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 circuslot, the boys having bid good-bye to their friends in thevillage.
The people with whom Teddy lived had given a reluctant consent tohis going with the circus, after he had explained that PhilForrest had gotten him the place and that Phil himself was goingto join the show. The lad told them he was going to make a lotof money and that someday he would pay them for all they had donefor him. And he kept his word faithfully.
"Maybe. I reckon Barnum & Bailey will be wanting us first thingwe know," answered Teddy.
"We shall be lucky if we hold on to the job we have already. DidMr. Sparling say what he would pay you?"
"No, he didn't think of that--at least I didn't. Did he tell youhow much you were going to get?"
Phil nodded.
"How much?"
"I don't think I had better say," answered the lad doubtfully."If you ask him and he tells you, of course that will be allright. I shall be glad to do so then. It isn't that I don't wantyou to know, you understand, but it might be better business,just now, to say nothing about it," added Phil, with a wisdom farbeyond his years.
"Dark secret, eh?" jeered Teddy Tucker.
"No; there's no secret about it. It is just plain business,that's all."
"Business! Huh! Who ever heard of a circus being business?"
"You'll find business enough when you get in, Teddy Tucker."
"Don't believe it. It's just good fun and that's all."
They had reached the circus lot by this time and were now makingtheir way to Mr. Sparling's tent.
"We have come to report, sir," announced Phil, entering the tentwith Teddy close behind him. "We are ready for work."
There was a proud ring in Phil Forrest's voice as he made theannouncement.
"Very well, boys. Hand your baggage over to the man at thebaggage wagon. If there is anything in either of your grips thatyou will want during the night you had better get it out, for youwill be unable to get into the wagon after the show is on theroad. That's one of the early wagons to move, too."
"I guess there is nothing except our tooth brushes and combs thatwe shall need. We have those in our pockets."
"Better take a couple of towels along as well."
"Yes, sir; thank you."
"The cook tent is open. Go over and have your suppers now. Waita moment, I'll go with you. They might not let you in. You see,they don't know you there yet."
Mr. Sparling, after closing and locking his trunk, escorted thelads to the cook tent, where he introduced both to the manager ofthat department.
"Give them seats at the performers' table for tonight," hedirected. "They will be with the show from now on. Mr. Forresthere will remain at that table, but the other, the Tucker boy, Ishall probably turn over to you for a coffee boy."
The manager nodded good naturedly, taking quick mental measure ofthe two lads.
The boys were directed to their seats, which they took, almost asif in a dream. It was a new and unfamiliar experience to them.The odor of the food, the sweet scents from the green grassunderneath their feet, all so familiar to the showman, gave Philand Teddy appetites that even a canvasman might have envied.
The performers glanced at them curiously, some of the formernodding to Phil, having recognized in him the boy who had riddenthe elephant into the arena in the grand entry.
"Not so much after all, are they?" grunted Teddy.
"They are all human beings like ourselves, I guess," repliedPhil.
Stripped of their gaudy costumes and paint, the performers lookedjust like other normal beings. But instead of talking about theshow and their work, they were discussing the news of the day,and it seemed to the two lads to be more like a large family atsupper than a crowd of circus performers.
Rodney Palmer nodded good naturedly to them from further up thelong table, but they had no more than time to nod back when awaiter approached to take their orders. Teddy ordered prettymuch everything on the bill, while Phil was more modest in hisdemands.
"Don't eat everything they have," he warned laughingly.
"Plenty more where this came from. That's one good thing about ashow."
"What's that?"
"If the food gives out they can eat the animals."
"Better look out that the animals don't make a meal of you."
"Joining out?" asked the man sitting next to Phil.
"Yes, sir."
"Ring act?"
"I don't know yet what I am to do. Mr. Sparling is giving me achance to find out what I am good for, if anything," smiled Phil.
"Boss is all right," nodded the circus man. "That was a goodstunt you did this afternoon. Why don't you work that up?"
"I--I'll think about it." Phil did not know exactly what wasmeant by the expression, but it set him to thinking, and out ofthe suggestion he was destined to "work up" something that wasreally worthwhile, and that was to give him his first real startin the circus world.
"What's that funny-looking fellow over there doing?" interruptedTeddy.
"That man down near the end of the table?"
"Yes."
"That's Billy Thorpe, the Armless Wonder," the performer informedhim.
"And he hasn't any hands?" wondered the boy.
"Naturally not, not having any arms. He uses his feet forhands."
"What's he doing now?"
"Eating with his feet. He can use them almost as handily as youcan your hands. You should see Billy sew, and write and do otherthings. Why, they say he writes the best foot of anybody in theshow."
"Doesn't he ever get cold feet?" questioned Teddy humorously.
"Circus people are not afflicted with that ailment. Doesn't gowell with their business."
"May I ask what you do?" inquired Phil.
"I am the catcher in the principal trapeze act. You may haveseen me today. I think you were in the big top then."
"Oh, yes, I saw you this afternoon."
"How many people are with the show?" asked Teddy.
"At a rough guess, I should say a hundred and fifty includingcanvasmen and other labor help. It's a pretty big organizationfor a road show, the biggest in the country; but it's small, sosmall it would be lost if one of the big railroad shows wasaround."
"Is that another armless or footless wonder next to BillyThorpe?" asked Teddy.
"It's a freak, yes, but with hands and feet. That's the livingskeleton, but if he keeps on eating the way he's been doinglately the boss will have to change the bills and bill him as thefattest man on earth."
"Huh!" grunted Teddy. "He could crawl through a rat hole in abarn door now. He's thin enough to cut cheese with."
Phil gave his companion a vigorous nudge under the table.
"You'll get into trouble if you are so free in expressing youropinions," he whispered. "Don't forget the advice Mr. Sparlinggave you."
"Apple or custard pie?" broke in the voice of the waiter.
"Custard," answered Phil.
"Both for mine," added Teddy.
He got what he had ordered and without the least question, forthe Sparling show believed that the best way to make its peoplecontented was to feed them.
Mr. Sparling and his assistants, Phil observed, occupied a tableby themselves. After he had finished the owner motioned to himto join them, and there Mrs. Sparling made a place for him by herside and thanked him briefly but warmly for his brave act.
"I shall have to keep an eye on you two boys," she smiled. "Anytime I can help you with advice or otherwise you come right tome. Don't you be backward about doing so, will you?"
Phil assured her that he would not.
The two lads after some further conversation strolled from thecook tent.
"I think I'll go in and see how the animals are getting along,"decided Phil, beginning to re
alize that he was free to go wherehe would and without fear of being ordered off.
Already people were gathering in front of the entrance for thenight performance. The doors were advertised to open at seveno'clock, so that the spectators might have plenty of time inwhich to view the collection of "rare and wonderful beasts,gathered from the remote places of the earth," as the announcerproclaimed from the vantage point of a dry goods box.
Phil bought a bag of peanuts and took them in to his friendEmperor, the beast uttering a shrill cry of joy when he saw Philapproaching.
"I'll try to teach him my whistle," said the boy, puckering hislips and giving the signal that the boys of his school used insummoning each other.
"Think he'll remember that, Mr. Kennedy?" he asked of thetrainer.
"Never forget it, will you, Emperor?"
The elephant coughed.
"Never forgets anything. Knows more than any man in the shownow, because he has lived longer."
"How old is he?"
"Close to a hundred."
"You don't say?" marveled Teddy. "Hope I'll be able to squeal asloud as that when I'm a hundred. Has he got a hole through histrunk?"
"Not that anybody knows of."
"Come on; I want to see the fellow tame the tiger. I missed thattoday, because he didn't do it at the afternoon show."
They found Mr. Sparling standing in front of the cage. He, too,was there to watch the performance.
"This looks to me like ready money," he observed to Phil, noddinghis head toward the people who were crowding into the tent.
"Mr. Forrest, will you ride Emperor in again tonight? I thinkthat's one of the reasons they have come here," said the showman,shrewdly grasping the least thing that would tend to popularizehis show.
"Certainly, sir. I shall enjoy it very much."
They now turned their attention to the cage where the trainer hadbegun with the savage tiger.
"Bengal is in an ugly temper about something tonight," announcedMr. Sparling in a low tone. "Better be careful, Bob," hecautioned, after having stepped up close to the cage.
"I'll take care of him," answered the trainer, without taking hiseyes from the beast for the fraction of a second.
Phil had heard the dialogue and now drew closer to the cage,stepping under the rope and joining Mr. Sparling.
Teddy, of course, not to be left behind, crawled under the ropealso.
"Sit down in front," shouted someone. "We can't see the animalsplay."
In a moment the spectators saw a play that was not down on thebills.
Bob was swinging the whip over Bengal's nose, the cruel lashcutting the tender snout with every blow. But he was not doingit from sheer cruelty, as many of the spectators who raised theirvoices in loud protest imagined.
Not understanding wild animals as the trainer did, they did notrealize that this plucky fellow was fighting for his life, eventhough he used but a slender rawhide in his effort to do so.
Bengal was crowding him. The least mistake on the trainer's partnow and the savage tiger would put a quick and terrible end tohim.
"Stand back, everybody! Bring the prods!" bellowed Mr. Sparling.
Phil understood that something was wrong, though he never wouldhave guessed it from the calm expression on the trainer's face.
Not a word did the performer speak, but his hand rained blows onthe nose, while snarl after snarl was spit from between Bengal'sgleaming teeth.
The trainer was edging slowly toward the door. He knew thatnothing could be done with the beast in its present state ofterrible temper.
His only hope was that at a favorable moment, when the attendantscame with their long, iron bars, he might be able to spring fromthe door at his back, which he was trying to reach.
Phil's mind was working like an automatic machine. He saw nowwhat the trainer was attempting to do, and was seeking for somemeans of helping the man. But what could a slender boy hope todo against the power of a great, savage brute like Bengal?
Phil concluded there was nothing.
A pistol flashed almost in the face of the two lads. Mr.Sparling had started away on a run to fetch the attendants whoeither had not heard or failed to heed his call.
"What did he do that f-f-for?" stammered Teddy.
"To drive the tiger back. It was a blank cartridge that hefired. I think the tiger is going to attack him. Yes, there hegoes! Oh, that's _terrible!_"
The trainer had been forced against the bars at the back of thecage by the animal, whose length was more than the width of thecage itself.
In an unsuspected moment the beast had sprung upon theunfortunate man, and with one sweep of his powerful paw had laidthe man low.
With a growl of savage joy, the brute settled back against thebars of the cage near which the lads were standing.
Women shrieked and men grew pale as they stood helpless to doaught to avert the impending tragedy.
Teddy slipped out from under the rope, his face ashen gray. ButPhil stood his ground. He felt that he _must_ do something.
Then his opportunity came. The beast's great silken tail poppedout through the bars against which he was backing.
Phil Forrest, without an instant's thought of the danger intowhich he was placing himself, sprang forward.
His hands closed over the tail, which he twisted about his rightarm in a flash, at the same time throwing up his feet and bracingthem against a wheel of the wagon.
No sooner had he done so than Bengal, uttering a frightful roar,whirled. The force of the jerk as the brute turned hurled PhilForrest against the bars of the cage with a crash, and Bengal'ssharp-clawed feet made a vicious sweep for the body of the ladpressed so tightly against the bars.
The Circus Boys on the Flying Rings; Or, Making the Start in the Sawdust Life Page 12