Or Making the Start in the Sawdust Life, by Edgar B. P. Darlington

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The Circus Boys on the Flying Rings
Or
Making the Start in the Sawdust Life

by Edgar B. P. Darlington

January, 2001  [Etext #2474]


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This Etext was prepared for Project Gutenberg by Greg Berckes





CONTENTS

CHAPTER
I      THE LURE OF THE CIRCUS
II     PHIL HEARS HIS DISMISSAL
III    MAKING HIS START IN THE WORLD
IV     THE CIRCUS COMES TO TOWN
V      WHEN THE BANDS PLAYED
VI     PROVING HIS METTLE
VII    MAKING FRIENDS WITH THE ELEPHANTS
VIII   IN THE SAWDUST ARENA
IX     GETTING HIS FIRST CALL
X      PHIL GETS A SURPRISE
XI     THE FIRST NIGHT WITH THE SHOW
XII    A THRILLING RESCUE
XIII   THE DAWNING OF A NEW DAY
XIV    AN UNEXPECTED HIT
XV     A STROKE OF GOOD FORTUNE
XVI    HIS FIRST SETBACK
XVII   LEFT BEHIND
XVIII  A STARTLING DISCOVERY
XIX    TEDDY DISTINGUISHES HIMSELF
XX     THE RETURN TO THE SAWDUST LIFE
XXI    AN ELEPHANT IN JAIL
XXII   EMPEROR ANSWERS THE SIGNAL
XXIII  THE MYSTERY SOLVED
XXIV   CONCLUSION



The Circus Boys on the Flying Rings



CHAPTER I

THE LURE OF THE CIRCUS

"I say, Phil, I can do that."

"Do what, Teddy?"

"A cartwheel in the air like that fellow is doing in the picture
on the billboard there."

"Oh, pshaw!  You only think you can.  Besides, that's not a
cartwheel; that's a double somersault.  It's a real stunt, let me
tell you.  Why, I can do a cartwheel myself.  But up in the air
like that--well, I don't know.  I guess not.  I'd be willing to
try it, though, if I had something below to catch me," added the
lad, critically surveying the figures on the poster before them.

"How'd you like to be a circus man, Phil?"

Phil's dark eyes glowed with a new light, his slender figure
straightening until the lad appeared fully half a head taller.

"More than anything else in the world," he breathed.  "Would
you?"

"Going to be," nodded Teddy decisively, as if the matter were
already settled.

"Oh, you are, eh?"

"Uh-huh!"

"When?"

"I don't know.  Someday--someday when I get old enough, maybe."

Phil Forrest surveyed his companion with a half critical smile on
his face.

"What are you going to do--be a trapeze performer or what?"

"Well," reflected the lad wisely, "maybe I shall be an 'Or What.'
I'm not sure.  Sometimes I think I should like to be the fellow
who cracks the whip with the long lash and makes the clowns hop
around on one foot--"

"You mean the ringmaster?"

"I guess that's the fellow.  He makes 'em all get around lively.
Then, sometimes, I think I would rather be a clown.  I can skin a
cat on the flying rings to beat the band, now.  What would you
rather be, Phil?"

"Me?  Oh, something up in the air--high up near the peak of the
tent--something thrilling that would make the people sit up on
the board seats and gasp, when, all dressed in pink and spangles,
I'd go flying through the air--"

"Just like a bird?" questioned Teddy, with a rising inflection in
his voice.

"Yes.  That's what I'd like most to do, Teddy," concluded the
lad, his face flushed with the thought of the triumphs that might
be his.

Teddy Tucker uttered a soft, long-drawn whistle.

"My, you've got it bad, haven't you?  Never thought you were that
set on the circus.  Wouldn't it be fine, now, if we both could
get with a show?"

"Great!" agreed Phil, with an emphatic nod.  "Sometimes I think
my uncle would be glad to have me go away--that he wouldn't care
whether I joined a circus, or what became of me."

"Ain't had much fun since your ma died, have you, Phil?"
questioned Teddy sympathetically.

"Not much," answered the lad, a thin, gray mist clouding his
eyes. "No, not much.  But, then, I'm not complaining."

"Your uncle's a mean old--"

"There, there, Teddy, please don't say it.  He may be all you
think he is, but for all the mean things he's said and done to
me, I've never given him an impudent word, Teddy.  Can you guess
why?"

"Cause he's your uncle, maybe," grumbled Teddy.

"No, 'cause he's my mother's brother--that's why."

"I don't know.  Maybe I'd feel that way if I'd had a mother."

"But you did."

"Nobody ever introduced us, if I did.  Guess she didn't know me.
But if your uncle was my uncle do you know what I'd do with him,
Phil Forrest?"

"Don't let's talk about him.  Let's talk about the circus. It's
more fun," interrupted Phil, turning to the billboard again and
gazing at it with great interest.

They were standing before the glowing posters of the Great
Sparling Combined Shows, that was to visit Edmeston on the
following Thursday.

Phillip Forrest and Teddy Tucker were fast friends, though they
were as different in appearance and temperament as two boys well
could be.  Phil was just past sixteen, while Teddy was a little
less than a year younger.  Phil's figure was slight and graceful,
while that of his companion was short and chubby.

Both lads were orphans.  Phil's parents had been dead for
something more than five years.  Since their death he had been
living with a penurious old uncle who led a hermit-like existence
in a shack on the outskirts of Edmeston.

But the lad could remember when it had been otherwise--when he
had lived in his own home, surrounded by luxury and refinement,
until evil days came upon them without warning.  His father's
property had been swept away, almost in a night.  A year later
both of his parents had died, leaving him to face the world
alone.

The boy's uncle had taken him in begrudgingly, and Phil's life
from that moment on had been one of self-denial and hard work.
Yet he was thankful for one thing--thankful that his miserly old
uncle had permitted him to continue at school.

Standing high in his class meant something in Phil's case, for
the boy was obliged to work at whatever he could find to do after
school hours, his uncle compelling him to contribute something to
the household expenses every week.  His duties done, Phil was
obliged to study far into the night, under the flickering light
of a tallow candle, because oil cost too much.  Sometimes his
candle burned far past the midnight hour, while he applied
himself to his books that he might be prepared for the next day's
classes.

Hard lines for a boy?

Yes.  But Phil Forrest was not the lad to complain.  He went
about his studies the same as he approached any other task that
was set for him to do--went about it with a grim, silent
determination to conquer it.  And he always did.

As for Teddy--christened Theodore, but so long ago that he had
forgotten that that was his name--he studied, not because he
possessed a burning desire for knowledge, but as a matter of
course, and much in the same spirit he did the chores for the
people with whom he lived.

Teddy was quite young when his parents died leaving him without a
relative in the world.  A poor, but kind-hearted family in
Edmeston had taken the lad in rather than see him become a public
charge. With them he had lived and been cared for ever since.  Of
late years, however, he had been able to do considerable toward
lightening the burden for them by the money he managed to earn
here and there.

The two boys were on their way home from school.  There remained
but one more day before the close of the term, which was a matter
of sincere regret to Phil and of keen satisfaction to his
companion. Just now both were too full of the subject of the
coming show to think of much else.

"Going to the show, Phil?"

"I am afraid not."

"Why not?"

"I haven't any money; that's the principal reason," smiled the
boy.  "Are you?"

"Sure.  Don't need any money to go to a circus."

"You don't?"

"No."

"How do you manage it?"

"Crawl in under the tent when the man ain't looking," answered
Teddy promptly.

"I wouldn't want to do that," decided the older lad, with a shake
of the head.  "It wouldn't be quite honest.  Do you think so?"

Teddy Tucker shrugged his shoulders indifferently.

"Never thought about it.  Don't let myself think about it. Isn't
safe, for I might not go to the show if I did.  What's your other
reason?"

"For not going to the circus?"

"Yes."

"Well, I don't think Uncle would let me; that's a fact."

"Why not?"

"Says circuses and all that sort of thing are evil influences."

"Oh, pshaw!  Wish he was my uncle," decided Teddy belligerently.
"How long are you going to stand for being mauled around like a
little yellow dog?"

"I'll stand most anything for the sake of getting an education.
When I get that then I'm going to strike out for myself, and do
something in the world.  You'll hear from me yet, Teddy Tucker,
and maybe I'll hear from you, too."

"See me, you mean--see me doing stunts on a high something-or-
other in a circus.  Watch me turn a somersault."

The lad stood poised on the edge of the ditch, on the other side
of which the billboard stood.  This gave him the advantage of an
elevated position from which to attempt his feat.

"Look out that you don't break your neck," warned Phil.  "I'd try
it on a haymow, or something like that, first."

"Don't you worry about me.  See how easy that fellow in the
picture is doing it.  Here goes!"

Teddy launched himself into the air, with a very good imitation
of a diver making a plunge into the water, hands stretched out
before him, legs straight behind him.

He was headed straight for the ditch.

"Turn, Teddy!  Turn!  You'll strike on your head."

Teddy was as powerless to turn as if he had been paralyzed from
head to foot.  Down he went, straight as an arrow.  There
followed a splash as his head struck the water of the ditch, the
lad's feet beating a tattoo in the air while his head was stuck
fast in the mud at the bottom of the ditch.

"He'll drown," gasped Phil, springing down into the little
stream, regardless of the damage liable to be done to his own
clothes.

Throwing both arms about the body of his companion he gave a
mighty tug.  Teddy stuck obstinately, and Phil was obliged to
take a fresh hold before he succeeded in hauling the lad from his
perilous position.  Teddy was gasping for breath.  His face,
plastered with mud, was unrecognizable, while his clothes were
covered from head to foot.

Phil dumped him on the grass beneath the circus billboard and
began wiping the mud from his companion's face, while Teddy
quickly sat up, blinking the mud out of his eyes and grumbling
unintelligibly.

"You're a fine circus performer, you are," laughed Phil.
"Suppose you had been performing on a flying trapeze in a circus,
what do you suppose would have happened to you?"

"I'd have had a net under me then, and I wouldn't have fallen in
the ditch," grunted Teddy sullenly.

"What do you suppose the folks will say when you go home in that
condition?"

"Don't care what they say.  Fellow has got to learn sometime, and
if I don't have any worse thing happen to me than falling in a
ditch I ought to be pretty well satisfied.  Guess I'll go back
now.  Come on, go 'long with me."

Phil turned and strode along by the side of his companion until
they reached the house where Teddy lived.

"Come on in."

"I'm sorry, Teddy, but I can't.  My uncle will be expecting me,
and he won't like it if I am late."

"All right; see you tomorrow if you don't come out again tonight.
We'll try some more stunts then."

"I wouldn't till after the circus, were I in your place," laughed
Phil.

"Why not!"

"Cause, if you break your neck, you won't be able to go to the
show."

"Huh!" grunted Teddy, hastily turning his back on his companion
and starting for the house.

Phil took his way home silently and thoughtfully, carrying his
precious bundle of books under an arm, his active mind planning
as to how he might employ his time to the best advantage during
the summer vacation that was now so close at hand.

A rheumatic, bent figure was standing in front of the shack where
the lad lived, glaring up the street from beneath bushy eyebrows,
noting Phil Forrest's leisurely gait disapprovingly.

Phil saw him a moment later.

"I'm in for a scolding," he muttered.  "Wonder what it is all
about this time.  I don't seem able to do a thing to please Uncle
Abner."



CHAPTER II

PHIL HEARS HIS DISMISSAL

"Where you been, young man?"  The question was a snarl rather
than a sentence.

"To school, Uncle, of course."

"School's been out more than an hour.  I say, where have you
been?"

"I stopped on the way for a few minutes."

"You did?" exploded Abner Adams.  "Where?"

"Teddy Tucker and I stopped to read a circus bill over there on
Clover Street.  We did not stop but a few minutes.  Was there any
harm in that?"

"Harm?  Circus bill--"

"And I want to go to the circus, too, Uncle, when it comes here.
You know?  I have not been to anything of that sort since mother
died--not once.  I'll work and earn the money.  I can go in the
evening after my work is finished.  Please let me go, Uncle."

For a full minute Abner Adams was too overcome with his emotions
to speak.  He hobbled about in a circle, smiting the ground with
his cane, alternately brandishing it threateningly in the air
over the head of the unflinching Phil.

"Circus!" he shouted.  "I might have known it!  I might have
known it!  You and that Tucker boy are two of a kind.  You'll
both come to some bad ending.  Only fools and questionable
characters go to such places--"

"My mother and father went, and they always took me," replied the
boy, drawing himself up with dignity.  "You certainly do not
include them in either of the two classes you have named?"

"So much the worse for them!  So much the worse for them.  They
were a pair of--"

"Uncle, Uncle!" warned Phil.  "Please don't say anything against
my parents.  I won't stand it.  Don't forget that my mother was
your own sister, too."

"I'm not likely to forget it, after she's bundled such a baggage
as you into my care.  You're turning out a worthless, good-for-
nothing loaf--"

"You haven't said whether or not I might go to the circus,
Uncle," reminded Phil.

"Circus?  No!  I'll have none of my money spent on any such
worthless--"

"But I didn't ask you to spend your money, even though you have
plenty of it.  I said I would earn the money--"

"You'll have a chance to earn it, and right quick at that. No,
you won't go to any circus so long as you're living under my
roof."

"Very well, Uncle, I shall do as you wish, of course," answered
Phil, hiding his disappointment as well as he could.  The lad
shifted his bundle of books to the other hand and started slowly
for the house.

Abner Adams hobbled about until he faced the lad again, an angry
gleam lighting up his squinting eyes.

"Come back here!"

Phil halted, turning.

"I said come back here."

The lad did so, his self-possession and quiet dignity never
deserting him for an instant.  This angered the crabbed old uncle
more than ever.

"When will you get through school?"

"Tomorrow, I believe."

"Huh!  Then, I suppose you intend to loaf for the rest of the
summer and live on my hard earned savings.  Is that it?"

"No, sir; I hadn't thought of doing anything of the sort. I
thought--"

"What did you think?"

"I thought I would find something to do.  Of course, I do not
expect to be idle.  I shall work at something until school begins
again next fall, then, of course, I shall not be able to do so
much."

"School!  You've had enough school!  In my days boys didn't spend
the best part of their lives in going to school.  They worked."

"Yes, sir; I am willing to work, too.  But, Uncle, I must have an
education.  I shall be able to earn so much more then, and, if
necessary, I shall be able to pay you for all you have spent on
me, which isn't much, you know."

"What, what?  You dare to be impudent to me?  You--"

"No, sir, I am not impudent.  I have never been that and I never
shall be; but you are accusing me wrongfully."

"Enough.  You have done with school--"

"You--you mean that I am not to go to school any more--that I
have got to go through life with the little I have learned?  Is
that what you mean, Uncle?" asked the boy, with a sinking heart.

"You heard me."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Work!"

"I am working and I shall be working," Phil replied.

"You're right you will, or you'll starve.  I have been thinking
this thing over a lot lately.  A boy never amounts to anything if
he's mollycoddled and allowed to spend his days depending on
someone else.  Throw him out and let him fight his own way.
That's what my father used to tell me, and that's what I'm going
to say to you."

"What do you mean, Uncle?"

"Mean?  Can't you understand the English language?  Have I got to
draw a picture to make you understand?  Get to work!"

"I am going to as soon as school is out."

"You'll do it now.  Get yourself out of my house, bag and
baggage!"

"Uncle, Uncle!" protested the lad in amazement.  "Would you turn
me out?"

"Would I?  I have, only you are too stupid to know it.  You'll
thank me for it when you get old enough to have some sense."

Phil's heart sank within him, and it required all his
self-control to keep the bitter tears from his eyes.

"When do you wish me to go?" he asked without a quaver in his
voice.

"Now."

"Very well, I'll go.  But what do you think my mother would say,
could she know this?"

"That will do, young man.  Do your chores, and then--"

"I am not working for you now, Uncle, you know, so I shall have
to refuse to do the chores.  There is fifty cents due me from Mr.
Churchill for fixing his chicken coop.  You may get that, I don't
want it."

Phil turned away once more, and with head erect entered the
house, going straight to his room, leaving Abner Adams fuming and
stamping about in the front yard.  The old man's rage knew no
bounds.  He was so beside himself with anger over the fancied
impudence of his nephew that, had the boy been present, he might
have so far forgotten himself as to have used his cane on Phil.

But Phil by this time had entered his own room, locking the door
behind him.  The lad threw his books down on the bed, dropped
into a chair and sat palefaced, tearless and silent.  Slowly his
eyes rose to the old-fashioned bureau, where his comb and brush
lay. The eyes halted when at length they rested on the picture of
his mother.

The lad rose as if drawn by invisible hands, reached out and
clasped the photograph to him.  Then the pent-up tears welled up
in a flood.  With the picture pressed to his burning cheek Phil
Forrest threw himself on his bed and sobbed out his bitter grief.
He did not hear the thump of Abner Adams' cane on the bedroom
door, nor the angry demands that he open it.

"Mother, Mother!" breathed the unhappy boy, as his sobs gradually
merged into long-drawn, trembling sighs.

Perhaps his appeal was not unheard.  At least Phil Forrest sprang
from his bed, holding the picture away from him with both hands
and gazing into the eyes of his mother.

Slowly his shoulders drew back and his head came up, while an
expression of strong determination flashed into his own eyes.

"I'll do it--I'll be a man, Mother!" he exclaimed in a voice in
which there was not the slightest tremor now.  "I'll fight the
battle and I'll win."

Phil Forest had come to the parting of the ways, which he faced
with a courage unusual in one of his years.  There was little to
be done.  He packed his few belongings in a bag that had been his
mother's.  The lad possessed one suit besides the one he wore,
and this he stowed away as best he could, determining to press it
out when he had located himself.

Finally his task was finished.  He stood in the middle of the
floor glancing around the little room that had been his home for
so long.  But he felt no regrets.  He was only making sure that
he had not left anything behind.  Having satisfied himself on
this point, Phil gathered up his bundle of books, placed the
picture of his mother in his inside coat pocket, then threw open
the door.

The lad's uncle had stamped to the floor below, where he was
awaiting Phil's coming.

"Good-bye, Uncle," he said quietly, extending a hand.

"Let me see that bag," snapped the old man.

"The bag is mine--it belonged to my mother," explained the boy.
"Surely you don't object to my taking it with me?"

"You're welcome to it, and good riddance; but I'm going to find
out what's inside of it."

"You surely don't think I would take anything that doesn't belong
to me--you can't mean that?"

"Ain't saying what I mean.  Hand over that bag."

With burning cheeks, Phil did as he was bid, his unwavering eyes
fixed almost sternly on the wrathful face of Abner Adams.

"Huh!" growled the old man, tumbling the contents out on the
floor, shaking Phil's clothes to make sure that nothing was
concealed in them.

Apparently satisfied, the old man threw the bag on the floor with
an exclamation of disgust.  Phil once more gathered up his
belongings and stowed them away in the satchel.

"Turn out your pockets!"

"There is nothing in them, Uncle, save some trinkets of my own
and my mother's picture."

"Turn them out!" thundered the old man.

"Uncle, I have always obeyed you.  Obedience was one of the
things that my mother taught me, but I'm sure that were she here
she would tell me I was right in refusing to humiliate myself as
you would have me do.  There is nothing in my pockets that does
not belong to me.  I am not a thief."

"Then I'll turn them out myself!" snarled Abner Adams, starting
forward.

Phil stepped back a pace, satchel in hand.

"Uncle, I am a man now," said the boy, straightening to his full
height.  "Please don't force me to do something that I should be
sorry for all the rest of my life.  Will you shake hands with
me?"

"No!" thundered Abner Adams.  "Get out of my sight before I lay
the stick over your head!"

Phil stretched out an appealing hand, then hastily withdrew it.

"Good-bye, Uncle Abner," he breathed.

Without giving his uncle a chance to reply, the lad turned,
opened the door and ran down the steps.



CHAPTER III

MAKING HIS START IN THE WORLD

The sun was just setting as Phil Forrest strode out of the yard.
Once outside of the gate he paused, glancing irresolutely up and
down the street.  Which way to turn or where to go he did not
know. He had not thought before of what he should do.

Phil heard the clatter of Abner Adams' stick as the old man
thumped about in the kitchen.

Suddenly the door was jerked open with unusual violence.

"Begone!" bellowed Mr. Adams, brandishing his cane threateningly.

Phil turned down the street, without casting so much as a glance
in the direction of his wrathful uncle, and continued on toward
the open country.  To anyone who had observed him there was
nothing of uncertainty in the lad's walk as he swung along. As a
matter of fact, Phil had not the slightest idea where he was
going.  He knew only that he wanted to get away by himself.

On the outskirts of the village men had been at work that day,
cutting and piling up hay.  The field was dotted with heaps of
the fragrant, freshly garnered stuff.

Phil hesitated, glanced across the field, and, noting that the
men had all gone home for the day, climbed the fence.  He walked
on through the field until he had reached the opposite side of
it. Then the lad placed his bag on the ground and sat down on a
pile of hay.

With head in hands, he tried to think, to plan, but somehow his
mind seemed unable to perform its proper functions.  It simply
would not work.

"Not much of a start in the world, this," grinned Phil, shifting
his position so as to command a better view of the world, for he
did not want anyone to see him.  "I suppose Uncle Abner is
getting supper now.  But where am I going to get mine?  I hadn't
thought of that before.  It looks very much as if I should have
to go without.  But I don't care.  Perhaps it will do me good to
miss a meal," decided the boy sarcastically.  "I've been eating
too much lately, anyhow."

Twilight came; then the shadows of night slowly settled over the
landscape, while the lad lay stretched out on the sweet-smelling
hay, hands supporting his head, gazing up into the starlit sky.

Slowly his heavy eyelids fluttered and closed, and Phil was
asleep. The night was warm and he experienced no discomfort.  He
was a strong, healthy boy, so that sleeping out of doors was no
hardship to him.  All through the night he slept as soundly as if
he had been in his own bed at home.  Nor did he awaken until the
bright sunlight of the morning finally burned his eyelids apart.

Phil started up rubbing his eyes.

At first he wondered where he was.  But the sight of his bag
lying a little to one side brought back with a rush the memory of
what had happened to him the evening before.

"Why, it's morning," marveled the lad, blinking in the strong
sunlight. "And I've slept on this pile of hay all night.  It's
the first time I ever slept out of doors, and I never slept
better in my life. Guess I'll fix myself up a little."

Phil remembered that a little trout stream cut across the field
off to the right.  Taking up his bag, he started for the stream,
where he made his toilet as best he could, finishing up by lying
flat on his stomach, taking a long, satisfying drink of the
sparkling water.

"Ah, that feels better," he breathed, rolling over on the bank.
After a little he helped himself to another drink.  "But I've got
to do something.  I can't stay out here in this field all the
rest of my life.  And if I don't find something to eat I'll
starve to death.  I'll go downtown and see if I can't earn my
breakfast somehow."

Having formed this resolution, Phil took up his belongings and
started away toward the village.  His course led him right past
Abner Adams' house, but, fortunately, Mr. Adams was not in sight.
Phil would have felt a keen humiliation had he been forced to
meet the taunts of his uncle.  He hurried on past the house
without glancing toward it.

He had gone on for some little way when he was halted by a
familiar voice.

"Hello, Phil!  Where are you going in such a hurry and so early
in the morning?"

Phil started guiltily and looked up quickly at the speaker.

"Good morning, Mrs. Cahill.  What time is it?"

"It's just past four o'clock in the morning."

"Gracious!  I had no idea it was so early as that," exclaimed the
lad.

"If you are not in such a great hurry, stop a bit," urged the
woman, her keen eyes noting certain things that she did not give
voice to.  She had known Phil Forrest for many years, and his
parents before him.  Furthermore, she knew something of the life
he had led since the death of his parents.  "Had your breakfast?"

"Well--"

"Of course you haven't.  Come right in and eat with me," urged
the good-hearted widow.

"If you will let me do some chores, or something to pay for it, I
will," agreed Phil hesitatingly.

"Nothing of the kind!  You'll keep me company at breakfast; then
you'll be telling me all about it."

"About what?"

" 'Bout your going away," pointing significantly to the bag that
Phil was carrying.

He was ravenously hungry, though he did not realize it fully
until the odor of the widow's savory cooking smote his nostrils.

She watched him eat with keen satisfaction.

"Now tell me what's happened," urged Mrs. Cahill, after he had
finished the meal.

Phil did so.  He opened his heart to the woman who had known his
mother, while she listened in sympathetic silence, now and then
uttering an exclamation of angry disapproval when his uncle's
words were repeated to her.

"And you're turned out of house and home?  Is that it, my boy?"

"Well, yes, that's about it," grinned Phil.

"It's a shame."

"I'm not complaining, you know, Mrs. Cahill.  Perhaps it's the
best thing that could have happened to me.  I've got to start out
for myself sometime, you know.  I'm glad of one thing, and that
is that I didn't have to go until school closed.  I get through
the term today, you know?"

"And you're going to school today?"

"Oh, yes.  I wouldn't want to miss the last day."

"Then what?"

"I don't know.  I shall find something else to do, I guess. I
want to earn enough money this summer so that I can go to school
again in the fall."

"And you shall.  You shall stay right here with the Widow Cahill
until you've got through with your schooling, my lad."

"I couldn't think of that.  No; I am not going to be a burden to
anyone.  Don't you see how I feel--that I want to earn my own
living now?"

She nodded understandingly.

"You can do some chores and--"

"I'll stay here until I find something else to do," agreed Phil
slowly.  "I shan't be able to look about much today, because I'll
be too busy at school; but tomorrow I'll begin hunting for a job.
What can I do for you this morning?"

"Well, you might chop some wood if you are aching to exercise
your muscles," answered the widow, with a twinkle in her eyes.
She knew that there was plenty of wood stored in the woodhouse,
but she was too shrewd an observer to tell Phil so, realizing, as
she did, that the obligation he felt for her kindness was too
great to be lightly treated.

Phil got at his task at once, and in a few moments she heard him
whistling an accompaniment to the steady thud, thud of the axe as
he swung it with strong, resolute arms.

"He's a fine boy," was the Widow Cahill's muttered conclusion.

Phil continued at his work without intermission until an hour had
passed.  Mrs. Cahill went out, begging that he come in and rest.

"Rest?  Why, haven't I been resting all night?  I feel as if I
could chop down the house and work it up into kindling wood, all
before school time.  What time is it?"

"Nigh on to seven o'clock.  I've wanted to ask you something ever
since you told me you had left Abner Adams.  It's rather a
personal question."

The lad nodded.

"Did your uncle send you away without any money?"

"Of course.  Why should he have given me anything so long as I
was going to leave him?"

"Did you ever hear him say that your mother had left a little
money with him before she died--money that was to be used for
your education as long as it lasted?"

Phil straightened up slowly, his axe falling to the ground, an
expression of surprise appeared in his eyes.

"My mother left money--for me, you say?" he wondered.

"No, Phil, I haven't said so.  I asked you if Abner had ever said
anything of the sort?"

"No.  Do you think she did?"

"I'm not saying what I think.  I wish I was a man; I'd read old
Abner Adams a lecture that he wouldn't forget as long as he
lives."

Phil smiled indulgently.

"He's an old man, Mrs. Cahill.  He's all crippled up with
rheumatism, and maybe he's got a right to be cranky--"

"And to turn his own sister's child outdoors, eh?  Not by a long
shot. Rheumatics don't give anybody any call to do any such a
thing as that. He ought to have his nose twisted, and it's me, a
good church member, as says so."

The lad picked up his axe and resumed his occupation, while Mrs.
Cahill turned up a chunk of wood and sat down on it, keeping up a
running fire of comment, mostly directed at Abner Adams, and
which must have made his ears burn.

Shortly after eight o'clock Phil gathered his books, strapped
them and announced that he would be off for school.

"I'll finish the woodpile after school," he called back, as he
was leaving the gate.

"You'll do nothing of the sort," retorted the Widow Cahill.

Darting out of the yard, Phil ran plump into someone, and halted
sharply with an earnest apology.

"Seems to me you're in a terrible rush about something. Where you
going?"

"Hello, Teddy, that you?"

"It's me," answered Teddy ungrammatically.

"I'm on my way to school."

"Never could understand why anybody should want to run when he's
going to school.  Now, I always run when I start off after
school's out.  What you doing here?" demanded the boy, drawing
his eyelids down into a squint.

"I've been chopping some wood for Mrs. Cahill."

"Huh!  What's the matter with the bear this morning?"

"The bear?"

Teddy jerked a significant thumb in the direction of Phil's
former home.

"Bear's got a grouch on a rod wide this morning."

"Oh, you mean Uncle Abner," answered Phil, his face clouding.

"Yep."

"Why?"

"I just dropped in to see if you were ready to go to school. He
yelled at me like he'd gone crazy."

"That all?" grinned the other boy.

"No.  He chased me down the road till his game knee gave out;
then he fell down."

Phil could not repress a broad grin at this news.

"Good thing for me that I could run.  He'd have given me a
walloping for sure if he'd caught me.  I'll bet that stick hurts
when it comes down on a fellow.  Don't it, Phil?"

"I should think it would.  I have never felt it, but I have had
some pretty narrow escapes.  What did the folks you are living
with say when you got home all mud last night?"

Teddy grinned a sheepish sort of grin.

"Told me I'd better go out in the horse barn--said my particular
style of beauty was better suited to the stable than to the
kitchen."

"Did you?"

"Well, no, not so as you might notice it.  I went down to the
creek and went in swimming, clothes and all.  That was the
easiest way.  You see, I could wash the mud off my clothes and
myself all at the same time."

"It's a wonder they let you in at all, then."

"They didn't; at least not until I had wrung the water out of my
trousers and twisted my hair up into a regular top-knot.  Then I
crawled in behind the kitchen stove and got dried out after a
while.  But I got my supper.  I always do."

"Yes; I never knew you to go without meals."

"Sorry you ain't going to the circus tomorrow, Phil."

"I am.  Teddy, I'm free.  I can do as I like now.  Yes, I'll go
to the circus with you, and maybe if I can earn some money
tonight I'll treat you to red lemonade and peanuts."

"Hooray!" shouted Teddy, tossing his hat high in the air.



CHAPTER IV

THE CIRCUS COMES TO TOWN

The Sparling Combined Shows came rumbling into Edmeston at about
three o'clock the next morning.  But, early as was the hour, two
boys sat on the Widow Cahill's door-yard fence watching the
wagons go by.

The circus was one of the few road shows that are now traveling
through the country, as distinguished from the great modern
organizations that travel by rail with from one to half a dozen
massive trains.  The Sparling people drove from town to town.
They carried twenty-five wagons, besides a band wagon, a
wild-west coach and a calliope.

"Phil!  Phil!  Look!" exclaimed Teddy, clutching at his
companion's coat sleeve, as two hulking, swaying figures appeared
out of the shadows of the early morning.

"Where?"

"There."

"Elephants!  There's two of them."

"Ain't that great?  I didn't suppose they'd have any elephants.
Wonder if there's any lions and tigers in those big wagons."

"Of course there are.  Didn't you see pictures of them on the
bills, Teddy?"

"I don't know.  Dan Marts, the postmaster, says you can't set any
store by the pictures.  He says maybe they've got the things you
see in the pictures, and maybe they haven't.  There's a camel!
Look at it!  How'd you like to ride on that hump all day?"
questioned Teddy gleefully.

"Shouldn't like it at all."

"I read in my geography that they ride on them all the time on
the--on--on Sarah's Desert."

"Oh, you mean the Sahara Desert--that's what you mean," laughed
Phil.

"Well, maybe."

"I should rather ride an elephant.  See, it's just like a rocking
chair.  I could almost go to sleep watching them move along."

"I couldn't," declared Teddy.  "I couldn't any more go to sleep
when a circus is going by than I could fly without wings."

"See, there comes a herd of ponies.  Look how small they are. Not
much bigger than St. Bernard dogs.  They could walk right under
the elephants and not touch them."

"Where do they all sleep?" wondered Teddy.

"Who, the ponies?"

"No, of course not.  The people."

"I don't know unless they sleep in the cages with the animals,"
laughed Phil.  "Some of the folks appear to be sleeping on the
horses."

"I'd be willing to go without sleep if I could be a showman,"
mused Teddy.  "Wouldn't you?"

"Sure," agreed Phil.  "Hello!  There come some more wagons. Come
on!  We'll run down to meet them."

"No; Let's go over to the grounds where the circus is coming off.
They'll be putting up the tents first thing we know."

"That's so, and I want to be around.  You going to work any,
Teddy?"

"Not I.  I'm going to see the show, but you don't catch me
carrying pails of water for the elephants for a ticket of
admission that don't admit you to anything except a stand-up. I
can stand up cheaper than that."

Both boys slipped from the fence, and, setting off at a jog trot,
began rapidly overhauling and passing the slow-moving wagons with
their tired horses and more tired drivers.

By the time Teddy and Phil reached the circus grounds several
wagons were already there.  Shouts sprang up from all parts of
the field, while half a dozen men began measuring off the ground
in the dim morning light, locating the best places in which to
pitch the tents.  Here and there they would drive in a stake, on
one of which they tied a piece of newspaper.

"Wonder what that's for," thought Phil aloud.

"Hey, what's the paper tied on the peg for?" shouted Teddy to a
passing showman.

"That's the front door, sonny."

"Funniest looking front door I ever saw," grunted Teddy.

"He means that's the place where the people enter and leave their
tickets."

"Oh, yes.  That's what they call the 'Main Entrance,'" nodded
Teddy. "I've seen it, but I don't usually go in that way."

With the early dawn figures began emerging from several of the
wagons.  They were a sleepy looking lot, and for a time stood
about in various attitudes, yawning, stretching their arms and
rubbing their eyes.

"Hey, boy, what town is this?" questioned a red-haired youth,
dragging himself toward the two lads.

"Edmeston."

"Oh, yes.  I remember; I was here once before."

"With a show?" asked Teddy.

"Yes, with a Kickapoo Indian medicine man.  And he was bad
medicine. Say, where can I wash my countenance?"

"Come on; I'll show you," exclaimed Teddy and Phil in the same
breath.

They led the way to the opposite side of the field, where there
was a stream of water.  While the circus boy was making his
morning toilet the lads watched him in admiring silence.

"What do you do?" ventured Phil.

"I perform on the rings."

"Up in the air?"

"Uh-huh."

"Ever fall off?"

"I get my bumps," grinned the red-haired boy.  "My name is Rodney
Palmer.  What's your names?"

They told him.

"We're going to be circus men, too," Teddy informed him, but the
announcement did not seem to stir a deep interest in the circus
boy. He had heard other boys say the same thing.  "Is it very
hard work?"

"Worst ever."

"When do you sleep?"

"When we ain't awake."

"And you perform on the flying rings?"

Rodney nodded his head indifferently.

"I should think you'd burn the tent up with that head of red
hair," grinned Teddy.

Instead of getting angry at the boy's thrust, Rodney glanced at
Teddy with a half questioning look in his eyes, then burst out
laughing.

"You're a cheerful idiot, aren't you?" he twinkled.  "I'll tell
you why I don't.  Confidentially, you know?"

"Sure."

"I wear a wig when I'm performing.  Mebby if it wasn't for that I
might set something on fire.  I must get over on the lot now."

"You're in a lot already," Teddy informed him.

"We call the place where we pitch the tents 'the lot.'  The cook
tent must be up by this time, and I'm half starved.  The
performance was so late yesterday afternoon that they had the
cook tent down before I got my supper.  Will you come along?"

They did.

"Do you think there is anything I could do to earn a ticket to
the show today?" asked Phil.

"Yes, there's most always something for a boy to do."

"Whom do I ask about it?"

"Go see the boss canvasman.  I'll point him out to you as we go
along."

"Thank you.  You want to see him, too, Teddy?"

"No; I don't have to."

"That's him over there.  He's a grouch, but just don't let him
bluff you.  Yes, the cook tent's about ready.  I'll sneak in and
hook something before breakfast; then mebby I'll come back and
talk with you."

"We'll look for you in the show this afternoon," said Phil.

"All right, if I see you I'll swing my hand to you," Rodney
replied, starting for the cook tent, where the meals were served
to the show people.

"Now, I'm going to see that boss canvasman," announced Phil.
"See, they are laying the pieces of the tents flat on the ground.
I suppose they fasten them all together when they get them
placed, then raise them up on the poles."

"I guess so.  I don't care much so long as I don't have to do
it."

"Teddy Tucker, actually you are the laziest boy I ever knew. Why
don't you brace up?"

"Don't I have just as good a time and better, than you do?"

"Guess you do."

"Don't I get just as much to eat?"

"I presume so," admitted Phil.

"Don't I see all the shows that come to town, and go to all the
picnics?"

"Yes."

"Then, what's the use of being any more'n lazy?"

Teddy's logic was too much for his companion, and Phil laughed
heartily.

"Look, the elephant is butting one of the wagons," cried Teddy.

"No, they are using the elephant to push the cage around in
place. I wonder what's in it," said Phil.

A roar that fairly made the ground shake answered Phil's
question. The cage in question held a lion, and a big, ugly one
if his voice was any indication.  The great elephant, when the
cage was being placed, would, at a signal from its keeper, place
its ponderous head against one side of the cage and push, while a
driver would steer the wagon by taking hold of the end of the
tongue.

It was a novel sight for the two boys, and they watched it with
the keenest interest.  A man dressed in riding clothes, carrying
a short crop in his hand, was observing the operations with equal
interest.  He was James Sparling, the proprietor and manager of
the Great Combined Shows, but the lads were unaware of that fact.
Even had they known, it is doubtful if Mr. Sparling would have
been of sufficient attraction to draw their attention from the
working elephant.

All at once there was a warning shout from Mr. Sparling.

The men set up a yell, followed by a sudden scurrying from the
immediate vicinity of the cage that the elephant had been
shunting about.

"Stop it!  Brace it!" bellowed the owner of the show, making
frantic motions with his free hand, cutting circles and dashes in
the air with the short crop held in the other.

"What's the row?" wondered Teddy.

"I--I don't know," stammered Phil.

"The elephant's tipping the lion cage over!" shouted someone.
"Run for your lives!"

For once in his life Teddy Tucker executed a lightning-like
movement. He was one of several dark streaks on the landscape
running as if Wallace, the biggest lion in captivity, were in
reality hard upon his heels.  As he ran, Teddy uttered a howl
that could have been heard from one end of the circus lot to the
other.

A few of the more fearless ones, the old hands of the show, did
not attempt to run.  Instead they stood still, fairly holding
their breaths, waiting to see what would happen next.

Mr. Sparling was too far away to be able to do anything to
prevent the catastrophe that was hanging over them, but it did
not prevent him from yelling like a madman at the inactive
employees of the show.

At the first cry--the instant he comprehended what was
happening-- Phil Forrest moved every bit as quickly as had his
companion, though he leaped in the opposite direction.

All about on the ground lay tent poles of various length and
thickness, side poles, quarter poles and the short side poles
used to hold the tent walls in place.  These were about twenty
feet in length and light enough to be easily handled.

With ready resourcefulness and quick comprehension, Phil pounced
upon one of these and darted toward the cage which was toppling
over in his direction.

The roof of the lion cage that housed Wallace projected over the
edge some six inches, and this had caught the keen eyes of the
lad at the first alarm.  His plan had been formed in a flash.

He shot one end of the side pole up under the projecting roof,
jammed the other end into the ground, throwing his whole weight
upon the foot of the pole to hold it in place.

For an instant the tent pole bent like a bow under the pull of
the archer.  It seemed as if it must surely snap under the
terrific strain.

Phil saw this, too.  Now that the foot of the pole was firmly
imbedded in the ground, there was no further need for him to hold
it down.  He sprang under the pole with the swaying cage directly
over him, grabbed the pole at the point where it was arching so
dangerously, and pulling himself from the ground, held to the
slippery stick desperately.

Light as he was the boy's weight saved the pole.  It bent no
further.

The cage swayed from side to side, threatening to topple over at
one end or the other.

"Get poles under the ends," shouted the boy in a shrill voice. "I
can't hold it here all day."

"Get poles, you lazy good-for-nothings!" bellowed the owner.
"Brace those ends.  Look out for the elephant.  Don't you see
he's headed for the cage again?"

Orders flew thick and fast, but through it all Phil Forrest hung
grimly to the side pole, taking a fresh overhand hold, now and
then, as his palms slipped down the painted stick.

Now that he had shown the way, others sprang to his assistance.
Half a dozen poles were thrust up under the roof and the cage
began slowly settling back the other way.

"Hadn't you better have some poles braced against the other side,
sir?" suggested Phil, touching his hat to Mr. Sparling, who, he
had discovered, was some person in authority.  "The cage may tip
clear over on the other side, or it may drop so heavily on the
wheels as to break the axles."

"Right.  Brace the off side.  That's right.  Now let it down
slowly. Not so hard on the nigh side there.  Ease off there,
Bill.  Push, Patsy. What do you think this is--a game of croquet?
There you go.  Right. Now let's see if you woodenheads know
enough to keep the wagon right side up."

Mr. Sparling took off his hat and wiped the perspiration from his
forehead, while Phil stood off calmly surveying the men who were
straightening the wagon, but with more caution than they had
exercised before.

"Come here, boy."

Someone touched Phil on the arm.

"What is it?"

"Boss wants to speak to you."

"Who?"

"Boss Sparling, the fellow over there with the big voice and the
sombrero."

Phil walked over and touched his hat to Mr. Sparling.

The showman looked the lad over from head to foot.

"What's your name?"  He shot the question at the lad as if angry
about something, and he undoubtedly was.

"Phil Forrest."

"Do they grow your kind around here?"

"I can't say, sir."

"If they do, I'd like to hire a dozen or more of them.  You've
got more sense than any boy of your age I ever saw.  How old are
you?"

"Sixteen."

"Huh!  I wish I had him!" growled Mr. Sparling.  "What do you
want?"

"I should like to have a chance to earn a pass to the show this
afternoon.  Rodney Palmer said the boss canvasman might give me a
chance to earn one."

"Earn one?  Earn one?" Mr. Sparling's voice rose to a roar again.
"What in the name of Old Dan Rice do you think you've been doing?
Here you've kept a cage with a five-thousand-dollar lion from
tipping over, to say nothing of the people who might have been
killed had the brute got out, and you want to know how you can
earn a pass to the show?  What d'ye think of that?" and the owner
appealed helplessly to an assistant who had run across the lot,
having been attracted to the scene by the uproar.

The assistant grinned.

"He's too modest to live."

"Pity modesty isn't more prevalent in this show, then.  How many
do you want?  Have a whole section if you say the word."

"How many are there in a section?" asked Phil.

" 'Bout a hundred seats."

Phil gasped.

"I--I guess two will be enough," he made answer.

"Here you are," snapped the owner, thrusting a card at the lad,
on which had been scribbled some characters, puzzling to the
uninitiated.  "If you want anything else around this show you
just ask for it, young man.  Hey, there!  Going to be all day
getting that canvas up?  Don't you know we've got a parade coming
along in a few hours?"

Phil Forrest, more light of heart than in many days, turned away
to acquaint his companion of his good fortune.  Teddy Tucker was
making his way cautiously back to the scene of the excitement of
a few moments before.

"Did he get away?" Teddy questioned, ready to run at the drop of
the hat should the danger prove to be still present.

"Who, the manager?"

"No, the lion."

"He's in the cage where he's been all the time.  They haven't
opened it yet, but I guess he's all right.  Say, Teddy!"

"Say it."

"I've got a pass to the show for two people for both
performances--this afternoon and tonight."

The interest that the announcement brought to Teddy's eyes died
away almost as soon as it appeared.

"Going?"

"Am I going?  I should say so.  Want to go in with me on my pass,
Teddy?"

The lad hitched his trousers, took a critical squint at the
canvas that was slowly mounting the center pole to the
accompaniment of creaking ropes, groaning tackle and confused
shouting.

"They're getting the menagerie tent up.  I'll bet it's going to
be a dandy show," he vouchsafed.  "How'd you get the tickets?"

"Manager gave them to me."

"What for?"

"I did a little work for him.  Helped get the lion's cage
straightened up.  How about it--are you going in on my pass?"

"N-o-o," drawled Teddy.  "Might get me into bad habits to go in
on a pass.  I'd rather sneak in under the tent when the boss
isn't looking."



CHAPTER V

WHEN THE BANDS PLAYED

Phil started for the Widow Cahill's on the run after having
procured his tickets.  "Here's a ticket for the circus, Mrs.
Cahill," he shouted, bursting into the room, with excited,
flushed face.

"What's this you say--the circus?  Land sakes, I haven't seen one
since I was--well, since I was a girl.  I don't know."

"You'll go, won't you?" urged Phil.

"Of course, I'll go," she made haste to reply, noting the
disappointment in his face over her hesitation.  "And thank you
very much."

"Shall I come and get you, Mrs. Cahill, or can you get over to
the circus grounds alone?"

"Don't worry about me, my boy.  I'll take care of myself."

"Your seat will be right next to mine, and we can talk while we
are watching the performers."

"Yes; you run along now.  Here's a quarter for spending money.
Never mind thanking me.  Just take it and have a good time.
Where's your friend?"

"Teddy?"

"Yes."

"Over on the lot."

"He going in with you, too?"

"Oh, no.  Teddy is too proud to go in that way.  He crawls in
under the tent," laughed Phil, running down the steps and setting
off for the circus grounds with all speed.

When he arrived there he saw at once that something was going on.
The tents were all in place, the little white city erected with
as much care and attention to detail as if the show expected to
remain in Edmeston all summer.  The lad could scarcely make
himself believe that, only a few hours before, this very lot had
been occupied by the birds alone.  It was a marvel to him, even
in after years, when he had become as thoroughly conversant with
the details of a great show as any man in America.

Just now there was unusual activity about the grounds.  Men in
gaudy uniforms, clowns in full makeup, and women with long
glistening trains, glittering with spangles from head to feet,
were moving about, while men were decorating the horses with
bright blankets and fancy headdress.

"What are they going to do?" asked Phil of a showman.

"Going to parade."

"Oh, yes, that's so; I had forgotten about that."

"Hello, boy--I've forgotten your name--"

"Forrest," explained Phil, turning.  The speaker was Mr.
Sparling's assistant, whom the lad had seen just after saving the
lion cage from turning over.

"Can you blow a horn as well as you can stop a wagon?"

"Depends upon what kind of a horn.  I think I can make as much
noise on a fish horn as anyone else."

"That'll do as well as anything else.  Want to go in the parade?"

"I'd love to!"  The color leaped to the cheeks of Phil Forrest
and a sparkle to his eyes.  This was going beyond his fondest
dreams.

The assistant motioned to a clown.

"Fix this boy up in some sort of a rig.  I'm going to put him in
the Kazoo Band.  Bring him back here when he is ready.  Be
quick."

A long, yellow robe was thrown about the boy, a peaked cap thrust
on his head, after which a handful of powder was slapped on his
face and rubbed down with the flat of the clown's hand.  The fine
dust got into the lad's nostrils and throat, causing him to
sneeze until the tears rolled down his cheeks, streaking his
makeup like a freshet through a plowed field.

"Good," laughed the clown.  "That's what your face needs. You'd
make a good understudy for Chief Rain-In-The-Face. Now hustle
along."

Phil picked up the long skirts and ran full speed to the place
where the assistant had been standing.  There he waited until the
assistant returned from a journey to some other part of the lot.

"That's right; you know how to obey orders," he nodded.  "That's
a good clown makeup.  Did Mr. Miaco put those streaks on your
face?"

"No, I sneezed them there," answered Phil, with a sheepish grin.

The assistant laughed heartily.  Somehow, he had taken a sudden
liking to this boy.

"Do you live at home, Forrest?"

"No; I have no home now."

"Here's a fish horn.  Now get up in the band wagon--no, not the
big one, I mean the clowns' band wagon with the hayrack on it.
When the parade starts blow your confounded head off if you want
to.  Make all the noise you can.  You'll have plenty of company.
When the parade breaks up, just take off your makeup and turn it
over to Mr. Miaco."

"You mean these clothes?"

"Yes.  They're a part of the makeup.  You'll have to wash the
makeup off your face.  I don't expect you to return the powder to
us," grinned the assistant humorously.

The clowns were climbing to the hayrack.  A bugle had blown as a
signal that the parade was ready to move.  Phil had not seen
Teddy Tucker since returning to the lot.  He did not know where
the boy was, but he was quite sure that Teddy was not missing any
of the fun.  Tucker had been around circuses before, and knew how
to make the most of his opportunities.  And he was doing so now.

"Ta ra, ta ra, ta ra!" sang the bugle.

Crash!  answered the cymbals and the bass drums.  The snare drums
buzzed a long, thrilling roll; then came the blare of the brass
as the whole band launched into a lively tune such as only circus
bands know how to play.

The parade had begun to move.

It was a thrilling moment--the moment of all moments of Phil
Forrest's life.

The clowns' wagon had been placed well back in the line, so as
not to interfere with the music of the band itself.  But Phil did
not care where he was placed.  He only knew that he was in a
circus parade, doing his part with the others, and that, so far
as anyone knew, he was as much a circus man as any of them.

As the cavalcade drew out into the main street and straightened
away, Phil was amazed to see what a long parade it was.  It
looked as if it might reach the whole length of the village.

The spring sun was shining brightly, lighting up the line,
transforming it into a moving, flashing, brilliant ribbon of
light and color.

"Splendid!" breathed the boy, removing the fish horn from his
lips for a brief instant, then blowing with all his might again.

As the wagons moved along he saw many people whom he knew.  As a
matter of fact, Phil knew everyone in the village, but there were
hundreds of people who had driven in from the farms whom he did
not know.  Nor did anyone appear to recognize him.

"If they only knew, wouldn't they be surprised?" chuckled the
lad. "Hello, there's Mrs. Cahill."

The widow was standing on her front door step with a dishtowel in
one hand.

In the excess of his excitement, Phil stood up, waving his horn
and yelling.

She heard him--as everybody else within a radius of a quarter of
a mile might have--and she recognized the voice.  Mrs. Cahill
brandished the dishtowel excitedly.

"He's a fine boy," she glowed.  "And he's having the first good
time he's had in five years."

The Widow Cahill was right.  For the first time in all these
years, since the death of his parents, Phil Forrest was carefree
and perfectly happy.

The clowns on the wagon with him were uproariously funny.  When
the wagon stopped now and then, one whom Phil recognized as the
head clown, Mr. Miaco, would spring to the edge of the rack and
make a stump speech in pantomime, accompanied by all the gestures
included in the pouring and drinking of a glass of water.  So
humorous were the clown's antics that the spectators screamed
with laughter.

Suddenly the lad espied that which caused his own laughter to die
away, and for the moment he forgot to toot the fish horn.  The
parade was passing his former home, and there, standing hunched
forward, leaning on his stick and glaring at the procession from
beneath bushy eyebrows, stood Phil's uncle, Abner Adams.

Phil's heart leaped into his throat; at least that was the
sensation that he experienced.

"I--I hope he doesn't know me," muttered the lad, shrinking back
a little.  "But I'm a man now.  I don't care.  He's driven me out
and he has no right to say a thing."

The lad lost some of his courage, however, when the procession
halted, and he found that his wagon was directly in front of Mr.
Adams' dooryard, with his decrepit uncle not more than twenty
feet away from him.  The surly, angry eyes of Abner Adams seemed
to be burning through Phil's makeup, and the lad instinctively
shrank back ever so little.

However, at that instant the boy's attention was attracted to
another part of the wagon.  The head clown stepped from the wagon
and, with dignified tread, approached Abner Adams.  He grasped
the old man by the hand, which he shook with great warmth, making
a courtly bow.

At first Abner Adams was too surprised to protest.  Then,
uttering an angry snarl, he threw the clown off, making a vicious
pass at him with his heavy stick.

The clown dodged the blow, and made a run for the wagon, which
was now on the move again.

Phil breathed a sigh of relief.  The people had roared at the
funny sight of the clown shaking hands with the crabbed old man;
but to Phil Forrest there had been nothing of humor in it. The
sight of his uncle brought back too many unhappy memories.

The lad soon forgot his depression, however, in the rapid changes
that followed each other in quick succession as on a moving-
picture film.

Reaching the end of the village street the procession was obliged
to turn and retrace its steps over the same ground until it
reached the business part of the town, where it would turn off
and pass through some of the side streets.

Now there were two lines, moving in opposite directions.  This
was of interest to Phil, enabling him, as it did, to get a good
look at the other members of the troupe.  Mr. Sparling was riding
ahead in a carriage drawn by four splendid white horses, driven
by a coachman resplendent in livery and gold lace, while the
bobbing plumes on the heads of the horses added to the
impressiveness of the picture.

"I'd give anything in the world to be able to ride in a carriage
like that," decided Phil.  "Maybe someday I shall.  We'll see."

Now came the elephants, lumbering along on velvet feet.  On the
second one there crouched a figure that somehow seemed strangely
familiar to Phil Forrest.  The figure was made up to represent a
huge frog.

A peculiar gesture of one of the frog's legs revealed the
identity of the figure beneath the mask.

"Teddy!" howled Phil.

"Have a frog's leg," retorted Teddy, shaking one of them
vigorously at the motley collection of clowns.

"Not eating frogs legs today," jeered a clown, as Teddy went
swinging past them, a strange, grotesque figure on the back of
the huge, hulking beast.

The clowns' wagon was just on the point of turning when the men
heard a loud uproar far down the line.  At first they thought it
was a part of the show, but it soon became apparent that
something was wrong.

Phil instinctively let the horn fall away from his lips.  He
peered curiously over the swaying line to learn what, if
anything, had gone wrong.

He made out the cause of the trouble almost at once.  A pony with
a woman on its back had broken from the line, and was plunging
toward them at a terrific pace.  She appeared to have lost all
control of the animal, and the pony, which proved to be an ugly
broncho, was bucking and squealing as it plunged madly down the
street.

The others failed to see what Phil had observed almost from the
first.  The bit had broken in the mouth of the broncho and the
reins hung loosely in the woman's helpless hands.

They were almost up with the clowns' wagon when the woman was
seen to sway dizzily in her saddle, as the leather slipped
beneath her. Then she plunged headlong to the ground.

Instead of falling in a heap, the circus woman, with head
dragging, bumping along the ground, was still fast to the pony.

"Her foot is caught in the stirrup!" yelled half a dozen men at
once, but not a man of them made an effort to rescue her. Perhaps
this was because none of the real horsemen of the show were near
enough to do so.

Mr. Sparling, however, at the first alarm, had leaped from his
carriage, and, thrusting a rider from his mount, sprang into the
saddle and came tearing down the line in a cloud of dust.  He was
bearing down on the scene at express train speed.

"The woman will be killed!"

"Stop him!  Stop him!"

"Stop him yourself!"

But not a man made an effort to do anything.

It had all occurred in a few seconds, but rapidly as the events
succeeded each other, Phil Forrest seemed to be the one among
them who retained his presence of mind.

He fairly launched himself into the air as the ugly broncho shot
alongside the clowns' wagon.



CHAPTER VI

PROVING HIS METTLE

Familiar as they were with daring deeds, those of the circus
people who witnessed Phil Forrest's dive gasped.

They expected to see the boy fall beneath the feet of the
plunging pony, where he would be likely to be trampled and kicked
to death.

But Phil had looked before he leaped.  He had measured his
distance well--had made up his mind exactly what he was going to
do, or rather what he was going to try to do.

The pony, catching a brief glimpse of the dark figure that was
being hurled through the air directly toward him, made a swift
leap to one side.  But the animal was not quick enough.  The boy
landed against the broncho with a jolt that nearly knocked the
little animal over, while to Phil the impact could not have been
much more severe, it seemed to him, had he collided with a
locomotive.

"Hang on!" howled a voice from the wagon.

That was exactly what he intended to do.

The cloud of dust, with Mr. Sparling in the center of it, had not
reached them, but his keen eyes already had observed what was
going on.

"G-g-g-grab the woman!" shouted Phil.

His left arm had been thrown about the broncho's neck, while his
right hand was groping frantically for the animal's nose. But
during all this time the pony was far from idle.  He was plunging
like a ship in a gale, cracking the whip with Phil Forrest until
it seemed as if every bone in the lad's body would be broken.  He
could hear his own neck snap with every jerk.

With a howl Miaco, the head clown, launched himself from the
wagon, too.  Darting in among the flying hoofs--there seemed to
be a score of them--he caught the woman, jerked her foot free of
the stirrup and dragged her quickly from her perilous position.

"She's free.  Let go!" he roared to the boy holding the pony.

But by this time Phil had fastened his right hand on the pony's
nostrils, and with a quick pressure shut off the animal's wind.
He had heard the warning cry.  The lad's grit had been aroused,
however, and he was determined that he would not let go until he
should have conquered the fighting broncho.

With a squeal of rage, the pony leaped sideways.  A deep ditch
led along by the side of the road, but this the enraged animal
had not noticed.  Into it he went, kicking and fighting, pieces
of Phil's yellow robe streaming from his hoofs.

The lad's body was half under the neck of the pony, but he was
clinging to the neck and the nose of the beast with desperate
courage.

"Get the boy out of there!" thundered Mr. Sparling, dashing up
and leaping from his pony.  "Want to let him be killed?"

By this time others had ridden up, and some of the real horsemen
in the outfit sprang off and rushed to Phil Forrest's assistance.
Ropes were cast over the flying hoofs before the men thought it
wise to get near them.  Then they hauled Phil out, very much the
worse for wear.

In the meantime Mr. Sparling's carriage had driven up and he was
helping the woman in.

"Is the boy hurt?" he called.

"No, I'm all right, thank you," answered Phil, smiling bravely,
though he was bruised from head to foot and his clothing hung in
tatters.  His peaked clown's cap someone picked up in a field
over the fence and returned to him.  That was about all that was
left of Phil Forrest's gaudy makeup, save the streaks on his
face, which by now had become blotches of white and red.

The clowns picked him up and boosted him to the wagon, jabbering
like a lot of sparrows perched on a telephone wire.

"See you later!" shouted the voice of Mr. Sparling as he drove
rapidly away.

Phil found his horn, and despite his aches and pains he began
blowing it lustily.  The story of his brave rescue had gone on
ahead, however, and as the clowns' wagon moved on it was greeted
by tremendous applause.

The onlookers had no difficulty in picking out the boy who had
saved the woman's life, and somehow the word had been passed
around as to his identity.

"Hooray for Phil Forrest!" shouted the multitude.

Phil flushed under the coating of powder and paint, and sought to
crouch down in the wagon out of sight.

"Here, get up there where they can see you!" admonished a clown.
"If you're going to be a showman you mustn't be afraid to get
yourself in the spotlight."

Two of them hoisted the blushing Phil to their shoulders and
broke into a rollicking song, swaying their bodies in imitation
of the movements of an elephant as they sang.

At this the populace fairly howled with delight.

"He's the boy, even if he ain't purty to look at," jeered someone
in the crowd.

"Handsome is as handsome does!" retorted a clown in a loud voice,
and the people cheered.

After this the parade went on without further incident, though
there could be no doubt that the exciting dash and rescue by one
of their own boys had aroused the town to a high pitch of
excitement.  And the showmen smiled, for they knew what that
meant.

"Bet we'll have a turn-away this afternoon," announced a clown.

"Looks that way," agreed another, "and all on account of the
kid."

"What's a turn-away?" asked Phil.

"That's when there are more people want to get in than the tent
will hold.  And it means, too, that the boss will be good natured
till it rains again, and the wagons get stuck in the mud so that
we'll make the next town behind time.  At such times he can make
more noise than the steam calliope."

"He seems to me to be a pretty fine sort of a man, even if he is
gruff," suggested Phil.

"The best ever," agreed several clowns.  "You'll look a long way
before you'll find a better showman, or a better man to his help,
than Jim Sparling.  Ever been in the show business, kid?"

Phil shook his head.

"Anybody'd think you always had been, the way you take hold of
things. I'll bet you'll be in it before you are many years
older."

"I'd like to," glowed the lad.

"Ask the boss."

"No, he wouldn't want me.  There is nothing I could do now, I
guess."

Further conversation was interrupted by the bugle's song
announcing the disbanding of the parade, the right of the line
having already reached the circus lot.

The clowns piled from the hayrack like a cataract, the cataract
having all the colors of the rainbow.

Phil, not to be behind, followed suit, though he did not quite
understand what the rush was about.  He ran until he caught up
with Miaco.

"What's the hurry about?" he questioned.

"Parade's over.  Got to hurry and get dinner, so as to be ready
for the afternoon performance."

All hands were heading for the dressing tent in a mad rush.

Phil was halted by the assistant manager.

The lad glanced down rather sheepishly at his costume, which was
hanging in tatters, then up at the quizzically smiling face of
the showman.

"I--I'm sorry I've spoiled it, sir, but I couldn't help it."

"Don't worry about that, young man.  How did it happen?" he
questioned, pretending not to know anything about the occurrence
in which Phil had played a leading part.

"Well, you see, there was a horse ran away, and I happened to get
in the way of it.  I--"

"Yes, Forrest, I understand all about it.  Somebody did something
to that animal to make it run away and the boss is red headed
over it."

"I--I didn't."

"No, that's right.  It was lucky that there was one person in the
parade who had some sense left, or there would have been a dead
woman with this outfit," growled the assistant.

"Was she badly hurt?"

"No.  Only bruised up a bit.  These show people get used to hard
knocks."

"I'm glad she is all right.  Who is she?"

"Don't you know?"

"No."

"That was Mr. Sparling's wife whose life you saved, and I reckon
the boss will have something to say to you when he gets sight of
you again."



CHAPTER VII

MAKING FRIENDS WITH THE ELEPHANTS

"Is it possible?  I didn't know that," marveled the boy. "And
does she perform?"

"Everybody works in this outfit, young man," laughed the
assistant, "as you will learn if you hang around long enough.
Going to the show?"

"Yes, sir."

"Got seats?"

"Mr. Sparling provided me with tickets, thank you.  But I've got
to get home first and put on some other clothes.  This suit is
about done for, isn't it?"

"I should say it was.  You did that stopping the horse, didn't
you?"

Phil nodded.

"Boss will buy you a new suit for that."

"Oh, no; I couldn't allow him to do that," objected Phil.

"Well, you are a queer youngster.  So long.  I'll see you when
you come in this afternoon.  Wait, let me see your tickets."

The lad handed them over wonderingly, at which his questioner
nodded approvingly.

"They're good seats.  Hope you will enjoy the show."

"Thank you; I am sure I shall," answered Phil, touching his hat
and starting on a run for home.

Arriving there, Mrs. Cahill met him and threw up her hands in
horror when she observed the condition of his clothes.

"I am afraid they are gone for good," grinned Phil rather
ruefully.

"No.  You leave them with me.  I'll fix them up for you.  I heard
how you saved that show woman's life.  That was fine, my boy. I'm
proud of you, that I am.  You did more than all those circus men
could do, and the whole town is talking about it."

"If you are going to the show you had better be getting ready,"
urged Phil, wishing to change the subject.

"All right, I will.  I'll fix your clothes when I get back. Will
you be home to supper?"

"I don't know for sure.  If I can I'll be back in time, but
please don't wait for me.  Here is your ticket."

The lad hurried to the room the good woman had set aside for him
and quickly made the change of clothing.  He was obliged to
change everything he had on, for even his shirt had been torn in
his battle with the broncho.  After bathing and putting on the
fresh clothes, Phil hurried from the house, that he might miss
nothing of the show.

The sideshow band was blaring brazenly when he reached the lot.
The space in front of the main entrance was packed with people,
many of whom pointed to him, nodding their heads and directing
the attention of their companions to the lad.

Phil wished he might be able to skulk in by the back door and
thus avoid their attention, but as this was impossible, he pulled
his hat down over his eyes and worked his way slowly toward the
front of the crowd.

Getting near the entrance, he saw Mr. Sparling's assistant. The
latter, chancing to catch sight of Phil, motioned him to crawl
under the ropes and come in.  The boy did so gratefully.

"The doors are not open yet, but you may go in.  You will have
time to look over the animals before the crowd arrives, then you
can reach your seat before the others get in.  Please let me see
those checks once more."

The assistant made a mental note of the section and number of the
seats for future reference and handed back the coupons.

Phil stole into the menagerie tent, relieved to be away from the
gaze and comments of the crowd that was massed in front.

"Gracious, I'm afraid I wouldn't make a very good circus man. I
hate to have everybody looking at me as if I were some natural or
unnatural curiosity.  Wonder if I will know any of the show
people when they are made up, as they call it, and performing in
the ring?  I shouldn't wonder if they didn't know me in my best
clothes, though," grinned the boy.

Phil had had the forethought to bring a few lumps of sugar in his
pocket.  Entering the menagerie tent, he quickly made his way to
the place where the elephants were chained, giving each one of
the big beasts a lump.  He felt no fear of them and permitted
them to run their sensitive trunks over him and into his pockets,
where they soon found the rest of the sugar.

After disposing of the sweets, both beasts emitted a loud
trumpeting. At such close quarters the noise they made seemed to
shake the ground.

"Why do they do that?" questioned Phil of the keeper.

"That's their way of thanking you for the sugar.  You've made
friends of both of them for life.  They'll never forget you, even
if they don't see you for several seasons."

"Do they like peanuts?"

"Do they?  Just try them."

Phil ran to a snack stand at the opposite side of the tent and
bought five cents' worth of peanuts, then hurried back to the
elephants with the package.

"What are their names?"

"The big one is Emperor and the smaller one is called Jupiter,"
answered the keeper, who had already recognized his young
visitor.

"Are they ever ugly?"

"Never have been.  But you can't tell.  An elephant is liable to
go bad most any time, then you--"

"But how can you tell, or can't you?"

"Most always, unless they are naturally bad."

"How do you know?"

"See that little slit on the cheek up there?"

"Yes," said Phil, peering at the great jowls wonderingly.

"Well, several days before they get in a tantrum you will see a
few tear drops--that's what I call them--oozing from that little
slit. I don't know whether it's water on the brain or what it is.
But when you see the tear drops you want to get from under and
chain Mr. Elephant down as quickly as possible.

"That is strange."

"Very.  But it's a sure sign.  Never knew it to fail, and I've
known some elephants in my time.  But Emperor and Jupiter never
have shed a tear drop since I've known them.  They are not the
crying kind, you know."

The lad nodded understandingly.

"How about the lions and the tigers--can you tell when they are
going to have bad spells?"

"Well," reflected the showman, "it's safe to say that they've
always got a grouch on.  The cats are always--"

"Cats?"

"Yes.  All that sort of animals belong to the cat family and
they've got only one ambition in life."

"What's that?"

"To kill somebody or something."

"But their keepers--don't they become fond of their keepers or
trainers?"

The elephant tender laughed without changing the expression of
his face. His laugh was all inside of him, as Phil characterized
it.

"Not they!  They may be afraid of their keeper, but they would as
soon chew him up as anybody else--I guess they would rather, for
they've always got a bone to pick with him."

"Do any of the men go in the cages and make the animals perform
here?"

"Oh, yes.  Wallace, the big lion over there, performs every
afternoon and night.  So does the tiger in the cage next to him."

Phil had dumped the bag of peanuts into his hat, which he held
out before him while talking.  Two squirming trunks had been busy
conveying the peanuts to the pink mouths of their owners, so that
by the time Phil happened to remember what he had brought them,
there was not a nut left in the hat.

He glanced up in surprise.

"Emperor, you are a greedy old elephant," laughed Phil, patting
the trunk.

Emperor trumpeted loudly, and the call was immediately taken up
even more loudly by his companion.

"No, you can't have any more," chided Phil.  "You will have
indigestion from what you've already eaten, I'm afraid. Behave,
and I'll bring you some more tonight if I come to the show," he
laughed.

Two caressing trunks touched his hands, then traveled gently over
his cheeks.  They tickled, but Phil did not flinch.

"You could do most anything with them now, you see," nodded the
keeper.  "They'd follow you home if I would let them."

"Especially if my pockets were full of sweets."

"There's the animal trainer getting ready to go into the lion
cage, if you want to see him," the attendant informed him.

"Yes, I should like to.  And thank you very much for your
kindness."

"You're welcome.  Come around again."

The boy hurried over to the lion cage.  The people were now
crowding into the menagerie tent in throngs.  There seemed to
Phil to be thousands already there.  But all eyes now being
centered on Wallace's cage, they had no time to observe Phil, for
which he was duly thankful.

The animal trainer, clad in red tights, his breast covered with
spangles, was already at the door of the cage, whip in hand. When
a sufficient crowd had gathered about him, he opened the door,
and, entering the cage threw wide the iron grating that shut
Wallace off from the door end of the wagon.  The big lion bounded
out with a roar that caused the people to crowd back
instinctively.

Then the trainer began putting the savage beast through its
paces, causing it to leap over his whip, jump through paper
hoops, together with innumerable other tricks that caused the
spectators to open their mouths in wonder.  All the time Wallace
kept up a continual snarling, interspersed now and then with a
roar that might have been heard a quarter of a mile away.

This was a part of the exhibition, as Phil shrewdly discovered.
The boy was a natural showman, though unaware of the fact. He
noted all the little fine points of the trainer's work with as
much appreciation as if he had himself been an animal trainer.

"I half believe I should like to try that myself," was his mental
conclusion.  "But I should want to make the experiment on a very
little lion at first.  If I got out with a whole skin I might
want to tackle something bigger.  I wonder if he is going into
the tiger cage?"

As if in answer to his question, an announcer shouted out the
information that the trainer would give an exhibition in the cage
of the tiger just before the evening performance.

"I'll have to see that," muttered Phil.  "Guess I had better get
in and find my seat now."

At the same time the crowd, understanding that the lion
performance was over, began crowding into the circus tent.

The band inside swung off into a sprightly tune and Phil could
scarcely repress the inclination to keep time to it with his
feet. Altogether, things were moving pretty well with Phil
Forrest. They had done so ever since he left home the day before.
In that one day he had had more fun than had come to him in many
years.

But his happy day would soon be ended.  He sighed as he thought
of it. Then his face broke out into a sunny smile as he caught a
glimpse of the ropes and apparatus, seen dimly through the
afternoon haze, in the long circus tent.

As he gained the entrance between the two large tents he saw the
silk curtains at the far end of the circus arena fall apart,
while a troop of gayly caparisoned horses and armored riders
suddenly appeared through the opening.

The grand entry was beginning.

"Gracious, here the show has begun and I am not anywhere near my
seat," he exclaimed.  "But, if I am going to be late I won't be
alone.  There are a whole lot more of us that were too much
interested in the animal trainer to think to come in and get our
seats.  I guess I had better run.  I--"

Phil started to run, but he got no further than the start.

All at once his waist was encircled in a powerful grip and he
felt his feet leaving the ground.  Phil was being raised straight
up into the air by some strange force, the secret of which he did
not understand.



CHAPTER VIII

IN THE SAWDUST ARENA

The lad repressed an inclination to cry out, for the thing that
had encircled his waist and raised him up seemed to be tightening
about him.

A familiar voice just behind him served to calm Phil's disquieted
nerves.

"Don't be frightened, kid.  It's only Emperor having a little
joke. He's a funny fellow," said the elephant's attendant.

Phil had read somewhere that elephants possessed a keen sense of
humor, and now he was sure of it.  But he never thought he would
have an opportunity to have the theory demonstrated on himself.

The elephants were on their way to participate in the grand
entry, and there was not a minute to spare now.  Emperor on his
way into the other tent had come across his new-found friend and
recognized him instantly, while Phil had not even heard the
approach of the elephants.

No sooner had the elephant discovered the lad than he picked him
up with his trunk, slowly hoisting the boy high in the air.

"Steady, Emperor!  Steady!" cautioned the attendant.  But Emperor
needed no admonition to deal gently with his young friend. He
handled Phil with almost the gentleness of a mother lifting a
babe.

Phil Forrest experienced a thrill that ran all through him when
he realized what was taking place.

"We can't stop to put you down now, my boy.  You'll have to go
through the performance with us.  Grab the head harness when he
lets you down on his head.  You can sit on the head without
danger, but keep hold of the harness with one hand.  I'll bet
you'll make a hit."

"I will if I fall off," answered Phil a bit unsteadily.

As it was, the unusual motion made him a little giddy.

"That's a good stunt.  Stick to him, Forrest," directed a voice
as they swept on toward the ring.

The voice belonged to Mr. Sparling, the owner of the show.  He
was quick to grasp the value of Phil's predicament--that is, its
value to the show as a drawing card.

By now the people began to understand that something unusual was
going on, and they asked each other what it was all about.

"It's Phil Forrest riding the elephant," shouted one of the lad's
school friends, recognizing him all at once.  "Hooray for Phil!"

There were many of the pupils from his school there, and the
howling and shouting that greeted him made the lad's cheeks burn.
But now, instead of wanting to crawl under something and hide,
Phil felt a thrill of pleasure, of pride in the achievement that
was denied to all the rest of his friends.

The inspiring music of the circus band, too, added to his
exhilaration. He felt like throwing up his hands and shouting.

Suddenly he felt something tugging at his coat pocket, and
glancing down gave a start as he discovered the inquisitive trunk
of Emperor thrust deep down in the pocket.

When the trunk came away it brought with it a lump of sugar that
Phil did not know he possessed.  The sugar was promptly conveyed
to the elephant's mouth, the beast uttering a loud scream of
satisfaction.

"Emperor, you rascal!" laughed Phil, patting the beast on the
head.

Once more the trunk curled up in search of more sugar, but a
stern command from the trainer caused the beast to lower it
quickly. The time for play had passed.  The moment had arrived
for Emperor to do his work and he was not the animal to shirk his
act. In fact, he seemed to delight in it.  All elephants work
better when they have with them some human being or animal on
which they have centered their affections.  Sometimes it is a
little black and tan dog, sometimes a full-grown man.  In this
instance it happened to be a boy, and that boy Phil Forrest.

"Waltz!" commanded the trainer.

If Phil's head had swum before, it spun like a top now.  Round
and round pirouetted the huge beasts, keeping in perfect step
with the music of the band, and tighter and tighter did the lad
grip the head harness of old Emperor.  Phil closed his eyes after
a little because he had grown so dizzy that he feared he would
fall off.

"Hang on, kid.  It'll be Christmas by and by," comforted the
trainer humorously.

"That's what I am trying to do," answered Phil a bit unsteadily.

"How's your head?"

"Whirling like a merry-go-round."

He heard the trainer chuckling.

The spectators were shouting out Phil's name all over the big
tent.

"Fine, fine!" chuckled James Sparling, rubbing his palms
together. "That ought to fill the tent tonight."

The spectators realized, too, that they were being treated to
something not down on the bills and their shouts and laughter
grew louder and louder.

"Do you think you could stand up on his head?" came the voice of
the trainer just loud enough for Phil to hear.

"Me?  Stand on the elephant's head?"

"Yes.  Think you can do it?"

"If I had a net underneath to catch me, maybe I'd try it."

"Emperor won't let you fall.  When I give the word he'll wrap his
trunk around your legs.  That will hold you steady from the waist
down.  If you can keep the rest of yourself from lopping over
you'll be all right.  It'll make a hit--see if it don't."

"I--I'll try it."

"Wait till I give the word, then get up on all fours, but don't
straighten up till you feel the trunk about you.  We'll make a
showman of you before you know it."

"I seem to be the whole show as it is," grumbled Phil.

"You are, just now--you and Emperor.  Good thing the other
performers are not in the ring, or they would all be jealous of
you."

"I wish Uncle Abner could see me now.  Wouldn't he be mad!"
grinned Phil, as the memory of his crabbed relative came back to
him. "He'd come right out after me with his stick, he'd be so
angry.  But I guess Emperor wouldn't let him touch me," decided
the boy proudly, with an affectionate pat to which the elephant
responded with a cough that sounded not unlike the explosion of a
dynamite cartridge.

"All ready now.  Don't be afraid.  Hold each position till I give
you the word to change it."

"Ready," announced the lad.

"Emperor!  Jupiter!"

The twitching of a ponderous ear of each animal told that they
had heard and understood.

"Rise!"

Phil had scrambled to all fours.

"Hold him, Emperor!"

The great trunk curled up, ran over the boy's legs and twined
about them.

"Up you go, kid!"

Phil raised himself fearlessly, straightened and stood full upon
his feet.  That strong grip on his legs gave him confidence and
told him he had nothing to fear.  All he would have to do would
be to keep his ears open for the trainer's commands both to
himself and the beast, and he would be all right.

He felt himself going up again.

The sensation was something akin to that which Phil had once
experienced when jumping off a haystack.  He felt as if his whole
body were being tickled by straws.

The elephants were rising on their hind legs, uttering shrill
screams and mighty coughs, as if enraged over the humiliation
that was being put upon them.

It seemed to Phil as if Emperor would never stop going up until
the lad's head was against the top of the tent.  He ventured to
look down.

What a distance it was!  Phil hastily directed his glances
upward.

At last the elephant had risen as high as he could go.  He was
standing almost straight up and down, and on his head the slender
figure of the boy appeared almost unreal to those off on the
seats.

Thunders of applause swept over the assemblage.  People rose up
in their seats, the younger ones hurling hats high in the air and
uttering catcalls and shrill whistles, until pandemonium reigned
under the "big top," as the circus tent proper is called by the
showmen.

"Swing your hat at them!"

The trainer had to shout to make himself heard, and as it was
Phil caught the words as from afar off.

He took off his soft hat and waved it on high, gazing wonderingly
off over the seats.  He could distinguish nothing save a waving,
undulating mass of moving life and color.

It was intoxicating.  And Phil Forrest went suddenly dizzy again.

"I'm losing my head," rebuked the lad.  "If I don't pull myself
together I shall surely fall off.  Then they will have something
to laugh at rather than to applaud."

He took himself firmly in hand.  But the applause did not abate
one whit.

"Watch out, we're going down," warned the trainer.

"Right!"

The elephant trainer's command came out like the crack of a
ringmaster's whip.

Slowly the great beasts lowered themselves toward the sawdust
ring.

"Stoop over and grab the harness!"

Phil did so.

"Sit!  Let go, Emperor!"

The trunk was released instantly and Phil plumped to the beast's
head once more, amid the wildest applause.

The band swung into another tune, which was the signal for the
next act to be brought on.  At the same time the ringmaster blew
a shrill blast on his whistle.

The trainer left the ring with his charges by an exit that he
seldom departed through.  But he did so in order to leave Phil
near the place where his seats were, first having ascertained
where these were located.

"Put him down, Emperor!  Down, I say!"

Emperor reached up an unwilling trunk, grasped Phil about the
waist and stood him on the ground.  At the trainer's command the
beast released his hold of his friend and as the hook was gently
pressed against his side to hurry him, Emperor started
reluctantly away.

Phil, with flushed face, a happy look in his eyes, had turned to
run up the aisle to his seats, when, with a loud trumpeting,
Emperor wheeled, and breaking away from his trainer, swept down
toward the spot where he had left Phil Forrest.

The movement almost threw those in that section into a panic.
Women screamed, believing the animal had suddenly gone crazy,
while men sprang to their feet.

Phil had turned at the first alarm, and, observing what was
taking place, with rare presence of mind trotted down to the
arena again.

He reached there about the same time that Emperor did.

With a shrill scream Emperor threw his long trunk about the lad,
and before Phil had time to catch his breath, he had been hurled
to the elephant's back.

Uttering loud trumpetings the great elephant started on a swift
shamble for his quarters, giving not the slightest heed to his
trainer's commands to halt.



CHAPTER IX

GETTING HIS FIRST CALL

"Let him go.  Emperor won't hurt me," laughed Phil as soon as he
could get his breath, for he was moving along at a pace which
would have meant a tumble to the ground had the elephant not
supported the lad with its trunk.

The audience soon seeing that no harm had come to the boy, set up
another roar, which was still loud in Phil's ears when Emperor
set his burden down after reaching the elephant quarters in the
menagerie tent.

"You're a bad boy.  Get down, sir, and let me off," chided Phil.

The elephant, to his surprise, cautiously let himself down to his
knees, his trunk at the same time reaching out surreptitiously
for a wisp of fresh grass.

Phil slipped off, laughing heartily.  He had lost all fear of the
great, hulking beast.

"Don't punish him, please," begged the boy when the keeper came
hurrying along with Jupiter.  "But if you will make him let me
alone, I'll go in the other tent.  I want to see the circus."

"Wait a moment.  I'll chain him up."

The keeper soon had Emperor fast.  Then after a final
affectionate petting Phil ran lightly to the other tent and
quickly made his way to his seat.  The people were so engrossed
in the acts in the ring that they did not observe the boy
particularly this time.

"Did I make a show of myself, Mrs. Cahill?" questioned the lad,
with sparkling eyes.

"You did not.  You were as handsome as a picture.  There isn't
one of all those people that looks so handsome or so manly as--"

"Please, please, Mrs. Cahill!" begged the lad, blushing
violently. "Have you seen anything of my friend Teddy?  I had
forgotten all about him."

"That looks like him down there."

"Where?"

"There, leaning against that pole," she pointed.

Phil gazed in the direction indicated, and there, sure enough,
was Teddy Tucker leaning carelessly against the center pole.  He
had no right to be there, as Phil well knew, and he watched with
amused interest for the moment when the other boy's presence
would be discovered.

It came shortly afterwards.  All at once the ringmaster fixed a
cold eye on Teddy.

"Hey, you!"

Teddy gave no heed to him.

"Get out of there!  Think you own this show?"

The lad made believe that he did not hear.

The ringmaster's long whip lash curled through the air, going off
with a crack that sounded as if a pistol had been fired, and
within an inch of Teddy's nose.

Teddy sprang back, slapping a hand to his face, believing that he
had been hit.  Then there followed a series of disconcerting
snaps all around his head as the long lash began to work, but so
skillfully was it wielded that the end of it did not touch him.

But Teddy had had enough.  He turned and ran for the seats.

"Come up here," cried Phil, laughing immoderately.  "Here's a
seat right beside us and there won't be any ringmaster to bother
you."

Considerably crestfallen, the lad climbed up to where Phil and
Mrs. Cahill were sitting.

"You mustn't go down there, you know, Teddy.  They don't allow
outsiders in the ring while the performance is going on. Someone
might get hurt--"

"They let you in," bristled Teddy.

"That was different.  They couldn't help themselves, and neither
could I.  Emperor took me in whether I would or not; and, in
fact, I didn't know I was going till I was halfway there."

Phil's companion surveyed him with admiration.

"My, but you did cut a figure up on that elephant's head!  I
should have been afraid."

"There was nothing to be afraid of.  But let's watch the
performance. There's a trapeze act going on now."

For a few moments the lads watched the graceful bodies of the
performers slipping through the air.  One would swing out from
his perch, flying straight into the arms of his fellow-performer
who was hanging head down from another swinging bar.  On the
return sweep the first performer would catch his own bar and
return to his perch.

"Looks easy.  I'll bet I could do that," nodded Teddy.

Phil shook his head.

"Not so easy as it looks."

"How much do you suppose they get--think they must get as much as
a dollar and a half a day for doing that?  I'd do it for a
dollar, if I could," averred the irrepressible Teddy Tucker.

"They get a good many more dollars than that, Teddy.  I've heard
that some of them get all of twenty-five or thirty dollars a
week."

Phil's companion whistled.

The next act was a bareback riding exhibition, by a pretty,
graceful young woman whom the ringmaster introduced as
Mademoiselle Mora.

At the crack of the whip she sprang lightly to the back of the
gray old ring horse and began a series of feats that made the
boys sit forward in their seats.

At the conclusion of the act Mademoiselle Mora ran out to the
edge of the ring, and blowing a kiss at the blushing Phil,
tripped away on fairy feet for the dressing tent.

"Did you see her?  She bowed to me?" exclaimed Teddy
enthusiastically.

"Guess she didn't see you at all, young man," replied Mrs. Cahill
dryly.  "There's others in the tent besides you, even if the
ringmaster did crack his whip in your face and just miss your
nose."

A clown came out and sang a song about a boy who had rescued a
beautiful young woman from a runaway horse and got kidnaped by an
elephant.  The song made a hit, for most of the audience
understood that it referred to Phil Forrest.

And so the performance went on, with a glitter and a crash, a
haze of yellow dust hanging like a golden cloud in the afternoon
sun, over spectators and performers alike.

"Hello, there's Rod!" exclaimed Teddy.

"Who?"

"Rod.  The red-haired kid we saw this morning, only his hair is
black now.  He's covered up his own looks so he won't set the
tent on fire."

"Oh, you mean Rodney Palmer?  Yes, I guess that is he."

"See, they're pulling him up on a rope.  I wonder where he is
going?"

"To those flying rings," explained Phil.  "And there is a young
woman going up, too."

One after another was pulled up, until a troupe of four had
ascended and swung off to the rings that were suspended far up
there in the haze.

Both Phil and Teddy were more than ordinarily interested in this
act, for they were no mean performers on the rings themselves. In
the schoolyard an apparatus had been rigged with flying rings,
and on this the boys had practiced untiringly during the spring
months, until they had both become quite proficient.

"Isn't he great?" breathed Teddy, as Rodney Palmer swung out into
the air, letting his legs slip through the rings until only his
toes were hanging to the slender support.

"Yes; he certainly does do it fine."

"We can do it just as well."

"Perhaps, but not so gracefully."

"See, he's swinging his hand at us."

Sure enough, Rodney had picked out the two lads, and was smiling
at them and waving a hand in their direction.  The two lads felt
very proud of this, knowing as they did that they were the envy
of every boy of their acquaintance within sight of them.

The climax of the act was when the young woman seemed to plunge
straight down toward the ground.

The women in the audience uttered sharp little cries of alarm.
But the performer was not falling.  Strong slender ropes had been
fastened to her heels, the other ends being held by one of the
performers who was hanging from the rings.

As a result the falling girl's flight was checked just before she
reached the ground and the spectators breathed a sigh of profound
relief.

"My, that was great!  I wouldn't want to do that."

"No, you're too heavy, Teddy.  That's why they have a girl do it.
She is slender and light--"

"I'd be light headed."

"Guess, I would, too," laughed Phil.

At this juncture an attendant came running up the steps, halting
before the lads.

"Are you Phil Forrest?" he asked.

"Yes."

"The boss wants to see you."

"Mr. Sparling?  All right.  I wanted to see the rest of the show,
but I'll go."  Phil rose reluctantly and followed the guide.
"I'll meet you by the ticket wagon if I don't get back here,
Teddy," he said.



CHAPTER X

PHIL GETS A SURPRISE

"Where will I find Mr. Sparling?"

"In the doghouse."

"Where's that?"

"Out back of the ticket wagon.  It's a little A tent, and we call
it the boss's doghouse, because it's only big enough to hold a
couple of St. Bernards."

"Oh!  What does he want of me?"

"Ask him," grinned the attendant, who, it developed, was an usher
in the reserved-seat section.  "He don't tell us fellows his
business. Say, that was a great stunt you did with Emperor."

"Oh, I don't know."

"I do.  There's the doghouse over there.  See it?"

"Yes, thank you."

The attendant leaving him, Phil walked on alone to Mr. Sparling's
private office, for such was the use to which he put the little
tent that the usher had called the "doghouse."

"I wonder what he can want of me?" mused Phil.  "Probably he
wants to thank me for stopping that pony.  I hope he doesn't.  I
don't like to be thanked.  And it wasn't much of anything that I
did anyway.  Maybe he's going to--but what's the use of
guessing?"

The lad stepped up to the tent, the flaps of which were closed.
He stretched out his hand to knock, then grinned sheepishly.

"I forgot you couldn't knock at a tent door.  I wonder how
visitors announce themselves, anyway."

His toe, at that moment, chanced to touch the tent pole and that
gave him an idea.  Phil tapped against the pole with his foot.

"Come in!" bellowed the voice of the owner of the show.

Phil entered, hat in hand.  At the moment the owner was busily
engaged with a pile of bills for merchandise recently purchased
at the local stores, and he neither looked up nor spoke.

Phil stood quietly waiting, noting amusedly the stern scowl that
appeared to be part of Mr. Sparling's natural expression.

"Well, what do you want?" he demanded, with disconcerting
suddenness.

"I--I was told that you had sent for me, that you wanted to see
me," began the lad, with a show of diffidence.

"So I did, so I did."

The showman hitched his camp chair about so he could get a better
look at his visitor.  He studied Phil from head to foot with his
usual scowl.

"Sit down!"

"On the ground, sir?"

"Ground?  No, of course not.  Where's that chair?  Oh, my lazy
tent man didn't open it.  I'll fire him the first place we get to
where he won't be likely to starve to death.  I hear you've been
trying to put my show out of business."

"I wasn't aware of it, sir," replied Phil, looking squarely at
his questioner.  "Perhaps I was not wholly blameless in attaching
myself to Emperor."

"Huh!" grunted Mr. Sparling, but whether or not it was a grunt of
disapproval, Phil could not determine.

"So you're not living at home?"

"I have no home now, sir."

"Just so, just so.  Brought up in refined surroundings, parents
dead, crabbed old uncle turned you out of doors for reasons best
known to himself--"

Phil was amazed.

"You seem to know all about me, sir."

"Of course.  It's my business to know something about everything.
I ought to thank you for getting Mrs. Sparling out of that mix-up
this morning, but I'll let her do that for herself.  She wants to
see you after the performance."

"I don't like to be thanked, Mr. Sparling, though I should like
to know Mrs. Sparling," said Phil boldly.

"Neither do I, neither do I.  Emperor has gone daffy over you.
What did you feed him?"

"Some sugar and peanuts.  That was all."

"Huh!  You ought to be a showman."

"I have always wanted to be, Mr. Sparling."

"Oh, you have, eh?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well, why don't you?"

"I have never had the opportunity."

"You mean you've never looked for an opportunity.  There are
always opportunities for everything, but we have to go after
them. You've been going after them today for the first time, and
you've nailed one of them clear up to the splice of the center
pole. Understand?"

"Not entirely, sir."

"Well, do you want to join out with the Great Sparling Combined
Shows, or don't you?"

"You mean--I join the--the--"

Mr. Sparling was observing him narrowly.

"I said, would you like to join our show?"

"I should like it better than anything else in the world."

"Sign this contract, then," snapped the showman, thrusting a
paper toward Phil Forrest, at the same time dipping a pen in the
ink bottle and handing it to him.

"You will allow me to read it first, will you not?"

"Good!  That's the way I like to hear a boy talk.  Shows he's got
some sense besides what he's learned in books at some--well,
never mind."

"What--what is this, ten dollars a week?" gasped Phil, scarcely
able to believe his eyes as he looked at the paper.

"That's what the contract says, doesn't it?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then, that's what it is.  Traveling expenses and feed included.
You are an easy keeper?"

"Well, I don't eat quite as much as a horse, if that's what you
mean," laughed Phil.

"Huh!"

After reading the contract through, the lad affixed his signature
to it with trembling hand.  It was almost too good to be true.

"Thank you, sir," he said, laying the paper before Mr. Sparling.

"And now, my lad," added the showman more mildly, "let me give
you some advice.  Some folks look upon circus people as rough and
intemperate.  That day's past.  When a man gets bad habits he's
of no further use in the circus business.  He closes mighty
quick.  Remember that."

"Yes, sir.  You need not worry about my getting into any such
trouble."

"I don't, or I wouldn't take you.  And another thing: Don't get
it into your head, as a good many show people do, that you know
more about running the business than the boss does.  He might not
agree with you.  It's a bad thing to disagree with the boss, eh?"

"I understand, sir."

"You'd better."

"What do you want me to do?  I don't know what I can do to earn
that salary, but I am willing to work at whatever you may put me
to--"

"That's the talk.  I was waiting for you to come to that.  But
leave the matter to me.  You'll have a lot of things to do, after
you get your bearings and I find out what you can do best.  As it
is, you have earned your salary for the first season whether you
do anything else or not.  You saved the big cat and you probably
saved my wife's life, but we'll let that pass.  When can you join
out?"

"I'm ready now, sir.  I shall want to go home and get my things
and my books."

"Huh!  That's right.  Take your time.  We shan't be pulling out
of here till after midnight, so you'd better go home and get
ready. You'll want to bid good-bye to Mrs. Ca--Ca--Cahill."

"I wonder if there is anything that he doesn't know about,"
marveled Phil.

"Anything you want to ask me about--any favor you'd like? If
there is, get it out."

"Well, yes, there is, but I scarcely feel like asking it, you
have been so kind to me."

"Shucks!"

"I--I have a little friend, who--who, like myself, has no parents
and is crazy over the circus.  He wants to be a circus man just
as much as I do.  If you had a place--if you could find something
for him to do, I should appreciate it very much."

"Who is he, that youngster with the clown face, who crawled in
under the tent this afternoon?"

Phil laughed outright.

"I presume so.  That's the way he usually gets in."

"Where is he now?"

"Seeing the performance, sir."

"Nail him when he comes out.  We'll give him all the show he
wants."

With profuse thanks Phil Forrest backed from the tent and walked
rapidly toward the entrance.  It seemed to him as if he were
walking on air.

"Let that boy through.  He's with the show now," bellowed Mr.
Sparling, poking his head from the doghouse tent.

The gateman nodded.

"How soon will the performance be over?" inquired Phil,
approaching the gateman.

"Ten minutes now."

"Then, I guess I won't go in.  I promised to meet Teddy over by
the ticket wagon anyway."

But Phil could not stand still.  Thrusting his hands in his
pockets he began pacing back and forth, pondering deeply.  He did
not observe the shrewd eyes of Mr. Sparling fixed upon him from
behind the flap of the little tent.

"At last, at last!" mused Phil.  "I'm a real live showman at
last, but what kind of a showman I don't know.  Probably they'll
make me help put up the tents and take them down.  But, I don't
care. I'll do anything.  And think of the money I'll earn.  Ten
dollars a week!" he exclaimed, pausing and glancing up at the
fluttering flags waving from center and quarter poles.  "Why,
it's a fortune! I shall be able to save most all of it, too.  Oh,
I'm so happy!"

"They're coming out," called the gateman to him.

"Thank you."

Phil's face was full of repressed excitement when Teddy came
slouching up to him.

"Bully show," announced the lad.  "Didn't know which way to look,
there was so much to be seen."

"How would you like to join the show and be a real circus man?"
demanded Phil.

"Great!"

"Maybe I can fix it for you."

"You?"

"Yes."

"Don't give me such a shock, Phil.  You said it almost as if you
meant it."

"And I did."

Teddy gazed at his companion for a full minute.

"Something's been going on, I guess--something that I don't seem
to know anything about."

"There has, Teddy.  I'm already a showman.  You come with me. Mr.
Sparling wants to speak with you.  Don't be afraid of him. He
talks as if he was mad all the time, but I'm sure he isn't."

Grasping Teddy by the arm Phil rushed him into Mr. Sparling's
tent, entering this time without knocking.

"This is my friend whom I spoke to you about," announced Phil,
thrusting Teddy up before the showman.

Mr. Sparling eyed the lad suspiciously.

"Want to join out, too, eh?"

"I--I'd like to," stammered Teddy.

"Do your parents approve of your going with a show?"

"I--I don't know, sir."

"You'd better find out, then.  Ask them mighty quick.  This is no
camp meeting outfit that plays week stands."

"Can't."

"Why not?"

" 'Cause they're dead."

"Huh!  Why didn't you say so before?"

"You didn't ask me."

"You're too smart, young man."

"Takes a smart man to be a circus man, doesn't it?"

"I guess you're right at that," answered the showman, his stern
features relaxing into a smile.  "You'll do.  But you'd better
not hand out that line of sharp talk in bunches when you get with
the show.  It might get you into trouble if you did."

"Yes, sir; I'll be good."

"Now, you boys had better run along and make your preparations.
You may take your supper in the cook tent tonight if you wish.
But you will have to be on hand promptly, as they take down the
cook tent first of all."

"Thank you; we will," answered Phil.

"What act--what do I perform?" questioned Teddy, swelling with
pride.

"Perform?"

"Yes."

"Ho, ho, ho!"

"I'm going to be a performer and wear pink pants, ain't I?"

"A performer?  Oh, that's too good.  Yes, my son, you shall be a
performer.  How would you like to be a juggler?"

"Fine!"

"Then, I think I'll let you juggle the big coffeepot in the cook
tent for the edification of the hungry roustabouts," grinned Mr.
Sparling.

"What do I do?"

"Do, young man--do?"

"Yes, sir."

"Why, you stand by the coffee boiler in the cook tent, and when
you hear a waiter bawl 'Draw one,' at the same time throwing a
pitcher at you from halfway across the tent, you catch the
pitcher and have it filled and ready for him by the time he gets
to you."

"Do I throw the pitcherful of coffee back at him?" questioned
Teddy innocently.

"You might, but you wouldn't be apt to try it a second time.
You'd be likely to get a resounding slap from the flat of his
hand--"

"I'd hit him on the nose if he did," declared Teddy
belligerently.

Mr. Sparling could not resist laughing.

"That's not the way to begin.  But you will learn.  Follow your
friend Phil, here, and you will be all right if I am any judge of
boys.  I ought to be, for I have boys of my own.  You'd better be
going now."

The two lads started off at a brisk pace.  Phil to tell Mrs.
Cahill of his good fortune.  Teddy to bid good-bye to the people
with whom he had been living as chore boy.



CHAPTER XI

THE FIRST NIGHT WITH THE SHOW

"Teddy, you and I are a pair of lucky boys.  Do you know it?"
asked Phil.

Each, with his bag of belongings, was on his way to the circus
lot, the boys having bid good-bye to their friends in the
village.

The people with whom Teddy lived had given a reluctant consent to
his going with the circus, after he had explained that Phil
Forrest had gotten him the place and that Phil himself was going
to join the show.  The lad told them he was going to make a lot
of money and that someday he would pay them for all they had done
for him. And he kept his word faithfully.

"Maybe.  I reckon Barnum & Bailey will be wanting us first thing
we know," answered Teddy.

"We shall be lucky if we hold on to the job we have al