CHAPTER IV
THE PERIL OF THE CIRCUS
Mrs. Howells pressed the boys to remain for supper, saying they wouldfind it much more pleasant to eat in the house than to cook by theroadside somewhere. It had got quite dark at this time, and so theydecided to accept the invitation so cordially given.
The fine meal was soon served, and as they ate, Garry told of some oftheir adventures with Jean LeBlanc, in order to explain why they were sostartled when that name was first mentioned by Howells.
Supper over they talked for some time and then Garry proposed to hischums that they get their packs and journey on for a bit till they couldfind a place to throw their blankets for the night.
The Howells protested vigorously at this, but could offer them nothingas their cottage was not large enough to accommodate them.
The boys laughed and said they were so used to sleeping in the open thatit would never hurt them. "If you are bound to sleep outdoors you canuse the back yard or you can spread your blankets on the living roomfloor," said Howells. "One can take the couch there. You'll have to tossfor it, though."
After much pressure the boys decided to do this, and accordinglygoodnights were said. It was a custom of the boys to draw lots to settleall arguments, so hustling into the kitchen Garry raided the broom ofthree straws of unequal length and then brought them back for his chumsto draw.
Dick was the lucky chap to get the couch. With a grin he spread hisblankets and remarked to the others that he hoped the floor would not betoo hard.
"What's the diff?" inquired Phil. "There isn't much difference betweenthe ground and a floor and we aren't in the woods so we can't cutbranches to make one of nature's mattresses with. Stop your chatter. I'moff to sleep," and indeed he was in a few moments.
To Garry however, sleep did not come so easily for he was thinking ofthe events of the evening, and wondering what he and his chums could doto checkmate the schemes of the unknown enemies that were causing allthe trouble at the lumber camp. But Garry was a healthy growing boy, andnot to be denied his sleep, so soon he consigned the cares of the day tooblivion and in a few moments was fast asleep.
Howells was up before the boys, and started the coffee, and in a fewmoments his wife was downstairs and busying herself about the breakfast.They let the boys sleep until it was almost ready, then awoke them. Theboys protested against all the trouble they were causing their hosts,but their protests were only half hearted for the smell of the boilingcoffee and the frying bacon were so tempting that it would have taken ateam of horses to drive them away without eating.
Breakfast over, they took their leave, first inquiring about the waythat lay ahead. They found that they would go nearly twenty-five milesbefore coming to another town, as the way ran through the last of thefarming country before striking the edge of the big timber country.
"The camp is ten miles or so beyond the village that you will come to,and it will take you at least a day to get to the village, so you willnot reach the camp until nearly noon of tomorrow. There's a good chancethat you will get a lift, however, for there is a circus there today,and you should find a great many people on the road. Don't be bashfulabout hailing them and asking for a lift. It is a customary thing to doin this part of the country. I will see you in a couple of days, as Iwill go back on duty at the camp then," said Howells.
"Just one thing if you don't mind," interposed Garry. "When you come tothe camp, do not let on that you are already acquainted with us, becauseif we are to work together we can do a lot better if there is no inklingof our acquaintance."
"That's a good idea, and that way it'll be," agreed Howells.
"What say, let's take this in a hurry and see how many miles we cancover this morning," suggested Dick.
The others stopped short in their tracks.
"Listen, Phil, unstrap your canteen while I feel his pulse. There'ssomething the matter with Dick. He wants to hurry. If it was later inthe day I would say that he had been a bit touched by the sun, but it isearly and cool, and I think he is just sick," said Garry solicitously.
"Lazy Dick wants to hurry!" ejaculated Phil in amazement. "What's thebig idea?"
Dick turned red and lunged at his chums. He was used to their ragginghim on account of his willingness to take the easiest way of doingthings. Of course they knew that he never shirked his duty when calledupon, and they never questioned his bravery at any time, but he alwaysgot so fussed when they ragged him about his weight and his easy way oftaking life, that they never let an opportunity pass to tease him aboutit. After a short scuffle, they stopped laughing and Garry said:
"Seriously, Dick, why do you want to hurry? We are well up on ourschedule and you don't need to rush like mad."
"I just wanted to see what we could do if we had to," said Dick; "andfurthermore, I wanted to show you for once that I could walk as fast andas long as either of you chaps, that's all. Let's go."
Dick set off at a swinging pace, and kept it up. The boys fell in andkept pace with him, thinking that he would soon tire of it; but whenthey had covered three miles, and Dick had not abated a whit his speed,Garry and Phil saw that he was in earnest. Not to be outdone by him,they bent to their walking and made excellent time. They were passing abarn, when suddenly Garry stopped dead short, gave a shout and then fellto laughter with all his might. This time it was Dick's turn to assume asarcastic attitude, and make side remarks to Phil. Finally when Garryhad controlled his laughter so that he could speak, he said to Phil:
"What do you think of me for a regular little Sherlock Holmes? I'vefound out why Dick is trying to set a pedestrian record this morning.Just look at that barn!"
Phil took one look at the glaring posters pasted on the wall, then gavea shout.
"Aha, the boy wants to go to the circus!"
"Marvelous," grunted Dick. "Own up, wouldn't you fellows like to see ityourself?"
The boys teased him for a few minutes, then they perceived that therewas method in Dick's madness and they decided that it would be good funto see the circus if they could get there on time.
"Only reason I wanted you chaps to hurry a little was because I figuredthat if we covered a good number of miles we would get to a point wherepeople would be on the way to the circus and we could get a lift andarrive in time to see the show this afternoon. Then we could get anotherstart right after it let out, and so fix it as to arrive at the campfairly early in the morning, covering our last ten miles while it wasearly and cool," he explained.
"That's pretty good dope at that, Dick. Let's go. We'll see the circusand not waste any time doing it, either." And Garry set the pace as hefinished talking.
They stopped at noon and prepared a hasty lunch by the side of the road,after Dick had stopped at a farm house and had his canteen filled withfresh milk.
By this time scores of automobiles and teams were on the road, butpractically every one of them was filled to overflowing with adults andchildren, all presumably bound for the circus. Finishing their meal,they rested fifteen minutes, then Garry, glancing at his watch,remarked: "We have still ten miles to go, and it is now half-pasttwelve. The circus probably begins at half-past two, so that unless weget a ride we won't get there in time to see the show. We couldn't coverthe ten miles in two hours, especially after having come as far as wehave this morning."
"I'm going to see that circus, though, even if we have to wait for theevening performance," announced Dick. "What do you fellows think?"
"I guess it would be all right," answered Garry. "There is no life ordeath matter to make us arrive early in the morning at the camp, so wemight as well take it easy for the rest of the way." Luck was with them,however, for they had gone little more than a mile when they heard a carcoming behind them. It proved to contain only a single occupant who, ashe neared the boys, slowed down and asked if they did not want a ride.They were unanimous in their answer.
"On the way to the circus?" asked the driver.
"We're going beyond that, but we thought that we would stop a
nd see itif we reached there on time, otherwise we would have seen the eveningperformance."
"Lucky thing that I came along and happen to be going to that placemyself then," chuckled the driver, "for there isn't going to be anyevening show. You see I happen to be connected with the circus, and wehave such a long jump for tomorrow's show that we cannot give aperformance here tonight."
"Good thing you came along then, for if we had walked all this distancefor nothing, I would have given up in disgust," remarked Dick.
"How far have you come?" asked the circus man.
"We left Hilton this morning," answered Garry.
The driver looked somewhat incredulous at this statement, then sizing upthe appearance of the boys, who were wearing their customary khakisemi-uniform that they used as Rangers in the forest, decided that theywere hiking for the summer and probably used to walking good distancesin a short time.
"What are you chaps doing, walking across the state or something?"
Garry explained that they were forest rangers off duty temporarily andwere bound for a lumber camp to pay it a visit.
As they drove along they asked several questions about the circus andcircus life, and considerably amused the man by referring to many thingsin a way that circus people did not. The circus man told them of themany strange phrases employed by circus people, and the boys learnedmuch of the talk of the circus.
They found, for instance, that circus people never speak of the tent. Itis always called a top. There are the big top and the little tops. Theonly thing on the circus lot to be called a tent is the cook tent.
Several of the names applied to the performers were amusing. A clown isalways called a joy, and if he is a new man with the circus he is calleda First of May, because it is on that date that many contracts are madein the circus. Acrobats are called kinkers, and the people who do workon the high trapeze are called casters, and their work is called acasting act.
"Then there is the high diver, only we call it a tank diving act. Youwon't see that this afternoon, for the diver fell a couple of days agoand broke his arm. Funny; he's been diving forty feet into an eight foottank for several years, and never got a scratch, and then he slips on abanana peeling and breaks his arm. It's too bad, too, for the diving actalways goes big in these small towns. I'd give twenty-five dollars for adiver this afternoon," concluded the man.
"Hand over the twenty-five," said Dick suddenly.
"What do you mean," asked the circus man in surprise.
"Just that you give me the twenty-five dollars and I'll do your highdive for you this afternoon."
The circus man looked at the other two boys as if he doubted his ears,and Garry and Phil immediately assured them that Dick was a first classswimmer and diver.
"Forty feet is not so much to Dick. He's often done better than that inthe river at home," Garry told the circus man.
"Yes, but you want to remember that this is an eight foot square tank,and only eight feet deep," he told Dick.
"That's nothing, I'll turn easily in eight feet. Have done it in alittle less," Dick assured him.
"All right. I'll take you to see the owner when we get there, and he andyou can fix things up. He'll be glad to pay you that amount for thework, for it's a big attraction and we have advertised it a lot. That'smy business with the circus--to do the advertising."
In a little less than half an hour they had arrived at the circus lot,and true to his word, the advertising man carried Dick round to theticket wagon and introduced him to the manager and owner.
It took Dick but a short time to convince the owner that he could dive,particularly when he offered to give an exhibition for him before theshow started. The only thing that the manager insisted on was that Dicksign a statement relieving the circus from any responsibility in caseany accident occurred.
Dick readily signed this, and then promising to be back in a short timeto get some tights and get dressed, they wandered around the lot. Theyleft their rifles and knapsacks in the ticket wagon, but Garry kept hislariat with him.
"What's the idea?" asked Phil.
"There's very little chance of anything happening, but I don't want anyof those riders to walk off with this lariat by mistake," he replied.
This decided the boys to keep theirs with them also, and accordinglythey slung them over one shoulder. Several curious glances were cast atthem as they wandered from show to show. The owner had given them passesto everything, and they didn't waste any of them.
Soon a bugle was heard blowing and in a moment they met the advertisingman who informed them that called all the performers to be ready in afew moments. "Your act will be the fourth on the program, so you'dbetter go and get your togs on and be ready," he told Dick.
Garry and Phil elected to go to their seats and watch their chum do hisact with the rest of the spectators.
"I'll come and hunt you up as soon as I do the dive and collect thattwenty-five good old dollars. I can use it very nicely one of thesedays," Dick said as he turned to follow the circus man to the dressingplace.
While the circus was a small one, it boasted of rather better thingsthan the average road circus, and among other things was a fairly goodmenagerie. Garry and Phil looked at all the animals as they passedthrough to the "big top."
Two cages contained unusually fine specimens of lions, and near one wasa caretaker, waiting for the lions to be taken into the big performingcage, after which he would clean the cage and have it ready on theshaggy maned animal's return from the ring.
"Wicked looking beast, isn't he," Garry remarked to the man who stoodnear the cage.
"He is that, boss," answered the man. "He's a a new one, and we don'tknow him very well. We had a nice old chap before him, too old and tiredand toothless to do any harm, but this one is young and vicious. Thetrainer has a lot of trouble with him, too."
A sound of band music made the boys hurry to their seats, and soon the"Grand entry" was on.
Several of the usual acts were put on, and then razorbacks, as thecircus workers are called, pulled away some of the planking of theplatform in the center of the arena, disclosing a tank filled withwater.
Soon the boys espied Dick advancing to the platform, his chubby bodyenclosed in a glaring red bathing suit. He mounted to the tank, and thechums could see him gazing about trying to locate them, but this hefailed to do.
The ringmaster made a short speech, telling a lot of stuff about Dickthat made the chums grin.
"Guess one has to be a blood relation of Ananias to be a ringmaster,"laughed Garry. "The only diving Dick has ever done before the crownedheads of Europe was before they were crowned."
After the laudatory speech, Dick climbed up the high ladder and stoodperched on the little square platform at the top. As he had been told todo outside the big top, he dropped a handkerchief which slowly fluttereddown to the ground below. This is an old trick of high divers and isdone merely to accentuate the distance.
Then the drummer started a long ruffle, and casting one downward look,Dick tipped off the platform. Both Phil and Garry were just a triflenervous as he leaped, although they were well aware of his ability.
But Dick hit the water as clean as a knife, and it was only a matter ofseconds before he appeared on the surface of the water and climbed outdripping. A mighty round of applause was given not only for the factthat he had made a fine dive, but his youth made him popular with theaudience.
The acts went on, and in a little while Dick came wandering into thetent. The boys hailed him as he neared the place where they weresitting, and in a trice he had climbed up the rattling board seats to aplace beside his chums.
"Well, I got my twenty-five, and we'll have a party with it some time.Also, I received an offer to stay with the circus, which, naturally, Iturned down. So you see, Phil, you are not the only one to have jobsoffered them." He alluded to the time that a big league baseball scouthad offered a contract to Phil after seeing him pitch one game atCommencement time at high school in his home town. The music
stopped andthe ringmaster made his customary speech about the next act, which wasthe lion taming act.
The music had just started again, when there was a piercing shriek froma woman, and then some one screamed:
"The lion is loose!"
The Ranger Boys Outwit the Timber Thieves Page 4