diff options
Diffstat (limited to '41721-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 41721-0.txt | 4787 |
1 files changed, 4787 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/41721-0.txt b/41721-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c639637 --- /dev/null +++ b/41721-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4787 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41721 *** + +Mystery Stories for Boys + +THE CRIMSON FLASH + +by + +ROY J. SNELL + + + + + + + +The Reilly & Lee Co. +Chicago + +Printed in the United States of America + +Copyright, 1922 +by +The Reilly & Lee Co. +All Rights Reserved + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + I Johnny Loses a Fight 9 + II Boxing the Bunco-Steerer 24 + III The Feasters See a Haunt 45 + IV "Pale Face Bonds" 55 + V Strange Doings in the Night 74 + VI Johnny Boxes the Bear 85 + VII No Box-a Da Bear 100 + VIII The Girl and the Tiger 112 + IX The Tiger Springs 124 + X Gwen Meets a "Hay Maker" 134 + XI The Black Beast 144 + XII Johnny Wins Double Pay 160 + XIII Pant's Story of the Black Cat 173 + XIV In Tom Stick's House 184 + XV Bursting Balloons 198 + XVI The Wreck of the Circus 206 + XVII "Get That Black Cat" 217 + XVIII How Johnny Got the Ring 232 + + + + +THE CRIMSON FLASH + + + + + CHAPTER I + JOHNNY LOSES A FIGHT + + +In the center of the "big top," which sheltered the mammoth three-ring +circus, brass horns blared to the rhythmic beat of a huge bass drum. + +Eight trained elephants, giant actors of the sawdust ring, patiently +stood in line, awaiting the command to make way for the tumblers, trapeze +performers, bareback riders and the queen of the circus. + +The twins, Marjory and Margaret MacDonald, just past ten years of age, +and attending their first circus, stood pressed against the rope not an +arm's length from the foremost elephant. Suddenly the gigantic creature +reached out a beseeching trunk for a possible peanut. + +Sensing danger, Johnny Thompson, the one-time lightweight boxing +champion, who, besides their maid, stood guard over the millionaire +twins, sprang forward. Quick as he was, his movement was far too slow. +Marjory jumped back; there was an almost inaudible snap. The elephant +stretched his trunk to full length--then in apparent anger uttered a +hollow snort. + +A broad bar of sunlight shooting over the top of the canvas wall was cut +by a sudden flash. The flash described a circle, then blinked out at the +feet of three waiting young women performers. + +With a cry of consternation on his lips, Johnny Thompson sprang over the +ropes. Bowling over an elephant trainer in his haste, he bolted toward +the three girl acrobats at whose feet the miniature meteor had vanished. + +Again his agile movement was far too slow. Six pairs of rough hands tried +to seize him. Johnny's right shot out. With a little gurgle, an attendant +in uniform staggered backward to crumple in the sawdust. A ring-master, +leaping like a panther, landed on Johnny's back. Dropping abruptly, +Johnny executed a somersault, shook himself free and rose only to butt +his head into the stomach of a fat clown. + +And then what promised to be a beautiful scrap ended miserably. A +razor-back, or tent roustabout, struck Johnny on the head with a tent +stake. Johnny dropped like an empty meal sack. At once four attendants +dragged him beneath the tent wall into a shady corner. There, after tying +his hands and feet, they waited for his return to consciousness. + +Little by little Johnny came to himself, and began to fumble at his +fetters. + +"Wow! What hit me?" he grumbled, as he attempted to rub his bruised head. + +"You fell and struck your head on a tent pole," grinned a razor-back. + +"Some scrapper, eh?" a second man commented. + +"Dope or moonshine?" asked a third. + +"Neither," exclaimed Johnny. "It was--darn it! No. That's none of your +business. But I'll get it back if I have to follow this one-horse show +from Boston to Texas." + +"You won't follow nothin' just at present," scowled the razor-back, eying +his shackles with satisfaction. "That guy you hit had to go to the show's +surgeon." + +"Wow!" ejaculated his companion. "And I bet this little feller doesn't +weigh a hundred and ten stripped! How'd he do it?" + +"Let me loose and I'll give you a free exhibition," grinned Johnny, as he +settled back, resolved to take what was coming to him with a smile. + +He was not a quarrelsome fellow, this Johnny Thompson. He had studied the +science of boxing and wrestling because it interested him, and because he +wished to be able to take care of himself in every emergency. He never +struck a man unless forced to do so. The emergency of the past hour had +spurred him to unusual activity. In a way he regretted it now, but on +reflection decided that were the same set of conditions to confront him +again, his actions would probably be the same. His one regret was that he +had been unable to attain his end. His only problem now was to recover +lost ground and to reach the desired goal. + +Late that night, with stiffened joints and aching muscles, he made his +way to the desolate spot where but a few hours before a hilarious throng +had laughed at the antics of clowns and thrilled at the daring dance of +the tight-rope walker. + +In his hand Johnny held a small flashlight. This he flicked about here +and there for some time. + +"That's it," he exclaimed at last. "This is the very spot." + +Dropping on hands and knees he began clawing over the sawdust. Running it +through his fingers, he gathered it in little piles here and there until +presently the place resembled a miniature mountain range. He had been at +this for a half hour when he straightened up with a sigh. + +"Not a chance," he murmured, "not a solitary chance! One of those circus +dames got it; the trapeze performer, or maybe the tight-rope walker. +Which one? That's what I've got to find out." + +Suddenly he leaped to his feet. A long-drawn-out whistle sounded through +the darkness. + +"The circus train! I've just time to jump it. I'll stow away on her. +How's that? A circus stowaway!" + +Johnny dashed across the open space and, just as the train began to move, +caught at the iron bars of a gondola car loaded with tent equipment. +Climbing aboard, he groped about until he found a soft spot among some +piles of canvas, and, sinking down there, was soon fast asleep. He had +had no supper, but that mattered little. He would eat a double portion of +ham and eggs in the morning. It was enough that he was on his way. Where +to? He did not exactly know. + +When Johnny leaped over the rope in the circus tent the previous +afternoon, in his rush toward the lady performers, he had dodged behind +the trained elephants. This took him out of the view of the twins, +Marjory and Margaret. So interested were they in the elephants that they +did not miss him, and not having noted the sparkle in the sunlight which +sent Johnny on his mad chase, they remained fully occupied in watching +the regular events of the circus. + +The elephants had lumbered into the side tent, the tight-rope walker had +danced her airy way across the arena, the brown bear had taken his daily +bicycle ride, and the human statuary was on display, when Marjory +suddenly turned to Margaret and said: + +"Why, Johnny's gone!" + +"So he is," said the other twin. "Perhaps he didn't like it. He'll be +back, I'm sure." + +The maid was quite accustomed to looking after the millionaire twins, so +when Johnny failed to put in an appearance at the end of the performance, +they passed out with the throng, the maid hailed a taxi and they were +soon on their way home. + +It was then that Marjory, looking down, noticed that the fine gold chain +about her neck hung with two loose ends. Catching her breath, she uttered +a startled whisper: + +"Oo! Look! Margaret! It's gone!" + +Margaret looked once, then clasped her hands in horror. + +"And father said you mustn't take it!" + +"But it was our first, our very first circus!" + +"I know," sighed Margaret. "And wasn't it just grand! But now," she +sighed, "now, you'll have to tell father." + +"Yes, I will--right away." + +Marjory did tell. They had not been in the house a minute before she told +of their loss. + +"Where's Johnny Thompson?" their father asked. + +"We--we don't know." + +"Don't know?" + +"We haven't seen him for two hours." + +"Well, that settles it. I might have known when I hired an adventurer to +look after my thoroughbreds and guard my children that I'd be sorry. But +he was a splendid man with the horses; seemed to think of 'em as his own; +and as for boxing, I never saw a fellow like him." + +"Yes, and Daddy, we liked him," chimed in Marjory. "We liked him a lot." + +"Well," the father said thoughtfully, "guess I ought to put a man on his +trail and bring him back. Probably went off with the circus. But I won't. +He's been a soldier, and a good one, I'm told. That excuses a lot. And +then if you go dangling a few thousand dollars on a bit of gold chain, +what can you expect? Better go get your supper and then run on to bed." + +That night, before they crept into their twin beds, Marjory and Margaret +talked long and earnestly over something very important. + +"Yes," said Marjory at last, "we'll find some real circus clothes +somewhere. Then we'll have Prince and Blackie saddled and bridled. Then +we'll ride off to find that old circus and bring Johnny Thompson back. We +can't get along without him; besides, he didn't take it. I just know he +didn't." + +"And if he did, he didn't mean to," supplemented Margaret. + +A moment later they were both sound asleep. + +As Johnny Thompson bumped along in his rail gondola, with the click-click +of the wheels keeping time to the distant pant of the engine, he dreamed +a madly fantastic dream. In it he felt the nerve-benumbing shudder which +comes with the shock of a train wreck. He felt himself lifted high in air +to fall among rolls of canvas and piles of tent poles, heard the crash of +breaking timbers, the scream of grinding ironwork, and above it all the +roar of frightened animals--tigers, lions, panthers, tossed, still in +their cages, to be buried beneath the wreckage, or hurled free to tumble +down the embankment. In this dream Johnny crawled from beneath the canvas +to find himself staring into the red and gleaming eye of some great cat +that was stalking him as its prey. He struggled to draw his clasp knife +from his pocket, and in that mad struggle awoke. + +With every nerve alert he caught the click-click of wheels, the distant +pant of the engine. It had been nothing more than a dream. He was still +traveling steadily forward with the circus. + +Yet, as he settled back, he gave an involuntary shudder and, propping +himself on one elbow, stared through the darkness toward the spot where, +in his dream, the great cat had crouched. To his horror, he caught the +red gleam of a single burning eye. + +Instantly there flashed through his mind the row of great caged cats he +had seen that day. Pacing the floor of their dens, pausing now and again +for a leap, a growl, a snarl, they had fascinated him then. Now his blood +ran cold at the thought of the creature which, having escaped from its +cage, had crept along the swinging cars, leaping lightly from one to the +other until the scent of a man had arrested its course. Was it the +Senegal lion? Johnny doubted that. Perhaps the tawny yellow Bengal tiger, +or the more magnificent one from Siberia. + +All this time, while his mind had worked with the speed of a wireless, +Johnny's hand was struggling to free his clasp knife. + +Once more his eye sought the ball of fire. Suddenly as it had come, so +suddenly it had vanished. He started in astonishment. Yet he was not to +be deceived. The creature had turned its head. It was moving. Perhaps at +this very moment it was crouching for a spring. A huge pile of canvas +loomed above Johnny. A leap from this vantage, the tearing of claws, the +sinking of fangs, and this circus train would have witnessed a tragedy. + +He strained his ears for a sound, but heard none. He strove to make out a +bulk in the dark, but saw nothing. Could it be a tiger or mountain lion, +jaguar or spotted leopard? Or was it the black leopard from Asia? A fresh +chill ran down Johnny's spine at thought of this creature. Other great +cats had paced their cages, growled, snarled; the black leopard, smaller +than any, but muscular, sharp clawed, keen fanged, with glowering eyes, +had lurked in the corner of his cage and gloomed at those who passed. It +was this animal that Johnny feared the most. + +If he but had a light! At once he thought of his small electric torch. +Grasping it in his left hand, he leveled it at the spot where the burning +eye had been, and gripping the clasp knife in his right, threw on the +button. + +As the shaft of light flashed across the canvas, he stared for a second, +then his hand trembled with surprise and excitement. + +"Panther Eye, as I live!" he exclaimed. "You old rascal! What are you +doing here?" + +The former companion, for it was not a great cat, but a man, and none +other than Panther Eye, fellow free-lance in many a previous adventure, +stared at him through large smoked glasses, a smile playing over his +lips. + +"Johnny Thompson, I'll be bound! Some luck to you. What are you doing +here?" + +"Looking for something." + +"Same here, Johnny." + +"And I'll stay with this circus until I find it," said Johnny. + +"Same here, Johnny. Shake on it." + +Pant crawled over the swaying car and extended a hand. Johnny shook it +solemnly. + +"Slept any?" asked Pant. + +"A little." + +"Better sleep some more, hadn't we?" + +"I'm willing." + +"It's a go." + +Pant crept back to his hole in the canvas; Johnny sank back into his. He +was not to sleep at once, however. His mind was working on many problems. +Not the least of these was the question of Panther Eye's presence on the +circus train. This strange fellow, who appeared to be endowed with a +capacity for seeing in the dark, was always delving in dark corners, +searching out hidden mysteries. What mystery could there be about a +circus? What, indeed? Was not Johnny on the trail of a puzzling mystery +himself? + +Having reasoned thus far he was about to fall asleep, when a single red +flash lighted up the peak of the canvas pile, then faded. He thought of +the red ball of fire he had taken for a cat's eye. He remembered the +yellow glow he had seen when with Pant on other occasions. His mind +attacked the problem weakly. He was half asleep. In another second the +click-click of the car wheels was heard only in his dreams. + + + + + CHAPTER II + BOXING THE BUNCO-STEERER + + +From time to time during the night, Johnny awoke to listen for a moment +to the click-click of the wheels. Once he thought he caught again the +play of that crimson flash upon the canvas. Once he remained awake long +enough to do a little wondering and planning. How had Pant, his friend of +other days, come aboard this circus train? What was he seeking? True, +Johnny had received a letter from this strange fellow some time before, +in which he spoke in mysterious terms of a three-ring circus and the +Secret Service, but Johnny had taken this very much as a joke. What +possible connection could there be between circus and Secret Service? +Finding the problem impossible of solution, he turned his attention to +his own plight. He had started upon a strange journey of which he knew +not even the destination. In his pocket was a five-dollar bill and some +loose change. He must stick to this circus until he had regained a +certain precious bit of jewelry. How was he to do that? One of the three +lady circus performers had it, he felt sure, but how was he to find out +which one? Should he be so fortunate as to discover this, how was he to +regain possession of it? + +Hedged about as the life of the circus woman is, by those of her own +kind, the task seemed impossible, yet somehow it must be done. It had +been the utmost folly for Marjory to wear her mother's engagement ring, +set with an immense solitaire, dangling on a chain, when they attended +the circus, yet she had done it, and Johnny had promised to watch it. He +had kept a sharp lookout, but had been caught unawares when the thief had +proved to be an elephant, who doubtless had taken it for something to +eat, and, having scratched his trunk upon it, had tossed it to his lady +friends of the human species, to see what they thought of it. + +"Rotten luck!" Johnny grumbled, as he turned over once more to fall +asleep. + +By a succession of sudden stops and starts, by the bumping of cars, and +the grinding of brakes, Johnny realized that at last they had come to a +stopping place. When the starting and stopping had continued for some +time, he knew the city they were entering was a large one. Opening his +eyes sleepily, he propped himself up on one elbow and tried to peer about +him. It was still dark. A stone wall rose a short distance above the cars +on either side. Above and beyond the wall to the left great buildings +loomed. From one of these, towering far above the rest, lights gleamed +here and there. The others were totally dark. + +"Big one's a hotel, rest office buildings," was Johnny's mental comment. +"But say, where have I seen this before?" + +Lifting himself to his knees, he looked down the track in the direction +they had just come. A tower pointing skyward appeared to have closed in +on their wake. Turning, he looked in the opposite direction. A dull gray +bulk loomed out of the dark. + +"Chicago," he muttered in surprise. "Of all places! We've come all the +way from that jerk-water city of Amaraza to put on a show in good old +Chi. Can't be a bit of doubt of it, for yonder's the Auditorium hotel, +back there's the Illinois Central depot, and ahead the Art Institute. +Grant Park's our destination. The situation improves. We'll have some +real excitement. Pant will be tickled pink. + +"Pant! Oh, Pant!" he whispered hoarsely. "Pant!" He spoke the name aloud. + +Receiving no answer, he climbed over the canvas piles to the spot where +Pant had been. + +"Gone," he muttered. "Didn't think he'd shake me like that!" + +He dropped into gloomy reflections. What was his next move? He had +counted on Pant's assistance. Now he must go it alone. + +"Oh, well," he sighed at last, "I'll just hang around and let things +happen. They generally do." + +Before darkness came again things had happened--several things, in which +the fortunes of Johnny Thompson rose and fell to rise again like bits of +cork on a storm-tossed sea. + +Before putting his hand on the iron rod to lower himself to the cinder +strewn track, he gave himself over to a moment of recollection. He was +thinking of this strange fellow, Pant. Again he groped his way in the +dark cave in Siberia, with Pant's all-seeing eye to guide him. Again he +fought the Japs in Vladivostok. Again--but I will not recount all his +vivid recollections here, for you have doubtless read them in the book +called "Panther Eye." It is enough to say that the incidents of this +story proved beyond a doubt that Pant could see in the dark, but as to +how and why he was so strangely gifted, that had remained a mystery to +the end; and to Johnny Thompson it was to this time as great a mystery as +in the beginning. + + * * * * * * * * + +Pant had left the circus train at Twenty-second Street. He had drawn his +cap down to his dark goggles, and hurrying over to State Street, boarded +a north-bound surface car. + +A half hour later he climbed the last of six flights of stairs, and +turning a key in a dusty door, let himself into a room that overlooked +the river at Wells Street. + +This room had been Johnny Thompson's retreat in those stirring days told +of in "Triple Spies." Johnny had turned the key over to Pant before he +left Russia. Pant had renewed the lease, and had, from time to time, as +his strangely mysterious travels led through Chicago, climbed the stairs +to sit by the window and reflect, or to throw himself upon the bed and +give himself over to many hours of sleep. + +At present he was not in need of sleep. Swinging the blinds back without +the slightest sound, he drew a chair to the window and, dropping his chin +in his cupped hands, fell into deep reflection. His inscrutable, +mask-like face seemed a blank. Only twice during two hours did the +muscles relax. Each time it was into a cat-like smile. Just before these +moments of amusement there had appeared upon the river, far below, a +broad patch of crimson light. + + * * * * * * * * + +Morning before the circus performance is like the wash of a receding +tide. Dull gray fog still lingers in the air. In front of the ropes that +exclude visitors a few curiosity seekers wander up and down, but it is +behind these lines, on behind the kitchen, mess, and horse tents that the +real denizens of the fog are to be found. Here a host of attaches of the +circus, and those not definitely attached, wander about like beasts in +their cages, or engage in occupations of doubtful character. Here are to +be found in great numbers the colored razor-backs, mingled with the white +men of that profession. Stake drivers, rope pullers, venders of peanuts +and pop, mingle with the motley crowd of sharp-witted gentry who, like +vultures following a victorious army, live in the wake of a prosperous +circus. Later, all these would sleep, but for the moment, like owls and +bats, they cling to the last bit of morning fog. + +It was down this much trodden "gold coast" at the back door of the circus +that Johnny Thompson found himself walking. He had taken his coffee and +fried eggs at a restaurant that backed "Boul Mich." He was now in search +of Pant, also hoping for things to turn up, which, presently, they did. + +So Johnny sauntered slowly along the broad walk bordering the Lake Front +park. + +Here and there he paused to study the faces of men who sat munching their +breakfast. Faces always interested him, and besides, he knew full well +that some of the sharpest as well as the lowest criminals follow a +circus. + +His course was soon arrested by the hoarse half whisper of a man to the +right of him. About this man--a white man--was gathered a knot of other +men. + +"Five, if you pick the black card. Try your luck! Try it, brother. Five +dollars, if you pick the lucky card." These were the words the man +whispered. + +Johnny edged his way to the center of the group. In shady places at the +back of great country picnics, or in secluded sheds at county fairs, he +had seen this game played many a time, but to find it in a Chicago park +seemed unbelievable. Yet, here it was. A broad shouldered man, with an +irregular mouth and a ragged ear, evidently badly mauled in some fight, +stood with a newspaper held flat before him. On the paper, face down, +were three ordinary playing cards. The slim, tapering fingers of the man +played over the cards, as a pianist's fingers play over the keys. Now he +gathered them all up to toss them one by one, face up, on the paper. + +"See, gents; two reds and a black! Watch it! There it is! There it is! +Now, there! Five dollars, if you pick the lucky card! Five to me if you +lose." + +He shot an inquiring glance toward Johnny. Johnny remained silent. + +A short, stout man thrust a five dollar bill into the conman's hand. His +trembling fingers turned a card. It was red. With an oath he struggled +out of the ring. + +"Can't hit it always, brother," a smirky smile overspread the conman's +face. + +"Well, now, I'll make it easy. There it is! Leave it there. Who will try? +Who will try?" + +A young man wearing a green tie passed over a ten dollar bill. + +"Make it all or nothing. All or nothing," chuckled the operator. + +The youth grinned. His confident finger picked the card. It was black. + +"You win, brother, you win. I told you. Now, who'll win next?" + +Again he shot a glance at Johnny. Again Johnny was silent. + +Twice more the game was played. Each time the conman lost. + +"Everybody wins this morning." The conman's fingers played with the +cards, and in playing bent the corner of the black card ever so slightly +upward. Johnny's keen eyes saw it. When the card was turned, he had +picked it right. Five times in imaginary plays the conman tossed the +cards down and gathered them up. Each time Johnny's eye, following the +bent card, told him he was right. Six times he picked the black card +correctly. Was the conman drunk? He thought not. His keen eyes studied +the circle of faces. Then he laughed. + +"Where do you think it is?" The conman bantered. + +Johnny pointed a finger at the bent card. + +"Why don't you bet?" + +Johnny laughed again. + +"I bate." A Swede standing near Johnny thrust out a five dollar bill. + +He won. + +"See?" jeered the conman. "You're no sport. You're a coward." He leered +at Johnny. + +Johnny's cheek turned a shade redder, but he only smiled. + +Again the Swede bet and won. + +Again the conman had the word "coward" on his lips. He did not say it. + +Johnny was speaking. There was a cold smile on his lips. + +"I can tell you one thing, stranger," Johnny squared his shoulders, "I'm +not in the habit of allowing men to call me a coward. I'll tell you why I +don't play your rotten game, then I'll tell you something else. That man, +and that one, and that one and this Swede are your cappers. You had +twenty-five dollars between you when I came. You got five from that +stranger who left. When one of your cappers won, he passed the money from +hand to hand until it came back to you. If they lost it's the same. A +stranger has about as much chance with a bunch like you as a day-old +chick has in the middle of the Atlantic. But say, stranger, you called me +a coward. I'll tell you what I'll do. You've got me topped by +seventy-five pounds, and you think you know how to handle your dukes. +I'll box you three rounds, and if you touch my face in any round, I'll +give you a five-case note, the last one I have. Not bet, see! Just give! +You can't lose; you may win. What say?" + +The conman's lips parted, but no sound came. The eyes of his pals and +cappers were upon him. + +"You wouldn't let the little runt bluff y'," suggested the young capper +of the green tie. + +"Oh--all, all right, brother." The conman's voice stuck in his throat. +"All right. Somebody fetch the gloves." + +A boxing match, or even a free-for-all, is not so uncommon on the back +lines of a circus, but it never fails to draw a crowd. It was upon this +inevitable crowd that Johnny counted for his backing, should the three +rounds turn into a rough and tumble, with no mercy and no quarter. + +Once his gloves were on, he explained to the rapidly growing circle the +terms of the match. + +"There's no referee, so all of you are it," he smiled. + +"Right-O. We're wid ye," a genial Irishman shouted. + +"Go to it, kid," a sturdy stake driver echoed. + +"Are you ready?" + +Johnny moved his gloves to a position not ten inches from his body. With +fists well extended, the conman leaped across the ring. The blow he aimed +at Johnny's head would have felled an ox, had it landed. It did not land. +Johnny had sprung to one side. The next instant he tapped the conman on +his ragged ear. + +This appeared to infuriate his antagonist. Perhaps it served to bring +back memories of another battle in which he had been worsted. His rage +did him neither service nor credit. Time and again he bounded at the +elusive Johnny, to find himself fanning air. Time and again Johnny tapped +that ragged ear. The conman landed not a single blow. When, after three +minutes, a man called time, and the two paused to take a breath, the +plaudits were all for Johnny. + +As he rested, the beady eyes of the conman narrowed to slits. He was +thinking, planning. He had not scored on the first bout, the second would +see him a winner. + +Instantly upon re-entering the ring he rushed Johnny for a clinch. Taken +by surprise, the boy could not avoid it. Yet, even here, he was more than +a match for his heavier opponent. Gripping hard with his left, he rained +blows on the other's back, just above the kidney. That, in time, made a +break welcome. + +The conman's game was to clinch, then to force his opponent back to a +position where he could land his right on Johnny's chin. This would win +his point. More than that, it would enable him to break Johnny's neck, if +he chose, and he might so decide. + +Three times he clinched. Three times he received trip-hammer blows on his +back, and three times he gave way before his plucky opponent. When, at +last, time was called, he fairly reeled to his corner. + +There was a dangerous light in his eye as he stepped up for the third +round. + +"Watch him, kid. He'll do you dirt," muttered the Irishman. + +"Keep your guard," echoed another. + +Johnny, still smiling, moved forward. His face was well guarded. He was +confident of victory. + +Twice the conman feinted with his right, struck out with his left, then +retired. The third time he rushed straight on. Johnny easily dodged his +blows, but the next second doubled up in a knot. Groaning and panting for +breath he fell to the earth. + +Eagerly the conman leaped forward. His glove had barely touched Johnny's +cheek when a grip of iron pulled him back. + +"There's no referee. Then I'm one. An Irishman for a square scrap." It +was Johnny's ardent backer. + +Panting, the conman stood at bay. + +In time, Johnny, having regained his breath, sat up dizzily and looked +about. + +"Where's the five?" demanded the conman. + +Johnny held up his right glove. "I leave it to the crowd if he gets it +fair." + +"He fouled you wid his knee! He jammed it into yer stummick! A rotten +trick as ever was played!" yelled the Irishman. + +"Right-O! Sure! Sure! Kill him! Eat him alive!" came from every corner. + +Johnny rose. + +"We'll finish the round," he said quietly. + +"Keep your money," grumbled the conman. + +"No! No! No!" came from a hundred throats, for by this time a dense mob +was packed about the improvised ring. Chairs, benches and barrels had +been dragged up. On these men stood looking over the shoulders of those +in front. + +Like an enraged bull the conman stood at bay. + +"All right," he laughed savagely. "We'll finish it quick." + +He leaped squarely at Johnny. Johnny's whole body seemed to stiffen, then +to rise. Springing full ten inches from the ground and ten inches +forward, he shot out his glove. There came the thudding impact of a +master-blow. + +The conman rose slightly in the air, then reeled backward into the mob. +The point of his chin had come in contact with Johnny's fist. + +With characteristic speed, Johnny threw off the gloves, seized his coat +and lost himself in the crowd. + +He was not ashamed of his part in the affair, far from that. He knew he +had given the crook only that which he richly deserved. He was not, +however, at that moment looking for publicity, and escape was the only +way to avoid it. + +In eluding the crowd he was singularly successful. By dodging about the +horse tent, and rounding the mess tent, he was able to make his way +directly to the shore of the lake. Here he walked rapidly south until he +found himself alone. Throwing himself upon the ground, for ten minutes he +watched the small breakers coil and recoil upon the shore. Rising, he +lifted his laughing blue eyes to the sunshine. Then, scooping up +hands-full of the clear lake water, he bathed his face, his chest, his +arms. + +"Boy! Boy!" he breathed, as he beat his chest dry. "It's sure good to be +alive!" + +A moment later his face clouded. "But how about that diamond ring? Oh, +you sparkler, come to your daddy!" + +With this, he repaired to the show site. + +On returning to the rear of the circus tents, he was surprised to be +accosted at once by a smooth-shaven, sturdy man with a clean, clear look +in his eye. + +"You're the boy that's so handy with his mitts?" + +Johnny had a mind to run for it, but one look into those clear eyes told +him this would be folly. + +"That's what they say," he smiled. + +"Shake! I like you for that." The stranger extended his hand. + +Johnny gripped it warmly. + +"The way you handled that conman wasn't bad; not half-bad. You're a +sport; a regular one! The circus boys like a good sport; the real chaps +do. How'd you like a job?" + +"A--a job?" Johnny stammered. "What kind?" + +"Circus job." + +"What kind?" Johnny repeated. + +"What can you do?" + +"I--I--" suddenly Johnny had an inspiration. "Why, I'm the best little +groom there is in three states. I could shine up those fat bareback +horses of yours till you'd take them for real plate glass." + +"Could you? I believe you could, and you're going to have a chance. +Millie Gonzales' three mounts have been neglected of late." + +Millie Gonzales! Johnny caught his breath. He had gone fishing and caught +a whale the first cast. Millie Gonzales was one of the three circus girls +at whose feet the diamond ring had dropped. Perhaps she was the one who +had picked it up; who held it among her possessions now. He would know. + +"When can I go to work?" he asked unsteadily. + +"Right now. I'll take you over to the stables. Stable boss'll give you a +suit and some unionalls. You shape up the three and have 'em ready for +Millie by two o'clock, in time for the grand parade." + +"Of all the luck!" Johnny whispered into the ear of a sleek, broad backed +gray a half hour later. "To think that I should have fallen into this at +the very start! Perhaps Millie has it. Perhaps she's wearing it on one of +those tapering fingers of hers at this very moment. Is she, old boy? Is +she?" + +The horse looked at him with eyes that said nothing. + +"You won't tell," Johnny bantered. "Well, then, I'll have to find out for +myself. Come on, you two o'clock!" + + + + + CHAPTER III + THE FEASTERS SEE A HAUNT + + +Pant did not return to the neighborhood of the circus grounds until +darkness had fallen. Then it was only to go skulking along the beach, and +to perch himself at last, owl-like, on a huge pile of sand which +overlooked a particular stretch of the beach on which a huge fire of +driftwood had been built. The fire had died down now to a great, glowing +bed of coals. About the fire eight negroes were seated. + +"Razor-backs from the circus," was Pant's mental comment. "Something +doing!" + +So filled with their own thoughts were the minds of the colored gentlemen +that they had failed to note Pant's arrival. Seated there in the +darkness, motionless as an owl watching for the move of a mouse, his +mask-like face expressionless, his slim, tapering fingers still, Pant +appeared but a part of the dull drab scenery. + +"Hey, Brother Mose; time to carb de turkey-buzzard," chuckled one of the +darkies. + +"Brother Mose" turned half about, stretched out a fat hand and drew +toward him a thin object wrapped in a newspaper. + +"Sambo," he commanded, "leave me have dat cleavah!" + +Sambo handed over a butcher's cleaver. + +The next instant the package was unwrapped, revealing a clean, white +strip of meat, which had at one time been half the broad back of a +porker. + +"Po'k chops!" murmured Mose. + +"Um! Um! Um!" came in a chorus. + +"Ya-as, sir. Now you-all jes' stir up dem coals, an' put dem sweet +'taters roastin', while I does the slicin' an' de cleavin'." Mose drew a +butcher knife from his hip pocket. + +From a second bulging package on the beach, two of his comrades drew +shining yellow tubers, while others stirred up the coals, and raked some +out to a circular hole in the sand, which had previously been lined with +ashes. Having tossed the coals in, they covered them lightly with ashes, +at the same time calling: + +"Le's hab dem 'taters!" + +All this time with no observer save the unsuspected Pant, Mose was +operating skillfully on that pork loin. With a slab of drift wood as +chopping block, he sliced away with the skill of a hotel butcher. In a +twinkle, the chops lay neatly piled in heaps on the slab. Then, while no +one was looking, he caused a liberal handful of the chops to disappear +into the huge pocket at the back of his coat. + +Pant's lips curved in a smile. "Holding out," he whispered. + +"Dere dey is," exulted Mose, like a rooster calling his brood to a meal. +"Dere dem po'k chops is, all carved an' cleaned an' ready fo' de +roastin'." + +"Um, um, um," chanted his companions in gurgling approval. + +Whence had come these pork chops? This question did not trouble Pant. +They might have been bought at a butcher shop; then again, they might +have been stolen. It was enough for Pant that they were there. He was +glad. Not that he hoped to "horn in" on the feast; he had eaten +bountifully but an hour before. Nevertheless, he was glad to be here. +This little festal occasion suited his purpose beautifully. He had hoped +something like this might be going on down here. The pork chops stowed +away in Mose's pocket amused him. As he thought of them his former plan +changed slightly, his lips twisted in a smile. + +"It's all plain enough," he thought to himself. "Moses and old +Lankyshanks, his buddie, have a half hour longer to loaf than the rest of +them; that gives them time for a little extra feast. The supplies belong +to them all alike, but Mose and Lankyshanks get double portions if--" +Here he smiled again. + +The preparation for the feast went on. Each man twisted out of tangled +wire a rude but serviceable broiler. They joked and laughed as they +worked, their dark faces shining like ebony. + +"Po'k chops, po'k chops, po'k chops! Um! Um! Um!" they chanted now and +then. + +In time word was passed around the circle, and then eight right hands +shot out and eight broilers hung out over the coals. + +Snapping and sputtering, flaring up with a sudden burning of grease, +whirled now this way, now that, the pork chops rapidly turned a delicious +brown. The odor which rose in air would have made a chronic dyspeptic's +mouth water. + +"Po'k chops, po'k chops, po'k chops! Um! Um! Um!" + +Twice Pant lifted his eyes toward the stars. Twice he brought them down +again. + +"Haven't got the heart to do it," he whispered to himself; "I'll take a +chance and wait." + +The sweet potatoes had been dug from the roasting pit; the feasters had +sunk their teeth deep in juicy fat, when Pant was suddenly startled by a +groan close at hand. + +Without moving, he turned his head to see a colored boy sitting near him. + +Recognizing the round, close-cropped bullet head as one belonging not to +the circus, but to South Water Street, he leaned over and whispered: + +"'Lo, Snowball, what y' doin' here?" + +"Same's you, I reckon." The boy showed all his teeth in a grin. "Jes' +sittin' an' a-wishin', dat's all." + +"Pork chops, huh?" + +"Ain't it so, Mister? Ain't dem the grandes' you ain't most never smelt?" + +"Sh, not so loud," cautioned Pant. "Maybe there'll be some for you yet. +Sort of reserve rations." + +"Think so, mebby?" + +Pant nodded. + +Then together they sat in silence while the feast went on; sat till the +last bone and potato skin had been thrown upon the fast dulling coals. + +"Huh!" sighed Snowball. "Hain't no mo'." + +He half rose to go, but Pant pulled him back to his seat. Six of the +colored gentlemen were wiping their hands on greasy bandanas, and were +preparing to depart. + +"Reckon me and Lanky'll jes' res' here for a while," grunted Mose. + +"Eh-heh," assented Lankyshanks. + +The six had hardly disappeared over the hill when Lankyshanks' eyes +popped wide open. + +"'Mergency rations," he whispered. + +With a grunt of satisfaction, Mose handed three pork chops to +Lankyshanks, wired his own three to his broiler, stirred up the fire, +then began slowly revolving the sputtering chops over the sparkling +embers. + +For fully five minutes Pant and Snowball, on the sand pile, watched in +silence--a silence broken only by an occasional, half audible sigh from +Snowball. + +The chops were done to a brown finish when Pant suddenly fixed his gaze +intently upon the big dipper which hung high in the heavens. + +At that precise instant, Mose, uttering a groan not unlike that of a +dying man, threw his broiler high in air, rolled over backward, turned +two somersaults, then stumbling to his feet, ran wildly down the beach. +Having dropped his chops on the coals, Lanky followed close behind. The +expression of utter terror written on their faces was something to see +and marvel at. + +Pant still gazed skyward. Snowball gripped his arm, and whispered +tensely: + +"Lawdy, Mister! Look'a dere!" + +Pant removed his gaze from the heavens and looked where Snowball pointed, +at the bed of dying embers. + +"What was it, Snowball?" he drawled. "Why! Where are our friends?" + +"Dey done lef'," whispered Snowball, still gripping his arm. "An' so 'ud +you. It's a ha'nt, er a sign, er sumthin'. Blood. It was red, lak blood. +All red. Dem fellers was red, an' dem po'k chops, an' dat sand, all red +lak blood." + +"Pork chops," said Pant slowly. + +"Yes, sir, po'k chops an' everything. I done heard dat Mose say it were a +sign. Dey's be a circus wreck, er sumthin'. Train wreck of dat dere +circus." + +"Pork chops," said Pant again thoughtfully. "Where did the pork chops go? +Why! There is one broiler full on the wood pile. They must have left it +there for you." + +"No, sir! Dat Mose done throwed it dere. Dat's how scared he was." + +"They won't be back, I guess; so you'd better just warm them up a bit and +sit up to the table." + +Terror still lurked in Snowball's eyes, but in his nostrils still +lingered the savory smell of pork chops. The pork chops won out and he +was soon feasting royally. + +"Snowball," said Pant when the feast was finished, "would you like to +earn a little money?" + +"Would I? Jes' try me, Mister!" + +"All right. I want five Liberty Bonds, the fifty-dollar kind. A lot of +those circus fellows have them, and some of them will sell them, maybe +cheap. Don't pay more than forty-five for any. Get them for thirty-nine, +if you can. The cheap ones are the kind I want. Here's the money. Don't +bet it, don't lose it, and don't let any of those crooks touch you for +it. It will take you a little time to find the bonds. I'll meet you right +here in two hours." + +Snowball rolled his eyes. "Boss, I sho' am grateful fo' th' compliment, +but I is plum scared at all dat money." + +"Nobody'll hurt you or take it from you. You're honest. If you do lose +it, I'll forgive you. Good-by." + +Pant strode rapidly down the beach, leaving Snowball to make his way back +to the circus grounds in quest of thirty-nine dollar Liberty Bonds, an +article which, if he had but known it, has never existed in legitimate +channels of business. + + + + + CHAPTER IV + "PALE FACE BONDS" + + +After leaving Pant, Snowball divided the money he had been given for the +purpose of purchasing Liberty Bonds into five little rolls. These he +deposited in five different pockets about his ragged trousers and coat. + +"Dere now," he muttered; "dey won't nobody snatch it all from me at +oncet." + +He first wandered down the back ropes, accosting here and there a colored +gentleman who looked as if he might be the proud possessor of a bond. + +Some laughed at this bullet-headed youngster, who claimed to be in +possession of enough money to purchase a "sho' nuff" Liberty Bond. +Others, with prying eyes, leered at his pockets. These he gave a wide +berth. An hour of this sort of thing netted him two bonds at forty-two +dollars each. + +"Huh," he grunted at last, "these here colored circus folks sho' am plum +short on Liberty Bonds. Reckon I'se gwine try some white mans." + +Making his way boldly out to the front of the circus, where a thin crowd +filtered in and out, here and there, some few drifting into the side +shows, he made straight for a man in uniform who guarded the entrance to +the big tent. + +"Say, Mister, you all got any Liberty Bonds to sell?" + +"Liberty Bonds?" The man started and stared. "Who wants 'em?" + +"Me. I do, Mister." + +"Say!" The man bent low and whispered. "You see that man selling tickets +in front of the big side show, by the picture of the fat lady?" + +"Uh-huh." + +"He's got some. Bought them this morning, cheap. Mebbe he'll sell them to +you." + +"Thank ye, Mister." + +Snowball was away like a flash. + +"Liberty Bonds?" said the ticket hawker of the black mustache. "How +many?" + +"I might buy one, if it's cheap, mebbe." + +"How cheap?" + +"How much you all want?" + +"Forty dollars." + +Snowball shook his head, "Thirty-nine. That's all I'm payin' jes' now." +His hand was in his right trousers pocket. + +"Let's see yer money." + +Snowball stepped back a discreet distance, then displayed two +twenty-dollar bills. + +"All right, let's have 'em." + +"Let's see dat Liberty Bond." + +"All right." The man dug into his inner vest pocket, produced a flat +envelope from which he extracted a square of paper. + +"Here it is." + +Snowball inspected it closely. "Dat's all right, Mister. I git a dollar +back." + +The ticket seller peeled a one-dollar bill from a bulky roll and the deal +was closed. + +"Say, Mister," said Snowball, rolling his eyes, "I might buy another one, +same price." + +"Why didn't you say so?" + +Snowball grinned. + +Again the deal was closed. + +Snowball put his hand into his left hip pocket and repeated his +declaration: + +"Say, Mister, I might buy jes' one more." + +For a second time the man's eyes rested on him with suspicion lurking in +their depths. + +"Say, boy, who you buying these for?" + +"Fo' me, mysef." + +"All right, Mr. First National Bank, here you are." + +The deal was quickly closed and Snowball hastened away, happy in the +realization that he had accomplished the task set for him. + +Making his way to the beach, he found Pant sprawled out on the sand, half +asleep. + +"Did you get them?" the white man asked drowsily. + +"Ya-as, sir. Here dey is." Snowball held out the five bonds. "An' here's +de change." + +Pant sat up, suddenly all alert. + +"You got three for thirty-nine?" + +"Ya-as, sir." + +"Let's have a look." + +Pant's slender fingers trembled as he spread the five squares of paper +out upon the sand. + +"Good!" he muttered. "You got them all right. Now look at them all. +Snowball. See any difference in 'em?" He held a lighted match above the +bonds. + +Snowball studied them as intently as his roving eyes would allow. + +"No, no, sir, I don't." + +"These two. Look different, don't they?" + +"No, no, sir; I can't say dat." + +"You're blind," grunted Pant. "Two of them are paler than the others; ink +is not so dark. See? Not quite." + +"Oh, yas, ya-as, sir." + +"Now those two pale face bonds were folded up with one other. Remember +where you got them?" Pant's eyes flashed through his thick glasses. + +"No, no, Oh, ya-as, ya-as, sir, I do. It were dat 'ere white man; sellin' +tickets, he was." + +"Good! Now here's a dollar. That's for you. You'll get another when you +come back. You take these two pale face bonds to the ticket seller and +ask him where he got them." + +"Ya-as, sir." + +Full of wonder at the strange doings of this odd fellow with the black +glasses, Snowball hurried back to the ticket seller. + +"Say, Mister," he demanded, "whar'd y' git these pale face bonds?" + +"What?" The man stared at him. + +"Whar y' git 'em?" Snowball held them up for inspection. + +"Let's see." The man made a grab for them. + +"Nem' min'." The boy darted away. + +"Who wants to know?" the man demanded gruffly. + +"Me, myself." + +"I can't tell exactly. I bought two from Tom Stick, the midget clown, +three from Andy McQueen, the steam kettle cook, and two more from a +bunco-steerer--feller with a bite taken out of his ear. I don't know +which ones those are. + +"Say, boy!" The expression on his face suddenly changed. "You let me have +them bonds." + +"No-o, sir!" + +Snowball dashed away in sudden fright. With the ticket seller close on +his heels, he dodged around a fat woman, nearly collided with a baby +carriage, leaped the tent ropes. Like a jack rabbit, he scooted beneath +the ponderous wagons on which rested the electric light plant of the +circus, and, at last, dodging through the mess tent, succeeded in eluding +his pursuer. + +He was still breathing hard when he reached the place of rendezvous on +the beach. + +"What did he say?" demanded Pant. + +"He said he bought some from dat midget clown, an' some from a steam +kettle cook, an' some from a bunco-man wid a chewed ear. Say, Mister, do +I get dat oder dollar?" + +Pant held it out to him. "What you puffing about?" + +"Dat ticket man chased me." + +"What for?" + +"Don't know, boss." + +For a moment they were silent. + +"Say, Boss," Snowball whispered after a time, "what you s'pose made dat +ere red splotch on the groun'?" + +"What red spot?" There was a suspicion of a smile lurking about the +corner of Pant's mouth. + +"Man! Don' you know? 'Roun' dat fiah?" + +"Oh, yes; I wasn't looking just then." + +"Say, Boss!" The boy was whispering again. "I ain't afraid of almost +nuthin'--nuthin' but signs and ghosts. You s'pose dat were a sign?" + +"It might have been." + +"An' say, Boss, what's dem colored fellers sayin' 'bout a wreck? Don' +mean that ere circus train's gwine wreck? Man, that'd be some kind of a +wreck! Tigers fightin' b'ars, lions eatin' elephants, snakes a-crawlin' +loose, wild cats a-clawin', an monkeys screamin'! Man! Oh, man!" + +For a full minute Snowball sat silent, wild-eyed and staring at the +mental picture he had conjured up. Then a sudden thought struck him. + +"Say, Boss, dis am circus day ain't it? An' I got two dollars I jes' +earned and ain't spent, ain't I? Boss, I'se gone right now!" + +And he was. + +For a long time Pant sat there in contemplative silence. Finally, with +one hand he smoothed out the sand before him. On this, with his finger, +he spelled out the name: BLACKIE McCREE. + +Then, with a quick glance about him, as if afraid it had been seen, he +erased the letters. + + * * * * * * * * + +When Johnny Thompson had been introduced to the stable boss and had been +given his assignment, he lost no time in getting on a suit of unionalls +and was soon at work sleeking down his three broad backed dapple grays. + +It was a long task, painstakingly done, for Johnny loved horses and these +three were among the finest in the circus. + +His mind, however, was not always on his brush and cloth. In the grand +parade, which, in Chicago did not leave the tent, but circled about in +the mammoth enclosure, while the vast crowds cheered, Millie Gonzales +rode standing on these three fat chargers, that, with tossing manes and +champing bits, seemed at every moment ready to break her control and go +rushing down the arena. Johnny was to take the horses to the entrance of +the big tent. That much he had been told. Would he there turn them over +to Millie? And would she be wearing the missing ring? The answers to +these questions he could only guess. + +It was with a wildly beating heart that he at last led his three horses +down the narrow canvas enclosure which led to the great tent. Already the +procession was forming. Here a group of clowns waited in silence. Here a +great gilded chariot rumbled forward, and here a trained elephant was +being fitted with his rider's canopied seat. + +By this director, then that one, Johnny was guided to the spot from which +his three dapple grays would start. + +He had hardly reached the position than a high-pitched, melodious, but +slightly scornful, voice said: + +"Why! Who are you? Where's Peter?" + +"Who's Peter?" asked Johnny, doffing his cap respectfully, but studying +the girl's hands the meanwhile. + +"Why, he's my groom." + +"Begging your pardon, he's not; I am." + +"You?" She stood back and surveyed him with unveiled scorn. "You? A +little shrimp like you?" + +Johnny was angry. Hot words rushed to his lips but remained unspoken. He +was playing a big game. For the time he must repress his pride. + +"I--I--" Millie stormed on, "I like a big groom, a strong one. I shall +see about this." + +"Oh!" smiled Johnny, "if it's strength you want, I guess you'll find me +there. And for horses, I know how to groom them." + +Millie cast an appraising eye over the grays. "Did you do that?" + +"Yes, please." + +"They're wonderful!" + +Lifting a dainty foot, she waited for Johnny's palm. Once it rested +securely there, she gave a little spring and would have landed neatly on +the first gray's back, had not Johnny suddenly shot his arm upward. As it +was, she rose straight in the air three feet above the horses to land +squarely on the middle one of the three. + +She landed fairly on her feet. A whip sang through the air. She had aimed +a vicious blow at Johnny's cheek. There was a wild flare of anger in her +eye. + +Dodging out of her reach, Johnny stood trembling for fear he had +foolishly wasted his grand chance. + +Presently the girl's lips curved in a half disdainful smile. + +"You are an impudent fellow, and I should have some one thrash you. + +"You are strong, though," she went on, "and because of that, I'll forgive +you. In the future, however, remember that I am Millie Gonzales and you +are my groom." + +Johnny nodded gravely. The procession moved forward. Millie passed from +his view. + +After calmly reviewing the situation, one fact stood out in bold relief +in Johnny's mind: If it were Millie Gonzales who had the ring, his task +was to be a difficult one, for she was a keen, crafty, high-tempered, +unscrupulous Spaniard, who would stop at nothing to gain her end. + +"Well, anyway," he decided, "if she has it, she is not wearing it. It's +not on her hand. Here's hoping it's one of the other two." + +He moved to a position where he could watch the parade. For a full three +minutes his eyes swept it from end to end. Out of it all--the troop of +elephants, the brass band, the clowns, the performers, the many strange +carts and chariots--one figure stood supreme: A girl who rode high on a +throne, mounted upon a great chariot, escorted by six footmen, and drawn +by six prancing chargers. + +"The queen of the circus!" he thought. "I wonder who she is." + +Johnny had hardly spoken the words when, for a second, the girl's smiling +face was turned his way. He caught his breath sharply. "She's one of the +three," he gasped. "If it is she who has the ring--" + +He did not finish, for just then the van of the procession entered the +wing, and he slipped away behind the canvas to await Millie Gonzales and +the three grays. + +"Say pard," he whispered to a circus hand standing beside him, "who's +this queen of the circus?" + +"Don't you know?" the other asked in surprise. "That's Gwen Maysfield, +the tight-rope dancer. A regular sport she is, too; can box like a man. +Packs a wallop, too. I've seen her knock this fellow who boxes the bear +clean over the ropes." + +"Boxes the bear?" + +"Sure. Don't you know the act? Feller's got a bear; rides bicycles, and +all that. One of his stunts is to put on the gloves with the big +silver-gray. Of course it's a frost. Bear could knock him a mile, if he +wanted to." + +Johnny said no more, but soon began piecing together his bits of +information. Gwen was the queen of the circus. She was also one of the +three at whose feet the diamond ring had dropped. She liked boxing. If +only he could manage to get a few rounds with her, that might break down +the social barrier that stood between them. Then he could ask her about +the ring. But she was the queen, and he only a groom. How was he to +manage it? She boxed with the performer who boxed the bear. Perhaps he +could make the acquaintance of this bear boxer. + +The time was approaching when Millie and her three grays were to go on. +He hastened away to his work. + +That night in the animal tent, while the exhibition was in full swing, +while thousands were crowding before the long line of cages, there +occurred a strange and startling incident; a cage plainly marked BLACK +LEOPARD had appeared, in the uncertain light of night, entirely empty. + +"Guess that's a fake," a spectator grumbled. + +"What is it?" asked a child. + +"Says 'Black Pussy,'" smiled the father, "but I guess there isn't any." + +"Oh, Papa, I want to see the black pussy!" wailed the child, clinging to +the ropes, and refusing to move along. + +The father was striving to quiet the child when, of a sudden, a flash of +crimson light brought out the dark corners of the cage in bold relief. It +was gone in a twinkling, but in that time a raging fury of black fur, +flashing claws and gleaming eyes leaped against the bars. + +The child screamed, the father swore softly. There was a succession of +exclamations from the crowd. A colored attendant, who chanced to be +passing with a bundle of straw, dropped his burden to stare, open +mouthed, at the cage. + +When he again put his trembling fingers to the bundle of straw, it was to +mutter: + +"Tain't no safe place fer a 'spectable colored man to wuck. 'T'ain' safe. +All dem raid flashes ever'whar. Can't fry po'k chops fer 'em. Can't wuck, +can't do nuttin'." + +That night, after the grand performance was concluded, after the surging +crowd had passed out, after the arc lights had fluttered, blinked, and +then left the place in darkness, Johnny went out for a breath of fresh +air before turning into the bunk assigned to him. He was walking around +the end of the big top when a sudden flash of crimson appeared against +the canvas. It was a flash only, remaining not one second, but Johnny +paused to listen. + +In another moment there came a whispered, "Hello, Johnny," and Pant +appeared. + +"You work for this circus?" Johnny asked. + +"No. You?" + +"Yes, got a job to-day." + +"What?" + +"Horses." + +"Good. That puts you inside. You can help me, Johnny--help me a lot, and +believe me, kid, it's big--the biggest thing we ever worked on." Pant's +words came quick and tense. + +"What is it?" + +"Can't tell you now, but you can help. Here, take these three Liberty +Bonds. They're good ones. You take 'em over town and sell 'em. Here's a +hundred iron men. You buy me five more bonds from these circus men, see? +Any of 'em. You're inside, see? You can do it. Buy five. They've got 'em. +They'll sell 'em, too." + +"I call that light business, dealing in Liberty Bonds on a small margin," +grumbled Johnny. "What shall I pay?" + +"Thirty-nine." + +"Nobody but a crazy man would sell 'em for that." + +"Mebbe not, Johnny, but they'll sell 'em. Pay more, if you have to. The +game's a big one, I tell you. So long." Pant vanished into the night. + + + + + CHAPTER V + STRANGE DOINGS IN THE NIGHT + + +The following day Johnny carried out Pant's wish in the matter of selling +the three Liberty Bonds. When it came to picking up other bonds at Pant's +excessively low price, he experienced greater difficulty than had +Snowball. Indeed, in all his time off duty he secured only one bond. + +"Guess I haven't struck the right spot yet," was his mental comment. +"I'll try again to-morrow." + +It was just as he was about to return to his dapple grays that he +received a sudden shock. He had been idly glancing over the "Daily News" +when a headline caught his eye: + +"Offers $1,000 Reward for Return of Lost Gem." + +Quickly he read down the column, then his face fell. + +"Guess he thinks I stole it," he muttered. + +It certainly looked that way, for Major MacDonald had publicly offered a +reward of a thousand dollars for the return of the ring, and had made it +plain that no questions would be asked. + +"They won't be asked, either." Johnny set his teeth hard. "I'll let him +know that he can keep his reward. I'll get that ring back, and I'll send +it to him with no return address." + +Even as he spoke, he started. A new thought had struck him. What if the +girl who had the ring should read of the reward and return the jewelry? +Where would he be then? + +"He'd think I had stolen it and given it to a circus girl," Johnny +groaned. "Then what would he think of me?" + +But the next moment he was resolute again. "I'll get next to that boxing +bear fellow right away, and I'll cultivate the acquaintance of Millie, if +she cuts my face open with that whip of hers. I'll win yet! Watch my +smoke!" + +He hastened away, resolved upon getting better acquainted with Millie +Gonzales at once. + +That night, however, offered no further opportunity for making +acquaintances. Indeed, he was made more and more conscious of the fact +that in the circus there existed an almost unbreakable line of caste. +There were the performers and the attendants. The attendants were kept in +their places. They did not mingle with the performers; they were +distinctly considered beneath them. + +"Oh, well," Johnny said to himself, "if that's that, why I'll have to get +to be a performer, that's all." + +But when he came to think it over soberly, he could imagine no means by +which this end could be attained. + +If he had but known it, the opportunity was to present itself in a not +far distant time, and in a manner as startling as it was sudden. + +In one thing that night he was extremely fortunate--he succeeded in +securing a position where he could get a clear view of the performance of +two very interesting persons, Gwen, the Queen, and Allegretti, the man +who boxed the bear. The contrast of the two stood out in his thoughts +long after the performers had moved out of the ring. Gwen was wonderful. +Johnny was sure he had never seen anyone to equal her in all his life. +Light as a feather, waving her delicate silk parasol here and there, she +tripped across the invisible wire. Yet, fairy-like as she was, every move +spoke of strength, of well developed and perfectly trained muscles. She +wore the accustomed grease paint of the ring, but Johnny did not need to +be told that beneath this there lay the glow of a healthy skin. + +"She's all right," he decided. "I'll wager she's an American. Only an +American girl could be like that." + +Through the quarter of an hour during which Gwen was the center of +attention of the vast throng, he watched her. The breathless leaps in +air, the light, tripping dance from post to post, the bow, the smile--he +saw it all and breathed hard as she at last danced out of the ring. + +"If she has the ring, it's going to be hard to get it," he decided. "If +another could be bought, and I had the money, I'd rather buy it and let +her keep the old one, but there's only one in all the world, and if she +has it I must get it from her. Gwen, big, wonderful American girl, I'm +for you, but I'm also a hard hearted detective, and I'm on your trail." + +The antics of the swarthy foreigner who boxed the bear were as ludicrous +and grotesque as Gwen's act had been exquisite. + +"Clumsy lobster!" Johnny exclaimed, after watching him for five minutes. +"What he doesn't know about boxing would fill an encyclopedia, and if he +didn't have a good natured bear, he'd get his head knocked off. All he's +good for is to dance with a bear on the street and hold out a tin cup for +nickels. Nevertheless, Allegretti, old boy, I've got to scrape up an +acquaintance with you someway, for that's on the road to the heart of +Gwen, though how she can stand the garlic and the look of your ugly mug +long enough to box a round with you is more than I can understand." + + * * * * * * * * + +While Johnny Thompson was watching the performance, two little girls, +sitting bolt upright in their beds in the big house of Major MacDonald in +far-away Amaraza, were planning wild things for the future. Through the +aid of their maid they had succeeded in securing for themselves suits +that would do with the circus--pink tights, exceedingly short blue +skirts, red slippers and green caps. All that bright afternoon they had +spent in the back yard practicing on their ponies. Standing up on the +back of one of them had been easy after the first few attempts, but when +Marjory had tried standing with one foot on each pony she had slipped +down between them and had come near to being crushed. + +"We'll do that, too, some day," she had exclaimed resolutely. + +And now, before they went to sleep, they were planning. + +"Yes, sir," Marjory was saying, "that old circus will come back here some +time; I just know it will! Maybe next week." + +"And Johnny Thompson will be with it," broke in Margaret. "I just know he +will, and we'll get on our ponies when the parade is started. We'll ride +right in the parade, and Johnny will see us and say, 'There are my +friends, Marjory and Margaret.' Won't he be proud of us!" + +"Won't he, though!" The other twin clapped her hands in high glee. + +They went to sleep finally, still thinking of Johnny and the circus, but +little dreaming of the remarkable and thrilling adventures in store for +them. + + * * * * * * * * + +That same night, after the circus tents had been darkened, two strange +things happened. The first was never made public; the second was the talk +of the circus people the next morning. + +Scarcely had the last straggling sight-seer wandered from the grounds, +than two figures emerged from the side entrance to a small tent. They +were followed at a distance by a third. Darting directly for the wall +that lined the railway tracks, which at this point run some twelve feet +below the surface, but open to the air, they scaled the wall, and, by the +aid of a rope, let themselves down to the track. + +The third person, having followed them to the wall and noted the +direction they had taken, contented himself with following along the +wall. Coming presently to some stairs, he crept silently down, then +having listened for a moment, possibly for the sound of footsteps, he +peered down the track. For an instant a pale crimson light flashed down +the track. It might easily have been mistaken for the glow of a switch +lantern. Then he pushed on after the pair. + +The two men left the tracks at Randolph street and, taking a zigzag +course, headed for the river. Into a long, low-lying building facing the +stream they went. Not five minutes later the individual who had followed +them was braced against a wall, peering in through a crack in a broken +window pane. What he saw within was a low-ceilinged, dimly lighted room, +furnished only with a small table, four chairs and a dilapidated chest of +drawers. Four men were bent over the table. The lines of their faces +drawn in eagerness, they were staring at some flat object on the table. +Soon one of them, with the tips of his thumb and forefinger lifted the +corner of a sheet of paper. He had lifted it half off from the flat +object, to which it appeared to cling, when a startling thing +happened--the room was suddenly illuminated with a brilliant blood red +light. This lasted only a fraction of a second. The room was then left in +darkness, black as ink; for even the candle had been overturned and +snuffed out. From the darkness there came the sound of overturned chairs, +as the four men made good their escape. By the time they reached the open +air their tracker had vanished utterly. + +He was, at that very moment, flattened against the corner of a dark wall, +and was quite as unhappy over the turn of events as they were. At the +very instant when he was about to discover a secret of vast importance, +his foot had slipped, his face bumped against the glass, and the +unexpected happened. + +The second occurrence, the one which caused much talk among the circus +people, happened a short time later. As the attendants reported it, it +would seem that their attention was first attracted to the strange +phenomenon by the growl of a lion, whose cage was in the corner of the +tent. To their surprise, the cage, the lion, and even the straw upon +which he lay had turned blood red. Hardly had they finished staring at +this than the snarl of a Siberian tiger at the opposite corner had called +them to note that the red light, for light it must have been, had shifted +to the tiger's cage. The red glare had continued to play hide and seek +with the distracted animals for fully five minutes and, during all that +time, not one of the attendants could detect its source. At times it +appeared to stream down from the canvas top, then to shoot from a corner, +or to leap up from the floor. + +One notable fact was reported: In every instance save one, the animals +whose cages were illuminated with crimson light cowered in a corner in +snarling fear. The single instance in which this was not true was that of +the black leopard. That beast leaped, clawing and snarling, at the bars +of its cage, as if it would tear the originator of the crimson flash limb +from limb. + +As the report spread, the negroes of the troupe were panic stricken. They +quit in numbers. The owners and managers were hard pressed to keep enough +men to do the menial work about the tents, and sent the employment agent +to search the city for recruits. One of these recruits chanced to be +Snowball, the bullet-headed friend of the strange hanger-on, Pant. + + + + + CHAPTER VI + JOHNNY BOXES THE BEAR + + +Johnny Thompson paced the beach up which the waves of Lake Michigan were +rolling. There had been a storm, the aftermath of which was even now +coming in. Johnny's mind was in a turmoil. He had been with the circus +five days now. Two more days they would remain in Chicago. He was still +groom for Millie Gonzales' three grays. Millie was as impossible as ever. +Three times she had struck at him with her whip, when he had appeared to +overstep his rights as her menial. + +"If she has the ring, fine chance I've got unless I steal it from her," +he grumbled. + +Allegretti, the Italian boxer, was quite as impossible as Millie. Once +Johnny had bantered him for a boxing match, but the fellow had showed all +his white teeth in a snarl as he said: + +"No box-a da bum." + +He had meant Johnny. + +Johnny's blood had boiled, but he had made no response. Only when he was +out of hearing, he had declared, "Never mind, old boy, I'll get you yet." + +But thus far he had not "got" him. The way into the good graces of Gwen, +queen of the circus, seemed effectually blocked. He had not tried +approaching her, for he felt that would be folly. + +In spite of the sharply drawn lines of caste which prevailed in the +circus, life within the tented walls when the performers were off duty +was astonishingly simple. Grease paint came off at the end of the last +act. About the dressing tent and the assembly yard the women stars +appeared plain and simple-minded people. There was nothing of the bravado +that Johnny had expected to find. The three girls who held the center of +his attention, because of the ring, were wonderfully well-developed +physically. Millie was slender and quick as a cat. Mitzi von Neutin, the +trapeze performer, was also slender and strong. She was French; Johnny +knew that from the many "Mais, oui" and her "Mais, non," with which she +answered the questions of the other performers. With her abundance of +yellow hair she was like a kitten, as she curled up on a rug in the +corner of the tent reading a French novel. + +But Gwen--Gwen was perfection itself. Not too stout, not too thin; +strong, yet not masculine, she was indeed a queen. About the tent, when +off duty, she wore a short blue skirt and a blue middy blouse open at the +neck and tied with a dark red ribbon. Twice Johnny had seen her boxing +with the Italian. Each time the blood had rushed to his temples. To think +of such a queen taking her exercise with so coarse a creature filled him +with inward rage. + +"Oh, well, he's of the caste," Johnny had grumbled. "No matter; so shall +I be in time. I don't know just how, but I will." + +Pant, too, had puzzled him greatly. He had not forgotten his friend's +uncanny power of seeing in the dark. He had heard of the strange +appearance and disappearance of the crimson flash in the animal tent and +elsewhere, and suspected that Pant was at the bottom of it, but just what +his game was, or what strange secret of the power of light Pant +possessed, he could not guess. + +Johnny had at last succeeded in buying the five bonds which Pant had +wanted. He had obtained two of them for $39 each. These he had bought +from a fat, red faced man who was a guard at the entrance to the big top. +He was even now waiting to deliver them to Pant. + +Presently that individual came shuffling by, and, motioning Johnny to +follow him, continued down the beach until they had found a secluded spot +in a turn of a breakwater. + +"Got 'em?" Pant whispered. + +"Sure." + +"Good! Let's see!" + +"Good! Fine!" he exclaimed, after he had glanced over the bonds. "Now can +you tell me who sold you these two together?" + +"I don't know his name; a fat, red faced fellow at the entrance of the +big top." + +"Good! That's one of them. They're the right kind, I'll wager. Let's +see!" + +Pant spread the bonds out on a broad plank. + +"No, only one!" he mused. "Getting careful, I'd say, Johnny." He turned +suddenly. "Would you risk much for an old friend?" + +"I'd do a lot for you, Pant." + +"Thanks!" Pant gripped his hand warmly. "Take these two bonds you got +from that fat fellow and sell them to-morrow to some dealer in bonds on +La Salle street. You bought them for $39, did you not?" + +"Yes." + +"You should get $45. Good little gain, eh?" + +Johnny grinned. He knew Pant too well to think for a moment that he would +engage in a small business of trading in bonds two or three at a time. +What his real game was, he was unable to guess. + +"All right, old man. See you to-morrow," he said, rising and tucking the +bonds away in his inner pocket. "I'll hurry back now. I think I'm going +to box the fellow who boxes the bear, though how I am to arrange it, I +can't quite tell." + +Johnny wandered back to the big top. It was late morning. Many of the +circus people would be in the big tent going through their stunts. + +His hope of finding the boxer of the bear in one of the rings was not in +vain. He was, at the moment of Johnny's entrance, in the act of putting +the bear through his mock heroic battle. + +With an air of apparent indifference, Johnny leaned against a center tent +pole and watched him. Allegretti hated being watched, Johnny knew. That +was why he lingered. + +The Italian stood his scrutiny for three minutes, then with an angry +glare in his eye, he cried: + +"Go 'way, you bum!" + +Johnny's only reply was a grin. + +"Go 'way! No can box-a da bear when you all time loafin' here." + +The Italian was dancing with rage. + +"You can't box anyway, so what's the difference?" Johnny grinned again. + +"No can box?" The Italian stormed, "No can box? You wan'na see?" + +"Sure, show me," Johnny grinned. + +An extra pair of gloves lay near by. Allegretti kicked them toward him. +"Putta dem on. 'No can box,' he says. Allegretti show dat bum!" + +He squared away in such an awkward manner that Johnny found it hard to +suppress a smile. + +"Now where do you want me to hit you first?" Johnny asked politely. + +The answer was a volley of quick blows, which all fell upon Johnny's well +managed gloves. + +When the Italian paused for breath, Johnny tapped him lightly on the +nose. Enraged at being so easily scored upon, the fiery foreigner fairly +went wild in his efforts to reach Johnny with a blow that would send him +to the surgeon. To avoid these wild swings was child's play for Johnny. +Time and again the Italian left him a wide opening, but Johnny only +further enraged his opponent by tapping him lightly. + +This farce lasted for five minutes. Johnny was puzzled to know what to +do. He knew that the impostor, who called himself a boxer, was completely +within his power. By a single jab of his powerful right, he could send +him to dreamland. This, however, was farthest from his thought. To +needlessly injure a man was never part of Johnny's program. + +A large, low, paper-topped barrel, used in the trained dog act, stood +within ten feet of them. Suddenly Johnny resolved what he would do; he +would humiliate his opponent. Perhaps that would bring him to terms. + +Slowly he forced Allegretti back until he was within five feet of the +barrel when, with a quick right to the chest, he lifted him off the +ground and landed him square in the center of the top of the tub. There +followed a ripping sound, the paper burst, and Allegretti dropped from +sight. + +With a smile Johnny stood waiting the Italian's reappearance, when, to +his utter astonishment, he was struck a sledge hammer blow in the middle +of the back. + +The blow sent him sprawling. In a flash he was on his feet, and faced +about to meet this new and powerful foe. Imagine his amazement when he +found himself facing, not a man but a bear. With gloved forepaws, with +broad mouth grinning, the bear stood ready for his share of the match. + +What had happened was evident. The Italian had neglected to remove the +bear's gloves. The bear had now entered the ring. Johnny had a choice of +facing him or running. It was a novel experience, but he was not well +acquainted with flight, so he held his ground. + +The bear advanced with none of the skill of an experienced fighter. His +training had been superficial. He had been taught to swing his arms in a +certain way when his opponent swung his as a signal. The bear, however, +was six times as heavy as Johnny. One fair smash in the face with that +giant paw would send Johnny to the happy hunting grounds. + +As Johnny squared back, with his guard high, the bear hesitated, a +quizzical, almost human grin overspreading his face. Then, seeming to get +a signal to rush in, he came plowing forward, striking straight out as he +advanced. Johnny sidestepped, and, leaping off his toes, tapped him on +the ear. It was a stinging blow. Bruin's ears were sensitive. That blow +came near proving the undoing of Johnny, for instantly flying into a +rage, the bear forgot his training. Dropping on all fours, he rushed at +Johnny with the fierceness of his forest ancestors. Dodging this way and +that, Johnny sought to get in a felling blow, but in vain. + +Again the bear reared upon his hind legs. So quickly was this +accomplished Johnny did not escape the grappling swing which, open +handed, the bear let fly. The animal's stubby claws raked his face, +leaving three livid lines of red. The matter was growing serious. +Something must be done quickly. Johnny did it. Watching for an opening, +he at last leaped high and forward. His arm went up in one of his short, +lightning master blows. There was the sound as of a steel trap sprung. +The bear whirled in a circle, then crumpled to earth. + +"There's your bear," panted Johnny, wiping his face. + +"No box-a da bear," groaned the grief stricken Italian. + +"I should say not," said Johnny. "He doesn't box fair. He scratches." + +"You kill-a da bear. I get-a your goat." + +"Oh! The bear'll be all right," grinned Johnny. "Just give him a lump of +sugar and a sniff of smelling salts. He's a bit dizzy, that's all." + +"But say!" he said after a moment. "You can't get my goat. I ain't got +any. But I have a notion that I've got yours right now." + +He had, but the Italian wasn't to know it until some hours later. + +As he turned to walk away, Johnny noticed a well built, wholesome looking +girl in short skirt and middy standing a short distance off. She was +looking his way and smiling. It was Gwen, the queen. He wanted to go over +and speak to her. He was sure she had seen all that had happened. + +"Can't afford to rush things too fast," he whispered to himself and, +turning toward the bunk tent, he hastened away. + +As an hour and a half remained before he must go on duty, Johnny slicked +up a bit and went over to La Salle street to sell the bonds which Pant +had entrusted to his care. The first two dealers he approached refused to +buy; they did not purchase bonds in such small lots. The third looked +Johnny over carefully, then examined the bonds. After that, he wet the +tip of his right forefinger on a sponge and proceeded to count out a +handful of bills. These, with some small change, he shoved beneath the +lattice to Johnny. + +"Fine day," he smiled, as he turned away. + +"You bet," Johnny agreed, as he pocketed the money. + +Out on the shore of the lake he found Pant. + +The latter stared at him for a moment in silence. He was looking at the +three red lines drawn on Johnny's face by the bear. + +"Say," he whispered at last, "give me those bonds!" + +"I, I," Johnny stared, "I haven't got them!" + +"Haven't got them? Where are they?" + +"Sold 'em as you said to do." + +"Sold them? When?" + +"Half an hour ago." + +"With that on your face?" + +"Sure." + +With a low whistle, Pant sank down upon the sand. + +"Why, what's wrong?" demanded Johnny. + +"Oh! Nothing much. One of those bonds was a counterfeit, that's all." + +"Counterfeit?" + +"I said it." + +"And you sent me to sell it?" + +"I suppose I should have told you. You'd have done it just the same. +Anyway, you would have, had I told you everything. But if I had told you, +that would have made you nervous and spoiled everything. I'm a marked +man. I couldn't go myself. How was I to know that you'd go and get +branded in that fashion? + +"Ho, well," he continued after a moment's reflection, "it's all right, +I'm sure. The bond was perfect except for one trifling detail. It was a +shade lighter print than those made by Uncle Sam, and, after all, that's +really nothing. Who knows but the Government printer failed to ink his +rollers well some morning? I know it was a counterfeit, though." + +He bent over and wrote a name in the sand, then quickly erased it. + +Johnny had read it. "Who's Black McCree?" he asked promptly. + +"He," Pant whispered, "is the slickest forger that ever lived, and the +worst crook. We're going to get him, you and I, Johnny. And he's with the +circus." + +"Did--did you ever see him?" Johnny demanded. + +"I can't be sure. Perhaps. But we will, Johnny, we will!" + +For a moment they sat there in silence; then Johnny arose and without a +word, walked away. + + + + + CHAPTER VII + NO BOX-A DA BEAR + + +There was one particular part of the show that afternoon which Johnny was +anxious to see. So anxious was he, indeed, that even the danger and +mystery connected with the sale of the counterfeit Liberty Bonds were +crowded from his mind. So intent was he upon seeing it, that he half +neglected his duties, and received for the first time, directly upon his +cheek, a sharp cut from Millie's whip. Even that failed to make him +angry. Once Millie's act was over, and he had rushed the dapple grays to +their stable, he dashed out of the horse tent, through the assembly +grounds, under the canvas wall of the big top and found himself at last +beneath the bleachers in a very good position to see what was going on in +the ring to the south of the center. + +He breathed a sigh of satisfaction, as he saw the swarthy Italian bear +boxer, dressed in his green suit, come marching pompously down the +sawdust trail toward the ring. The lumbering silver tip bear was at his +heels. + +The first part of their performance, the ball rolling, the stilt walking +and bicycle riding, went off very well. The expectant smile on Johnny's +genial face was beginning to fade when finally boxing gloves were +produced, and thrust upon the fore paws of the waiting bear. + +Johnny's smile broadened. A wild look in the bear's eyes told him that +something was about to happen. + +It did happen, and that with lightninglike rapidity. No sooner had the +bear felt the gloves upon his paws than, without waiting for signals, he +let drive a tremendous right swing at the trainer's head. He missed by +but a fraction of an inch. + +"Zowie! What a wallop," whispered Johnny. "He hasn't forgotten. I thought +he wouldn't." + +Indeed, the bear had not forgotten the punishment he had received earlier +in the day and, whether or not he had the intelligence to know that +Allegretti was no match for him, he had at least resolved to demolish him +as speedily as possible, for hardly had the Italian recovered from his +surprise when a second blow aimed at his chest sent him sprawling. + +Leaping to his feet, the trainer waved his arms in frantic signals. It +was of no avail. The bear had known the taste of victory. He was not to +be signaled. + +Straight at his trainer he rushed. The Italian uttered a shout of terror, +then, closely followed by the bear, bolted from the ring. + +The spectators, thinking this was a part of the play, howled and screamed +as they rocked with laughter. + +To the Italian it was tragedy. Had not the bear grown fat in idleness, +and so impaired his running power, the affair might have ended +unfortunately for Allegretti. + +As it was, having pursued his trainer halfway down the length of the +tent, the bear paused, rose on his haunches, tore a glove from his paw +and aimed it with such force and accuracy at the trainer's back that it +sent him clawing in the dust. + +With one more yell, Allegretti rose and continued his flight. The second +glove missed its mark. With mouth open, seemingly in a broad grin, the +bear's gaze swept the circle of delighted spectators, then, appearing to +forget all about the incident, he dropped on all fours, and allowed an +attendant to lead him quietly away. + +Johnny ducked for the assembly enclosure. There he found the Italian +waving his arms before the manager. + +"No box-a da bear! No box-a da bear!" shouted Allegretti. + +"No, I'd say you didn't," smiled the manager. "But you did better than +that. You put on a scream; you made 'em laugh their heads off. Do that +every day and I'll double your pay!" + +"What!" demanded the outraged trainer. "Do dat again! Not for five time, +not for ten time my pay. He want-a keel me, dat-a bear. No box-a da bear. +No more box-a dat-a bear." + +No amount of argument could make Allegretti change his mind. He was +scared white. Johnny and the bear had got his goat. He was through. He +would never box the bear again. + +"Well," said the manager, turning to Johnny, at last, "I guess it's up to +you!" + +"Up to me? How?" gasped Johnny. + +"You crabbed the Italian's act by boxing the bear. Now you'll have to +become a professional bear boxer, and box him yourself. See?" + +"No, I don't see," said Johnny stoutly. "Why, I don't even know the +signals." + +"Make up some of your own. Pete Treco, the tumbler, used to be a bear +boxer. He can help you. We'll be out of Chicago in three days. I'll give +you till then to get in form. What say?" + +"I--I'll try," said Johnny. + +"That's all anybody can do. And say, if you can get him to pull that +stunt, chasing you, throwing the glove and all that, the double pay offer +stands." + +Johnny caught his breath. His opportunity had come. There had come a +shake-up. In three days there would be another, and he would be "shaken +up" to the position of a full-fledged performer, or he would be shaken +down out of the circus altogether. Could he make it? + +Closing his fists tight, he gritted between his teeth: + +"By all that's good, I will!" + +Fiery and high tempered Millie lost her groom that very day. + +As far as the circus people were concerned, Johnny Thompson vanished. In +a small tented enclosure, eight hours out of every twenty-four were spent +in strenuous attempts to teach that bear to do his bidding. It was a +difficult task. More times than one he barely dodged a sudden swing of +that powerful paw, which if it had landed would have increased the demand +for cut flowers and slow music. + +Pant alone saw him, and that after the shadows had fallen. It was at such +times that they talked long of those other days in Arctic Siberia. + +"Pant," Johnny shot at his friend one night, "what are you here for?" + +"Same back to you," smiled Pant. "What are you here for? You're not a +circus man. What interest can you have in learning to box a bear?" + +"It's deeper than that," smiled Johnny. "It's a matter of honor. There +are three girls in that circus I must get on speaking terms with. The +only way to do that is to become a performer." + +"Oh! It's a skirt!" + +"Not exactly--only a diamond ring." + +"A ring?" + +"Yes, listen," and Johnny proceeded to tell his story. + +"That's interesting," said Pant, "and I think I can help you. In fact, I +think I am safe in promising to tell you in time which of the three girls +has the ring." + +"You tell me? How?" + +"Leave that to me. I have ways of finding things out. It can't be done +here, though; on the road, perhaps, or at a one-night stand. Wait and +see. + +"And now," continued Pant, "I want you to promise to help me with my own +mystery. It is a much deeper and far more important affair. You know the +type of people that follow the circus?" + +Johnny nodded. + +"Well, mixed with these little crooks is a big one--a forger, a master +counterfeiter. His work is so good, as you know yourself, that it can be +passed on La Salle street, and that's going some. I have several samples +of his work. I know they are counterfeits, yet there is not a defect +except the slight lack of color. They are technically perfect. One would +almost say they were photographs of the real thing. These bonds are being +secretly passed out even here in Chicago. When we get out into the safer +small cities, I have no doubt the state will be flooded with them. It's +an easy game. You know how they work it: Circus employee has a bond he +has been saving, money all gone, must sell at a sacrifice. Greedy rubes +snatch them up. And the worst of it is, they are so perfect that only in +cases where two of the same number chance to come together will they be +detected. With the vast number of genuine bonds in the country, this is +likely never to happen. So there you are. Why, I doubt if even the +Treasury Department itself could detect them. And this Black McCree is at +the bottom of it all." + +"How do you know that?" Johnny bent forward eagerly. + +Pant smiled. "He has a foolish habit of scrawling his name about. He made +the mistake of scribbling it on one of the bonds which later came into my +hands. He's known to the police the country over, not so much as +counterfeiter, however, as a 'Red'--a dynamiter of the worst type. He has +more than once left his scribbled name above a ghastly piece of work. +That is all they know of him. He has never been identified. Just why he +has decided to take up the life of a sane crook and enter the forging +game, I can't tell unless--by George! I believe I have it! Yes, sir! It's +a financial plot!" + +"How's that?" Johnny asked. + +"Can't you see? Our country is deeply in debt. Every town and city is +flooded with national credit slips in the form of Liberty Bonds. A +nation's credit is its life. Now, if some slick fellow can fill the +safety boxes of the land with bogus bonds, what is to become of the +country's credit? In time government bonds cannot be sold at any price, +for the would-be purchaser cannot tell whether he is buying a genuine +bond or a counterfeit." + +"I see," breathed Johnny. + +"And yet," mused Pant, "it may not be a plot, after all. Perhaps this +Black McCree thinks he has discovered a way to get rich quick, and has +dropped his radical notions. They mostly drop them when they fall heir to +a piece of money. But, anyway," he straightened up with a jerk, "we've +got to get him." + +"What's he like?" asked Johnny. + +"That's what no one knows. He's never been seen. He may be large or +small. He may be, for instance, a certain husky conman with a ragged +ear." + +"The very chap," exclaimed Johnny. "He's a crook, all right. I caught him +in a crooked deal the other day. We had a little boxing match." + +"You can't be sure he's the man," smiled Pant. "Small crooks seldom do +big jobs, and big crooks don't operate con games. Yet he'll bear +watching. He may be doing that as a blind. + +"There's another fellow, though," Pant went on, "a midget clown--Tom +Stick, a queer little chap. He's the prize of the circus. Dresses like a +mosquito, and drives a huge elephant around the ring. Strange part about +him is, he insists on living all by himself in a little house built on +wheels. Far as I know, no one has ever been allowed inside that house of +his. You see the chance, don't you? He could have all kinds of an outfit +in there, and no one would be the wiser. Of course, he wouldn't sell many +bonds himself; he'd pass 'em out through others. + +"There's a third fellow, a cook, the steam kettle cook, Andy McQueen. +Don't know so much about him. What I want you to do is to get acquainted +with these men and see what you can find out. You're on the inside, so +you can do it. There's another fellow, he's--" + +At that juncture the conversation was ended by the appearance of a party +rounding a sand pile, and Johnny hastened back to the tented grounds. + +"I'm crazy to get in my first performance," he told himself. "If it's +successful, it'll put me on even ground with Gwen, the Queen. Then we'll +see what we shall see. She looks mighty interesting, to say the least." + + + + + CHAPTER VIII + THE GIRL AND THE TIGER + + +Late that night Johnny Thompson was reminded for the hundredth time of +his position as a serf among the knights and ladies of the circus. He was +just passing into the now almost deserted big top when he came face to +face with Millie Gonzales. In sudden embarrassment he was about to speak +to her and doff his cap when, with chin in air, she swept past him. + +Setting his teeth hard, Johnny hastened on. Only when he was at a safe +distance did he give vent to his feelings. + +"If it wasn't for the ring, I wouldn't stand for it," he raged in a +whisper, "I, I'd, well, I'd make her bite her own sharp tongue. Maybe," +he reflected, "maybe some time I will." + +The incident was soon forgotten, and it was not so long after that Johnny +was made to realize that not all the ladies of the circus were like +Millie, not even those who ranked above her. + +In a dark corner of the tent, Johnny threw himself on a pile of netting +to think. Life had grown strangely complicated for him since he had +joined the show. Problems great and small lay before him for solving. It +was like a lesson in algebra. There was the problem of boxing the bear. +His ability to solve that problem would be tested all too soon, on the +day after to-morrow. In some small city he would have his try-out. +Depending upon the successful solving of this problem was the other and +more important one, that of the ring. Who had it? Millie, the bareback +rider, Mitzi, the trapeze performer, or Gwen, the dancing queen of the +tight wire? Thus far he had not the slightest clue. If one of them had +it, she never had worn it while Johnny was in sight. Could it be that the +one in possession of it suspected him of seeking it? That did not seem +probable. + +"And yet," he reflected, "stranger things have happened. She may have +seen me make that foolhardy dash for it when the elephant flicked it from +the chain." + +But at once his mind swept on to the third and most important problem of +all--Pant's problem, the problem of the counterfeit bonds. Pant had named +three men who might be responsible, the conman of the ragged ear, the +midget clown, the steam kettle cook. Johnny Thompson was one of the kind +of fellows who, when they recognize a great and important problem, set +themselves to solving it, leaving all minor difficulties to take care of +themselves. As he lay there now, he realized that Pant's problem had +already become his; that for the time being, the ring might be all but +forgotten. And yet he hoped that, as the more important and difficult +problem was being solved, this one of lesser importance would work itself +out. + +"Well, anyway," he mumbled, half rising, "my success at boxing the bear +comes first, for unless I put that stunt across, I will have precious +little chance to discover the whereabouts of the ring, or to help Pant +run down the counterfeiter. To-morrow's my last day of training. Me for +my bunk." + +But just as he was about to get upon his feet he checked himself and sank +back in his place. A vision had struck his eye--a vision of lithe wonder +and beauty. It was dancing along a silver wire. + +It was Gwen, Queen of the circus. The great tent was totally dark, save +for the corner where she practiced. She had arranged a spot light in such +a manner that its brilliant rays struck squarely across the tightly drawn +wire, and there in that light, which was flashed back by her brilliant +costume and her tossing umbrella, she was performing all unconscious that +anyone was watching her. + +Johnny Thompson thought he was the only onlooker, and perhaps at first he +was. If so, it was not for long. Had he but known the nature of that +other spectator, he might have leaped to his feet and rushed to warn the +queen of her danger. Not knowing, he sat entranced by the wonderful +apparition who seemed more a being of another world, or perhaps some +tropical bird, as she flitted from end to end of that silver wire. Now +she rose straight in air and, seeming to soar aloft, swept down to the +wire again. And now she dropped upon her hands to bend and twist in a +blinding whirl, while her gleaming parasol spun above her. + +"Um," Johnny breathed; then again, "Um!" + +But what was that? He thought he detected a stealthy movement to the +right of him. It might have been but the swaying of a tent pole shaken by +the wind, but he kept his eyes upon the spot for some time. He had +concluded it was nothing, and was about to turn his attention to the girl +again, when the movement came again, this time closer at hand. At the +same time he heard a sound that in a place less quiet to an untrained ear +would be nothing at all. To Johnny it spoke of danger--perhaps danger to +himself, perhaps to the girl. He thought of the counterfeiters. Did they +know he had joined Pant in the task of hunting them down, and realizing +his importance as an inside man, had they decided to do away with him at +once? Or was this some enemy of the beautiful dancer? + +Danger, Johnny had learned, loses much of its terror when squarely faced. +He now threw himself upon the sawdust and began creeping, knife in hand, +toward the spot from which the sound had come. + +Ten feet he crawled, then paused to listen. In the stillness he heard the +occasional creak of the wire, the spatter of the spot light. Then again +he caught that gliding sound. It was retreating from him, moving closer +to the girl. This time he crept twenty feet or more before he paused. +Again the same sounds greeted his strained ears. Again the gliding sound. +The creature, whether beast or human, traveling faster than he, must be +not more than thirty feet from the swinging, swaying girl. + +And now, like a flash, his eyes, for a moment relieved from the dancer's +dazzling light, saw the creature--a gaunt tawny beast it was, a tiger +stalking human prey. For a second Johnny shivered and shrank back. How +had this creature escaped? This he could not know. Its purpose was all +too evident. Attracted by the gleam of the fairylike figure dancing on +the wire, it was thinking only of breaking her bones with its yellow +fangs. + +Johnny paused for half a minute, then resumed his forward movement. +Poorly armed as he was, he would not allow the beast to have its way +unopposed. + +Yet, after covering another yard or two, he paused. The girl was ten feet +in air. Did the tiger have the power to leap that high? For a tiger of +the jungle this would be no feat at all, but for this one of the cage, +Johnny was in doubt. And Gwen? Did she have the iron nerve to keep on +dancing down the wire with a great yellow beast leaping madly for her +feet? + +It was a tense moment. Every muscle in his body quivered. The hand that +gripped his knife almost crushed the hilt. + +The questions that surged through his brain were not long in being +answered, for now, in the dim half light about her, the girl saw the +beast. For one brief second her eyes were dilated with fear. The parasol, +trembling, wavering, almost slipped from her grasp. + +Johnny rose on one knee. "If she falls? If she falls?" he breathed +silently. + +But she did not fall. Seeming to summon all her nerve and strength, she +held her parasol high and once more danced gracefully down the wire. + + * * * * * * * * + +Two hours before this moment in our story, Pant had left the circus +grounds, and, crossing a viaduct over the tracks, had made his way down +the avenue toward the river. As he cut across the roadway and lost +himself down a dark alley near the river, he might have been heard saying +to himself: + +"The bear, driven from his lair, returns; the rabbit circles back to his +brush pile; sometimes crooks return to their rendezvous. I wonder if they +will this time? Well, we shall see what we shall see." + +He was by this time nearing a long, low-lying building that flanked the +river. Before a door which was reached by three downward steps, he +paused. All was dark, silent, mysterious. For a moment he listened +intently, then after a hasty glance up and down the deserted alley, he +darted to a low, narrow window. His efforts to lift the sash were +fruitless. Quickly drawing a thin-bladed knife from his pocket, he +inserted the blade beneath the catch. There was a click. The next instant +Pant had lifted the sash, dived through and closed the window after him. + +The room was utterly dark, yet he appeared to have no difficulty in +finding his way about the place. Whether he had a previous knowledge of +the building, was endowed with an instinctive sense of location of +things, or could see in the dark, would have been a question too +difficult for a casual thinker to answer. An observer, had there been +one, might have said that the room had a strange way of flashing crimson +for a fraction of a second, then becoming inky black again. + +After moving about for a time, Pant doubled himself up and, creeping into +the broad lower part of a dilapidated cupboard, closed the door behind +him. + +Ten minutes elapsed. A rat scurried over the uneven floor. Another +creeping through a hole in the base of the cupboard, began rattling a +loose bit of board about. Pant kicked at it. Then all was silent again. + +Five minutes more passed. Three rats had ventured out upon the floor +when, of a sudden, there sounded the rattle of a key in the outer door. +The rats scurried away. Pant caught a quick breath, as he whispered: + +"They return!" + +A match was struck. A broad, fat face appeared at the door. The man's +small, beady eyes peered about the place for a moment, then he whispered +back over his shoulder: + +"All right. C'm'on." + +"Safe?" + +"Sure!" + +Two other men followed him. One was slim, the other broad shouldered. +Pant almost let fall an exclamation, as he saw that the broad-shouldered +one had a ragged ear. + +"Perhaps Johnny's right," was his mental comment. + +Through a hole left by what had once been a lock on the cupboard door, he +could catch every move of the mysterious three. + +Gathering around the table they proceeded at once to what appeared to be +the task of the night. A flat tin affair was placed on the table. A tin +cup from which the handle of a brush protruded was set down close to the +pan. A roll of paper was produced. It was while this was being rolled +backward and then drawn across the smooth edge of the table to make it +straight that Pant felt something touch his hand. Barely checking a +start, he held himself rigidly motionless. In an instant he realized that +it was only a hungry rat. But in a minute he knew that this was quite bad +enough, for the rat began to gnaw at his finger. + +In the meantime, in the room the man of the ragged ear had taken the +broad brush and moved it several times over the pan. He dipped the brush +each time in the cup, as if applying a liquid. The fat man held a sheet +of paper as if ready to spread it out upon the pan. + +The rat persevered. He had gnawed his way through the tough outer skin of +Pant's finger, and had touched tender flesh when, with a sudden quick +movement, Pant's thumb closed down. He was not quick enough. The rat, +whirling about, was caught only by the tail. With a piercing, almost +human scream the rat struggled for freedom. + +Instantly the room went dark. In that same instant, a hand groped for the +door, behind which Pant was concealed. Pant had hoped to strangle the rat +without a sound. In this he had failed. Just what he was in for now, he +could not even guess. + + + + + CHAPTER IX + THE TIGER SPRINGS + + +In the dim half light, as Johnny crouched in the sawdust ring, knife in +hand, he saw the tiger lash his tail as he prepared for a spring. He saw +the girl dancing on the wire, twirling her parasol as she danced. His +mind whirled. Was this all a dream? Was it but a moving picture flashed +upon the screen? He shook himself. No, there were the colors in the +girl's costume, the red that came and went in her cheek, and there were +the wonderful colors in the coat of that giant cat. It was real, and the +cat was preparing for a spring. Should he cry out? Attract the beast's +attention, then stand for battle? To do so meant sudden death. No man +armed with a knife could hope to defeat a tiger. + +On the other hand, what if he waited? Could the tiger leap ten feet in +air? If he could, what then? The girl had nerve; Johnny could see that. +There was a strong chance that the tiger could not reach her. He would +wait. + +Suddenly into that brilliant circle of light there shot upward a tawny, +gleaming body. The tiger had leaped square at the girl. Johnny's heart +stood still. There came an audible gasp from the girl. The cruel fangs of +the beast flashed in the light. Up, up he rose, five feet, six, seven, +eight. Now his great paws flashed at the girl's feet. An instant of +suspense ended with a gasp of relief. The tiger had missed. + +For a fraction of a second the girl teetered on the wire. She seemed +about to lose her balance and fall, but she at once regained her +composure, and, with a smile upon her lips, such as she threw to admiring +spectators, she tripped again along the wire. + +"Bravo!" Johnny's lips formed the word, but he did not say it. + +Again the tiger crouched for a spring. The girl was gaining self-control. +Estimating the position of the tiger, she tripped away from him. Angered, +the tiger roared savagely, gave two short jumps, then leaped straight and +high. + +With a little cry, half of fear, half of defiance, the girl sprang in +air. The next instant the tiger's paw touched the wire. One breathless +second the girl appeared to hover in air, then she dropped. Her toe +touched the vibrating wire. She slipped. She uttered a low moan. + +Just at that moment the spot light blinked suddenly out, leaving the +great tent in utter darkness. + + * * * * * * * * + +For a few moments after the candle was extinguished in the mysterious +room down by the river Pant remained motionless. Then, as a groping hand +found the door to his hiding place, he leaped into spring-steel-like +action. The cupboard door banged open. A sudden flash of red light was +followed by the dull thud of a body striking the floor. A second flash +produced the same result. A chair clattered to the floor. The street door +swung suddenly open, then banged shut again. A fugitive figure sought +cover in the shadows of a dark corner of the building. + +"Are you shot?" came a gruff voice from within. + +"Thought I was, but guess I ain't." + +"So did I." + +"There wasn't any report." + +"A red flame, and a biff that floored!" + +There followed sounds of movement. A match was struck. For a moment a +light flickered in the room, then three heads appeared at the door. +Mounting to the third step, the leader glanced quickly up and down the +street. Then, followed by his two companions, he darted away. + +"Some rotten luck," grumbled Pant, for it was he who lurked in the +corner. + +Without a light, he again entered the room. When he came out a short time +later, he was straightening out a bit of crumpled paper. + + * * * * * * * * + +For Johnny, after the spot light in the circus tent blinked out, an agony +of suspense followed. The girl--had she dropped? The tiger--was he now +about to spring? Without a light Johnny could do nothing. A sudden wave +of remorse overcame him. He blamed himself for not entering the struggle +when the light was on. + +But what was this? Could it be that his straining ear caught the sing of +the wire, as the girl's foot touched it in her wild dance? He listened. +There could be no mistake about it. Even in the darkness she had regained +her footing, was dancing down the wire. + +But the tiger could see in the dark. She could not see his leaps. And he +would leap again, Johnny was sure of that. + +In this he was not mistaken, for, with sinking sensation, he heard the +cat leave the ground. There followed no sound. Breathlessly he waited +till he felt the slight shock of the cat as he dropped. Or was it Gwen? + +At this time of uncertainty a weird thing happened. Seeming to come from +a spot in mid air, a streak of crimson light flashed down at an angle +toward the floor. For an instant, it turned the costume, the parasol, the +face of the girl crimson; the next, it swept the crouching tiger with a +flood of blood red light. With a growl of fear the beast shrank back. The +light followed him. He rose and leaped away. He paused. The light was +again upon him. With a wild snarl, he sprang away toward the far end of +the tent. + +As he lay there staring open-mouthed, Johnny heard the sputter of arc +lights. In a moment the tent was ablaze with white lights. The dynamo had +been started, the light turned on. + +Johnny sprang to his feet, then facing about, looked for the girl. The +next instant he sprang toward the spot over which the wire was strung. He +was there in time to break her fall. She had tottered from the wire. + +She had not fainted, but it was in vain that she attempted to rise; her +limbs would not support her. + +"I, I guess I lost my nerve," she apologized, as she sank down upon the +sawdust. + +"If you did, you lost a lot," exclaimed Johnny in undisguised enthusiasm. +"You were great!" + +For the moment he forgot the caste of the circus, forgot he was only an +ex-groom and she the queen of performers. + +"Just sit right here," he counseled. "I'll run and get you a glass of +water; you'll be all right in a jiffy. The tiger's safe enough; keepers +have got him." + +By the time he returned, the world had righted itself again, and he was +only a slave. + +"I, I'll be running along," he stammered, "that is, if you're all right?" + +"But I'm not all right," protested Gwen. "Besides, I need some one to +talk to. Why should you go?" + +"You know," Johnny faltered, "I'm not a performer; at least, not yet." + +"Fiddle!" she puckered up her lips. "What diff does that make; you're a +brave boy. You were right near that awful tiger when I saw you, and you +weren't running away. I believe you were there all the time." + +"I was," admitted Johnny. "I was watching you dance when he came up." + +"Oh!" She gave him a queer look. "And what did you think you could do?" + +"If he had reached you, I could have put up a good scrap." + +She looked at him again. "I believe you could," she smiled. "I saw you +give that bear the knockout the other day. That was good, awful good! +Say! You can box, can't you?" + +"A little." + +"Will you give me some lessons?" + +Johnny's heart leaped. Would he? + +"Su--sure," he stammered, "any--any time." + +"All right; to-morrow morning at nine. What say?" + +"That suits me." + +"It's a go," she said, holding out her hand. Johnny gripped it warmly, +and as he did so, he realized that there was nothing soft or flabby about +that hand. + +"You see," she half apologized, "I have to keep in trim for my stunts, +and nothing will do it quite like boxing." + +"Uh-huh!" Johnny scarcely heard her. Her hand had made him think of the +diamond ring. Should he ask her about it now? It seemed what his old +professor would call the psychological moment. Yet he did not want to ask +her. He was already enjoying her friendship, knew he would enjoy it more +and more and did not wish to risk losing it. Then he thought of Pant and +his problem. Perhaps she could aid them in solving that. + +"Say," she whispered suddenly, "what was that blood red light?" + +"I, I don't know," Johnny replied. + +"Wasn't it spooky? Came from nowhere!" + +"I don't know how it was done," said Johnny, "but someone was behind +it--someone who evidently wanted to help you." + +The girl glanced at him sharply. + +"No," he smiled, "I didn't do it. I'm not that much of a magician. But +I'm not sure but that I know the person who did it." + +"Oh!" she gasped. "Will you find out and let me know?" + +"If I can," said Johnny, smiling once more. + +"Oh!" she gasped again. "I owe that person a lot. The tiger would have +got me for sure. I'd do a lot for him." + +"Would you?" asked Johnny. + +"Of course I would." + +"You may have a chance some time." + +"How strangely you talk!" + +"That's all I can tell you now." + +He arose and, assisting her to her feet, walked with her to the flap of +the ladies' dressing tent; then bade her good-night. + +"She's a real sport!" he told himself. "Now I've got to make good at +boxing the bear, even if it is a rotten job." + + + + + CHAPTER X + GWEN MEETS A "HAY MAKER" + + +Johnny Thompson did not relish giving boxing lessons. Like all true +artists, he was more interested in doing things than in teaching others +how to do them. Especially did he dislike giving lessons to women. + +Johnny had his particular ideas about the possible skill of lady boxers +and his estimate was not flattering. However, he was willing to teach +Gwen because he liked her, thought of her as a good sport, and hoped to +profit by his acquaintance with her. He was destined to find her rather a +surprise as a boxer. + +Exactly at nine o'clock next morning he was on hand in the small sawdust +circle at a remote corner of the "big top." Gwen was only three minutes +late and Johnny put that down as being much to her credit. "Most girls +would have been fifteen minutes or half an hour behind time," was his +mental comment. + +After a formal "Good morning," Johnny helped Gwen on with her gloves. +This gave him an opportunity to look her over. Naturally her hands +received his first attention. He looked for rings; found none, and then +laughed at himself for believing that any person would come for a boxing +lesson with rings on her fingers. + +Looking her up and down from head to toe, he found her good to the +eye--even better than in her professional costume. She was all of a girl +now. In her short skirt, blue middie and silk stockings and with her mass +of hair drawn tightly into form beneath a strong net, she made a picture +worth looking at. Johnny found himself catching his breath sharply as he +drew on her gloves and laced them snugly about her wrists. + +"You won't strike hard--not at first, anyway--will you?" she breathed. + +"Not at all," Johnny smiled, "but you'll have to be careful about one +thing; practice calls for boxing that is as near the real thing as +possible. I mean that I'll seem to be going to deal you a real knock-out +blow, but I'll 'pull the blow,' as they say, just before it lands, so it +will be a mere tap. The thing you'll have to be a little careful about is +running into those 'hay makers,' otherwise they may prove to be the real +thing in spite of all I can do to avoid it." + +"I'll try," Gwen smiled back. "Are you ready?" She tapped him playfully +on the nose. + +"Ready!" Johnny squared away. + +From the start, Gwen's boxing was a baffling mystery to the boy. She +seemed to fairly dance on air. Her foot movements were marvelous. Now she +was here; now there; now in another corner of the ring. Johnny had been +called the fastest boy of the ring, but Gwen was faster. For some time he +did not reach her even with a light tap. + +But time taught him new tricks and brought back to his mind many +half-forgotten old ones. He began to realize that, although her face +protection was perfect, she was exposing her chest. + +"That's where her lesson begins," he told himself, and at once began +tapping her over the heart with ever increasing force until she threw +down her hands with a sharp, "Oh-wee!" + +"Time's up," laughed Johnny, throwing himself down upon the mat and +inviting her to do the same. + +"You see," he explained, when they had caught their breath, "you box the +way you do your tight rope work. It's great stuff. I never saw a lady +boxer your equal." + +Gwen gave him a happy smile. + +"But," he went on, "you've got your weak points, just as the rest of us +have. You play your defense too high. That leaves your chest unguarded. +If you were in a real fight your opponent would deal you a knock-out blow +over the heart. You'll have to practice playing closer to the sawdust +with both your hands and your feet. It's that tight rope stuff that does +it. You box as if you were tiptoeing along the rope and holding up that +Japanese parasol to balance you." + +Gwen thanked him for his advice, then, as all good friends occasionally +do, they lapsed into silence. + +"Second round," said Johnny, two minutes later as he pocketed his watch. + +To Johnny this tight rope dancer seemed an amazingly alert pupil. It was +no time at all before he found her guard lowered and her hands traveling +so fast that only now and again was he able to score a point. To his +great surprise, he found himself thoroughly enjoying the third round. Not +only was he teaching her something about guarding and self-control, but +she was giving him pointers in speed and foot work. + +"You're great!" he breathed at the end of the third round. "You really +are." + +Flushed, highly excited, filled with a girlish enthusiasm, she beamed +back at him. The affair was a huge success; there could be no doubt of +that. Johnny saw himself safely possessed of an entirely agreeable pal, +one of the very elect, of the inner circle of star performers, too. He +saw himself frolicking with this wonderful pal day after day. A fine +day-dream! + +And just there something happened, as often is the case when one's cup of +happiness is about to overflow. In the fourth round Gwen, excited by +Johnny's praise, strove to out-do herself. Before she had not been half +so airy nor so nimble and skillful in eluding her opponent's blows. Thus +challenged, Johnny brought into play his every tactic. Maneuvers which +had lain dormant in his brain leaped to the forefront. It was as if he +were again in a real battle in a real ring. Like live things, his gloves +flashed. He leaped to the right, then to the left, then backward. He +darted suddenly forward. He ducked. He leaped high. But ever the elusive +Gwen escaped him. + +At last, in one mad rush he found himself facing her. Her round chin was +exposed. What an opportunity! He lifted himself clean off the floor; his +right hand struck out and up. It would have brushed her chin--an +admirably "pulled" blow--had she not at this instant leaped suddenly at +him. Whether she thought she saw an opening and had herself resolved to +score, or had, in the mad rush, completely lost her head, Johnny could +not tell. He only knew that there came a sickening sound of impact, +followed by a dull thud and Gwen lay crumpled, unconscious at his feet. +His blow had found its mark. The full force of it had been expended on +the girl's chin! + +Heartsick, he struggled to regain his scattered senses. The next instant +he was rushing away for water. From a bucket he dipped it ice cold, and +applied it to her forehead. Then with a towel he began to fan her. + +All the time reflections were rushing through his troubled brain: "What a +fool! Just when things were going right! All off now! Mighty funny how it +happened! All my fault! Mebby hers, too! But a girl--what a wallop to +give a girl! Who'd forgive it? Boss'd fire me if he knew it. What a muss! +Go back to the bear if I get a chance. Bear's about my class. What a nut +a fellow can make of himself! I--why dum it anyway--" + +His dismal reflections were arrested by the opening of Gwen's eyes. She +sat up dizzily and gazed about her as if looking upon a world unknown. + +"Where am I?" she faltered. "Oh!" she moaned, and held her head. + +Johnny's thoughts touched the bottom of despair. + +But the next moment she was looking at him and actually smiling. "I +suppo-pose," she said uncertainly, "that you'd call--call that a +'hay--hay maker'?" + +Johnny grinned in spite of himself. "It was," he agreed. + +"And I--I ran into your 'hay maker.'" + +"Something like that," Johnny agreed, sitting down beside her. "I hope +you feel better." + +She did not answer, but sat staring at the sawdust. They remained in just +that position until Johnny's watch had ticked off a hundred and twenty +seconds. He knew it was a hundred and twenty for he counted them all. + +"I suppose," he said, when he could endure the silence no longer, "that +that's the end of it?" + +"I suppose so," she agreed. + +Again they were silent. There seemed nothing more to say. + +"And I thought we would have some grand times together," said Johnny, at +last. "I might have known though--" + +"Oh! But aren't we?" There was a puzzled look on her face. + +"Why! You--you said that was the end of it!" + +"I suppose so for today. I'm really too shaky to box any more to-day. But +how about to-morrow?" + +With a wild shout of joy, Johnny leaped to his feet. + +"Then--then--," he stammered. "Why, you're a brick!" + +He extended his hand and helped her to her feet. + +"Why? What's so wonderful?" she smiled at him. "I ran into you and got +bumped. I don't hold that against you. Why should I? Would another boy +hate you for it?" + +"No. He might not, but a girl--" + +"Fiddle! Girls are just like boys, if you let them be. Shall I see you +to-morrow?" + +"You sure will!" + +For a moment Johnny hesitated before taking her hand for a farewell; the +question of the diamond ring had flashed through his mind. Was this the +time to ask? He hesitated; then gave it up. A moment before he had felt +that he had lost her. He would risk nothing more this day. + +"Good-bye and good luck," he murmured, as she turned to go her way. + + + + + CHAPTER XI + THE BLACK BEAST + + +"Pant," said Johnny the next evening, as they sat upon the beach in the +moonlight, with the tom, tom, tom of the circus drum sounding from the +distance, "there's one thing that puzzles me about this crimson flash." + +"Let's hear." There was a smile lurking about the corners of Pant's +mouth. + +"That big yellow cat last night was scared stiff, just frozen in his +tracks by the crimson flash," said Johnny. "They tell me that all the big +cats act that way, except one." + +"Uh!" grunted Pant. "The black panther." + +"He leaps right at it, wants to eat someone up every time it's flashed on +his cage. How's that?" asked Johnny. + +Pant smiled, as he drank in a deep breath of cool, night air. "That, +Johnny, is a rather long story, a story I've never told. But, because +you've been a good pal, because, though I've doubtless seemed mighty +queer at times, you've never asked a leading question, I've a strong +notion to tell it to you." + +Johnny waited in silence. The tom tom of the drum ceased. By that he knew +that Gwen, Queen of the circus, was just entering the ring for her part. +He had intended to see that act again, but if Pant spoke-- + +"I think I will," mused Pant. "You see," he went on, "ever since I was a +small child I have had a great interest in cats. Even before I could +walk, so they tell me, I would turn up missing, and they'd find me at +last creeping through the grass in the meadows, following an old tomato +colored cat that was hunting for moles. + +"As I grew older I came to know that a cat could see in the dark, and +that he did most of his hunting at night. These things interested me. +Night after night I would slip from my bed, steal out into the night and +follow the cats in their nightly wanderings. I guess I learned things +about cats that no one else knows; some of their secrets, I mean. I've +never told them, and I'm not going to tell them to you. Knowledge is of +very little use to people unless they go to the places where it can be +applied, and very few are willing to go all that way. + +"When I was thrown out into the world to shift for myself I still wanted +to know more about cats. Little by little I came to know that house cats +were but the pygmies among cats; that there were large, fierce, dangerous +cats--wild cats, mountain lions, tigers, and the like. It was just when +my curiosity about these big cats was at its height that I happened to +wander into a zoo. There I found tigers, panthers, leopards and mountain +lions. I was wild with joy. I watched these big cats for hours. I asked +so many questions of the attendant that he threatened to throw me out. +When night came he did force me to go away. For a week I did nothing but +haunt that zoo. + +"At last it came to me suddenly one day that I could learn nothing really +worth while about these wonderful cats unless I could watch them, as I +had watched house cats, in their native haunts, as they rested, fed, +played and wandered about or stalked their prey. I asked the keeper where +their native homes were. He showed me on a map. I was astonished. They +were from all over the world, India, Africa, South America, everywhere. + +"There were two cats that had caught my eye, the great tawny beast, the +Bengal tiger, and the smaller black cat with the shifting eye, the black +leopard. + +"When I was told that both these came from the jungles of India I was +overjoyed. I would go there and follow them day after day, until I knew +all their secrets. + +"When I told the attendant of my resolve, he laughed at me; said I'd be +killed and eaten before I had been in the jungle a day. + +"I took to thinking about that; then I tried to study out some way to +make the great cats of the jungle afraid of me. I returned again to the +zoo and studied the great animals. When the keeper was not looking I +tried many things. At last I found one thing that would make them +afraid--all but one, the black cat with the shifting eyes; he was not +afraid. He leaped at his bars snarling, but I said to myself, 'He is only +one, all other black leopards will be afraid.'" + +"Of the crimson flash?" whispered Johnny. + +Pant gave him a look of warning, then glanced away at the lake. + +"I was only a boy and not very far in my teens at that, but I went to the +jungles of India. I don't remember much how I went. I was a stowaway on a +big steamer, then in a smaller one. I helped pole long, heavy barges up +an endless river where mosses and grape vines hung thick along the banks, +and where great slimy beasts rose from the water to glare at us. I caught +the fever and lay for weeks in a bed of a hospital provided for Dutch +missionaries. + +"After I got well, I poled more boats up the river until, at last, I was +in the heart of India, where there were few white men, where there were +many naked natives, where it was all jungle, and where in the night I +could hear the call of the wild things, my friends, the great cats. Ah, +my boy! Then I was happy. I would study. I would learn secrets. I would +know things that no other man knew." + +Pant paused and, rising, began to pace restlessly back and forth, and +Johnny, watching, was reminded of the great Bengal tiger pacing the +length of his cage. + +"There was a mission station," Pant went on, still pacing to and fro; "a +little mission, with a tiny hospital and a doctor. It was in a native +village at the edge of a great jungle. The natives swarmed to it from +many miles around. When I asked the gray haired doctor why they didn't +have a large hospital, he shook his head and answered: + +"'No money.'" + +"I had a little money; I gave him that, and he let me stay there with +them. There were just his wife and one nurse and the servants. I did +little things for them about the place the time I was not sleeping during +the day. At night I went out into the jungle alone. That first night, +when they saw me starting out, they called me back; told me there were +great cats lurking in the jungle that would kill and eat me; begged me +not to go, but I said to them: + +"'I have a charmed life. Nothing can harm me. Besides, all cats are my +friends.' + +"You see," Pant sat down upon the sand, "you see, I didn't want to tell +my secret. Never tell your secrets, Johnny, at least not all of them. +You'll mean more to your friends and trouble your enemies more if you +keep them. I kept mine; but I went out into the jungle alone. + +"I found them, Johnny; I found the great tawny cats with the dark +stripes, the tigers. They were not hard to find, for I knew the secrets +of cats, and all cats are alike. + +"First I found the old tiger, then his mate. They were hunting in the +tall grass. Right away, when they saw me, they wanted to hunt me and take +me home to their cubs. But there I had them. There was my great secret. +When I showed them what I could do, they were afraid. They walked round +and round me until, in the morning, the grass was all trampled round in a +circle. + +"The next night I found their cubs playing near the roots of a fallen +tree. They were three months old--big as dogs. The father had broken the +forelegs of a deer, and had brought it home for them to kill. + +"When they saw me, the old ones wanted to get me more than ever. How they +snarled! How they circled and lashed their tails! They couldn't get me; I +had them. They were afraid. Ten men on elephants, with rifles, they would +have attacked with a rush, but not me. They were afraid. + +"But, Johnny, they were wonderful cats. Their coats! You have seen tigers +in cages. Bah! They are nothing to the great, free cats of the jungle. +The yellow! You have seen the sky at sunset sometimes when it was painted +with golden fire? It was like that, only grander. And the dark stripes! +They were like midnight. The gleam of their teeth, the burning red of +their eyes, as they prowled in the night. Ah! Johnny! I had found true +happiness. I only wanted one thing to make me perfectly happy, and that +was to have them play with me, as they played with their cubs; as the +house cats played with me when I was in rompers. That, too, would have +come, but--" + +Sighing, Pant rose and began pacing the beach again. + +"A change came over me. I began to see things and to wonder. At times I +thought how sick I had been down there in the little Dutch mission +hospital, and how the short, fat Dutch nurses had pattered about in their +wooden shoes to help make me well. Then I saw the hundreds and hundreds +of poor natives who came limping into our little station, or who were +carried in on bamboo stretchers. It all set me thinking. Up to that time, +I had thought that nothing mattered but cats. I wanted to know all about +cats. I wanted, yes, I do believe I wanted to be like a cat. Some folks +believe we were all animals once before we were born as humans. An old +native of the jungle told me that. If that is true, then I was once a +cat. + +"But I got to thinking that perhaps humans counted more than the great +cats in the jungle. I didn't want to think that, not at first, but I +couldn't shake it off. When I went into the jungle to watch the cats I +saw in my mind those sick people coming, coming, coming. I didn't like +it; didn't want to see them. There was yet the great black cat. I must +find him somewhere in the jungle. I must see him. + +"One day I talked to the doctor about my thoughts, and he told me that +people counted for much more than big cats. He said he needed medicine, +supplies, new houses, everything, and since I could go to the jungle and +come back alive, perhaps I could help him. + +"'How?' I asked. + +"It was a terrible thing he said: 'Go into the jungle and get me tiger +cubs. Traders will pay big money for them.' + +"It was terrible. I could do it. There were three cubs. I could get them, +but-- + +"'But,' I said to the doctor, 'the big cats, the father and mother, must +first be killed.' + +"'Yes,' he smiled. And that was all he said. + +"I went into the jungle again that night and, as I watched the splendor +of the great cats, I said, 'No, I will never do it! Never! Never!' And +yet I was going to do that very thing. I was going to take a rifle with +me, and lie there in that wonderful moonlight to wait for them to come +back; sooner than I thought, too. + +"It was that night, for the first time, that the old tiger left his mate +and the three cubs while I watched them and went away to hunt by himself. +Then I was glad, for I always had wished to watch him as he hunted down +the blue deer, the buffalo, wild goat or wild pig. So I followed. +Creeping after him through the moonlight I lost him many times, for his +yellow stripes were like the moonbeams, and the dark ones like wavering +shadows. But I always found him again, as he rose to leap along some path +or across an open spot in the forest. + +"At last I knew that we were nearing the village. 'Ah!' I said to myself, +'so that is your game. You will pick a calf or a fat young pig for your +dinner. Perhaps you may not fare as well as that,' for I decided that I +must use my charm to drive him from the village if he went to rob there. + +"But, before I had expected it, he began to circle. By that I knew he had +scented some prey. Narrower and narrower his circle grew. Greater and +greater became my curiosity, for I wondered what kind of prey he could +find so near the village and yet not safe in its pen. + +"Finally I climbed upon the trunk of a dead tree, and then I saw. My +blood ran cold. Out of the village had wandered a child, a little girl of +four or five years. She had crept from her bed while others were asleep, +and there she was, the pale moonlight glistening from her body, and the +tiger not four springs away. Then it was that I saw, saw clear as midday +how it was; that all big cats were men's enemies, and were but to be +killed. + +"Yet, I could not kill. I had not as much as a knife. I could do but one +thing. I had my charm. I must stand between the beast and the child. + +"Three leaps brought me in his path. Then I turned and faced him. It was +a great and terrible moment. My charm; would it work? He was terribly +angry. Lashing his tail, he leaped to one side. But that was no good. I +had him. I was now beside the child, who was not one bit afraid. + +"That time the tiger almost dared. He leaped once. Two more leaps +remained. He leaped again. I could see the round, black pupils of his +eyes; count his teeth; hear him breathe. Three times they relaxed. He did +not dare. My charm; it worked. I had him. He did not dare. + +"At last he slunk away through the tall grass. Then, because the child +was not afraid, because I knew it would be the last time I should ever +watch the cats and their cubs, I took the child and followed the tiger +back to the lair, where all night long, beneath the moon, the tiger and +his mate with their cubs beat a hard, round path about me and the little +girl. + +"Just before sunrise I heard the distant beat of the tom tom, the +bellowing of bull buffaloes. Then it was that I knew that the natives +were driving the herd of buffaloes to the jungle that they might frighten +the tigers from their lair, and secure the remains of the child. And all +the time I had the child safe in my arms." + +Pant paused and looked away over the glimmering water. The tom, tom, tom +of the circus drum was sounding. The indistinct noises wafted on the +breeze might be the lowing buffaloes. Johnny, for the second, fancied +himself in the heart of the jungle with Pant, the child, and the tigers. + +"The next night," Pant's voice had grown suddenly husky, "I went to the +jungle again, and that morning I brought in the pelts of the tiger and +his mate. The kittens were chained to a tree. The natives brought them in +later. The hospital was bigger and better after that. And I, I was a +hero, a hero to them all, but not to myself." + +"But the black cat, the panther?" suggested Johnny after a moment of +silence. + +"Oh, yes, that was later. We have not time for it now. We move to-night. +We must hurry. Already the people are leaving." + +"One thing more before we go," said Johnny eagerly. "Light, Pant, does +light travel in straight lines?" He was thinking of the crimson flash +that had leaped apparently from mid-air in the tent the previous evening. + +"I am surprised that you ask it," Pant smiled. "You have been in Alaska?" + +"Yes." + +"Then, at Cape Prince of Wales you must have seen the midnight sun?" + +"Yes, in June." + +"If the sun's rays shone straight, you must have had then as many hours +of continuous darkness in December as you had of continuous daylight in +June. Did you?" + +"No," said Johnny. "We had three or four hours of sun every day, even in +December." + +"Then," said Pant, smiling, "the sun's rays must have been bent that they +might reach you. In fact, the rays of light never travel straight. So +long! I'll leave you now to think that over. See you at our next stand. +Hope I can tell you then who has your diamond ring." + +He vanished into the night, leaving Johnny to stare after him in wonder +and admiration. + +"Some day," Johnny said to himself, "I'll hear the story of the black +leopard." + + + + + CHAPTER XII + JOHNNY WINS DOUBLE PAY + + +Johnny had scarcely reached the cluster of tents that loomed large in the +darkness, when he was startled by a sudden wild burst of activity. Men +and boys rushed silently here and there; lanterns and searchlights +flashed from place to place. For a second he stood there paralyzed. What +was it, a fire or an approaching cyclone? + +Then he laughed. + +"We move to-night. Down go the tents." + +They did go down. Before his astonished eyes they disappeared as if by +magic. In all his life he had never seen anything that came near equaling +the team work displayed in the dropping of the big top and the loading of +the circus. + +In a marvelously short time they were on their way. Johnny, because of +his prospects of becoming a regular performer, had been assigned a berth +in a sleeping car. Pant, being merely a hanger-on, slept as he had on +many another night, beneath the stars, with only a bale of canvas for +covering. + +Johnny spent a half hour in thought before the even click, click of the +wheels lulled him to sleep. They were on their way, and he was glad. +To-morrow he would have his try-out. To-morrow, too, he would give Gwen +her second lesson in boxing. Should he ask her about the ring? To-morrow +they would be in one of those small cities in which Pant had said the +counterfeiters would reap their richest harvest. When would Pant find his +man? Would he, Johnny, have a part in it? He must not fail to fulfill his +promise to Pant; to get acquainted with the steam kettle cook and the +midget clown. + +The next morning Johnny kept his boxing appointment with Gwen. It was +after a half hour of strenuous work, while they were resting on a mat, +that she turned to him suddenly and said, in a low voice: + +"A strange thing happened last night." + +"What was that?" + +"I was awakened from my sleep. I had been dreaming of a fire, and I would +have sworn that it was a flash of red light that awakened me." + +"That's strange." Johnny's tone told nothing. + +"What is stranger still, two other girls were awakened in the same +manner." + +"You had upper berths?" + +"Yes." + +"There were glass ventilator windows above you?" + +"Yes." + +"Probably the light from a switch tower shining in." + +"It was too bright for that. It was so bright it was crimson. It was +like--it was like the crimson flash that fell on the tiger that other +night!" + +"That _was_ strange," Johnny smiled, but his smile told nothing. + +He was not surprised when, as he met Pant a half hour later, the strange +fellow said to him in a matter-of-fact tone: + +"It's the slim girl, the one that rides bareback, Millie, what is it they +call her?" + +"Millie Gonzales." + +"She's the one. She's got your ring." + +"I thought you might know," Johnny said quietly. + +Pant shot him a quick glance. "Somebody been talking?" + +"Not so you'd need be alarmed. But, say, now I know she's got it, how am +I to get it from her?" + +"That's up to you," retorted Pant. + +"It's strange," said Johnny a little later; "last night I dreamed that +the circus train was wrecked, all shot to smithereens! And the +animals--they were having the time of their lives, fighting each other +and eating folks up." + +"If that ever happens," Pant gripped his arm hard, "if it ever does, you +get that big black cat! Get the black cat! See? He's a bad one; a +man-eater. Got a record. A bad one. See?" + +Johnny nodded, and thought again of the story Pant was to tell him of +that same black cat and the jungles of India. But there was no time for +it now; the show would soon begin, and then would come the great event, +his try-out. + +It came. All too soon he found himself marching down the sawdust trail. +Dressed in his tightly fitting green suit, and closely followed by the +bear, he felt foolish enough. He was a trifle awed by the immense throng, +too. He had been in many a boxing match, but never one like this. In +those other matches he had had men for opponents, and mostly men as +spectators. Here it was far different. + +Anxious questions forced their way into his consciousness. How was the +boxing bout going? Would he be able to manage the bear, or would the +animal, goaded on by the shouts of the crowd, repeat the performance of +that other day, when he had run the Italian out of the tent? + +Cold perspiration stood out on Johnny's forehead, yet he did not falter. +Bracing himself for his ordeal, he bowed low to the audience, then turned +to put the bear through his preliminary antics. All went well; still, +through it all, Johnny's eyes strayed now and then to the boxing gloves. +So real was his fear of the outcome of the match, that at times it seemed +to him the gloves were alive and ready to leap from the floor into his +face. + +Yet, when the time came, the thing seemed as simple as child's play. The +bear performed his part perfectly. Johnny even risked a little extra +exhibition by entering into a clinch with the bear and cleverly +extricating himself. The great test came, however, when the bear, +appearing to grow angry, leaped squarely at him. Three times the great +beast did this, then with a sudden cry of seeming terror, Johnny darted +from the ring and, closely followed by the bear, raced away before the +packed throng of amazed and delighted spectators. When the bear paused, +threw his gloves and turned to leer at the audience, Johnny knew that he +had not only made good, but made good _big_. He had won his double pay. + +He was just rounding the outer entrance, with the applause of the crowd +dying away, when a small, shrill voice squeaked up to him: + +"You did fine. You're all right." + +Glancing down, Johnny had no difficulty in recognizing Tom Stick, the +midget clown. He cut a comical figure as he stood there. A mere child in +size, he was dressed in an African hunting suit and carried a shiny air +rifle. Not far away, a gigantic elephant stood complacently stuffing hay +into his mouth. + +Johnny looked first at the midget, then at the elephant. + +"We go on next," squeaked the little fellow, "Jo-Jo, that's the elephant, +and myself. I play I'm hunting wild elephants. See? Shoot him. See? Shoot +him with the air gun all around the tent. Real bullets, too! He doesn't +mind. Hide's tough. We always get a laugh; Jo-Jo and I do. Want to know +how we came to be friends, Jo-Jo and me?" + +Johnny nodded. + +"Well, you see, Jo-Jo was a French elephant. They didn't need him during +the war, so they sent him over to America, and sold him here. Well, Jo-Jo +knew French all right, but he didn't understand a word of English. He was +supposed to be one of the smartest elephants in the world over in France, +but over here he was so stupid they actually had to push him off the cars +when they unloaded him. Just plumb stupid. See? Got so they wished they +didn't have him at all. + +"Well, you know, I used to show in France once myself, so I knew a little +French, and one day, just for fun, I said to Jo-Jo: + +"'Bon jour, Jo-Jo. Comment alle vous!'" + +"Well, sir, that elephant nearly wiggled his old palm leaf ears off out +of pure joy. I knew right away what made it; it was hearin' someone speak +in his own language, so I just went right on spielin' French to him, and +he kept on gettin' happier and happier until at last I had to stop for +fear he'd break a blood vessel laughin'. + +"When the Boss knew about it, he gave Jo-Jo to me, and we've been mates +ever since. + +"We've got to be movin' up. Good-by, Mr. Bear Boxer. See you some other +time." + +Johnny watched the dwarf, as he walked behind the elephant and, turning a +corner, disappeared from sight. + +"So that's one of the fellows Pant suspects of being the forger, Black +McCree? Not the man, I'd say," he muttered. "And yet, you never can +tell." + +It was the next morning, while he was preparing for his daily bout with +Gwen, that Johnny received a shock of surprise which he did not soon +forget. + +A unique plan for creating a new laugh had occurred to him. He was +telling it to Gwen. + +"They don't have the clown assist you in your turn, do they?" He smiled, +as he laced her right glove. + +"No. How could they? I never saw a clown walk the tight wire." + +"Wouldn't need to; just pretend to." He stooped to pick up her left +glove. + +"How?" + +"Well, you see, they might have two or three small balloons just large +enough to lift him off the ground. They could have small ropes attached +to each of these. The attendants--the--the--" + +Johnny's eyes had seen something which made him stutter. On the plump +third finger of Gwen's left hand reposed _the_ ring, the diamond ring, +which had been the means of making him a circus performer. + +"I--I'll take it off for you." He drew the ring from her finger. + +"Thanks," she smiled at him. "Awfully stupid of me to wear it. There's a +handkerchief in the right hand pocket of my blouse. Just wrap it in that, +and put it in my pocket, please." + +For one brief second Johnny hesitated. Was this the moment of moments? +The ring which would clear his good name was within his grasp. Should he +say, "Gwen, this belongs to a friend of mine, not to you; I must take it +to her"? + +For an instant he looked into Gwen's frank blue eyes, then, without a +word, he drew the handkerchief from her pocket, wrapped the ring +carefully up, then thrust it deep down in the pocket of her blouse. + +"As I was about to say," he continued with forced composure, "they could +hold the balloons steady, while the clown tripped lightly along the wire. +Perhaps he might even attempt a clog. When he was in the midst of the +clog, the attendants could suddenly lose control of the balloons, letting +the clown go up to the top of the tent. He could then climb to earth head +first by doing a hand-over-hand on a rope fastened to a peg in the +ground. Don't you think that would bring a laugh?" + +Gwen's brow was wrinkled in thought for a moment. + +"Yes, I think it would," she said suddenly. "I think it would be a berry! +How'd you like to be the clown?" + +"I wasn't in aviation in the Army," smiled Johnny. + +"No, but really, would you?" + +"Why! Why! Yes, I might. It might be better than boxing the bear, and +since I've got to stick around, I might as well be a clown as anything." + +"Stick around?" she asked. "Why do you have to stick around?" + +For an instant the words were on the tip of Johnny's tongue which would +have told her the whole truth. But his lips would not frame the sentence. + +"Why, I--I," he stammered; "just my nature, I guess. Always did like the +circus." + +Johnny was not a great success as a boxer that morning. He was thinking +of the diamond ring, and wondering why he had not demanded the right to +keep it, once he had it in his grasp; wondering, too, how it happened +that Millie had it one day, and Gwen another. "Queer mixup," was his +mental comment. + +Late that night, after the show was over, when the lights were dim, +Johnny wandered into the animal tent. He was just passing the cage of the +black leopard when a low hiss halted him. Then he felt a grip on his arm. +It was Pant. + +"Sit down here in the dark, Johnny," he whispered. "I'll tell you the +story of that black beast. I can tell it better with his wicked red eyes +burning holes at me through the dark, just as they did once before, and +him a free black cat!" + +Johnny started as he stared at the cage where, on a narrow wooden shelf, +the leopard must be reposing. All he could see was a pair of red balls of +fire, and it seemed to him that in all his life he had never seen +anything so full of hate as was the red gleam that seemed fairly to shoot +out from them. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII + PANT'S STORY OF THE BLACK CAT + + +"Life's like this," Pant gripped Johnny's arm, as the two red balls in +the back of the dark cage shifted from side to side; "life's just like +this: When once you've done a thing, you want to do it again. That's why +we have to watch our habits, if we want our lives to count for something. +Lots of fellows don't watch them. I told you about killing the old tiger +and his mate, and bringing in the cubs to the doctor, so he could sell +them to the traders and buy supplies for his hospital. Well, once I had +done that, I wanted to do it again. I guess there was something of my old +desire to study cats in me yet, for I was overjoyed when I heard wild +stories about a giant black leopard that haunted the trail far up the +river. You see, the mountain streams were drying up, and the big cats +were being driven out of the mountain forests to the river jungles. + +"The stories they told about that big black cat made a fellow's blood run +cold. He was big as a tiger. He was a fierce man-eater. His fangs were +twice the size of a tiger's, and each one like a knife blade. He had been +seen to seize a full grown man, and before the man's companions could +fire upon him, to leap to the bough of a tree, ten feet from the ground, +the man in his jaws, too. The others had fled in terror. They never knew +what terrible fate had overtaken their companion until a few days later a +second party passing that way had found his bones strewn beneath that +tree. + +"Of course I laughed at their stories. A black cat do a thing like that? +Why, the one in the zoo back home was not three times the size of a house +cat, and he, the keeper had told me, was eight years old. + +"I did not believe their stories, but the natives believed them, and +would not stir up the river road; and none would come down it, either; so +those who were sick could not come to the hospital I had helped to make +better. This made me angry. + +"'I will go and kill that black cat,' I said to the doctor. 'I will have +his skin for a foot mat!' + +"He smiled in a friendly way, and bade me not be rash. The black leopard, +he told me, was much more to be feared than the tiger. Unlike the tiger, +he killed for the fun of killing. He climbed trees, and there on the dark +trunk, seeming but a part of the tree itself, he waited for his prey. In +the gloom of the forest, he dropped without a sound, and his attack was +most terrible. He was truly large, too, six feet in length from tip of +nose to base of tail. + +"I did not believe the doctor. Had I not seen a full grown black leopard +in the zoo? Was he not an insignificant fellow? And yet, I was a little +afraid, for I remembered that the black cat in the zoo had not been +afraid, when all the other great cats cringed in dark corners of their +cages. I was a little afraid, but I would not admit it. + +"'Just because you have told me he is terrible,' I said, 'I will take +along a strong cage. I will bring him to you alive. We will sell him to +the traders, and buy more beds for our hospital.' + +"Then the doctor begged me not to be foolhardy. But I would not listen. +With four natives to carry the cage, with a rifle in my hand, and a big +knife at my belt, I went--went far up the river trail. When the natives +would go no farther, I called them dirty cowards, and putting my rifle +inside the cage, dragged the cage after me until I had come to a place +where, in a deep forest, at the bend of the river, the black cat was said +to make his stand. + +"I was frightened a little, Johnny, when I saw the bleached bones of a +man lying beneath a great tree where mosses and vines hung thick, but I +reassured myself by saying the man had died there alone, and the jackals +had picked his bones. + +"'That's the origin of the wild story,' I told myself. 'Like as not there +is no black cat at all, and I shall go home disappointed.' + +"But I didn't, Johnny, I didn't." + +Johnny could feel Pant's hand grip his arm hard, as the black creature in +the cage stirred and gave forth a sort of hissing yawn. + +"You were never in the jungle at night?" Pant's tense, vibrant whisper +told more plainly than words that he was living over again those hours in +the jungle alone. + +"No," breathed Johnny. + +"It's wonderful, and terrible. The sun sinks from sight. Darkness comes +and then out shines the moon. And the moonlight! Nowhere else is it like +it is in the jungle. It creeps down among the masses of leaves, +transforming swinging, swaying limbs into gigantic, twisting serpents, +ready at any moment to swing down upon you. It turns every shadow-dotted +tree trunk into a beast ready to leap at your throat. It's weird, +fascinating, terrible. Down at the river some beast plunges into the +water. You hear the splash, then the swish, swish of his strokes. He is +coming to your bank, you are sure. You are afraid. Who would not be? + +"But me, I sat by my cage, with the rifle over one knee and watched. One +hour, two hours, three hours I watched, until at last all the twisting +branches, the spotted tree trunks were familiar to me. + +"And then, then he came; the black beast, the great black cat, he came." + +Pant paused. There came a hiss from the cage, as if the black cat, too, +was living those hours over again. + +"I saw him, Johnny, I saw him. I caught the wicked gleam of his two red +eyes." Pant gripped Johnny's arm until it hurt. "He was not thirty feet +from me. Flattened against a broad tree trunk, he was glaring at me out +of the dark. How he came so close without my seeing him, I cannot tell. +He was a devil. Perhaps he had been there all that time. Who knows? + +"Anyway, there he was. I cast my charm upon him. And I had him, Johnny, I +had him. With my rifle I could have shot him on the instant. But he had +me, too. He was so wonderful. I have told you about the wonder of the +tiger's coat. It is nothing to the coat of a black leopard in the jungle. +You have seen him. You know how immense he is; seven feet from tip of +nose to base of tail. You have seen him in his cage, but will never see +him as I saw him that night, a free beast in his own wilderness, and I a +stranger, an intruder. + +"But I thought I had him. I wanted to study him: to learn his secrets. I +planned how I would follow him day after day, and learn all his secrets. +I was mad, stark mad." + +Pant paused again as if for breath. The black beast moved nearer on his +shelf within the cage. The thrashing of his tail was like the dull beat +of a drum. + +"Just when I was thinking all this," Pant rose upon his knees in his +excitement, "just when I thought I had him, he gave one piercing scream +and leaped. My man, what a leap! He struck me all unprepared; struck me +with fangs and claws tearing at my flesh. Yet my right hand was free. It +was a tense, agonizing second. In some way I got out my knife and slashed +away with it. The next instant I lost consciousness." + +Pant paused again. Once more the leopard moved his length along the cage. + +"But, Johnny, here's the strangest part of all. I cannot explain it; only +know it's true. They say that sometimes, in moments of great shock, men +lose their personality and become another person; that when they come +back to themselves they have done things they know nothing of, yet others +have seen them do. It may have been like that with me. And then, a great +teacher in the heart of India once told me that there was a great spirit +of the forest who looked after brave hunters, and did things for them in +time of great danger which they could not do for themselves. It may have +been that, too. Whatever way it may have been, it was strange; so strange +that you would not believe me were I not your friend who always told you +the truth. + +"Listen, Johnny! When I came to myself I was weak, terribly weak from +loss of blood; but the cat, the big black cat, he was raging in the cage, +and the door was fastened tight." + +Pant paused. The animal tent was still. Suddenly a crimson flash gleamed. +For an instant it turned the black cat blood red. The next moment, with a +wild snarl, the beast flattened himself against the bars of his cage. + +A keeper sprang out of the darkness. + +"What's that?" he demanded. + +"What's what?" drawled Pant. + +"I thought I saw a flash." + +"He evidently thought something of the sort," Pant replied, poking his +thumb at the black cat. + +"Well, you guys better move on. This ain't no place for spinnin' yarns." + +"That's all right," drawled Pant, "but let me tell you, friend; if +anything ever happens to this circus, a fire, a cyclone, a train wreck, +or anything like that, you get that cat. Get that black cat!" + +"What d'you know about him?" + +"Plenty that I don't tell to strangers." + +Pant lifted the wall of the tent and stepped out into the moonlight, +followed by Johnny. + +"You didn't finish," suggested Johnny. + +"There's not much more to tell. You have to hand it to that doctor, +though. When I didn't come back in the morning, he tried to organize a +party to search for me. No one would go. They were scared cold by the +black cat. So he came alone. He found me there, too weak to move, and he +carried me all the way back and put me in a bed I'd helped him to buy. + +"The natives went for the black cat and brought him back to the village +in triumph. + +"When I was better a trader came to me and offered me the price of a +tiger's cub for the black cat. I laughed in his face, and told him I'd +take the cat to the States myself. That's what I did. I got five thousand +dollars for him, and sent it all back to the doctor so he could buy beds, +and absorbent cotton, and medicine for his hospital." + +"That was good of you," said Johnny. + +"Who's good?" demanded Pant. "Didn't he teach me sense when I didn't know +anything but cats? Didn't he carry me out of the jungle on his back when +no one else dared to go in?" + +For a time they were silent. Then, gripping Johnny's arm, Pant whispered: +"But, Johnny, we're after worse cats than the black one. We're after +human tigers. Tigers that destroy man's faith in man; that make life +little worth the living. And, Johnny, we're on their trail, close on +their trail. Perhaps to-morrow, perhaps the day after, you shall +see--well, you shall see what you shall see." + + + + + CHAPTER XIV + IN TOM STICK'S HOUSE + + +That same night, by the dull glow of a half burned out camp fire on the +bank of a river, Pant told Johnny of his plans as a Secret Service man on +a big case, and how they had worked out thus far. + +"You remember the crimson flash in the animal tent, and how it frightened +a lot of the colored boys into jumping their jobs?" he chuckled. "Well, +that helped me, helped me a lot; for you see some of the boys that quit +were working for this bunch of counterfeiters that has Black McCree as +its head. Some of the boys that were hired were already getting pay from +Uncle Sam for helping me. Some of them now are getting triple pay, once +from the circus, once from me and once from the counterfeiters. See how +it works?" + +Pant chuckled again. + +"These boys with the three pay checks have helped me a lot, but not +enough. They can't get back far enough. They know only the men who pass +the bonds on to them, and those men are just helpers like themselves. +They pass the goods on, but the real man is still back in the shadows; +too far back for me to see him. He's the man I want; the man and his +outfit; and let me tell you, Johnny, that's some outfit. There's never +been anything like it before. It's a danger. Where and when they operate +is more than I know. They could hardly do it in one of the tents. They +might do it in one of the cars, and it might be Tom, the midget clown, +doing it in his house on wheels." + +"I've talked with him," said Johnny quickly. "I don't believe he's in on +it." + +"Don't be too sure. Take no chances. If he's especially friendly, that +may mean that he is onto the fact that you're working with me and that +I'm after them. A bunch like that would stab you in the back in a +second." + +For a few minutes there was silence, then Pant continued: "We are making +some progress. We know about how much of the 'queer' they are peddling in +these towns, and take my word, it's a plenty. They are planting it thick. +We've got to get 'em, and get 'em quick. Have you talked with Andy +McQueen, the steam kettle cook, yet?" + +"No, not yet." + +"Do it to-morrow. He may be important. And Johnny," Pant leaned forward +with an impressive gesture, "Johnny, watch your step. You're in danger +every moment. They may know you're with me; probably do, and if they do, +they'll get you if they can. That's all. Goodnight." + +Rising, he stretched himself like a cat, then went slouching away into +the darkness. + +For a long time Johnny lay there on the sand dreamily gazing into the +fire. It was, indeed, a tangled web of mystery the unraveling of which he +had let himself in for, and one which, as Pant had suggested, might at +any moment suddenly break and let him down with an awful fall. + +There was the ring. Gwen had it that morning; Millie had it two days +before; perhaps Mitzi had it at this very moment. He was still surprised +at himself because of his action of that morning. Well, he must have that +ring. This, if for no other reason, must hold him to his surprising +circus career. He wondered if Gwen were serious about the clown stunt +and, if so, whether she would soon have it arranged. He thought again of +Pant's problem, and wondered for the hundredth time if he should have any +part in its solving. + +But the greatest mystery of all was the crimson flash. He had seen it +leap down from the air and turn the tiger, loose in the big tent, blood +red. He had seen it do the same thing in the animal tent. In his +suggestion regarding the direction of the sun's rays in the Arctic, Pant +had intimated that rays of light could be made to follow crooked paths. +If this could be done, if Pant held within his fertile brain the secret +of this terrible power, what a wonderful fellow he was! How it would +transform modern life, modern warfare! Trenches would be utterly useless +once a light might be thrown upon them from any angle. Many things that +were dark, secret and hidden in every day life would be clear as the +light of day. What dark corner, what secret rendezvous, would be safe +from the glare of those crooked rays of gleaming light? + +Johnny pondered until his head whirled, then, rising and shaking himself, +he made his way to the sleeping car in which he now bunked. The circus +would soon be on its way to the next small city. + +That next small city, if Johnny had but known it, was only ten miles from +the home of the grandparents of the millionaire twins. They had ridden +cross country for a visit to their grandparents. Along the roads they had +seen glaring posters announcing the coming of the circus. They had +decided at once that now was the time to join that circus. Their circus +riding clothes were in the trunk, which had been sent on by express. Even +as Johnny rose from beside the fire, the twins, in their beds at their +grandfather's rambling, old house, were planning how, on the morrow, they +would slip on their circus garb underneath their dresses, and ride away +to discover their old friend, Johnny, and join the parade. + +Morning broke bright and clear on the old fair grounds of Rokford, which +was the place of the great circus' next one day stand. When Johnny had +eaten breakfast, he strolled past the cooking tent and, having paused to +admire the row of shining copper steam kettles, he thought of his promise +to get in touch with the manager of these kettles. The cook was not in +sight at that moment, so Johnny paused to study these great vats, which +resembled nothing so much as giant kettle drums. + +"Just a twist of the valve and the steam does the rest," he murmured to +himself. + +"Great, ain't they?" a voice said at his elbow. + +"Sure are." Johnny turned about. It was the cook. A tall, slender man, +well past middle age, with a drooping mustache, and a wrinkled smile, he +studied Johnny from head to toe. + +"You're a boxer," he said, getting his smile into operation. "Saw you box +a conman once. Been wonderin' ever since how such a small fellow could +pack such a wallop." + +"I don't mind tellin' you," said Johnny. "It's absurdly simple. Instead +of just getting the force of your arm muscles into the blow, or the push +of your shoulder, you leap as you strike, and that puts the whole of your +body back of your mitt. That's easy, isn't it?" + +"I suppose it is, after you been doin' it a few thousand times; easy as +fryin' flapjacks." + +"How long have you been cooking with steam kettles?" asked Johnny. + +"Only five or six years. But I've been cookin' all my life. I was cook +for a surveying outfit when the Union Pacific was built. Boy! Those were +the days of real sport. Used to run out of fuel and everything." + +A humorous twinkle lurked about the man's eyes, as he lighted his pipe +and sat down on an upturned bucket. + +"I mind one time," he mused, "when we was plumb out of wood, and nothin' +but grass; prairie all 'round us. Just enough fire to make coffee; not +enough to fry flapjacks, and the nearest supply station thirty miles +away." + +"What did you do?" asked Johnny. + +"Well, sir," the cook removed his pipe and spat on the ground, "I said, +'Boys, there'll be flapjacks for breakfast just the same.' I mixed 'em up +as usual in a big tin bucket. I gave the bucket to one of the boys, and a +hunk of bacon rind to another, and told 'em all to follow me. I struck a +match and set the prairie grass on fire; then I held my fryin' pan over +it until it was hot. I baked the first flapjack and tossed it out of the +pan over my shoulder. Some fellow caught and ate it. I did another and +another the same way, and kept that up until every fellow in the bunch +was satisfied." + +Johnny smiled. The cook smiled, spat on the ground, then concluded his +story. "When we got through breakfast we were ten miles from camp. +Prairie fire travels. So did we." + +Johnny laughed; then he thought and laughed again. After a time he rose +and went on his way. + +"That's another fellow," he told himself, "that I'd never suspect of +being a crook, but what's that about people who 'smile and smile and are +a villain still'? A fellow has to watch out." + +He was just thinking of this when a shrill voice piped: + +"Hello, Johnny! Want to see my house?" + +It was Tom Stick, the midget clown. He was offering Johnny a rare +privilege; inviting him to view the inside of his house on wheels. Pant +had told Johnny that such a boon had been granted to no one. Yet, because +it was so rare, and because of Pant's warning, "They'll stab you in the +back," he was tempted for a second to decline. + +Courage and curiosity overcame his fears, and smiling he said: + +"Sure! Lead the way." + +The clown's house was little more than a box on wheels, but once Johnny +had crowded himself through the narrow door and seated himself, much +humped up, on a miniature chair, he was surprised at the completeness of +its furnishings. He could easily imagine himself in a hunter's lodge in +the depths of the forest. An open fireplace, with a real wood fire +burning, a roughly hewn table, benches beside the fireplace, a cluster of +fox skins hanging in the corner, a bear skin on the floor, rifles hanging +on one wall; all these, with the unmistakable odor of fresh pine wood, +went far toward taking him back to the forests. + +"You see," squeaked Tom Stick, rubbing his hands in delight at Johnny's +astonishment, "I was born and brought up in the Maine woods. I loved the +wild out-of-doors, and when the circus people offered me big money to +join them, I told them no. But my mother needed the money, so, at last, I +told them if they'd build me this house, and never disturb me in it, I'd +come. You see they did. I've never had any of the other circus people in +here. Didn't think they'd understand. They've always lived in a tent. +They'd laugh at a fellow who wanted a home with four board walls, a +ceiling, and a smell of the pine woods in it. But I knew you wouldn't. +You've had a home, and you know the woods. Tell that by the color in your +cheeks, and the way you swing your arms when you walk." + +For a moment the dwarf was silent, then suddenly he shot a question at +his visitor. + +"Johnny, what do you live for?" + +"Why, why, I don't know," Johnny stammered. "Just live because it's fun +to live, I suppose." + +The midget wrinkled his small brow in thought. + +"Not so bad," he murmured. "Not so bad. But Johnny; did you ever wonder +what a little fellow like me lives for?" + +"No, I didn't," Johnny admitted. + +"Well, there's a lot of things we can't do that big folks can; but +there's one thing, Johnny, one thing," Tom's tone died to a whisper; "a +short man can have a tall bank account. He can, can't he, Johnny?" The +little fellow twisted his face into a knowing smile. + +"I guess he can," grinned Johnny, "and it's a fine thing that he can." + +Johnny had stepped over and was examining an ancient squirrel rifle, +which Tom explained had belonged to his grandfather, when he noticed the +way the walls of the house were fastened. The walls were made of fresh +pine slabs. They were wired tight to something behind them. "Iron bars," +was his mental comment. "When they made this they just built it inside a +wild animal cage. I wonder what would happen if a fellow were to get +locked in here?" + +He was speculating on this, when he heard a voice outside calling. + +"Johnny, Johnny Thompson!" It was Gwen. + +He answered the call and, turning to his little host, said: "Guess I +better go. Some work, I suppose. Great little house, you've got. Much +obliged for letting me see it." + +He backed out of the door and hurried away to join Gwen, but even as he +did so, he thought of the midget clown's reference to a tall bank +account, and of his house built inside a cage. What if this little fellow +was a miser? What if his greed for gold had led him into counterfeiting? +What if he were Black McCree? What safer place could be found for hiding +a counterfeiter's den than a house built inside a cage on wheels? + +All these speculations were cut short by the appearance of the smiling +face of his lady boxing partner, Gwen. + +"It's the clown stunt," she exclaimed excitedly. "The big chief fell for +it right away. He hurried a messenger off to Chicago for the balloons. +They're already here, and they've tried them out with a dummy and they +worked beautifully. They want you to try it right away." + +"This dummy," smiled Johnny, "he didn't fall and break his neck, did he?" + +"No, of course not, Silly!" + +"Well, here's hoping I don't, but it's a powerful long distance from the +top of the center tent pole down to the sawdust." + + + + + CHAPTER XV + BURSTING BALLOONS + + +The big top had never been more crowded than it was the night of Johnny's +first performance as a clown. And never, in the memory of the oldest +circus man, had there been a jollier throng. Never had there been an act +more thoroughly appreciated than that of Gwen, the Queen, and Johnny, the +fat clown. + +Johnny had been dressed in inflated rubber clothing until he appeared as +fat as a butcher. When, by the aid of the balloons, he rose to the tight +wire, when he tripped lightly along it, and returned cakewalking, the +spectators howled their approval. But when in apparent consternation, he +lost his step and instead of plunging downward, leaped upward with the +sudden lift of the balloons, they rose to their feet and roared their +delight. + +Silently, calmly, he rose toward the tent top. There was nothing calm +about the feelings that surged in Johnny's breast, however. He had never +been in aviation, and never would be. Going up in the air made him feel +sick. Had it not been for Gwen, he would have refused to attempt this +stunt. + +"Oh, well!" he sighed, "here's the top; now I can grab the rope and come +down. Rope's more certain than these balloons." + +Hardly had the thought passed through his brain than there came a loud +report. So close it was that it hurt his ear drums. It was followed +almost instantly by a second explosion. + +"The balloons," Johnny groaned. "They're bursting!" + +For a second his head whirled. To drop from those dizzy heights meant +death. Then his mind cleared. The rope was to his right. Already he was +beginning to shoot downward. Could he reach it? With one wild leap in +mid-air, he thrust out a hand. He grasped the rope with his left, then +lost his hold. With his right, he secured a firmer grip. At that same +instant the last balloon burst. For one sickening moment, he clung there, +swinging backward and forward, madly groping for the rope with his free +hand. At last, he found it, and, with a sigh of relief, began sliding +down the rope. + +The crowd was standing up cheering. The band was playing. Even the +performers thought it part of the act. + +For a minute or two after he had reached the ground, Johnny rested on a +mat. As he rose to go he noticed something lying in the sawdust. +Carelessly he picked it up, examined it, then gave a low whistle. It was +an arrow-like affair. The shaft was of steel wire, the head of wood. The +head had been discolored, part yellow and part dark brown. + +"Sulphur!" he murmured. "Dipped in burning sulphur, then shot at my +balloons! No wonder they exploded. Now, who played that dirty trick?" + +He examined the thing carefully. "Couldn't have been shot from a bow, no +groove for the bow string. Now I wonder. An air rifle, that's what it +was." + +Quickly there flashed before his mind a picture of a midget clown chasing +a huge elephant around the ring. The clown was dressed in equatorial +hunting garb and carried an air rifle. + +"Tom Stick!" Johnny murmured. "Tom Stick and his air rifle! I wouldn't +have thought he'd do it." + +Slowly he walked back through the alleyway that led to the dressing room. + +He had discarded his clown suit and had walked out into the open air, +when a shrill young voice called his name: + +"Johnny, Johnny Thompson." + +Whirling about, he found himself facing the millionaire twins. They were +riding astride their ponies, and were dressed as if ready for their turn +in the ring. + +"Wha--where'd you come from, and who let you in?" he gasped. + +"We came from our grandfather's to join the circus," piped Marjory. + +"Yes, and to think," Margaret fairly wailed, "we got here too late for +the parade!" + +Johnny looked at them for a moment, then laughed a good natured laugh. + +"Got let down, didn't you?" he smiled. "Well, so did I a minute ago, +mighty sudden, too. But perhaps we can get you into a part yet, since +this is positively your first and last appearance." + +"Oh, no, Johnny," exclaimed Marjory, "not the last! We've come to stay as +long as you do." + +"Then I don't stay long," laughed Johnny. "Circus is no place for +millionaire twins. You wait right here. I'll be back." + +By dint of much persuading, Johnny succeeded in getting the twins a place +on the program. At the end of the races came a pony race. The ponies were +ridden by monkeys. It was arranged that the two little girls, on their +own ponies, were to race the monkeys on their circus mounts. + +It was a wilder and more genuine race than is usually pulled off in the +circus, for the twins were dead in earnest about winning it, and so were +the monkeys. The monkeys and their ponies had played at racing so long, +however, they were not able to get seriously down to business. When the +twins were riding neck and neck, three lengths ahead of their nearest +rivals, they delighted the throng by leaping upon their feet and riding +in this manner around the last sweeping circle and out of sight. + +"That's fine," exclaimed the manager, rubbing his hands. "Who are they, +friends of yours? Can we book 'em for the rest of the season?" He was +speaking to Johnny. + +"Can't book them for another show," groaned Johnny. "And I'll get skinned +alive for letting them in on this one. They're the daughters of Major +MacDonald, the steel magnate. Ran away from their grandfather's, and they +go back to-night." + +The manager whistled. "Too bad to spoil perfectly good circus girls to +make society belles," he smiled. "But seein' that's who they are, I guess +it can't be helped." + +"Oow-wee! That was grand!" exclaimed Marjory, who now came up with her +sister. "Did we make good. Can we stay?" + +"You made good, but you can't stay," smiled Johnny. "What do you suppose +your grandparents are thinking of about now?" + +"Oh, they won't know about it at all. We are supposed to be over here +with friends who live down on Pine street. That's how they let us come at +all. These friends are real old folks and don't go to circuses. When we +got here, we called them up as if we were at home and told them we +couldn't come; so you see it's all right. And, Johnny, if we can't stay +and be circus folks, we can stay just one night, can't we, and have a +real ride in a circus train?" + +Johnny looked at the manager. + +"Sure," grinned the good natured boss of the circus. "We'll put you in +the care of Ma Kelly, the circus girls' matron, and you'll be safe as a +bean in a bowl of soup." + +"How far do we move?" asked Johnny, a bit anxiously. + +"Only forty miles, and that leaves us less than thirty miles from their +grandfather's place. They can make it back all right." + +"I'll borrow one of the rough riders' ponies, and hoof it back with +them," said Johnny. "But remember," he turned to the twins, "remember, +this is the last. To-morrow morning you turn your faces toward home. And +by thunder! I wish I could go along to stay!" + +"Why? Why can't you?" cried Marjory. "We want you to. Indeed, we do." + +"I can't tell you now. Maybe some time. You stay right here. I'll send Ma +Kelly around. Then I've got to go box the bear." + +Johnny rushed away, and that was the last they saw of him for some time. + + + + + CHAPTER XVI + THE WRECK OF THE CIRCUS + + +That night, as Johnny listened to the chant of the negroes as they went +about their tasks of breaking camp and loading, he fancied that there was +a weird and restless tone to it, foretelling some catastrophe brooding +over all. + +The night was dark, with black, rainless clouds hurrying across the sky. +Johnny shivered as he walked toward his sleeping car. His hand was on the +rail when someone touched his arm. It was Pant. + +"Johnny," he whispered, "how'd you like to ride with me in the gondola +to-night?" + +"Oh, all right," Johnny answered, a note of impatience in his voice. + +"If it's going to be a bother, don't come." + +"I'll come along." + +"Thought you might like to be in on something big." + +"I've been in on something big twice to-day. The first came near to being +my funeral, and the second will be, if I don't get those twins back to +their grandfather's pretty quick." + +Johnny told Pant of the day's experiences, as they made their way back to +a tent car. + +"Oh, you'll come out all right with the twins," said Pant. "I only hope +we don't get into things that'll muss us up to-night, but we'll go +careful." + +"Of course," he whispered, as they settled down among the piles of +canvas, "it's that Liberty bond business. I've been scouting 'round in +the towns we've been in, and the way they've been spreading the 'queer' +about is nothing short of a super-crime. + +"I've been running up a blind trail for a long time. Thought I had +something on that conman with the ragged ear and two of his pals. I +followed them down to the river in Chicago twice, and the second time +came near catching them; would have, too, if it hadn't been for a rat +that tried to eat my hand off. I got 'em the other night--outfit and +everything, and it turned out to be only a mimeograph kit for making fake +telegrams, announcing results of races, baseball games, and the like. I +was sore when I found it was nothing; might have been a blind, at that. +But I had to start all over again, and last night when we were on the +way, I made a mighty important discovery. There was a light in the rear +end of one of the horse cars most of the night. That's as far as I got. +It was moonlight. They might see me if I came spying around. Besides, I +wanted someone else along; someone with a strong arm. Didn't want to get +pitched off the train just when I had my hand on the trick. Of course, it +may be just an all night crap game, but I don't think so. Anyway, we'll +see. We'll let them get under way, then when we're clipping it up at a +lively rate, and the moon's under, we'll have a look." + +Pant fell silent, apparently lost in his intricate problem. Johnny +yawned. + +A quarter of an hour later Johnny was just dropping off into a doze, when +Pant gripped his arm and whispered: + +"C'mon. Let's go!" + +Having climbed over two gondolas and the top of a one-time express car, +they dropped cat-like from the roof of the express car to the platform of +a second express car. + +Here they stood silent, listening for fully two minutes. At first +everything appeared dark, but presently Johnny caught a faint gleam of +light that apparently came through a crack in a lower panel of the +express car door. + +"What'll we do if they come out at us. It's a rotten place," he +whispered. Just then the car gave a lurch which almost threw him from the +narrow platform. + +"Duck and jump." + +"Mighty risky." + +"Only chance. Too many of 'em. Probably guns and everything." + +"All right. Get busy." + +Pant dropped on his knee and, bracing himself to avoid being thrown +against the door by a sudden lurch, peered through the crack. + +What he saw drew forth a whispered exclamation: + +"It's the real gang!" + +For some time all was silent. Johnny's heart was doing time and a half. +What if they were forced to stand and fight or jump? He shivered as he +tried to make out the embankment through the darkness. They were racing +down grade. + +"We've got 'em! It's the gang!" Pant whispered again. "Look!" + +He rose and stepped aside. With muscles set for action, Johnny dropped on +his knees, and, shutting one eye, peered through the narrow opening. + +What he saw astonished him. In a brilliantly lighted room, the width of +the car, and some ten feet deep, four men were working rapidly, and +apparently with great skill. What surprised him most of all was that all +four men wore heavily smoked glasses, such as Pant himself wore. He saw +at a glance that neither the steam kettle cook nor the midget clown was +with them. He was glad the cook was not there. His feeling regarding the +midget, after the events of the previous day, was not unmixed. + +The things the men were doing interested him immensely. Two of them +appeared to be putting little squares of paper through a wash, such as a +photographer uses. A third was drying them before a motor-driven, +superheated electric fan. The fourth was stamping them in a small press. +Each time he stamped one, he appeared to change the type. + +Presently, the two who were handling the baths appeared to come to the +end of their tasks. Hardly had they spoken a word to their companions +than each man stepped to a corner, and, turning his back from the center +of the room, stood there motionless. + +"Wha--" Johnny's lips formed the word. There was not time to finish. The +next instant he dropped limply back upon the platform, as if he had been +shot. + +"What is it, Johnny?" Pant whispered in alarm. Johnny's hands covered his +face. + +"The flash! My eyes! They're blind!" + +Pant pushed him roughly to one side. + +"Let's see." + +Johnny slid back to the other car platform. Still dazed by the sudden +flood of light that had struck his eye, but fast recovering, he watched +Pant with interest, not unmingled with awe. By the sudden spurts of light +that shot through the crack, he knew that the flashes were being +continued, yet Pant did not remove his eye. He still crouched there +before the crack. Gazing intently within, he uttered now and then a +stifled "Ah!" and "Oh!" at the marvels which he was viewing. + +Finally he dropped back to a seat beside Johnny. + +"Eyes all right now?" he asked. + +"Sure. What was it?" queried Johnny, forgetting his aching eyes. + +"Color photography." + +"Color photography?" + +"Sure. One of the great inventions of the age, and they are using it for +making counterfeit bonds!" + +Johnny was silent. + +"You see," whispered Pant, "great inventors have been experimenting with +color photography for years. They got so they could do color work on +negatives--that is, the photographic plate--very well. They have used +these for the purpose of photographing the stages of certain diseases, +and a few things like that; but when it came to getting the color on the +positive--the picture itself--that could not be done. These fellows _can +do it_, and are doing it. The bonds are printed in brown and black. They +catch these colors perfectly, only in a little paler hue. Their paper is +nearly perfect, but whatever defects it has are counteracted by this +color photography which reproduces the very tints of the paper." + +For some time they sat there in silence. + +"Now that we know their game," whispered Pant at last, "how are we going +to get them? One of the fellows is a ticket seller. He sold Snowball some +bonds when we were in Chicago. I might have known he was in it. Another +is a guard at the entrance of the big top." + +"Sold me some bonds once." + +"That's right. The other two I don't know. Let's have another look." + +Pant had just put his eyes to the crack; Johnny was standing behind him, +when there ran through the train a sickening shiver. The next instant +there followed a deafening crash, as car jammed upon car, and, leaping +high upon one another, left the track. + +It was a wreck--such a wreck as is seldom witnessed--the wreck of a +circus train; a head-end collision with a bob-tailed freight running like +mad. + +At the moment previous to the first shock of the wreck, Gwen might have +been seen sitting in her own compartment talking earnestly with the +millionaire twins. None of the three had yet undressed for retiring. The +things the twins were telling Gwen had much to do with Johnny Thompson, +and appeared to interest her very much, for now and then there came an +amused, and again a surprised, twinkle in her eye. At one time, a close +observer might have seen her slip a ring from her finger, a ring that had +been covered by the folds of her dress. The ring she crowded deep into +the pocket of her blouse beneath her handkerchief. + +When the wreck occurred, the car they were in, a staunch steel affair, +leaped high in air, then wholly uninjured, left the track to topple over +on one side and lay there quite still. + +Gwen had been shaken from her seat and jammed beneath the one before her. +The twins, gripping the sides, held on as if riding a fractious broncho, +and were not shaken loose. + +"Oh!" cried Marjory, as the car settled to rest, "Johnny Thompson and our +ponies! We must find them. They may be killed." + +The pair of them, sliding from their seats, had crawled through a window, +and were away before Gwen could sufficiently recover her breath to call +them back. She wrung her hands in real distress. + +"They'll be killed!" she cried frantically. "Half the lions and tigers in +the circus must be loose!" + +Then she scrambled out of the car to find Johnny Thompson. He would know +what to do! + + + + + CHAPTER XVII + "GET THAT BLACK CAT" + + +At the first shock of the wreck, Johnny Thompson and Pant were thrown +with such violence against the express car door that the lock was sprung, +and they were pitched head foremost among the surprised and +panic-stricken counterfeiters. + +Pant was the first to regain his wits. The car, like many others, had +careened to one side and lay there motionless. The instruments in the +room had been tossed about. Everyone was splashed with a stinging fluid +which came from the vats. The peculiar instrument which had occupied the +center of the room, and was undoubtedly the color-photo camera, an +instrument of priceless value, had apparently sustained little injury. +Pant seized upon this and was about to dash through the door with it, +when the large man with the black moustache wrenched it from his grasp, +and, poising it for an instant in his right hand, hurled it at Pant's +head. Leaping to one side, Pant barely escaped the blow. There was a +crash, followed by the tinkle of glass and metal instruments. + +The next moment the big man shot suddenly upward and fell back with a +groan. Johnny's good right hand had got him under the chin. Two of the +men leaped from the door and fled. The one remaining sprang at Pant, but +was at once borne down by Johnny. + +"Tear some of those wires from the wall," panted Johnny. "We'll tie them +and drag them out." + +The fat man, who was completely within their power, was soon tied, then +carried out of the car to the embankment. + +"Now for the other," puffed Johnny. + +They dodged back into the car. To their astonishment, they found that the +other man had escaped. + +"Gone!" muttered Pant. + +"Faked unconsciousness." + +"And he was the prize bird of them all." + +"Too bad!" + +Suddenly Pant appeared to remember something. + +"Johnny," he whispered in a tense whisper, "Johnny, get that black cat!" + +Catching his breath, Johnny sprang from the car. + +"Wait," whispered Pant. From his pocket he had drawn a tiny vial. + +"That," he whispered, "may help you. It's what they call cat-lick in +India. An old Hindu gave it to me after I had captured the big black cat. +He said it was like catnip to the cat. When a tiger or leopard smelled +it, if he could get near the spot where a drop had been spilled he forgot +his savageness, and laid down to roll in it. I'm not sure. It sounds +queer. Try it if you must." + +"You got some?" + +"Sure." + +"I'll go up track; you go down." + +"Right! And Johnny," Pant repeated, "get the black cat!" + +Johnny had scarcely turned from the car when he almost ran into somebody. + +"Gwen!" he exclaimed in surprise. "What you doing out here? Don't you +know half the beasts are loose? Listen to that?" + +The long drawn out roar of a lion sounded above the wail of darkies, the +neighing of ponies, and the trumpeting of bull elephants. + +"I know, Johnny, but Johnny, nothing half so terrible could ever have +been dreamed of!" + +"The wreck? I know. Some people are almost sure to have been killed." + +"But the twins?" + +"Where are they?" + +"I don't know. They were in the car with me when the shock came. They +were telling me about--all about you. They got away while I was freeing +myself from the seats. Went to find you and their ponies. Oh, Johnny, we +must find them quick!" + +"Yes," Johnny answered, "but watch out for the black cat, the leopard. +He's a man-eater from the jungle." + +"Oh!" she exclaimed. "And I saw him not a minute ago. He's loose from his +cage. He was crouching in the corner of the wreck. I caught the gleam of +his eyes." + +"Where?" + +"Back there." + +Johnny started forward. + +"Johnny, you won't go?" + +"I must." + +"You'll be killed." + +"I've got to get him first." He drew an automatic from his pocket. Then +he walked steadily forward, his keen eyes studying every dark corner of +the wreck. + +Down the train lengths lights were flashing. The keepers were searching +out the cages, striving to retain those animals which had not yet +escaped, and to locate those that were free. The wooden cars of an +ancient design which carried the animals had been torn and crushed, piled +upon one another, until the wreck at this point resembled a kindling +pile. Here one heard the splintering of boards, as some beast attempted +to free himself, and here the crash of torn-up planks told that some +loyal elephant strove to free his mate. The whole scene was one of wild +confusion. Wildest, most terrifying of all, came the occasional challenge +of a great cat of the jungle, now free to do the bidding of his own wild +will. + + * * * * * * * * + +Hardly had Gwen turned, after Johnny had hurried away, than she uttered a +cry of dismay. Creeping toward her, his wild eyes gleaming, was a gaunt, +yellow tiger. For a second she was paralyzed with fear. And in that +second the cat made progress--now he was ten yards away, now eight, now +five. + +What should she do? To turn, to attempt to flee seemed futile. A tiger +could run much faster than she. He might leap as she turned. Her heart +stood still. Cold perspiration came out upon her brow. + +Just when hope seemed gone a strange thing happened; a thing which had +happened once before under very different circumstances; a crimson flash +leaped out from the darkness and played upon the tawny coat of the tiger. +Blinded, terrified, the beast shrank back, yet the light still played +full upon him. Leaping and flaring like the light of a fire, it held the +animal at bay until the keepers came with chains and led him away. + + * * * * * * * * + +When the twins jumped out of the car window to go in search of Johnny +Thompson and their ponies, they stumbled down the embankment to climb +laboriously up again, and make their way tripping and falling around +wrecked cars, from which came weird, wild sounds of animals fighting for +freedom. + +Suddenly from beneath Marjory's feet there sounded a queer chatter. Then +something clawed at her legs. With a wild scream, she shook it from her. +It was a monkey that had escaped from his broken cage. Others could be +heard chattering to the right of them. Leaping forward they were startled +by a great bulk that loomed unexpectedly before them in the dark. + +"An elephant!" screamed Margaret. + +For a minute they hesitated; the next, they leaped to one side and, +having passed the elephant, continued on down the track. Always to the +left of them there loomed the overturned cars. All at once, from beneath +the wheels of one of these there came a piercing scream. At the same +instant they caught the gleam of two red balls of fire glaring at them +out of the blackness. Some fierce, wild creature was lurking there. And +he moved. Stealthily he made his way toward them. Now he was away from +the cars. A black spot, he glided forward, his glaring eyes seeming to +grow larger and larger as he advanced. + +Seized with a sudden paralysis of fear, the twins stood rooted in their +tracks. + + * * * * * * * * + +With a little gasp Gwen sank upon the ground. She looked in vain for the +crimson flash. It was gone. And now, for the first time she realized that +she did not know the direction whence it had come. + +After leaving Gwen, Johnny Thompson made his way cautiously along the +uneven embankment. Now his eye caught a gleam that appeared to come from +the great cat's eyes. It proved but the reflection of some polished +object. Again he heard a rattle among splintered boards, only to find a +colored roustabout climbing from the pile of broken lumber under which he +had been buried. Johnny was just beginning to believe that he had missed +both the black beast and the twins when something leaped at him out of +the darkness. + +It took him but a second to realize that this was not a wild beast, but a +man; the king of the counterfeiters. + +Taken by surprise, he went down with the man upon his back. At the same +instant he caught the gleam of a knife in the outlaw's hand. There could +be not one shadow of doubt that he meant murder. + +A terrible struggle followed. The man, fully fifty pounds heavier than +Johnny, was at the same time agile and strong. Now the knife was poised +in air, only to be dashed to the ground. Now Johnny secured a +half-nelson. Now his hold was broken. And now Johnny was thrown to earth +with such force as to render him half unconscious. Struggling against a +terrible dizziness, he fought but feebly. The end seemed to have come. + +But, at that moment, there came a shrill voice: + +"I'm here, Johnny Thompson! I'm here!" + +One moment the knife poised above his chest; the next a diminutive figure +attached itself to the arm that held the knife and sent it whirling to +one side. + +"Tom Stick, the midget clown!" gasped Johnny, renewing his struggle for +freedom. + +Dimly in the half light, he saw what followed. Turning all his attention +to this new enemy, the counterfeiter appeared to seize the dwarf by the +heels and dash him with terrible force against the ground. + +Then, almost instantly, a great, brown bulk lumbered in out of the +blackness, and at that instant, with a gurgling cry, the counterfeiter +appeared to rise in air to be sent crashing again and again against the +side of the embankment. + +"Jo-Jo, the French elephant, Tom Stick's friend!" cried Johnny, leaping +to his feet to bend over the prostrate form of his little defender. + +Two attendants came hurrying up. + +"It's Tom Stick," explained Johnny. "That other fellow's dead. The big +bull elephant killed him. And right it was. He deserved it. Look after +Tom. I've got to find the twins and the black cat." + +Once more, after recovering his automatic, which had been thrown from him +in the first assault of the counterfeiter, he leaped away into the dark. + +He was not a moment too soon, for as he dropped down from a pile of +tumbled bales of canvas he came face to face with the twins. They were +standing wild-eyed, transfixed. Not ten yards away and within leaping +distance, his tail lashing, his white fangs gleaming, was the great black +cat. + +With uncommon coolness Johnny grasped his automatic and, taking careful +aim at the spot between the creature's fiery eyes, grasped the handle +tight. There came a metallic click, but no report. The gun had +jammed--was utterly useless. With a cry of consternation, Johnny dropped +the gun and reached for his clasp knife. Thus poorly armed, he was about +to rush at the man-eater, when there came the sudden glare of red light +as it played upon the great cat. + +"The crimson flash! Thank God!" he murmured. + +But the next instant he remembered the words of Pant, when he had told of +his jungle experience: "He did not fear my charm; he leaped!" + +What now would be the outcome? It was a time of terrible suspense. +Johnny's breath came in little gasps. One of the twins had dropped to the +ground. + +There was not long to wait. Whirling, the cat leaped away to the right. +Then, for the first time, Johnny saw that the crimson flash came directly +from a dark bulk, a clump of bushes close to the track. There had been no +time for tricks, Pant had flashed it direct, and he was there now. The +great cat would be upon him in another minute. + +Even as he sprang after the cat, Johnny thought for the first time of the +magic perfume, the cat-lick Pant had given him. Drawing this from his +pocket, he uncorked it as he ran. He was not a second too soon. Already +the beast's fangs were at Pant's throat. + +With mad hope beating at his heart, Johnny dashed a few drops of the +precious perfume at the beast's head. + +Prepared as he was for miracles, he was astounded at the result. The wild +beast became at once a mere house kitten rolling upon the ground. Over +and over he tumbled, while Pant, limping painfully, crept away. + +Throwing a glance about him, Johnny saw Tom Stick's house to the right of +him, and remembered how it had been built around a cage. + +"Door's still on the hinges and open," he muttered. "If I only can!" + +Six steps he took, and with each step, spilled a drop of the precious +fluid. Then, with a breathless leap, he was inside the dwarf's house. +Dashing the vial against the wall, he caught his breath at the thought +that the cat might trap him here; then with a wilder leap than before, he +cleared the door and breathed the outer air. + +He was not a second too soon. Hot on the trail of that burst of perfume, +the cat flashed past him and into the house that was a cage. + +Johnny banged the door shut and barred it, then sank down upon the ground +for a quiet breath. + +Soon he rose and, making his way to the bushes, examined the spot where +the black cat had pinned Pant to the ground. + +As he flashed a light about, he uttered a low exclamation, and stooping, +picked up the bent and lenseless ruins of Pant's glasses. He dropped +these a second later to gather up a mass of fine wires and strangely +tangled tubes and peculiar instruments. These he crammed into his jacket +pocket, and, having cast one more glance about him, hastened away to find +the twins. + + + + + CHAPTER XVIII + HOW JOHNNY GOT THE RING + + +The first red streaks of dawn were appearing as Johnny sat down on the +beam of a railroad bridge a quarter of a mile from the wreck. + +It had been a strange, wild night. Many startling things had happened; +many mysteries had been solved. Now that these mysteries were uncovered +he had come down here to think. + +Tom Stick was not one of the counterfeiters; he knew that now. Neither +was the steam kettle cook, nor the conman with the ragged ear. The real +culprits had attempted to cast the guilt upon them, that was all. The +arch criminal, Black McCree, was dead. Jo-Jo, the elephant, had thrashed +the life out of him when McCree had attempted to murder his master, the +midget clown. The fat accomplice of Black McCree had confessed that his +partner was that notorious criminal. He had denied having any knowledge +of the working of that strange color-photo camera. Black McCree had +chosen to take that secret with him to the other world. Pant had turned +the whole matter over to two of his assistants and had disappeared. That +the remains of the camera could be pieced together was doubtful. + +In the struggle with Black McCree, Tom Stick had been beaten into +unconsciousness, and had suffered severe bruises, but would be back at +his work in two or three weeks. + +The twins had been taken to a near-by farm house, where they were safe +for the night. Fortunately, their ponies had come out of the wreck +uninjured. In an hour or two Johnny would accompany them to their +grandparents' home. Should he return to the circus? He doubted it. The +mystery of the whereabouts of the diamond ring was yet unsolved. Gwen had +had it. So had Millie. He half blamed himself for not demanding the right +to keep it when it was in his own hand. But Gwen was such a good sport. +He had hoped a more appropriate time might come. Now he believed he would +go to his former employer and make the best of an unbelievable story. He +made a wry face at thought of it. + +But Pant? He had disappeared again. Johnny had not seen him after the +fight with the black cat. Mother Kelly had dressed his wounds, which were +slight, and he had vanished. + +At thought of Pant, Johnny dug into his pocket and drew forth the mass of +wires, tubes and instruments which he had picked up on the spot where the +cat had attacked Pant. + +He toyed with this mass musingly. He thought it had dropped from Pant's +pocket. "Some part of the counterfeiters' equipment," was his mental +comment. Twisting the wires about, he turned a thumb-screw here, pushed a +tiny lever there, pressed a bulb--when, of a sudden, his eyes were struck +by a blinding flash of blood red light. + +His unnerved fingers released the mass of wires, tubes and instruments, +and the next instant his startled eyes saw it disappear beneath the muddy +waters of the river. + +"The crimson flash!" he moaned. "And I had the secret of it here within +my grasp!" + +For a time he considered the possibilities of recovering it, then +dismissed the thought as futile. + +Then for a while he sat there speculating on the strange phenomenon of +the crimson flash. How had Pant achieved these wonders? Where had he worn +this mass of delicate instruments? There were times when the flash had +come and gone with the speed of the blink of an eye. Perhaps the switch +had been attached to Pant's eyelid. Such things had been done. Yet, all +this was speculation. Johnny shook his mind free from it. Speculation is +always futile. + +He was about to rise and return to the wreck, which was even now assuming +the appearance of a train again, when he heard footsteps approaching. + +It was Gwen. Johnny rose to meet her as she came toward him. + +"Sit down, Mr. Clown," she smiled. "I want to talk." + +"You're a good old clown," she smiled again, as they seated themselves, +"even if you did come near breaking your neck." + +"Somebody fired the balloons with arrows shot from an air rifle." + +"What!" + +"Sure. I thought it was Tom Stick, but it wasn't. He saved my life last +night. Guess someone must have stolen his air rifle to pull the trick." + +"As I was about to say," continued Gwen, "you're a good old clown, and +just for that I want to give you something. So, 'open your mouth and shut +your eyes, and I'll give you something to make you wise.'" + +"Steady there," warned Johnny, as he cupped his hands solidly together. +"If it's of any value don't drop it. I've lost one secret in the river +already." + +"It's valuable, all right." + +Johnny felt something touch his hand. The instant his fingers closed upon +it, he knew what it was. + +"The ring!" he exclaimed. + +"Yes; that's it," she laughed. "The twins told me all about it last +night. Of course we didn't know it was yours, or we wouldn't have kept +it. When we first found it, we three girls thought it was glass. When we +discovered it was a real diamond, we were already in Chicago and didn't +know what to do, so we just kept it, and took turns wearing it. But +Johnny, when you had it in your hands that day, why didn't you keep it?" + +"That's what I don't know," smiled Johnny. "I guess you were such a good +sport I hated to lose you as a friend, and I hoped a better time would +come." + +"It has come, Johnny; but something tells me I am the one to lose a pal. +You'll leave the circus?" + +"Yes," Johnny admitted reluctantly. "I guess I'm going to do that." + +"It's always the way with a person who is used to living in a house," +sighed Gwen. "The circus is for circus people. Anyway, I can wish you +good luck!" + +They rose. She put out her hand. He gripped it heartily. + +"And Johnny, if ever the big top calls to you, just remember the outfit +I'm with, and there'll be a job waiting for you. I'll want you for my +clown." + +She turned and walked rapidly away. + +Johnny watched her for a moment, then, crossing the bridge, made his way +toward the farm house where the twins were awaiting him. He would escort +them back to a safe dwelling place; the ring should be returned to them, +and if possible, he was resolved that the circus career of the +millionaire twins should be a secret shared only by those to whom it was +already known. + + + + + * * * * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's note: + +--Copyright notice provided as in the original printed text--this e-text + is in the public domain in the country of publication. + +--Typographical errors were corrected without comment. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41721 *** |