shouted Dimples over
+her shoulder.
+
+"You can't.  The reins are over the bay's head," he answered.
+
+She was powerless to help.  Dimples realized this at once.
+She was in no danger herself.  She was such a skillful rider that
+it made little difference whether the reins were in her hand or
+on the ground, so far as maintaining her seat was concerned.
+With Phil, however, it was different.
+
+"I guess I might as well stand still and take it," muttered the
+lad grimly.
+
+He turned, facing the mad herd, a slender but heroic figure in
+that moment of peril.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+EMPEROR TO THE RESCUE
+
+"Get back!" shouted the boy.
+
+He had descried Teddy Tucker driving his own mount toward him.
+Teddy was coming to the rescue in the face of almost
+certain death.
+
+"You can't make it!  Go back!"
+
+Whether or not Teddy heard and understood, did not matter,
+for at that moment the view of the plucky lad was shut off
+by the elephants forming their charging line into crescent shape.
+
+"Emperor!" he called in a shrill penetrating voice.  But in the
+dust of the charge he could not make out which one was Emperor,
+yet he continued calling lustily.
+
+"Emperor!"
+
+Phil threw his hands above his head as was his wont when desirous
+of having the old elephant pick him up.
+
+Right across the center of the crescent careened a great hulking
+figure, uttering loud trumpetings--trumpetings that were taken up
+by his companions until the very ground seemed to shake.
+
+Phil's back was half toward the big elephant, and in the noise he
+did not distinguish a familiar note in the call.
+
+All at once he felt himself violently jerked from the ground.
+The lad was certain that his time had come.  But out of that
+cloud of dust, in which those who looked, believed that the
+little Circus Boy had gone down to his death, Phil Forrest
+rose right up into the air and was dropped unharmed to the back
+of old Emperor.
+
+For the moment he was so dizzy that he was unable to make up his
+mind what had happened or where he was.  Then it all came to him.
+He was on Emperor's back.
+
+"Hurrah!" shouted Phil.  "Good old Emperor!  Steady, steady,
+Emperor!
+That's a good fellow."
+
+He patted the beast's head with the flat of his hand, crooned to
+him, using every artifice that he knew to quiet the nerves of his
+big friend.
+
+Little by little Emperor appeared to come out of his fright,
+until the lad felt almost certain that the big beast would
+take orders.  He tried the experiment.
+
+"Left, Emperor!"
+
+The elephant swerved sharply to the left, aided by a sharp tap of
+the riding crop which Phil still carried.
+
+Phil uttered a little cry of exultation.
+
+"Now, if I can head them off!"
+
+With this in mind he gradually worked Emperor around until the
+herd had been led into a narrow street.  Here, Phil began forcing
+his mount back and forth across the street in an effort to check
+the rush of the stampede, all the time calling out the command to
+slow down, which he had learned from Mr. Kennedy.
+
+He was more successful than he had even dreamed he could be.
+
+"Now, if I am not mistaken, that street beyond there leads out to
+the lot.  I'll see if I can make them go that way."
+
+All did save Jupiter, who charged straight ahead for some
+distance, then turning sharply tore back and joined his fellows.
+
+"If I had a hook I believe I could lead him.  He's a very
+bad elephant.  I hope nobody has been killed."
+
+It was more quiet in the street where Forrest now found himself,
+and by degrees the excitement that had taken possession of the
+huge beasts began to wear off.
+
+Phil uttered his commands to them in short, confident tones,
+all the time drawing nearer and nearer to the circus lot.
+
+Very soon the fluttering flags from the big top were seen above
+the intervening housetops.
+
+"I'm going to win--oh, I hope I do!" breathed the Circus Boy.
+
+With rapid strides, at times merging into a full run, the beasts
+tore along, now understanding that they were nearing their
+quarters, where safety and quiet would be assured.
+
+And, beyond that, it was time for their dinners.  Already bales
+of hay had been placed in front of their quarters, and the
+elephants knew it.
+
+As the procession burst into the circus lot a dozen attendants
+started on a run toward them.
+
+"Keep off!" shouted Phil.  "Do you want to stampede them again?
+Keep away, I tell you and I'll get them home.  Drive all the
+people out of the way in case the bulls make another break.
+That's all you can do now."
+
+Now young Forrest urged Emperor to the head of the line of
+bobbing beasts, feeling sure that the others would follow him
+in now.
+
+They did.  The whole line of elephants swept in through the
+opening that the attendants had quickly made by letting down
+a section of the side walls of the menagerie tent, with Phil
+Forrest a proud and happy boy, perched on the head of
+old Emperor.
+
+"Halt!"
+
+He went at it with all the confidence and skill of a professional
+elephant trainer.
+
+"Stations!"
+
+Each beast walked to his regular place, a dozen sinuous trunks
+gathering up as many wisps of hay.
+
+"Back up!  Back, Jupiter!"
+
+As docile as if they never had left the tent, each huge beast
+slowly felt his way into his corner.
+
+"Good boy, Emperor!" glowed Phil holding out a small bag of
+peanuts, which Emperor quickly stowed away in his mouth bag
+and all.
+
+"You greedy fellow!  Now get back into your own corner!"
+
+The elephant did so.
+
+"You fellows keep away from here," warned Phil as the anxious
+tent men began crowding around him.  "Don't let anybody get these
+big fellows excited.  We've had trouble enough for one day."
+
+Phil then began chaining down the beasts, his first care being to
+secure the unruly Jupiter.  But Jupiter's fit of bad temper
+seemed to have left him entirely.  He was as peaceful as could
+be, and, to show that he was good, he showered a lot of hay all
+over Phil.
+
+"You bad, bad boy!" chided the lad.  "All this is just because
+you let your temper get the best of you.  I think perhaps
+Mr. Sparling may have something to say to you if anyone
+has been killed or seriously hurt.  Oh, you want some peanuts,
+do you?  I haven't any, but I'll get you some, though goodness
+knows you don't deserve any.  Bring me some peanuts, will
+you please?"
+
+An attendant came running with a bag of them.  Phil met him
+halfway, not wishing the man to approach too near.  With the bag
+in his hand the boy walked slowly down the line, giving to each
+of his charges a small handful.
+
+This was the final act in subduing them.  They were all
+thoroughly at home and perfectly contented now, and Phil
+had chained the last one down, except the baby elephant,
+that usually was left free to do as it pleased, providing it did
+not get too playful.
+
+At this moment Phil heard a great shouting out on the lot.
+
+"Go out there and stop that noise!" the boy commanded.  He was as
+much in charge of the show at that moment as if he had been the
+proprietor himself.
+
+Shortly after that Mr. Kennedy came rushing in on one of the
+circus ponies that he had taken from a parade rider.  Phil was
+delighted to see that the keeper was uninjured.
+
+"Did you do this, Phil Forrest?" he shouted bursting in.
+
+"Yes.  But I'll have to do it all over again if you keep on
+yelling like that.  What happened to you?"
+
+"Jupiter threw me over a fence, into an excavation where they
+were digging for a new building.  I thought I was dead, but after
+a little I came to and crawled out.  It was all over but the
+shouting then."
+
+"Did you know I had them?"
+
+"No; not until I got near the lot.  I followed their tracks
+you see.  Finally some people told me a kid was leading the herd
+back here.  I knew that was you.  Phil Forrest, you are a dandy.
+I can't talk now!  I'm too winded.  I'll tell you later on what I
+think of your kind.  Now I'm going to whale the daylights out of
+that Jupiter."
+
+"Please don't do anything of the sort," begged Phil.  "He is
+quiet now.  He has forgotten all about it.  I am afraid if you
+try to punish him you will only make him worse."
+
+"Good elephant sense," emphasized the keeper.  "You ought to be
+on the animals."
+
+"It seems to me that I have been pretty well on them today,"
+grinned the lad.  "Oh, was anybody killed?"
+
+"I think not.  Don't believe anyone was very seriously hurt.
+You see, that open lot there gave the people plenty of chance
+to see what was coming.  They had plenty of time to get away
+after that."
+
+"I'm so glad.  I hope no one was killed."
+
+"Reckon there would have been if you hadn't got busy when
+you did."
+
+"Have you seen Mrs. Robinson?  I'm rather anxious about her."
+
+"There she is now."
+
+Dimples had changed her torn white dress for a short riding
+skirt, and when Phil turned about she was running toward him
+with outstretched arms.  He braced himself and blushed violently.
+
+"Oh, you dear," cried the impulsive little equestrienne, throwing
+both arms about Phil's neck.  "I wish my boy could have seen you
+do that!  It was splendid.  You're a hero!  You'll see what a
+craze the people will make of you--"
+
+"I--I think they are more likely to chase us out of town,"
+laughed Phil.  "We must have smashed up things pretty
+thoroughly downtown."
+
+"Never mind; Mr. Sparling will settle the damage.  The only
+trouble will be that he won't have anyone to scold.  You saved
+the day, Phil, and you saved me as well.  Of course I'm not much,
+but I value my precious little life just as highly as the next
+one--I mean the next person."
+
+"The bay ran away with you, didn't he?"
+
+"I suppose that's what some people would call it.  It would have
+been a glorious ride if it hadn't been that I expected you were
+being trampled to death back there.  The bay brought me right to
+the lot, then stopped, of course.  Circus horses have a lot of
+sense.
+I heard right away that you were not injured and that you were
+bringing the bulls in.  Then I was happy.  I'm happy now.
+We'll have a lesson after the show.  You--"
+
+"When do you think I shall be fit to go in the ring?"
+
+"Fit now!  You're ahead of a good many who have been working
+at it for years, and I mean just what I'm saying.  There is
+Mr. Sparling.  Come on; run along back to the paddock with me.
+I haven't finished talking with you yet."
+
+"Perhaps he may want me," hesitated Phil.
+
+"Nothing very particular.  He'll want to have it out with
+Mr. Kennedy first.  Then, if he wants you, he can go back and
+hunt you up, or send for you.  Mr. Sparling knows how to send for
+people when he wants them, doesn't he?" twinkled Dimples.
+
+"I should say he did," grinned Phil.  "He's not bashful.  Has my
+friend Teddy got back yet?"
+
+"Haven't seen him.  Why?  Worried about him?"
+
+"Not particularly.  He has a habit of taking care of himself
+under most circumstances."
+
+Dimples laughed heartily.
+
+"It will take more than a stampede to upset him.  He'll make a
+showman if he ever settles down to the work in earnest."
+
+"He has settled down, Mrs. Robinson," answered Phil with
+some dignity.
+
+"My, my!  But you needn't growl about it.  I was paying him
+a compliment."
+
+Thus she chattered on until they reached the paddock.  They had
+been there but a few moments before the expected summons for Phil
+was brought.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+AN UNEXPECTED PROMOTION
+
+Phil responded rather reluctantly.  He would have much preferred
+to sit out in the paddock talking circus with Little Dimples.
+
+He found Mr. Sparling striding up and down in front of the
+elephant enclosure.
+
+"I hope nothing very serious happened, Mr. Sparling," greeted
+Phil, approaching him.
+
+"If you mean damages, no.  A few people knocked down, mostly due
+to their own carelessness.  I've got the claim-adjuster at work
+settling with all we can get hold of.  But we'll get it all back
+tonight, my boy.  We'll have a turn-away this afternoon, too,
+unless I am greatly mistaken.  Why, they're lining up outside the
+front door now."
+
+"I'm glad for both these things," smiled Phil.  "Especially so
+because no one was killed."
+
+"No.  But one of our bareback riders was put out of business for
+a time."
+
+"Is that so?  Who?"
+
+"Monsieur Liebman."
+
+"Oh, that's too bad.  What happened to him?"
+
+"Someone ran him down.  He was thrown and sprained his ankle.
+He won't ride for sometime, I reckon.  But come over here and
+sit down.  I want to have a little chat with you."
+
+Mr. Sparling crossed the tent, sitting down on a bale of straw
+just back of the monkey cage.  The simians were chattering
+loudly, as if discussing the exciting incidents of the morning.
+But as soon as they saw the showman they flocked to the back of
+the cage, hanging by the bars, watching him to find out what he
+was going to do.
+
+He made a place for Phil beside him.
+
+"Sit down."
+
+"Thank you."
+
+"I was just running up in my mind, on my way back, that,
+in actual figures, you've saved me about ten thousand dollars.
+Perhaps it might be double that.  But that's near enough for all
+practical purposes."
+
+"I saved you--" marveled Phil, flushing.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"How?"
+
+"Well, you began last year, and you have started off at the same
+old pace this season.  Today you have gone and done it again.
+That was one of the nerviest things I ever saw.  I wouldn't
+have given a copper cent for your life, and I'll bet you
+wouldn't, either."
+
+"N-o-o," reflected Phil slowly, "I thought I was a goner."
+
+"While the rest of our crowd were hiking for cover, like a lot of
+'cold feet,' you were diving right into the heart of the trouble,
+picking up my principal equestrienne.  Then you sent her away and
+stopped to face the herd of bulls.  Jumping giraffes, but it was
+a sight!"
+
+By this time the monkeys had gone back to finish their
+animated discussion.
+
+"I do not deserve any credit for that.  I was caught and I
+thought I might as well face the music."
+
+"Bosh!  I heard you calling for Emperor, and I knew right away
+that that little head of yours was working like the wheels of
+a chariot in a Roman race.  I knew what you were trying to do,
+but I'd have bet a thousand yards of canvas you never would.
+You did, though," and the showman sighed.
+
+Phil was very much embarrassed and sat kicking his heels into
+the soft turf, wishing that Mr. Sparling would talk about
+something else.
+
+"The whole town is talking about it.  I'm going to have the press
+agent wire the story on ahead.  I told him, just before I came
+in, that if he'd follow you he'd get 'copy' enough to last him
+all the rest of his natural life.  All that crowd out there has
+come because there was a young circus boy with the show, who had
+a head on his shoulders and the pluck to back his gray matter."
+
+"Have you talked with Mr. Kennedy?" asked Phil, wishing to change
+the personal trend of the conversation.
+
+"Yes; why?"
+
+"Did he say what he thought was the matter with Jupiter?"
+
+"He didn't know.  He knew only that Jupiter had been 'off' for
+nearly two days.  Kennedy said something about a bad stomach.
+Why do you ask that question?" demanded the showman, with a
+shrewd glance at the boy.
+
+"Because I have been wondering about Jupiter quite a little
+since morning.  I've been thinking, Mr. Sparling."
+
+"Now what are you driving at?  You've got something in your head.
+Out with it!"
+
+"It may sound foolish, but--"
+
+"But what?"
+
+"While Jupiter was bad, he showed none of the signs that come
+from a fit of purely bad temper--that is, before the stampede."
+
+"That's right."
+
+"Then what brought it on?" asked Phil looking Mr. Sparling
+squarely in the eyes.
+
+For a few seconds man and boy looked at each other without
+a word.
+
+"What's your idea?" asked the showman quietly.
+
+"It's my opinion that somebody doctored him--gave him
+something--"
+
+The showman uttered a long, low whistle.
+
+"You've hit it!  You've hit it!" he exclaimed, bringing a hand
+down on the lad's knee with such force that Phil winced.
+"It's one of those rascally canvasmen that I discharged.  Oh, if
+ever I get my hands on him it will be a sorry day for him!
+You haven't seen him about, have you?"
+
+"I thought I caught a glimpse of him on the street yesterday
+during the parade, but he disappeared so quickly that I could not
+be sure."
+
+Mr. Sparling nodded reflectively.
+
+"You probably heard how Emperor ducked him and--"
+
+"Yes; you remember I came up just after the occurrence.
+I'll tell you what I want you to do."
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"I'll release you from the parade for tomorrow, and perhaps
+longer, and I want you to spend your time moving around among
+the downtown crowds to see if you can spot him.  If you succeed,
+well you will know what to do."
+
+"Want me to act as a sort of detective?" grinned Phil.
+
+"Well, you might put it that way, but I don't.  You are serving
+me if--"
+
+"Yes; I know that.  I am glad to serve you in any way I can."
+
+"I don't have to take your word for that," laughed Mr. Sparling.
+"I think you have shown me.  I have been thinking of
+another matter.  It has been in my mind for several days."
+
+Phil glanced up inquiringly.
+
+"How would you like to come out front?"
+
+"You mean?"
+
+"To join my staff?  I need someone just like you--a young man
+with ideas, with the force to put them into execution after he
+has developed them.  You are the one I want."
+
+"But, Mr. Sparling--"
+
+"Wait till I get through.  You can continue with your acts if you
+wish, just the same, and give your odd moments to me."
+
+"In what capacity?"
+
+"Well, for the want of a better name we'll call it a sort of
+confidential man."
+
+"I appreciate the offer more than I can tell you, Mr. Sparling.
+But--but--"
+
+"But what?"
+
+"I want to go through the mill in the ring.  I want to learn to
+do everything that almost anyone can do there."
+
+The showman laughed.
+
+"Then you would be able to do what few men ever have succeeded
+in doing.  You would be a wonder.  I'm not saying that you are
+not that already, in your way.  But you would be a wonder
+among showmen."
+
+"I can do quite a lot of things now."
+
+"I know you can.  And you will.  What do you say?"
+
+"It's funny, but since you told me of the accident to your
+bareback man, I was going to ask you something."
+
+"What?"
+
+"Rather, I was going to suggest--"
+
+"Well, out with it!"
+
+"I was going to suggest that you let me fill in his place until
+he is able to work again.  It would save you the expense of
+getting a new performer on, and would hold the job for the
+present man."
+
+"You, a bareback rider?"
+
+Phil nodded.
+
+"But you can't ride!"
+
+"But I can," smiled the lad.  "I've been at it almost ever since
+we started the season.  I've been working every day."
+
+"Alone?"
+
+"No.  Mrs. Robinson has been teaching me.  Of course, I am not
+much of a rider, but I can manage to stick on somehow."
+
+The manager was regarding him thoughtfully.
+
+"As I have intimated strongly before this, you beat anything I
+ever have seen in all my circus experience.  You say you can
+ride bareback?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I should like to see what you can do.  Mind you, I'm not saying
+I'll let you try it in public.  Just curious, you know, to see
+what you have been doing."
+
+"Now--will you see me ride now?"
+
+Mr. Sparling nodded.
+
+"Then I'll run back and get ready.  I'll be out in a few
+minutes,"
+laughed the boy, as, with sparkling eyes and flushed face,
+he dashed back to the dressing tent to convey the good news
+to Little Dimples.
+
+"I knew it," she cried enthusiastically.  "I knew you would be a
+rival soon.  Now I've got to look out or I shall be out of a job
+in no time.  Hurry up and get your working clothes on.  I'll have
+the gray out by the time you are ready."
+
+Twenty minutes later Phil Forrest presented himself in the ring,
+with Little Dimples following, leading the old gray ring horse.
+
+"Come up to ring No. 2," directed the owner.  "They haven't
+leveled No. 1 down yet.  How's this?  Don't you use the back pad
+to ride on?" questioned Mr. Sparling in a surprised tone.
+
+"No, sir.  I haven't used the pad at all yet."
+
+"Very well; I'm ready to see you fall off."
+
+Phil sprang lightly to the back of the ring horse while Dimples,
+who had brought a ringmaster's whip with her, cracked the whip
+and called shrilly to her horse.  The old gray fell into its
+accustomed easy gallop, Phil sitting lightly on the animal's hip,
+moving up and down with the easy grace of a finished rider.
+
+After they had swept twice around the ring, the boy sprang to
+his feet, facing ahead, and holding his short crop in both hands,
+leaning slightly toward the center of the ring, treading on fairy
+feet from one end of the broad back to the other.
+
+Next he varied his performance by standing on one foot, holding
+the other up by one hand, doing the same graceful step that he
+had on both feet a moment before.
+
+Now he tried the same feats riding backwards, a most difficult
+performance for any save a rider of long experience.
+
+Mrs. Robinson became so absorbed in his riding that she forgot to
+urge the gray along or to crack the whip.  The result was that
+the old horse stopped suddenly.
+
+Phil went right on.  He was in a fair way to break his neck,
+as he was plunging toward the turf head first.
+
+"Ball!" she cried, meaning to double oneself up into as near an
+approach to a round ball as was possible.
+
+But Phil already had begun to do this very thing.  And he did
+another remarkable feat at the same time.  He turned his body
+in the air so that he faced to the front, and the next instant
+landed lightly on his feet outside the ring.
+
+Phil blew a kiss to the amazed owner, turning back to the
+ring again.
+
+By this time Mrs. Robinson had placed the jumping board in the
+ring--a short piece of board, one end of which was built up
+about a foot from the ground.  Then she started the ring horse
+galloping again.
+
+Phil, measuring his distance, took a running start and vaulted,
+landing on his feet on the animal's back, then, urging his mount
+on to a lively gallop about the sawdust ring, he threw himself
+into a whirlwind of graceful contortions and rapid movements,
+adding some of his own invention to those usually practiced by
+bareback riders.
+
+Phil dropped to the hip of the gray, his face flushed with
+triumph, his eyes sparkling.
+
+"How is it, Mr. Sparling?" he called.
+
+The showman was clapping his hands and clambering down the aisle
+from his position near the top row of seats.
+
+"You don't mean to tell me you have never tried bareback riding
+before this season?" he demanded.
+
+"No, sir; this is my first experience."
+
+"Then all I have to say is that you will make one of the
+finest bareback riders in the world if you keep on.  It is
+marvelous, marvelous!"
+
+"Thank you," glowed the lad.  "But if there is any credit
+coming to anyone it is due to Mrs. Robinson.  She taught me
+how to do it," answered Phil gallantly.
+
+Little Dimples shook a small, brown fist at him.
+
+"He knows how to turn a pretty compliment as well as he knows how
+to ride, Mr. Sparling," bubbled Dimples.  "You should just hear
+the nice things he said to me back in the paddock," she teased.
+
+Phil blushed furiously.
+
+"Shall I ride again?" he asked.
+
+"Not necessary," answered the owner.  "But, by the way, you might
+get up and do a somersault.  Do a backward turn with the horse at
+a gallop," suggested Mr. Sparling, with a suspicion of a smile at
+the corners of his mouth.
+
+"A somersault?" stammered Phil, somewhat taken back.  "Why--I--
+I--I guess I couldn't do that; I haven't learned to do that yet."
+
+"Not learned to do it?  I am surprised."
+
+Phil looked crestfallen.
+
+"I am surprised, indeed, that there is one thing in this show
+that you are unable to do."  The manager broke out into a roar of
+laughter, in which Little Dimples joined merrily.
+
+"May I go on?" asked the lad somewhat apprehensively.
+
+"May you?  May you?  Why, I--"
+
+At that moment Teddy Tucker came strolling lazily in with a long,
+white feather tucked in the corner of his mouth.
+
+The showman's eyes were upon it instantly.
+
+"What have you there?" he demanded.
+
+"Feather," answered Teddy thickly.
+
+"I see it.  Where did you get it?"
+
+"Pulled it out of the pelican's tail.  Going to make a pen
+of it to use when I write to the folks at Edmeston," answered
+the boy carelessly.
+
+"You young rascal!" thundered Mr. Sparling.  "What do you
+mean by destroying my property like that?  I'll fine you!
+I'll teach you!"
+
+"Oh, it didn't hurt the pelican any.  Besides, he's got more tail
+than he can use in his business, anyway."
+
+"Get out of here!" thundered the manager in well-feigned anger.
+"I'll forget myself and discharge you first thing you know.
+What do you want?"
+
+"I was going to ask you something," answered Teddy slowly.
+
+"You needn't.  You needn't.  It won't do you any good.  What is
+it you were going to ask me?"
+
+"I was going to ask you if I might go in the leaping act."
+
+"The leaping act?"
+
+"Yes, sir.  The one where the fellows jump over the
+elephants and--"
+
+"Ho, ho, ho!  What do you think of that, Phil?  What do you--"
+
+"I can do it.  You needn't laugh.  I've done it every day for
+three weeks.  I can jump over four elephants and maybe five, now.
+I can--"
+
+"Yes, I have seen him do it, Mr. Sparling," vouched Phil.  "He is
+going to make a very fine leaper."
+
+The showman removed his broad sombrero, wiped the perspiration
+from his brow, glancing from one to the other of the Circus Boys.
+
+"May I?"
+
+"Yes, yes.  Go ahead.  Do anything you want to.  I'm only the
+hired man around here anyhow," snapped the showman, jamming his
+hat down over his head and striding away, followed by the merry
+laughter of Little Dimples.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE CIRCUS BOYS WIN NEW LAURELS
+
+"Bareback riders out!" shouted the callboy, poking his head
+into the dressing tent.
+
+"Get out!" roared a clown, hurling a fellow performer's bath
+brush at the boy, which the youngster promptly shied back
+at the clown's head, then prudently made his escape to call
+Little Dimples in the women's dressing tent.
+
+Phil Forrest, proud and happy, bounded out into the paddock,
+resplendent in pink tights, a black girdle about his loins,
+sparkling with silver spangles.
+
+Little Dimples ran out at about the same time.
+
+"How do I look?" he questioned, his face wreathed in smiles.
+
+"If you ride half as well as you look today, you will make the
+hit
+of your life," twinkled Dimples merrily.  "There, don't blush.
+Run along.  The band is playing our entrance tune.  Mr. Ducro
+will be in a fine temper if we are a second behind time."
+
+For that day, and until Phil could break in on another animal,
+Little Dimples had loaned her gray to him, for Phil did not
+dare to try the experiment of riding a new horse at his
+first appearance.  Altogether too much depended upon his first
+public exhibition as a bareback rider to permit his taking any
+such chances.
+
+Dimples owned two horses, so she rode the second one this day.
+
+As Phil walked lightly the length of the big top, which he
+was obliged to do to reach ring No. 1 in which he was to ride,
+his figure, graceful as it was, appeared almost fragile.
+He attracted attention because of this fact alone, for the people
+did not recognize in him the lad who had that morning stayed the
+stampede of the herd of huge elephants.
+
+"Now keep cool.  Don't get excited," warned Dimples as she left
+him to enter the ring where she was to perform.  "Forget all
+about those people out there, and they will do the rest."
+
+Phil nodded and passed on smiling.  Reaching his ring he quickly
+kicked off his pumps and leaped lightly to the back of his mount,
+where he sat easily while the gray slowly walked about the
+sawdust arena.
+
+"Ladies and gentlemen," announced the equestrian director.
+"You see before you the hero of the day, the young man who,
+unaided, stopped the charge of a herd of great elephants,
+saving, perhaps many lives besides doing a great service for
+the Sparling Combined Shows."
+
+"What did you do that for?" demanded Phil, squirming uneasily
+on the slippery seat where he was perched.
+
+"Unfortunately," continued the Director, "our principal male
+bareback rider was slightly injured in that same stampede.
+The management would not permit him to appear this evening on
+that account, for the Sparling Combined Shows believe in
+treating its people right.  Our young friend here has consented
+to ride in the regular rider's place.  It is his first appearance
+in any ring as a bareback rider.  I might add that he has been
+practicing something less than three weeks for this act;
+therefore any slips that he may make you will understand.
+Ladies and gentlemen, I take pleasure in introducing to you
+Master Phillip Forrest, the hero of the day--a young man who is
+winning new laurels on the tanbark six days in every week!"
+
+The audience, now worked up to the proper pitch of enthusiasm by
+the words of the director, howled its approval, the spectators
+drumming on the seats with their feet and shouting lustily.
+Phil had not had such an ovation since the day he first rode
+Emperor into the ring when he joined the circus in Edmeston.
+
+The lad's face was a few shades deeper pink than his tights,
+and nervous excitement seemed to suddenly take possession of him.
+
+"I wish you hadn't done that," he laughed.  "I'll bet I fall off
+now, for that."
+
+"Tweetle!  Tweetle!" sang the whistle.
+
+Crash!
+
+At a wave of the bandmaster's baton, the band suddenly launched
+into a smashing air.
+
+The ringmaster's whip cracked with an explosive sound, at which
+the gray mare, unaffected by the noise and the excitement,
+started away at a measured gallop, her head rising and falling
+like the prow of a ship buffeting a heavy sea.
+
+Phil was plainly nervous.  He knew it.  He felt that he was going
+to make an unpleasant exhibition of himself.
+
+"Get up!  Get going!  Going to sit there all day?" questioned
+the ringmaster.
+
+Phil threw himself to his feet.  Somehow he missed his footing in
+his nervousness, and the next instant he felt himself falling.
+
+"There, I've done it!" groaned the lad, as he dropped lightly on
+all fours well outside the wooden ring curbing, which he took
+care to clear in his descent.
+
+"Oh, you Rube!  You've gone and done it now," growled
+the ringmaster.  "It's all up.  You've lost them sure."
+
+The audience was laughing and cheering at the same time.
+
+Feeling her rider leave her back the gray dropped her gallop and
+fell into a slow trot.
+
+Phil scrambled to his feet very red in the face, while
+Mr. Sparling, from the side lines, stood leaning against a
+quarter pole with a set grin on his face.  His confidence in his
+little Circus Boy was not wholly lost yet.
+
+"Keep her up!  Keep her up!  What ails you?" snapped Phil.
+
+All the grit in the lad's slender body seemed to come to the
+front now.  His eyes were flashing and he gripped the little
+riding whip as if he would vent his anger upon it.
+
+The ringmaster's whip had exploded again and the gray began
+to gallop.  Phil paused on the ring curbing with head slightly
+inclined forward, watching the gray with keen eyes.
+
+Phil had forgotten that sea of human faces out there now.  He saw
+only that broad gray, rosined back that he must reach and cling
+to, but without a slip this time.
+
+All at once he left the curbing, dashing almost savagely at
+his mount.
+
+"He'll never make it from the ground," groaned Mr. Sparling,
+realizing that Phil had no step to aid him in his effort to reach
+the back of the animal.
+
+The lad launched himself into the air as if propelled by
+a spring.  He landed fairly on the back of the ring horse,
+wavered for one breathless second, then fell into the pose
+of the accomplished rider.
+
+"Y-i-i-i--p!  Y-i-i-i-p!" sang the shrill voice of Little Dimples
+far down in ring No. 1.
+
+"Y-i-i-i-p!" answered the Circus Boy, while the spectators broke
+into thunders of applause.
+
+Mr. Sparling, hardened showman that he was, brushed a suspicious
+hand across his eyes and sat down suddenly.
+
+"Such grit, Such grit!" he muttered.
+
+Phil threw himself wildly into his work, taking every conceivable
+position known to the equestrian world, and essaying many daring
+feats that he had never tried before.  It seemed simply
+impossible for the boy to fall, so sure was his footing.  Now he
+would spring from the broad back of the gray, and run across the
+ring, doing a lively handspring, then once more vault into a
+standing position on the mare.
+
+Suddenly the band stopped playing, for the rest that is always
+given the performers.  But Phil did not pause.
+
+"Keep her up!" Forrest shouted, bringing down his whip on the
+flanks of his mount and, in a fervor of excitement and stubborn
+determination, going at his work like a whirlwind.
+
+Mr. Sparling, catching the spirit of the moment scrambled to his
+feet and rushed to the foot of the bandstand, near which he had
+been sitting.
+
+"Play, you idiots, play!" shouted the proprietor, waving his
+arms excitedly.
+
+Play they did.
+
+Little Dimples, too, had by this time forgotten that she was
+resting, and now she began to ride as she never had ridden
+before, throwing a series of difficult backward turns, landing
+each time with a sureness that she never had before accomplished.
+
+Tweetle!  Tweetle!
+
+The act came to a quick ending.  The time for the equestrian act
+had expired, and it must give way to the others that were
+to follow.  But Phil, instead of dropping to the ground and
+walking to the paddock along the concourse, suddenly brought down
+his whip on the gray's flanks, much to that animal's surprise and
+apparent disgust.
+
+Starting off at a quicker gallop, the gray swung into the
+concourse, heading for the paddock with disapproving ears laid
+back on her head, Phil standing as rigid as a statue with folded
+arms, far back over the animal's hips.
+
+The people were standing up, waving their arms wildly.
+Many hurled their hats at the Circus Boy in their excitement,
+while others showered bags of peanuts over him as he raced
+by them.
+
+Such a scene of excitement and enthusiasm never had been seen
+under that big top before.  Phil did not move from his position
+until he reached the paddock.  Arriving there he sat down, slid
+to the ground and collapsed in a heap.
+
+Mr. Sparling came charging in, hat missing and hair
+standing straight up where he had run his fingers through
+it in his excitement.
+
+He grabbed Phil in his arms and carried him into the
+dressing tent.
+
+"You're not hurt, are you, my lad?" he cried.
+
+"No; I'm just a silly little fool," smiled Phil a bit weakly.
+"How did I do?"
+
+"It was splendid, splendid."
+
+"Hurrah for Phil Forrest!" shouted the performers.  Then boosting
+the lad to their shoulders, the painted clowns began marching
+about the dressing tent with him singing, "For He's a Jolly
+Good Fellow."
+
+"All out for the leaping act," shouted the callboy, poking his
+grinning countenance through between the flaps.  "Leapers and
+clowns all out on the jump!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+DOING A DOUBLE SOMERSAULT
+
+Cool, confident a troop of motley fools and clean-limbed
+performers filed out from the dressing tent, on past the
+bandstand and across the arena to the place where the springboard
+had been rigged, with a mat two feet thick a short distance
+beyond it.
+
+With them proudly marched Teddy Tucker.
+
+Mr. Sparling, in the meantime, was patting Phil on the back.
+
+"I'm in a quandary, Phil," he said.
+
+"What about?" smiled the lad, tugging away at his tights.
+
+"I want you out front and yet it would be almost a crime to take
+a performer like you out of the ring.  Tell me honestly, where
+would you prefer to be?"
+
+"That's a difficult question to answer.  There is a terrible
+fascination about the ring, and it's getting a stronger hold of
+me every day I am out."
+
+"Yes; I understand that.  It's so with all of them.  I was that
+way myself at first."
+
+"Were you ever in the ring?"
+
+"I clowned it.  But I wasn't much of a performer.  Just did a few
+simple clown stunts and made faces at the audience.  Then I got
+some money ahead and started out for myself.  If I'd had you then
+I would have had a railroad show long before this season," smiled
+the showman.
+
+"On the other hand," continued Phil, "I am anxious to learn the
+front of the house as well as the ring.  I think, maybe, that I
+could spend part of my time in the office, if that is where you
+wish me.  If you can spare me from the parade, I might put in
+that time to decided advantage doing things on the lot for you,"
+mused Phil.
+
+"Spare you from the parade?  Well, I should say so.  You are
+relieved from that already.  Of course, any time you wish to go
+out, you have the privilege of doing so.  Sometimes it is a
+change, providing one is not obliged to go," smiled the showman.
+
+"Most of the performers would be glad if they did not
+have to, though."
+
+"No doubt of it.  But let's see; you have how many acts now?
+There's the flying rings, the elephant act and now comes the
+bareback act--"
+
+"Yes; three," nodded Phil.
+
+"That's too many.  You'll give out under all that, and now we're
+talking about doubling you out in front.  I guess we will let the
+front of the house take care of itself for the present."
+
+Phil looked rather disappointed.
+
+"Of course, any time you wish you may come out, you know."
+
+"Thank you; I shall be glad to do that.  I can do a lot of
+little things to help you as soon as I learn how you run
+the show.  I know something about that already," grinned the lad.
+
+"If you wish, I will double somebody up on your flying rings act.
+What do you say?"
+
+"It isn't necessary, Mr. Sparling.  I can handle all three
+without any difficulty, only the bareback act comes pretty
+close to the grand entry.  It doesn't give me much time to
+change my costume."
+
+"That's right.  Tell you what we'll do."
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"We'll set the bareback act forward one number, substituting
+the leaping for it.  That will give you plenty of time to make
+a change, will it not?"
+
+"Plenty," agreed Phil.
+
+"How about the flying rings.  They come sometime later, if I
+remember correctly."
+
+"Yes; the third act after the riding, according to the
+new arrangement.  No trouble about that."
+
+"Very well; then I will notify the director and let him make
+the necessary changes.  I want to go out now and see your young
+friend make an exhibition of himself."
+
+"Teddy?"
+
+"Yes.  He's going on the leaping act for the first time,
+you know."
+
+"That's so.  I had forgotten all about it.  I want to see that,
+too.
+I'll hurry and dress."
+
+"And, Phil," said the showman in a more kindly voice, even,
+than he had used before.
+
+"Yes, sir," answered the lad, glancing up quickly.
+
+"You are going to be a great showman some of these days, both in
+the ring and out of it.  Remember what I tell you."
+
+"Thank you; I hope so.  I am going to try to be at least a
+good one."
+
+"You're that already.  You've done a lot for the Sparling
+Combined as it is and I don't want you to think I do not
+appreciate it.  Shake hands!"
+
+Man and boy grasped each other's hand in a grip that meant more
+than words.  Then Mr. Sparling turned abruptly and hurried out
+into the big top where the leaping act was in full cry.
+
+Painted clowns were keeping the audience in a roar by their
+funny leaps from the springboard to the mat, while the supple
+acrobats were doing doubles and singles through the air,
+landing gracefully on the mat as a round off.
+
+The showman's first inquiring look was in search of Teddy Tucker.
+He soon made the lad out.  Teddy was made up as a fat boy with a
+low, narrow-brimmed hat perched jauntily on one side of his head.
+There was drollery in Teddy's every movement.  His natural
+clownish movements were sufficient to excite the laughter
+of the spectators without any attempt on his part to be funny,
+while the lad kept up a constant flow of criticism of his
+companions in the act.
+
+But they had grown to know Teddy better, by this time, and none
+took his taunts seriously.
+
+"That boy can leap, after all," muttered Mr. Sparling.
+"I thought he would tumble around and make some fun for the
+audience, but I hadn't the least idea he could do a turn.
+Why, he's the funniest one in the bunch."
+
+Teddy was doing funny twists in the air as he threw a somersault
+at that moment.  In his enthusiasm he overshot the mat, and had
+there not been a performer handy to catch him, the lad might have
+been seriously hurt.
+
+Mr. Sparling shook his head.
+
+"Lucky if he doesn't break his neck!  But that kind seldom do,"
+the owner said out loud.
+
+Now the helpers were bringing the elephants up.  Two were placed
+in front of the springboard and over these a stream of gaudily
+attired clowns dived, doing a turn in the air as they passed.
+Teddy was among the number.
+
+Three elephants were lined up, then a fourth and a fifth.
+
+"I hope he isn't going to try that," growled Mr. Sparling,
+noting that the lad was waiting his turn to get up on
+the springboard.  "Not many of them can get away with
+that number.  I suppose I ought to go over and stop the boy.
+But I guess he won't try to jump them.  He'll probably walk
+across their backs, the same as he has seen the other clowns do."
+
+Teddy, however, had a different plan in mind.  He had espied
+Mr. Sparling looking at him from across the tent, and he proposed
+to let the owner see what he really could do.
+
+For a moment the lad poised at the top of the springboard,
+critically measuring the distance across the backs of the
+assembled elephants.
+
+"Go on, go on!" commanded the director.  "Do you think this show
+can wait on your motion all day?  Jump, or get off the board!"
+
+"Say, who's doing this you or I?" demanded Teddy in well-feigned
+indignation, and in a voice that was audible pretty much all over
+the tent.
+
+This drew a loud laugh from the spectators, who were now in a
+frame of mind to laugh at anything the Fat Boy did.
+
+"It doesn't look as if anyone were doing anything.
+Somebody will be in a minute, if I hear any more of your talk,"
+snapped the director.  "Are you going to jump, or are you going
+to get off the board?"
+
+"Well," shouted Teddy, "confidentially now, mind you.  Come over
+here.
+I want to talk to you.  Confidentially, you know.  I'm going to
+jump,
+if you'll stop asking questions long enough for me to get away."
+
+Amid a roar of laughter from spectators, and broad grins on the
+part of the performers, Teddy took a running start and shot up
+into the air.
+
+"He's turning too quick," snapped Mr. Sparling.
+
+Teddy, however, evidently knew what he was about.  Turning a
+beautiful somersault, he launched into a second one with the
+confidence of a veteran.  All the circus people in the big top
+expected to see the lad break his neck.  Instead, however, Tucker
+landed lightly and easily on his feet while the spectators
+shouted their approval.  But instead of landing on the mat as he
+thought he was doing, Teddy was standing on the back of the last
+elephant in the line.
+
+His double somersault had made him dizzy and the boy did not
+realize that he had not yet reached the mat on the ground.
+Bowing and smiling to the audience, the Fat Boy started to
+walk away.
+
+Then Teddy fell off, landing in a heap on the hard ground.
+He rose, aching, but the onlookers on the boards took it all
+as a funny finish, and gleefully roared their appreciation.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+MAROONED IN A FREIGHT CAR
+
+"Catch him!  Catch him!  Catch that man!"
+
+The parade was just passing when Phil shouted out the words
+that attracted all eyes toward him.  It was to a policeman that
+he appealed.
+
+The lad had discovered a shock of red hair above the heads of the
+people, and was gradually working his way toward the owner of it,
+when all at once Red Larry discovered him.
+
+Red pushed his way through the crowd and disappeared down an
+alleyway, the policeman to whom the boy had appealed making no
+effort to catch the man.
+
+"What kind of a policeman are you, anyway?" cried Phil
+in disgust.  "That fellow is a crook, and we have been on the
+lookout for him for the last four weeks."
+
+"What's he done?"
+
+"Done?  Tried to poison one of the elephants, and a lot of
+other things."
+
+"The kid's crazy or else he belongs to the circus," laughed
+a bystander.
+
+Phil Forrest did not hear the speaker, however, for the boy had
+dashed through the crowd and bounded into the alley where he had
+caught a glimpse of a head of red hair a moment before.
+
+But Larry was nowhere in sight.  He had disappeared utterly.
+
+"I was right," decided Phil, after going the length of the alley
+and back.  "He's been following this show right along, and
+before he gets through he'll put us out of business if we don't
+look sharp."
+
+Considerable damage already had been done.  Horses and other
+animals fell ill, in some instances with every evidence of
+poisoning; guy ropes were cut, and the cars had been tampered
+with in the railroad yards.
+
+All this was beginning to get on the nerves of the owner of
+the show, as well as on those of some of his people who knew
+about it.  Things had come to a point where it was necessary
+to place more men on guard about the lot to protect the
+show's property.
+
+At each stand of late efforts had been made to get the police to
+keep an eye open for one Red Larry, but police officials do not,
+as a rule, give very serious heed to the complaints of a circus,
+especially unless the entire department has been pretty well
+supplied with tickets.  Mr. Sparling was a showman who did not
+give away many tickets unless there were some very good reason
+for so doing.
+
+Phil, in the meantime, had been at work in an effort to
+satisfy his own belief that Larry was responsible for their
+numerous troubles.  Yet up to this moment the lad had not caught
+sight of Red; and now he had lost the scoundrel through the
+laxity of a policeman.
+
+There was no use "crying over spilled milk," as Phil
+told himself.
+
+The lad spent the next hour in tramping over the town where the
+circus was to show that day.  He sought everywhere for Red,
+but not a sign of the fellow was to be found.
+
+As soon as the parade was over Phil hastened back to the lot to
+acquaint Mr. Sparling with what he suspected.
+
+"Do you know," said Phil, "I believe that fellow and his
+companion are riding on one of our trains every night?"
+
+"What?" exclaimed the showman.
+
+"You'll find I'm right when the truth is known.  Then there's
+something else.  There have been a lot of complaints about
+sneak thieves in the towns we have visited since Red left us.
+You can't tell.  There may be some connection between these
+robberies and his following the show.  I'm going to get Larry
+before I get through with this chase."
+
+"Be careful, Phil.  He is a bad man.  You know what to expect
+from him if he catches you again."
+
+"I am not afraid.  I'll take care of myself if I see him coming.
+The trouble is that Red doesn't go after a fellow that way."
+
+Phil went on in his three acts as usual that afternoon,
+after having spent an hour at the front door taking tickets,
+to which task he had assigned himself soon after his talk with
+Mr. Sparling.
+
+It was instructive; it gave the boy a chance to see the people
+and to get a new view of human nature.  If there is one place in
+the world where all phases of human nature are to be found,
+that place is the front door of a circus.
+
+The Circus Boys, by this time, had both fitted into their new
+acts as if they had been doing them for years--Phil doing the
+bareback riding and Teddy tumbling in the leaping act, both lads
+gaining the confidence and esteem more and more every day of
+their fellow performers and the owner of the show.
+
+That night, after the performance was ended, Phil stood around
+for a time, watching the men at work pulling down the tent.
+He had another motive, too.  He had thought that perchance he
+might see something of the man he was in search of, for no better
+time could be chosen to do damage to circus property than when
+the canvas was being struck.
+
+Then everyone was too busy to pay any attention to anyone else.
+Teddy had gone on to pay his usual evening visit to the
+accommodation car and at the same time make miserable the
+existence of the worthy who presided over that particular car.
+
+Phil waited until nearly twelve o'clock; then, deciding that it
+would be useless to remain there longer, turned his footsteps
+toward the railroad yards, for he was tired and wanted to get to
+bed as soon as possible.
+
+He found the way readily, having been over to the car once during
+the morning while out looking for Red Larry.  The night was very
+dark, however, and the yards, at the end from which he approached
+them, were enshrouded in deep shadows.
+
+On down the tracks Phil could see the smoking torches where the
+men were at work running the heavy cages and canvas wagons up on
+the flat cars.  Men were shouting and yelling, the usual
+accompaniment to this proceeding, while crowds of curious
+villagers were massed about the sides of the yard at that point,
+watching the operations.
+
+"That's the way I used to sit up and watch the circus get out
+of town," mused Phil, grinning broadly, as he began hunting for
+the sleeper where his berth was.
+
+All at once the lights seemed to disappear suddenly from before
+his eyes.  Phil felt himself slowly settling to the ground.
+He tried to cry out, but could not utter a sound.
+
+Then the lad understood that he was being grasped in a
+vise-like grip.  That was the last he knew.
+
+When Phil finally awakened he was still in deep,
+impenetrable darkness.  The train was moving rapidly,
+but there seemed to the boy to be something strange and
+unusual in his surroundings.  His berth felt hard and unnatural.
+For a time he lay still with closed eyes, trying to recall what
+had happened.  There was a blank somewhere, but he could not
+find it.
+
+"Funny!  This doesn't seem like No. 11.  If it is, we must be
+going over a pretty rough stretch of road."
+
+He put out both hands cautiously and groped about him.
+Phil uttered an exclamation of surprise.
+
+"Good gracious, I'm on the floor.  I must have fallen out of
+bed."
+
+Then he realized that this could not be the case, because there
+was a carpet on the floor of No. 11.
+
+This was a hard, rough floor on which he was lying, and the air
+was close, very different from that in the well-kept sleeping car
+in which he traveled nightly from stand to stand.
+
+In an effort to get to his feet the lad fell back heavily.
+His head was swimming dizzily, and how it did ache!
+
+"I wonder what has happened?" Forrest thought out loud.  "Maybe I
+was struck by a train.  No; that couldn't be the case, or I
+should not be here.  But where am I?  I might be in one of
+the show cars, but I don't believe there is an empty car on
+the train."
+
+As soon as Phil felt himself able to sit up he searched
+through his pockets until he found his box of matches, which he
+always carried now, as one could not tell at what minute they
+might be needed.
+
+Striking a light, he glanced quickly about him; then the match
+went out.
+
+"I'm in a freight car," he gasped.  "But where, where?"
+
+There was no answer to this puzzling question.  Phil struggled to
+his feet, and, groping his way to the door, began tugging at it
+to get it open.  The door refused to budge.
+
+"Locked!  It's locked on the outside!  What shall I do?
+What shall I do?" he cried.
+
+Phil sat down weak and dizzy.  There was nothing, so far as
+he could see, that could be done to liberate himself from
+his imprisonment.  Chancing to put his hand to his head,
+he discovered a lump there as large as a goose egg.
+
+"I know--let me think--something--somebody must have hit me an
+awful crack.  Now I remember--yes, I remember falling down in the
+yard there just as if something had struck me.  Who could have
+done such a cruel thing?"
+
+Phil thought and thought, but the more he thought about it the
+more perplexed did he become.  All at once he started up,
+with a sudden realization that the train was slowing down.
+He could hear the air brakes grating and grinding and squealing
+against the car wheels below him, until finally the train came to
+a dead stop.
+
+"Now is my chance to make somebody hear," Phil cried, springing
+up and groping for the door again.
+
+He shouted at the top of his voice, then beat against the heavy
+door with fists and feet, but not a sign could he get that anyone
+heard him.
+
+As a matter of fact, no one was near him at that moment.  The
+long
+freight train had stopped at a water tank far out in the country,
+and the trainmen were at the extreme ends of the train.
+
+In a few moments the train started with such a jerk that Forrest
+was thrown off his feet.  He sprang up again, hoping that the
+train might be going past a station there, and that someone might
+hear him.  Then he began rattling at and kicking the door again.
+
+It was all to no purpose.
+
+Finally, in utter exhaustion, the lad sank to the floor, soon
+falling into a deep sleep.  How long he slept he did not know
+when at last he awakened.
+
+"Why, the train has stopped," Forrest exclaimed, suddenly sitting
+up and rubbing his eyes.  "Now I ought to make somebody hear me
+because it's daylight.  I can see the light underneath the door.
+I'll try it again."
+
+He did try it, hammering at the door and shouting at intervals
+during the long hours that followed.  Once more he lighted
+matches and began examining his surroundings with more care.
+Phil discovered a trap door in the roof, but it was closed.
+
+"If only there were a rope hanging down, I'd be up there in no
+time,"
+he mused.  I wonder if I couldn't climb up and hang to the
+braces.
+I might reach it in that way.  I'm going to try it."
+
+Deciding upon this, the Circus Boy, after no little effort,
+succeeded in climbing up to one of the side braces in the car.
+>From the plates long, narrow beams extended across the car, thus
+supporting the roof.  Choosing two that led along near the trap,
+Phil, after a few moments' rest, gripped one firmly in each hand
+from the underside and began swinging himself along almost as if
+he were traveling on a series of traveling rings, but with
+infinitely more effort and discomfort.
+
+His hands were aching frightfully, and he knew that he could hold
+on but a few seconds longer.
+
+"I've got to make it," he gasped, breathing hard.
+
+At last he had reached the goal.  Phil released one hand and
+quickly extended it to the trap door frame.
+
+There was not a single projection there to support him,
+nor to which he might cling.  His hand slipped away, suddenly
+throwing his weight upon the hand grasping the roof timber.
+The strain was too much.  Phil Forrest lost his grip and fell
+heavily to the floor.
+
+But this time he did not rise.  The lad lay still where he
+had fallen.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+THE BARNYARD CIRCUS
+
+When next Phil opened his eyes he was lying on the grass
+on the shady side of a freight car with someone dashing water
+in his face, while two or three others stood around gazing at
+him curiously.
+
+"Whe--where am I?" gasped the boy.
+
+"I reckon you're lucky to be alive," laughed the man who had been
+soaking him from a pail of water.  "Who be ye?"
+
+"My name is Phil Forrest."
+
+"How'd ye git in that car?  Stealing a ride, eh?  Reckon we'd
+better hand ye over to the town constable.  It's again the law to
+steal rides on freight trains."
+
+"I've not stolen a ride.  It's no such thing," protested
+Phil indignantly.
+
+"Ho, ho, that's a rich one!  Paid yer fare, hey?  Riding like a
+gentleman in a side-door Pullman.  Good, ain't it, fellows?"
+
+"Friends, I assure you I am not a tramp.  Someone assaulted me
+and locked me in that car last night.  I've got money in my
+pocket to prove that I am not a tramp."
+
+The lad thrust his hands into his trousers' pockets, then a blank
+expression overspread his face.  Reaching to his vest to see if
+his watch were there, he found that that, too, was missing.
+
+"I've been robbed," he gasped.  "That's what it was.
+Somebody robbed and threw me into this car last night.
+See, I've got a lump on my head as big as a man's fist."
+
+"He sure has," agreed one of the men.  "Somebody must a given him
+an awful clout with a club."
+
+"What town is this, please?"
+
+"Mexico, Missouri."
+
+"Mexico?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"How far is it from St. Joseph?"
+
+"St. Joseph?  Why, I reckon St. Joe is nigh onto a hundred and
+fifty miles from here."
+
+Phil groaned.
+
+"A hundred and fifty miles and not a cent in my pocket!
+What shall I do?  Can I send a telegram?  Where is the station?"
+
+"Sunday.  Station closed."
+
+"Sunday?  That's so."
+
+Phil walked up and down between the tracks rather unsteadily,
+curiously observed by the villagers.  They had heard his groans
+in the freight car on the siding as they passed, and had quickly
+liberated the lad.
+
+"Do you think I could borrow enough money somewhere here to get
+me to St. Joseph?  I would send it back by return mail."
+
+The men laughed long and loud.
+
+"What are you in such a hurry to get to St. Joe for?" demanded
+the spokesman of the party.
+
+"Because I want to get back to the circus."
+
+"Circus?" they exclaimed in chorus.
+
+"Yes.  I belong with the Sparling Combined Shows.  I was on my
+way to my train, in the railroad yards, when I was knocked out
+and thrown into that car."
+
+"You with a circus?"  The men regarded him in a new light.
+
+"Yes; why not?"
+
+This caused them to laugh.  Plainly they did not believe him.
+Nor did Phil care much whether they did or not.
+
+"What time is it?" he asked.
+
+"Church time."
+
+He knew that, for he could hear the bells ringing off in the
+village to the east of them.
+
+"I'll tell you what, sirs; I have got to have some breakfast.
+If any of you will be good enough to give me a meal I shall be
+glad to do whatever you may wish to pay for it.  Then, if I
+cannot find the telegraph operator, I shall have to stay over
+until I do."
+
+"What do you want the telegraph man for?"
+
+"I want to wire the show for some money to get back with.
+I've got to be there tomorrow, in time for the show.  I must do
+it, if I have to run all the way."
+
+The men were impressed by his story in spite of themselves;
+yet they were loath to believe that this slender lad, much the
+worse for wear, could belong to the organization he had named.
+
+"What do you do in the show?"
+
+"I perform on the flying rings, ride the elephant and ride
+bareback in the ring.  What about it?  Will one of you put
+me up?"
+
+The villagers consulted for a moment; then the spokesman turned
+to Phil.
+
+"I reckon, if you be a circus feller, you kin show us some
+tricks, eh?"
+
+"Perform for you, you mean?"
+
+"Yep."
+
+"Well, I don't usually do anything like that on Sunday," answered
+the Circus Boy reflectively.
+
+"Eat on Sunday, don't you?"
+
+"When I get a chance," Phil grinned.  "I guess your argument
+wins.
+I've got to eat and I have offered to earn my meal.  What do you
+want me to do?"
+
+"Kin you do a flip?"
+
+Phil threw himself into a succession of cartwheels along the edge
+of the railroad tracks, ending in a backward somersault.
+
+"And you ride a hoss without any saddle, standing up on his
+back--you do that, too?"
+
+"Why, yes," laughed Phil, his face red from his exertion.
+
+"Then, come along.  Come on, fellers!"
+
+Phil thought, of course, that he was being taken to the man's
+home just outside the village, where he would get his breakfast.
+He was considerably surprised, therefore, when the men passed the
+house that his acquaintance pointed out as belonging to himself,
+and took their way on toward a collection of farm buildings some
+distance further up the road.
+
+"I wonder what they are going to do now?" marveled Phil.
+"This surely doesn't look much like breakfast coming my way,
+and I'm almost famished."
+
+The leader of the party let down the bars of the farmyard,
+conducting his guests around behind a large hay barn, into an
+enclosed space, in the center of which stood a straw stack,
+the stack and yard being surrounded by barns and sheds.
+
+"Where are you fellows taking me?  Going to put me in the stable
+with the live stock?" questioned Phil, laughingly.
+
+"You want some breakfast, eh?"
+
+"Certainly I do, but I'm afraid I can't eat hay."
+
+The men laughed uproariously at this bit of humor.
+
+"Must be a clown," suggested one.
+
+"No, I am not a clown.  My little friend who performs with me,
+and comes from the same town I do, is one.  I wish he were here.
+He would make you laugh until you couldn't stand without leaning
+against something."
+
+"Here, Joe!  Here, Joe!" their guide began calling in a loud
+voice, alternating with loud whistling.
+
+Phil heard a rustling over behind the straw stack, and then out
+trotted a big, black draft horse, a heavy-footed, broad-backed
+Percheron, to his astonishment.
+
+"My, that's a fine piece of horse flesh," glowed the lad.
+"We have several teams of those fellows for the heavy work with
+the show.  Of course we don't use them in the ring.  Is this what
+you brought me here to see?"
+
+"Yep.  Git up there."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Git up and show us fellers if you're a real circus man."
+
+"You mean you want me to ride him?" said Phil.
+
+"Sure thing."
+
+"How?"
+
+"Git on his back and do one of them bareback stunts you was
+telling us about," and the fellow winked covertly at his
+companions, as much as if to say, "we've got him going
+this time."
+
+"What; here in this rough yard?"
+
+"Yep."
+
+Phil considered for a moment, stamping about on the straw-covered
+ground, then sizing up the horse critically.
+
+"All right.  Bring me a bridle and fasten a long enough rein to
+the bit so I can get hold of it standing up."
+
+He was really going to do as they demanded.  The men were
+surprised.
+They had not believed he could, and now, at any rate, he was
+going
+to make an effort to make good his boast.
+
+A bridle was quickly fetched and slipped on the head of old Joe.
+In place of reins the farmer attached a rope to the bridle,
+Phil measuring on the back of the horse to show how long it
+should be cut.
+
+The preparations all complete, Phil grasped the rein and
+vaulted to the high back of the animal, landing astride neatly.
+This brought an exclamation of approval from the audience.
+
+"Now git up on your feet."
+
+"Don't be in a hurry.  I want to ride him around the stack a few
+times to get the hang of the ring," laughed Phil.  "It's a good,
+safe place to fall, anyway.  Do I get some breakfast after
+this exhibition?" he questioned.
+
+"That depends.  Go on."
+
+"Gid-dap!" commanded Phil, patting the black on its powerful
+neck.
+Then they went trotting around the stack, the men backing off to
+get a better view of the exhibition.
+
+On the second round Phil drew up before them.
+
+"Got any chalk on the place?" he asked.
+
+"Reckon there's some in the barn."
+
+"Please fetch it."
+
+They did not know what he wanted chalk for, but the owner of
+the place hurried to fetch it.  In the meantime Phil was slowly
+removing his shoes, which he threw to one side of the yard.
+Bidding the men break up the chalk into powder, he smeared the
+bottoms of his stockings with the white powder, sprinkling a
+liberal supply on the back of the horse.
+
+"Here, here!  What you doing?  I have to curry that critter down
+every morning," shouted the owner.
+
+Phil grinned and clucked to the horse, whose motion he had caught
+in his brief ride about the stack, and once more disappeared
+around the pile.  When he hove in sight again, the black was
+trotting briskly, with Phil Forrest standing erect, far back on
+the animal's hips, urging him along with sharp little cries, and
+dancing about as much at home as if he were on the solid ground.
+
+The farmers looked on with wide-open mouths, too amazed to speak.
+
+Phil uttered a shout, and set the black going about the
+stack faster and faster, throwing himself into all manner of
+artistic positions.
+
+After the horse had gotten a little used to the strange work,
+Phil threw down the reins and rode without anything of the sort
+to give him any support.
+
+Probably few farm barnyards had ever offered an attraction like
+it before.
+
+"Come up here!" cried the lad, to the lighter of the men.
+"I'll give you a lesson."
+
+The fellow protested, but his companions grabbed him and threw
+him to old Joe's back.  Phil grabbed his pupil by the coat
+collar, jerking him to his feet and started old Joe going at a
+lively clip.
+
+You should have heard those farmers howl, at the ludicrous sight
+of their companion sprawling all over the back of the black, with
+Phil, red-faced, struggling with all his might to keep the fellow
+on, and at the same time prevent himself taking a tumble!
+
+At last the burden was too much for Phil, and his companion took
+an inglorious tumble, head first into the straw at the foot of
+the stack, while the farmers threw themselves down, rolling about
+and making a great din with their howls of merriment.
+
+"There, I guess I have earned my breakfast," decided the lad,
+dropping off near the spot where he had cast his shoes.
+
+"You bet you have, little pardner.  You jest come over to the
+house and fill up on salt pork and sauerkraut.  You kin stay all
+summer if you want to.  Hungry?"
+
+"So hungry that, if my collar were loose, it would be falling
+down over my feet," grinned the lad.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+WHEN THE CRASH CAME
+
+There was rejoicing on the part of his fellows, and relief in
+the heart of Mr. Sparling when, along toward noon next day,
+Phil Forrest came strolling on the circus lot at St. Joseph.
+
+His friends, the farmers, had not only given him food and
+lodging, but had advanced him enough money for his fare through
+to join the show.  His first duty was to get some money from
+Mr. Sparling and send it back to his benefactors.
+
+This done, Phil repaired to the owner's tent where he knew Mr.
+Sparling was anxiously waiting to hear what had happened to him.
+
+Phil went over the circumstances in detail, while Mr. Sparling
+listened gravely at first, then with rising color as his
+anger increased.
+
+"It's Red Larry!" decided Mr. Sparling, with an emphasizing blow
+of his fist on the desk before him.
+
+"After I thought the matter over that was what I decided--I mean
+that was the decision I came to."
+
+"Right.  Another season I'll have an officer with this show.
+That's the only way we can protect ourselves."
+
+"Do all the big shows carry an officer?" asked Phil.
+
+"Yes; they have a detective with them--not a tin badge detective,
+but a real one.  Don't try to go out today.  Get your dinner and
+rest up for the afternoon performance.  I think you had better go
+to the train in my carriage tonight.  I'm not going to take any
+more such chances with you."
+
+"I'll look out for myself after this, Mr. Sparling," laughed
+Phil.
+"I think it was only two days ago that I said I wasn't afraid of
+Larry--that he couldn't get me.  But he did."
+
+That afternoon, as Phil related his experiences to the dressing
+tent, he included the barnyard circus, which set the performers
+in a roar.
+
+Phil felt a little sore and stiff after his knockout and his
+long ride in the freight car; but, after taking half an hour of
+bending exercises in the paddock, he felt himself fit to go on
+with his ring and bareback acts.
+
+Both his acts passed off successfully, as did the Grand Entry in
+which he rode old Emperor.
+
+That night, after the performance, Phil hurried to the train,
+but kept a weather eye out that he might not be assaulted again.
+He found himself hungry, and, repairing to the accommodation car
+for a lunch, discovered Teddy stowing away food at a great rate.
+
+"So you're here, are you?" laughed Phil.
+
+"Yep; I live here most of the time," grinned Teddy.  "They like
+to have me eat here.  I'm a sort of nest egg, you know.  It makes
+the others hungry to see me eat, and they file in in a
+perfect procession.  How's your head?"
+
+"Still a size too large," answered Phil, sinking down on a stool
+and ordering a sandwich.
+
+As the lads ate and talked two or three other performers came in,
+whereupon the conversation became more general.
+
+All at once there came a bang as a switching engine bumped into
+the rear of their car.  Teddy about to pass a cup of steaming
+coffee to his lips, spilled most of it down his neck.
+
+"Ouch!" he yelled, springing up, dancing about the floor,
+holding his clothes as far from his body as possible.  "Here, you
+quit that!" he yelled, poking his head out of a window.  "If you
+do that again I'll trim you with a pitcher of coffee and see how
+you like that."
+
+Bang!
+
+Once more the engine smashed into them, having failed to make the
+coupling the first time.
+
+Teddy sat down heavily in the middle of the car, just as Little
+Dimples tripped in.  In one hand he held a sandwich half
+consumed, while with the other he was still stretching his collar
+as far from his neck as it would go.
+
+"Why, Teddy," exclaimed Dimples, "what are you doing on the
+floor?"
+
+"Eating my lunch.  Always eat it sitting on the floor, you know,"
+growled the boy, at which there was a roar from the others.
+
+"What are they trying to do out there?" questioned Phil.
+
+"Going to shift us about on another track, I guess.  I was nearly
+thrown down when I tried to get on the platform.  I never saw a
+road where they were so rough.  Did you?"
+
+"Yes; I rode on one the other night that could beat this,"
+grinned Phil.
+
+A few minutes later the car got under motion, pushed by a
+switching engine, and began banging along merrily over switches,
+tearing through the yard at high speed.
+
+"We seem to be in a hurry 'bout something," grunted Teddy.
+"Maybe they've hooked us on the wrong train, and we're bound for
+somewhere else."
+
+"No, I don't think so," replied Phil.  "You should be used to
+this sort of thing by this time."
+
+"I don't care as long as the food holds out.  It doesn't make any
+difference where they take us."
+
+"What section does this car go out on tonight, steward?"
+questioned Phil.
+
+"The last.  Goes out with the sleepers."
+
+"That explains it.  They are shifting us around, making up the
+last section and to get us out of the way of section No. 2.
+I never can keep these trains straight in my mind, they change
+them so frequently.  But it's better than riding in a canvas
+wagon over a rough country road, isn't it, Teddy?"
+
+"Worse," grunted the lad.  "You never know when you're going to
+get your everlasting bump, and you don't have any net to fall in
+when you do.  Hey, they're at it again!"
+
+His words were almost prophetic.
+
+There followed a sudden jolt, a deafening crash, accompanied by
+cries from the cooks and waiters at the far end of the car.
+
+"Get a net!" howled Teddy.
+
+"We're off the rails," cried the performers.
+
+"Look out for yourselves!"
+
+Little Dimples was hurled from her stool at the lunch counter,
+and launched straight toward a window from which the glass was
+showering into the car.
+
+Phil made a spring, catching her in his arms.  But the impact
+and the jolt were too much for him.  He went down in a heap,
+Little Dimples falling half over him.
+
+He made a desperate grab for her, but the woman's skirts
+slipped through his hand and she plunged on toward the far end
+of the car.
+
+"Look out for the coffee boiler."
+
+A yell from a waiter told them that the warning had come
+too late.  The man had gotten a large part of the contents
+of the boiler over him.
+
+But all at once those in the car began to realize that something
+else was occurring.  Somehow, they could feel the accommodation
+car wavering as if on the brink of a precipice.  Then it began to
+settle slowly and the mystified performers and car hands thought
+it was going to rest where it was on the ties.
+
+Instead, the car took a sudden lurch.
+
+"We're going over something!" cried a voice.
+
+Phil, who had scrambled quickly to his feet, half-dazed from the
+fall, stood irresolutely for a few seconds then began making his
+way toward where Little Dimples had fallen.
+
+At that moment young Forrest was hurled with great force against
+the side of the car.  Everything in the car seemed suddenly to
+have become the center of a miniature cyclone.  Dishes, cooking
+utensils, tables and chairs were flying through the air, the
+noise within the car accompanied by a sickening, grinding series
+of crashes from without.
+
+Groans were already distinguishable above the deafening crashes.
+
+Those who were able to think realized that the accommodation car
+was falling over an embankment of some sort.
+
+Through accident or design, what is known as a "blind switch" had
+been turned while the engine was shunting the accommodation car
+about the yards.  The result was that the car had left the rails,
+bumped along on the ties for a distance, then had toppled over an
+embankment that was some twenty feet high.
+
+It seemed as if all in that ill-fated car must be killed or
+maimed for life.  A series of shrill blasts from the engine
+called for help.
+
+The crash had been heard all over the railroad yards.
+Railroad men and circus men had rushed toward the spot where
+the accommodation car had gone over the embankment, Mr. Sparling
+among the number.  He had just arrived at the yards when the
+accident occurred.
+
+Fortunately, the wrecking crew was ready for instant service,
+and these men were rushed without an instant's delay to the
+outskirts of the yard where the wreck had occurred.
+
+However, ere the men got there a startling cry rose from hundreds
+of throats.
+
+"Fire!  The car is on fire!"
+
+"Break in the doors!  Smash the sides in!"
+
+Yet no one seemed to have the presence of mind to do anything.
+Phil had been hurled through a broken widow, landing halfway down
+the bank, on the uphill side of the car, else he must have been
+crushed to death.  But so thoroughly dazed was he that he was
+unable to move.
+
+Finally someone discovered him and picked him up.
+
+"Here's one of them," announced a bystander.  "It's a kid, too."
+
+Mr. Sparling came charging down the bank.
+
+"Who is it?  Where is he?" he bellowed.
+
+"Here."
+
+"It's Phil Forrest," cried one of the showmen, recognizing the
+lad, whose face was streaked where it had been cut by the jagged
+glass in the broken window.
+
+"Is he killed?"
+
+"No; he's alive.  He's coming around now."
+
+Phil sat up and rubbed his eyes.
+
+All at once he understood what had happened.  He staggered to his
+feet holding to a man standing beside him.
+
+"Why don't you do something?" cried Phil.  "Don't you know there
+are people in that car?"
+
+"It's burning up.  Nobody dares get in till the wreckers can get
+here and smash in the side of the car," was the answer.
+
+"What?" fairly screamed Phil Forrest.  "Nobody dares go in
+that car?  Somebody does dare!"
+
+"Come back, come back, Phil!  You can't do anything," shouted a
+fellow performer.
+
+But the lad did not even hear him.  He was leaping, falling
+and rolling down the bank, regardless of the danger that he was
+approaching, for the flames already showed through a broken spot
+in the roof of the car, which was lying half on its side at the
+foot of the embankment.
+
+Without an instant's hesitation Phil, as he came up alongside,
+raised a foot, smashing out the remaining pieces of glass in
+a window.  Then he plunged in head first.
+
+The spectators groaned.
+
+"Dimples!  Dimples!" he shouted.  "Are you alive?"
+
+"Yes, here.  Be quick!  I'm pinned down!"
+
+Phil rushed to her assistance.  Her legs were pinioned beneath
+a heavy timber.  Phil attacked it desperately, tugging and
+grunting, the perspiration rolling down his face, for the heat
+in there was now almost more than he could bear.
+
+With a mighty effort he wrenched the timber from the prostrate
+woman, then quickly gathered her up in his arms.
+
+"I knew you'd come, Phil, if you were alive," she breathed,
+her head resting on his shoulder.
+
+"Do you know where Teddy is?" he asked, plunging through the
+blinding smoke to the window where voices already were calling
+to him.
+
+"At the other end--I think," she choked.
+
+The lad passed her out to waiting arms.
+
+"Come out!  Come out of that!" bellowed the stentorian voice of
+Mr. Sparling.  But Phil had turned back.
+
+"Teddy!" he called, the words choked back into his throat by the
+suffocating smoke.
+
+"Wow!  Get me out of here.  I'm--I'm," then the lad went off into
+a violent fit of coughing.
+
+By this time two others, braver than the rest, had climbed in
+through the window.
+
+"Where are they all?" called a voice.
+
+"I don't know.  You'll have to hunt for them.  I'm after you,
+Teddy.
+Are you held down by something, too?"
+
+"The whole car's on me, and I'm burning up."
+
+Phil, guided by the boy's voice, groped his way along and soon
+found his hands gripped by those of his little companion.
+
+"Where are you fast?"
+
+"My feet!"
+
+It proved an easy matter to liberate Teddy and drag him to the
+window, where Phil dumped him out.
+
+Mr. Sparling had climbed in by this time, and the wrecking crew
+were thundering at the roof to let the smoke and flames out,
+while others had crawled in with their fire extinguishers.
+
+There were now quite a number of brave men in the car all working
+with desperate haste to rescue the imprisoned circus people.
+
+"All out!" bellowed the foreman of the wrecking crew.  "The roof
+will be down in a minute!"
+
+"All out!" roared Mr. Sparling, himself making a dash for
+a window.
+
+Others piled out with a rush, the flames gaining very rapid
+headway now.
+
+"Phil!  Phil!  Where's Forrest?" called Mr. Sparling.
+
+"He isn't here.  Maybe--"
+
+"Then he's in that car.  He'll be burned alive!  No one can live
+five minutes in there now!"
+
+The fire department had arrived on the scene, and the men were
+running two lines of hose over the tracks.
+
+"Phil in there?"
+
+It was a howl--a startled howl rather than a spoken question.
+The voice belonged to Teddy Tucker.
+
+Teddy rushed through the crowd, pushing obstructors aside,
+and hurled himself through the window into the burning car.
+He looked more like a big, round ball than anything else.
+
+No sooner had Tucker landed fairly inside than he uttered a yell.
+
+"Phil!"
+
+There was no answer.
+
+"Where--"
+
+Teddy went down like a flash, bowled over by a heavy stream of
+water from the firemen's hose.
+
+As it chanced he fell prone across a heap of some sort,
+choking and growling with rage at what had befallen him.
+
+"Phil!"
+
+"Yes," answered a voice from the heap.
+
+"I've got him!" howled Teddy, springing up and dragging the
+half-dazed Phil Forrest to the window.  There both boys were
+hauled out, Teddy and Phil collapsing on the embankment from
+the smoke that they had inhaled.
+
+"Phil!  Teddy!" begged Mr. Sparling, throwing himself
+beside them.
+
+"Get a net!" muttered Teddy, then swooned.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+WHAT HAPPENED TO A PACEMAKER
+
+"Find out how that car came to tumble off," were the first words
+Phil uttered after they had restored him to consciousness.
+
+Teddy, however, was bemoaning the loss of the sandwich that he
+had bought but had not eaten.
+
+"The accident shall be investigated by me personally before
+this section leaves the yard," said Mr. Sparling.  "I am glad
+you suggested it, Phil.  How do you feel?"
+
+"I am all right.  Did somebody pull me out?"
+
+"Yes, Teddy did.  You are a pair of brave boys.  I guess this
+outfit knows now the stuff you two are made of, if it never did
+before," glowed Mr. Sparling.
+
+"How many were killed?"
+
+"None.  The head steward has a broken leg, one waiter a few ribs
+smashed in, and another has lost a finger.  I reckon the railroad
+will have a nice bill of damages to pay for this night's work.
+Were you in the car when it occurred?"
+
+"Yes.  They had been handling it rather roughly.  We spoke of it
+at the time.  We were moving down the yard when suddenly one end
+seemed to drop right off the track as if we had come to the end
+of it."
+
+Mr. Sparling nodded.
+
+"I'll go into it with the railroad people at once.  You two get
+into your berths.  Can you walk?"
+
+"Oh, yes."
+
+"How about you, Tucker,"
+
+"I can creep all right.  I learned to do that when I was in
+long pants."
+
+"I guess you mean long dresses," answered the showman.
+
+"I guess I do."
+
+The boys were helped to the sleeper, where they were put to bed.
+Phil had been slightly burned on one hand while Teddy got what he
+called "a free hair cut," meaning that his hair had been pretty
+well singed.  Otherwise they were none the worse for their
+experiences, save for the slight cuts Phil had received by
+coming in contact with broken glass and some burns from the
+coffee boiler.
+
+They were quite ready to go to sleep soon after being put to bed,
+neither awakening until they reached the next show town on the
+following morning.
+
+When the two lads pulled themselves up in their berths the sun
+was well up, orders having been given not to disturb them.
+
+"Almost seven o'clock, Teddy," cried Phil.
+
+"Don't care if it's seventeen o'clock," growled Teddy.
+"Lemme sleep."
+
+"All right, but you will miss your breakfast."
+
+That word "breakfast" acted almost magically on Tucker.
+Instantly he landed in the middle of the aisle on all fours, and,
+straightening up, began groping sleepily for his clothes.
+
+Phil laughed and chuckled.
+
+"How do you feel, Teddy?"
+
+"Like a roast pig being served on a platter in the cook tent.
+Do you need a net this morning?"
+
+"No, I think not.  I'm rather sore where I got cut, but I guess
+I am pretty fit otherwise."
+
+After washing and dressing the lads set out across the fields
+for the lot, which they could see some distance to the west of
+the sidings, where their sleepers had been shifted.  Both were
+hungry, for it is not an easy matter to spoil a boy's appetite.
+Railroad wrecks will not do it in every case, nor did they
+in this.
+
+But, before the morning ended, the cook tent had seen more
+excitement than in many days--in fact more than at any time so
+far that season.
+
+The moment Phil and Teddy strolled in, each bearing the marks of
+the wreck on face and head everybody, except the Legless Man,
+stood up.  Three rousing cheers and a tiger for the Circus Boys,
+were given with a will, and then the lads found themselves the
+center of a throng of performers, roustabouts and freaks all of
+whom showered their congratulations on the boys for their heroism
+in saving other's lives at the risk of their own.
+
+Little Dimples was not one whit behind the others.  She praised
+them both, much to Phil's discomfiture and Teddy's pleasure.
+
+"Teddy, you are a hero after all," she beamed.
+
+"Me?  Me a hero?" he questioned, pointing to himself.
+
+"Yes, you.  I always knew you would be if you had half a chance.
+Of course Phil had proved before that he was."
+
+Teddy threw out his chest, thrusting both hands in his
+trousers pockets.
+
+"Oh, I don't know.  It wasn't so much.  How'd you get out?"
+
+"Your friend, Phil, here, is responsible for my not being in the
+freak class this morning.  There's Mr. Sparling beckoning to you.
+I think he wants you both."
+
+The boys walked over as soon as they could get away from
+the others.  That morning they sat at the executive table
+with the owner of the show, his wife and the members of
+Mr. Sparling's staff.
+
+For once Teddy went through a meal with great dignity,
+as befitted one who was in the hero class.
+
+"What happened to cause the wreck last night?" asked Phil,
+turning to his host of the morning at the first opportunity.
+
+"The car went off over a blind switch that had been opened."
+
+"By whom?"
+
+"Ah, that's the question."
+
+"Perhaps one of the railroad men opened it by mistake,"
+suggested Teddy.  "Nobody else would have a key."
+
+"You'll find no railroad man made that blunder," replied Phil.
+
+"No!  While the railroad is responsible for the damages,
+I hardly think they are for the wreck.  No key was used to open
+the switch."
+
+"No key?"
+
+"No."
+
+"How, then?"
+
+"The lock was wrenched off with an iron bar and the switch
+wedged fast, so there could be no doubt about what would happen.
+It might have happened to some other car not belonging to us,
+though it was a pretty safe gamble that it would catch one
+of ours."
+
+"I thought as much," nodded Phil.  "But perhaps its just as
+well."
+
+"What do you mean by that?" questioned the showman sharply.
+
+"That the railroad folks will do what the police are too lazy
+to do."
+
+"What?"
+
+"Get after the fellow who did it," suggested Phil wisely.
+
+"That's so!  That's so!  I hadn't thought of it in that
+light before.  You've got a long head, my boy.  You always
+have had, for that matter as long as I have known you, so it
+stands to reason that you must always have been that way."
+
+Teddy, having finished his breakfast, excused himself and
+strolled off to another part of the tent where he might find
+more excitement.  He sat down in his own place near the freak
+table and began talking shop with some of the performers, while
+Phil and Mr. Sparling continued their conversation.
+
+"I haven't given up hopes of catching him myself, Mr. Sparling."
+
+"You came pretty close to it Saturday night."
+
+"And I wasn't so far from it last night either," laughed the boy.
+"Going to be able to save the accommodation car?"
+
+"No, it's a hopeless wreck."
+
+"You probably will not put on another this season then?"
+
+"What would you suggest?"
+
+"I should not think it would be advisable.  Most of the people go
+downtown, anyway, to get their lunch after the show."
+
+"Exactly.  That's the way it appeared to me, but I wanted to get
+your point of view."  It was not that the owner had not made up
+his mind, but that he wanted to get Phil Forrest's mind working
+from the point of view of the manager and owner of a circus,
+seeing in Phil, as he did, the making of a future great showman.
+
+All at once their conversation was disturbed by a great uproar at
+the further end of the tent, near where Teddy sat.
+
+Two midgets, arguing the question as to which of them was the
+Smallest Man in the World, had become so heated that they fell to
+pummeling each other with their tiny fists.
+
+Instantly the tent was in confusion, and with one accord
+the performers and freaks gathered around to watch the
+miniature battle.
+
+A waiter in his excitement, stepped in a woodchuck hole, spilling
+a bowl of steaming hot soup down the Fat Woman's neck.
+
+"Help!  Help!  I'm on fire!" she shrieked.
+
+Teddy, now that he had become a hero, felt called upon to hurry
+to the rescue.  Seizing a pitcher of ice water, he leaped over a
+bench and dumped the contents of the pitcher over the head of the
+Fattest Woman on Earth.  Several chunks of ice, along with a
+liberal quantity of the water, slid down her neck.
+
+This was more than human flesh could stand.  The Fat Woman
+staggered to her feet uttering a series of screams that might
+have been heard all over the lot, while those on the outside
+came rushing in to assist in what they believed to be a
+serious disturbance.
+
+Mr. Sparling pushed his way through the crowd, roaring out
+command after command, but somehow, the ring about the Fat Woman
+and the fighting midgets did not give way readily.  The show
+people were too much engrossed in the funny spectacle of the
+midgets to wish to be disturbed.
+
+Not so Teddy Tucker.
+
+Having quenched the fire that was consuming the Fat Woman,
+he pushed his way through the crowd, with the stern command,
+"Stand aside here!" and fell upon the Lilliputian gladiators.
+
+"Break away!" roared Teddy, grasping each by the collar and
+giving him a violent tug.
+
+What was his surprise when both the little men suddenly turned
+upon him and started pushing and beating him.
+
+Taken unawares, Teddy began to back up, to the accompaniment of
+the jeers of the spectators.
+
+The crowd howled its appreciation of the turn affairs had taken,
+Teddy steadily giving ground before the enraged Lilliputians.
+
+As it chanced a washtub filled with pink lemonade that had been
+prepared for the thirsty crowds stood directly in the lad's path.
+If anyone observed it, he did not so inform Teddy.
+
+All at once the Circus Boy sat down in the tub of pink lemonade
+with a loud splash, pink fluid spurting up in a veritable
+fountain over such parts of him as were not already in the tub.
+
+Teddy howled for help, while the show people shrieked with
+delight, the lad in his efforts to get out of the tub, falling
+back each time, until finally rescued from his uncomfortable
+position by the owner of the show himself.
+
+"That's what you get for meddling with other peoples' affairs,"
+chided Phil, laughing immoderately as he observed the rueful
+countenance of his friend.
+
+"If I hadn't meddled with you last night, you'd have been a dead
+one today," retorted the lad.  "Anyway, I've made a loud splash
+this morning."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+SEARCHING THE TRAIN
+
+Salt Lake City proved an unusual attraction to the Circus Boys,
+they having read so much of it in story and textbooks.
+
+Here they visited the great Mormon Temple.  During their two day
+stand they made a trip out to the Great Salt Lake where Teddy
+Tucker insisted in going in swimming.  His surprise was great
+when he found that he could not swim at all in the thick,
+salty water.
+
+The trip over the mountains, through the wonderful scenery of the
+Rockies and the deep canyons where the sunlight seldom reaches
+was one of unending interest to them.
+
+Most of the show people had been over this same ground with other
+circuses many times before, for there are few corners of the
+civilized world that the seasoned showman has not visited at
+least once in his life.
+
+It was all new to the Circus Boys, however, and in the long day
+trips over mountain and plain, they found themselves fully
+occupied with the new, entrancing scenes.
+
+By this time both lads had become really finished performers in
+their various acts, and they had gone on through the greater part
+of the season without serious accident in their work.  Of course
+they had had tumbles, as all showmen do, but somehow they managed
+to come off with whole skins.
+
+For a time after the wreck of the accommodation car the show had
+no further trouble that could be laid at the door of Red Larry
+or his partner.  However, after a few days, the reports of
+burglaries in towns where the show exhibited became even
+more numerous.
+
+"We can't furnish police protection to the places we visit,"
+answered Mr. Sparling, when spoken to about this.  "But, if ever
+I get my hands on that red head, the fur will fly!"
+
+Passing out of the state of Utah, a few stands were made in
+Nevada, but the jumps were now long and it was all the circus
+trains could do to get from stand to stand in time.  As it was,
+they were not always able to give the parade, but the manager
+made up for this by getting up a free show out in front of the
+big top just before the afternoon and evening performances began.
+
+Reno was the last town played in Nevada, and everyone breathed a
+sigh of relief as the tents were struck and the show moved across
+the line into California.  The difficulty of getting water for
+man and beast had proved a most serious one.  At Reno, however,
+a most serious thing had occurred, one that disturbed the owner
+of the show very greatly.
+
+Many of the guy ropes holding the big top, had been cut while the
+performance was going on and most of the canvasmen and laborers
+were engaged in taking down and loading the menagerie outfit.
+
+A wind storm was coming up, but fortunately it veered off before
+reaching Reno.  The severed ropes were not discovered until after
+the show was over and the tent was being struck.  Mr. Sparling
+had been quickly summoned.  After a careful examination of the
+ropes he understood what had happened.  Phil, too, had discovered
+one cut rope and the others, on his way from the dressing tent to
+the front, after finishing his performance.
+
+But there was nothing now that required his looking up
+Mr. Sparling, in view of the fact that the canvas was already
+coming down.  Yet after getting his usual night lunch in the
+town, the lad strolled over to the railroad yards intending to
+visit the manager as soon as the latter should have returned
+from the lot.
+
+The two met just outside the owner's private car, a short time
+after the loading had been completed.
+
+"Oh, I want to see you, Mr. Sparling, if you have the time."
+
+"I've always time for that.  I was in hopes I would get a
+chance to have a chat with you before we got started.  Will you
+come in?"
+
+"Yes, thank you."
+
+Entering the private car Mr. Sparling took off his coat and threw
+himself into a chair in front of his roll-top desk.
+
+"Phil, there's deviltry going on in this outfit again," he said
+fixing a stern eye on the little Circus Boy.
+
+Phil nodded.
+
+"You don't seem to be very much surprised."
+
+"I'm not.  I think I know what you mean."
+
+"You do?  What for instance?"
+
+"The cutting of those ropes tonight," smiled Phil.
+
+"You know that?"
+
+The lad nodded again, but this time with more emphasis.
+
+"Is there anything that goes on in this outfit that you do not
+know about?"
+
+"Oh, I presume so.  If I hadn't chanced to walk over a place
+where there should have been a guy rope I probably never should
+have discovered what had been done."
+
+"I'll bet you would," answered the owner, gazing at the
+lad admiringly.
+
+"It is fortunate for us that we did not have a wind storm during
+the evening."
+
+"Fortunate for the audience, I should say.  Nothing could have
+held the tent with those ropes gone.  It showed that the cordage
+had been cut by someone very familiar with the canvas.  Almost a
+breath of wind would have caused the whole big top to collapse,
+and then a lot of people might have been killed.  Well, the
+season is almost at an end now.  If we are lucky we shall soon be
+out of it."
+
+"All the more reason for getting the fellow at once,"
+nodded Phil.
+
+"Why?"
+
+"After a few days we shall be closing, and then we shall not get
+an opportunity."
+
+"That's good logic.  I agree with you.  I shall be delighted
+to place these hands of mine right on that fiend's throat.
+But first, will you tell me how I am going to do it?
+Haven't we been trying to catch him ever since those two
+men were discharged?  Both of them are in this thing."
+
+"I think you will find that there is only one now.  I believe
+Larry is working alone.  I haven't any particular reason for
+thinking this; it just sort of seems to me to be so."
+
+"Any suggestions, Phil?  I'll confess that I am at my wits' end."
+
+"Yes, I have been thinking of a plan lately."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"Have the trains searched."
+
+"What?"
+
+"You will remember my saying, sometime ago, that I believed the
+fellow was still traveling with us and--"
+
+"But how--where could he ride that he would not be sure
+of discovery?" protested Mr. Sparling.
+
+"He has friends with the show, that's how," answered
+Phil convincingly.
+
+"You amaze me."
+
+"All the same, I believe you will find that to be the case."
+
+"And you would suggest searching the trains?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"When?"
+
+"Now.  No; I don't mean at this very minute.  I should suggest
+that tomorrow morning, say at daybreak, you send men over this
+entire train.  Don't let them miss a single corner where a man
+might hide."
+
+"Yes; but this isn't the only train in the show."
+
+"I know.  At the first stop, or you might do it here before
+we start, wire ahead to your other train managers to do the
+same thing.  Tell them who it is you suspect.  You'll be able to
+catch the squadron before they get in, though I do not believe
+our man will be found anywhere on that train."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"The squadron went out before the guy ropes were cut."
+
+"Great head!  Great head, Phil Forrest," glowed the manager.
+"You're a bigger man than I am any day in the week.
+Then, according to your reasoning, the fellow ought either
+to be on this section or the one just ahead of it?"
+
+"Yes.  But don't laugh at me if I don't happen to be right.
+It's just an idea I have gotten into my head."
+
+"I most certainly shall not laugh, my boy.  I am almost
+convinced that you are right.  At least, the plan is well worth
+carrying out.  I'll give the orders to the train managers before
+we start."
+
+"I would suggest that you tell them not to give the orders to the
+men until ready to begin the search in the morning."
+
+"Good!  Fine!" glowed the showman.
+
+"I'm going to turn out and help search this section myself,"
+said Phil.  "You know I have some interest in it, seeing that
+it is my plan," he smiled.
+
+"Better keep out of it," advised Mr. Sparling.  "You might fall
+off from the cars.  You are not used to walking over the tops
+of them."
+
+"Oh, yes I am.  I have done it a number of times this season just
+to help me to steady my nerves.  I can walk a swaying box car in
+a gale of wind and not get dizzy."
+
+Mr. Sparling held up his hands protestingly.
+
+"Don't tell me any more.  I believe you.  If you told me you
+could run the engine I'd believe you.  If there be anything you
+don't know how to do, or at least know something about, I should
+be glad to know what that something is."
+
+"May I send your messages?" asked the lad.  "If you will write
+them now I'll take them over to the station.  It must be nearly
+starting time."
+
+"Yes; it is.  No; I'll call one of the men."
+
+Mr. Sparling threw up his desk and rapidly scribbled his
+directions to the train managers ahead.  After that he sent
+forward for the manager of their particular section, to whom he
+confided Phil Forrest's plan, the lad taking part in the
+discussion that followed.  The train manager laughed at the idea
+that anyone could steal a ride on his train persistently without
+being detected.
+
+Mr. Sparling very emphatically told the manager that what he
+thought about it played no part in the matter at all.  He was
+expected to make a thorough search of the train."
+
+"His search won't amount to anything" thought Phil shrewdly.
+"I'll do the searching for this section and I'll find the fellow
+if he is on board.  I hope I shall.  I owe Red Larry something,
+and I'm anxious to pay the debt."
+
+The train soon started, Phil bidding his employer good night,
+went forward to No. 1 which was the forward sleeper on the train,
+next to the box and flat cars.  He peered into Teddy Tucker's
+berth, finding that lad sound asleep, after which he tumbled into
+his own bed.
+
+But Phil was restless.  He was so afraid that he would oversleep
+that he slept very little during the night.
+
+At the first streak of dawn he tumbled quietly from his berth,
+and, putting on his clothes, stepped out to the front platform,
+where he took a long breath of the fresh morning air.
+
+The train was climbing a long grade in the Sierra Nevadas and the
+car couplings were groaning under the weight put upon them.
+
+Phil climbed to the top of the big stock car just ahead of him,
+and sat down on the brake wheel.
+
+Far ahead he saw several men going over the cars.
+
+"They have not only begun the search but they are almost
+through," muttered Phil.  "As I thought, they are not half
+doing it.  I guess I'll take a hand."
+
+Phil stood up, caught his balance and began walking steadily
+over the top of the swaying car.  At the other end of the car he
+opened the trap door which was used to push hay through for the
+animals, examining its interior carefully.  There was no sign of
+a stranger inside, nor did he expect to find any there.
+
+"He'll be in a place less likely to be looked into," muttered the
+lad starting on again and jumping down to a flat car just ahead.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+CONCLUSION
+
+"There's somebody climbing over the train," called one of the
+searchers to the train manager.
+
+All hands turned, gazing off toward Phil.  He swung his hands
+toward them, whereat they recognized the lad and went on about
+their work.
+
+"Wonder they saw even me!" grumbled the lad, moving slowly along.
+It seemed almost impossible that one could hide on a train
+like that.  Here and there men were sleeping under the wagons,
+and Phil made it his business to get a look into the face of
+each of them.  Not a man did he find who bore the slightest
+resemblance to Red Larry or Bad Eye.
+
+"It doesn't look very promising, I must say," he muttered,
+jumping lightly from one flat car to another.
+
+Phil had searched faithfully until finally he reached a "flat"
+just behind that on which stood the great gilded band wagon.
+Now, under its covering of heavy canvas, none of its gaudy
+trimmings were to be seen.
+
+Phil sat down on the low projection at the side of the flat car,
+eyeing the band wagon suspiciously.
+
+Somehow he could not rid himself of the impression that that
+wagon would bear scrutiny.
+
+"I'll bet they never looked into it.  Last year when we were a
+road show, I remember how the men used to sleep in there and how
+Teddy got thrown out when he walked on somebody's face," and Phil
+laughed softly at the memory.  "I'm going to climb up there."
+
+To do this was not an easy matter, for the band wagon seemed to
+loom above him like a tent.  The canvas stretched over it,
+extending clear down to the wheels, to which it was secured
+by ropes.  The only way the Circus Boy could get up into the
+wagon seemed to be to crawl under the canvas at the bottom and
+gradually to work his way up.
+
+"I'm going to try it," he decided all at once.  "Of course
+they didn't look into it.  Maybe they are afraid they will
+find someone.  Well, here goes!  If I fall off that will be the
+last of me, but I am not going to fall.  I ought to be able to
+climb by this time if I'm ever going to."
+
+Phil got up promptly, glanced toward the long train that was
+winding its way up the steep mountain, then stepped across
+the intervening space between the two cars.  He wasted no time,
+but immediately lifted the canvas and peered along the side of
+the wagon.
+
+He discovered that he would have to go to the forward end of it
+in order to reach the top, because the steps were at that end.
+There the canvas was drawn tighter, so the lad untied one of the
+ropes, leaving one corner of the covering flapping in the breeze.
+
+Cautiously and quietly he began climbing up, the wagon swaying
+dizzily with the motion of the train, making it more and more
+difficult to cling to it as he got nearer the top.  The air was
+close, and soon after the boy began going up, the sun beat down
+on the canvas cover suffocatingly.
+
+Now he had reached the top.  High seats intervened between him
+and the other end, so that he could not see far ahead of him.
+Phil dropped down into the wagon and began creeping toward
+the rear.
+
+He stumbled over some properties that had been stowed in the
+wagon, making a great clatter.  Instantly there was a commotion
+in the other end of the car.
+
+Phil scrambled up quickly and crawled over the high seat ahead
+of him.  As he did so he uttered an exclamation.  The red head of
+Red Larry could be seen, his beady eyes peering over the back of
+a seat.
+
+"I've got you this time, Red!" exulted Phil, clambering over the
+seat in such a hurry that he fell in a heap on the other side
+of it.
+
+The lad seemed to have no sense that he was placing himself in
+grave peril.  He had no fear in his makeup, and his every nerve
+was centered on capturing the desperate, revengeful man who had
+not only assaulted Phil, but who had caused so much damage to the
+Sparling Shows.
+
+"Don't you dare come near me, you young cub!" threatened Red,
+as with rage-distorted face he suddenly whipped out a knife.
+
+Phil picked up a club and started toward him.  The club happened
+to be a tent stake.  Red observed the action, and crouching low
+waited as the lad approached him.
+
+"I'm going to get you, Red!  I'm not afraid of your knife.
+You can't touch me with it because before you get the chance
+I'm going to slam you over the head with this tent stake,"
+grinned Phil Forrest.
+
+Red snarled and showed his teeth.
+
+"Oh, you needn't think you can get away.  The men are hunting for
+you further up the train.  They'll be along here in a minute, and
+then I reckon you'll be tied up and dumped into the lion cage,
+though I don't think even a lion would eat such a mean hound as
+you are."
+
+Suddenly the man straightened up.  Now, he held something in his
+hand besides the knife.  It was a stake.
+
+Red drew back his arm, hurling the heavy stick straight at his
+young adversary's head.  Phil, observing the movement let
+drive his own tent stake, but having to throw so hurriedly, his
+aim was poor.  Red Larry's aim, on the other hand was better.
+Phil dodged like a flash.
+
+Had he not done so the stake would have struck him squarely in
+the face.  As it was the missile grazed the side of his head,
+causing the lad to fall in a heap.
+
+Red Larry hesitated only for a second, then leaping to the high
+rear seat of the wagon drew his knife along the canvas above him,
+opening a great slit in it.  Through the opening thus made he
+peered cautiously.  What he saw evidently convinced him of the
+truth of what Phil had just said.  Up toward the head of the
+train the searchers were at work, and from what Red had heard he
+realized they were looking for him.
+
+Red did not delay a second.  He scrambled out through the canvas
+just as Phil pulled himself to his feet.  The lad could see the
+fellow's legs dangling through the canvas.
+
+Phil uttered a yell, hurling himself wildly over the high-backed
+seats in an effort to catch and hold the legs ere Red could
+get out.  But Larry heard him coming, and quickly clambered down
+the back of the wagon to the deck of the flat car.
+
+Phil once more grabbed up his own tent stake as he stumbled back
+through the wagon.
+
+"I've got you!" yelled the boy as he pulled himself up through
+the opening, observing Red standing hesitatingly on the flat car
+with a frightened look in his eyes.
+
+"Hi!  Hi!" cried Phil, turning and gesticulating wildly at the
+men further up the train "I've got him!  Hurry!  I--"
+
+Something sang by his head and dropped quivering in the canvas
+beyond him.  It was the discharged tentman's knife which he had
+aimed at Phil, his aim having been destroyed by a lurch of the
+car, thus saving the Circus Boy's life.
+
+"Want to kill me, do you?  I've got you now!  The men are coming.
+Don't you dare move or I'll drop this stake on you.  I can't miss
+you this time."
+
+Red after one hesitating glance, faced the front and leaped from
+the train down the long, sloping cinder-covered bank.
+
+Phil let drive his tent stake.  It caught Red on the shoulder,
+bowling the rascal over like a nine pin.
+
+Phil Forrest uttered a yell of exultation, suddenly dropping to
+the floor of the car at the imminent risk of his life.
+
+The men were now piling over the cars in his direction.  He did
+not know whether they had seen Red jump or not.  Phil did not
+waste any time in idle speculation.
+
+"Come on!" he shouted, springing to the edge of the car,
+keeping himself from falling by grasping a wheel of the wagon.
+
+Then Phil Forrest did a daring thing.  Crouching low,
+choosing his time unerringly, he jumped from the train.
+Fortunately for him, the cars were running slowly up the
+heavy grade.  But, slowly as they were going, the lad turned
+several rapid handsprings after having struck the ground,
+coming to a stop halfway down the slope, somewhat dazed
+from the shock and sudden whirling about.
+
+But he was on his feet in a twinkling, and running toward the
+spot where Red was painfully picking himself up.  Phil slipped
+and stumbled as the cinders gave way beneath his feet but ran
+on with a grim determination not to let his man escape him
+this time.
+
+Both were now weaponless, so far as the lad knew.  Red had
+possessed a revolver, but in his sudden jump from the train he
+had lost it, and there was now no time to look for it.
+
+When he saw Phil pursuing, Larry started on a run, but the lad,
+much more fleet of foot, rapidly overhauled him, despite the
+handicap that Phil had at the start.
+
+"You may as well give up!  I'm going to catch you, if I have to
+run all the way across the Sierra Nevada Range," shouted Phil.
+
+Red halted suddenly.  Phil thought he was going to wait for him,
+but the lad did not slacken his speed a bit because of that.
+
+All at once, as Phil drew near, Red picked up a stone and hurled
+it at his pursuer.  Phil saw it coming in time to "duck," and it
+was well he did so, for Larry's aim was good.
+
+"He must have been a baseball pitcher at sometime," grinned
+the lad.  However, the fellow continued to throw until Phil saw
+that he must do something to defend himself else he would surely
+be hit and perhaps put out of the race altogether.
+
+"So that's your game is it?" shouted the boy.  "I can
+play ball, too."
+
+With that the lad coolly began hunting about for stones, of which
+he gathered up quite an armful, choosing those that were most
+nearly round.  In the meantime Red had kept up his bombardment,
+Phil dodging the stones skillfully.  Then he too, began to throw,
+gradually drawing nearer and nearer to his adversary.
+
+A small stone caught Phil a glancing blow on the left shoulder
+causing him to drop his ammunition.  He could scarcely repress a
+cry, for the blow hurt him terribly.  He wondered if his shoulder
+had not been broken, but fortunately he had received only a
+severe bruise.
+
+It served, however, to stir Phil to renewed activity.
+Grabbing all the stones he could gather in one sweep of his
+hands he started on a run toward Red Larry, letting one drive
+with every jump.  They showered around the desperate man like a
+rain of hail.
+
+All at once Larry uttered a yell of pain and anger.  One of
+Phil's missiles had landed in the pit of the fellow's stomach.
+Larry doubled up like a jacknife, and, dropping suddenly, rolled
+rapidly toward the foot of the slope.
+
+Phil, still clinging to his weapons, ran as fast as his slender
+legs would carry him in pursuit of his man.
+
+"I hit him!  I hit him!" he yelled.
+
+In a moment he came up with Larry, but the lad prudently stopped
+a rod from his adversary to make sure that the fellow was not
+playing him a trick.  One glance sufficed to tell Phil that the
+man had really been hit.
+
+"I hope he isn't much hurt, but I'm not going to take any
+chances."
+
+Phil jerked off his coat and began ripping it up, regardless of
+the fact that it was his best.  With the strands thus secured, he
+approached his prisoner cautiously, then suddenly jumped on him.
+
+Larry was not able to give more than momentary resistance.
+Inside of three minutes Phil had the fellow's hands tied securely
+behind his back.  Gathering the stones about him in case of need,
+the lad sat down and wiped the perspiration from his brow.
+
+"I guess that about puts an end to your tricks, my fine fellow,"
+announced Phil.
+
+The train had been finally stopped, and a force of men now dashed
+back along the tracks.  They had been in time to view the last
+half of the battle of the stones, and when Red went down they set
+up a loud triumphant yell.  In a few minutes they had reached the
+scene and had taken the prisoner in tow.
+
+The train was at the top of the grade waiting, so the show people
+and their captive were obliged to walk fully a mile to reach it.
+Mr. Sparling, attracted by the uproar, had rushed from his
+private car.  He now met the party a little way down the tracks.
+
+"I got him!" cried Phil, when he saw the owner approaching.
+
+Red was carried to the next stop on the circus train.  He was
+not much hurt and had fully recovered before noon of that day,
+much to Phil's relief, for he felt very badly that he had been
+obliged to resort to stone throwing.  The lad would have
+preferred to use his fists.  But, as the result of the capture,
+Red Larry was put where he would bother circus trains no more for
+some years.  He was sentenced to a long term in prison.
+
+The Great Sparling Shows moved on, playing in a few more
+towns, and, one beautiful morning drew up at the city by the
+Golden Gate.  There the circus remained for a week, when the show
+closed for the season.  But the lads were a long way from home,
+toward which they now looked longingly.
+
+Mr. Sparling invited them to return with him in his private car
+which was to cross the continent attached to regular passenger
+trains, the show proper following at its leisure.
+
+This invitation both boys accepted gladly, and during the trip
+there were many long discussions between the three as to the
+future of the Circus Boys.  They had worked hard during the
+season and had won new laurels on the tanbark.  But they had not
+yet reached the pinnacle of their success in the canvas-covered
+arena, though each had saved, as the result of his season's work,
+nearly twelve hundred dollars.
+
+Phil and Teddy will be heard from again in a following volume
+entitled: "THE CIRCUS BOYS IN DIXIE LAND; Or, Winning the
+Plaudits of the Sunny South."  Here they are destined to meet
+with some of the pleasantest as well as the most thrilling
+experiences of their circus career, in which both have many
+opportunities to show their grit and resourcefulness.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Etext of The Circus Boys Across The
+Continent Or Winning New Laurels on the Tanbark.
+