ANDY THE ACROBAT

Or

Out With the Greatest Show on Earth

BY

PETER T. HARKNESS

Author of

CHIMPANZEE HUNTERS, CIRCUSES--OLD AND NEW, HOW A GREAT SHOW TRAVELS, ETC. 

1907

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

 I. EXPELLED

 II. HOOP-LA!

 III. DISASTER

 IV. A BUSINESS PROPOSITION

 V. THE CIRCUS

 VI. CIRCUS TALK

 VII. A WARM RECEPTION

 VIII. "COASTING"

 IX. GOOD-BYE TO FAIRVIEW

 X. A FIRST APPEARANCE

 XI. SAWDUST AND SPANGLES

 XII. AN ARM OF THE LAW

 XIII. ON THE ROAD

 XIV. BILLY BLOW, CLOWN

 XV. ANDY JOINS THE SHOW

 XVI. THE REGISTERED MAIL

 XVII. A WILD JOURNEY

 XVIII. A FREAK OF NATURE

 XIX. CALLED TO ACCOUNT

 XX. ANDY'S ESCAPE

 XXI. A FULL FLEDGED ACROBAT

 XXII. AMONG THE CAGES

 XXIII. FACING THE ENEMY

 XXIV. ANDY'S AUNT

 XXV. A BEAR ON THE RAMPAGE

 XXVI. A CLEVER RUSE

 XXVII. A ROYAL REWARD

XXVIII. "HEY, RUBE!"

 XXIX. A FREE TROLLEY RIDE

 XXX. WITH THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH

 XXXI. CONCLUSION

ANDY THE ACROBAT

CHAPTER I

EXPELLED

"Andrew Wildwood!"

The village schoolmaster of Fairview spoke this name in a tone ofseverity. He accompanied the utterance with a bang of the ruler thatmade the desk before him rattle. 

There was fire in his eye and his lip trembled. Half of the twenty oddscholars before him looked frightened, the others interested. None hadever before seen the dull, sleepy pedagogue so wrought up. 

All eyes were fixed on a lad of about sixteen, seated in the front rowof desks. 

The name called out applied to him. It had been abbreviated so commonly, however, that its full dignity seemed to daze him for the moment. 

Andrew Wildwood slowly arose, his big, fearless eyes fixed dubiously onthe schoolmaster. 

"Yes, sir, " he said. 

"Step forward, sir. "

Andy Wildwood did so. He was now in full view of the other scholars. Mr. Darrow also arose. He thrust one hand behind his long coat tails, twirling them fiercely. From the little platform that was his throne heglared down at the unabashed Andy. In his other hand he flourished thelong black ruler threateningly. 

He pointed a terrible finger towards two desks, about four feet apart, at one side of the room. The desk nearest to the wall had its top splitclear across, and one corner was splintered off. 

"Did you break that desk?" demanded the pedagogue. 

Andy's lips puckered slightly in a comical twist. He had a vividimagination, and the shattered desk suggested an exciting andpleasurable moment in the near past. Some one chuckled at the rear ofthe room. Andy's face broke into an irrepressible smile. 

"Order!" roared the schoolmaster, bringing down the ruler with a loudbang. "Young man, I asked you: did you break that desk?"

"Yes, sir, I'm afraid I smashed it, " said Andy in a rather subdued tone. "It was an accident. "

"He was only fooling, teacher!" in an excited lisp spoke up little TodSmith, the youngest pupil in the school. "He broke the desk, but--say, teacher! he did it--yes, sir, Andy did the double somersault, just likea real circus actor, and landed square on both feet!"

The eyes of Andy's diminutive champion and admirer sparkled likediamonds. A murmur of delight and sympathy went the rounds of theschoolroom. 

Mr. Darrow glared savagely at the boy. He brandished the ruler wildly, sending an ink bottle rolling to the floor. As a titter greeted thiscatastrophe, he lost his temper and dignity completely. 

Springing down from the platform, he made a swoop upon Andy. The latterstood his ground, and there was a shock. Then Andy was swayed to and froas the schoolmaster grasped his arm. 

"Young man, " spoke Mr. Darrow in a shaking tone, "this is the limit. Anexample must be made! Last week you tore down the schoolhouse chimneywith your ridiculous tight rope performances. "

"And wasn't it just jolly!" gloated a juvenile gleesome voice in a loudwhisper. 

The schoolmaster swept the room with a shocked glance. It had no effectupon the bubbling-over effervescence of his pupils. Every imaginationwas vividly recalling the rope tied from the schoolhouse chimney to anear tree. Every heart renewed the thrills that had greeted AndyWildwood's daring walk across the quivering cable. 

Then the culminating climax: the giving way of the chimney, a shower ofbricks--but the young gymnast, safe and serene, dangling from the eaves. 

"Last week also, " continued the schoolmaster, "you stole Farmer Dale'scalf and carried it five miles away. You are complained of continually. As I said, young man, you have reached the limit. Human patience andendurance can go no farther. You are demoralizing this school. And now, "concluded Mr. Darrow, his lips setting grimly, "you must toe the mark. "

A hush of expectancy, of rare excitement, pervaded the room. Theschoolmaster swung aloft the ruler with one hand. He swung Andy arounddirectly in front of him with the other hand. 

Andy's face suddenly grew serious. He tugged to get loose. 

"Hold on, Mr. Darrow, " he spoke quickly. "You mustn't strike me. "

"How? what! defiance on top of rebellion!" shouted the irate pedagogue. "Keep your seats!" he roared, as half the school came upright under thetense strain of the moment. 

The next he was struggling with Andy. Forward and backward then wentover the clear recitation space. The ruler was dropped in the scrimmage. As Mr. Darrow stooped to repossess it, Andy managed to break loose. 

Dodging behind the zinc shield that fronted the stove, he caught its topwith both hands. He moved about presenting a difficult barrier againsteasy capture. Andy looked pretty determined now. The schoolmaster was soangry that his face was as red as a piece of flannel. He advanced againupon the culprit, so choked up that his lips made only inarticulatesounds. 

"One minute, please, Mr. Darrow, " said Andy. "You mustn't try to whipme. I can't stand it, and I won't. It hasn't been the rule here, ever. Idid wrong, though I couldn't help it, and I'm sorry for it. I'll standdouble study and staying in from recess and after school for a month, ifyou say so. You can put me in the dark hole and keep me without mydinner as long as you like. I have lots of good friends here. I'd beashamed to face them after a whipping--and I won't!"

"Yes, yes--he's right!" rang out an earnest chorus. 

"Silence!" roared the schoolmaster. "An example must be made. I shall domy duty. Andrew Wildwood--Graham! what do you mean, sir?"

The scholars thrilled, as a new and unexpected element came into thesituation. 

Graham, quite a young man, and double the weight of the schoolmaster, had arisen from his seat. He walked quietly between Mr. Darrow and Andy, quite pushing back the former gently. 

"The lad is right, Mr. Darrow, " he said, in his quiet, drawling way. "Iwouldn't punish him before the scholars if I were you, sir. "

"What's this? You interfere!" flared out the pedagogue. 

"Don't take it that way, Mr. Darrow, " said Graham. "You are displeased, and justly so, sir, but boys will be boys. Andy is the right kind of alad, I assure you, only in the wrong kind of a place. They did the samething with me when I was young. If they hadn't, I wouldn't be herespelling out words of two syllables at twenty-eight years of age. "

Andy's eyes glistened at the big scholar's friendliness. A murmur ofapprobation ran round the room. 

Silently the pedagogue fumed. The disaffection of the occasion, mild andrespectful as it was, disarmed him. He regarded Andy with a despairinglook. Then he straightened up with great dignity. 

"Take your seat, sir!" he ordered Andy severely, marching back to hisown desk. 

"Yes, sir, " said Andy humbly. 

"Pack up your books. "

Andy looked up in dismay. The fixed glint in the schoolmaster's eye toldhim that this new move meant no fooling. 

"Now you may go home, " resumed Mr. Darrow, as Andy had obeyed his firstmandate. 

Andy kept a stiff upper lip, though he felt that the world was slippingaway from him. 

A picture of an unloving home, a stern, hard mistress who would make useof this, his final disgrace, as a continual club and menace to all hisfuture peace of mind, fairly appalled him. 

He arose to his feet, swinging his strapped up books to and fro airily, but there was a dismal catch in his voice as he turned to the teacher'sdesk, and said:

"Mr. Darrow, I guess I would rather take the whipping. "

"Too late, " pronounced the relentless schoolmaster in icy tones. 

And then, as Andy reached the door amid the gruesome silence and awe ofhis sympathetic comrades, Mr. Darrow added the final dreadful words:

"You are expelled. "

CHAPTER II

HOOP-LA!

Andy Wildwood passed out of the village schoolhouse an anxious anddesolate boy. 

The brightest of sunshine gilded the spires and steeples of the village. It flooded highway and meadows with rich yellow light, but Andy, swinging his school books over his shoulder, walked on with droopinghead and a cheerless heart. 

"It's pretty bad, it's just the very worst!" he said with a deep sigh, as he reached a stile and sat down a-straddle of it. 

Andy tossed his books up into the hollow of a familiar oak near at hand. Then he fell to serious thinking. 

His gaze roving over the landscape, lit on the farmhouse of Jabez Dale. It revived the recent allusion of the old schoolmaster. 

"I didn't steal that calf, " declared Andy, straightening up indignantly. "Graham, who boards over at Millville, told us boys how Dale had sold acow to a farmer there. He said they took her away from her calf, and thepoor thing refused to eat. She just paced up and down a pasture fencefrom morning till night, crying for her calf. We got the calf, andcarried it to its mother. I'll never forget the sight, and I'll neverregret it, either--and what's best, the man who had got the cow was soworked up over its almost human grief, that he paid Dale for the calf, too, and kept it. "

The memory of the incident brightened up Andy momentarily. Then, hisglance flitting to the distant roof of a small neat cottage in a prettygrove of cedars, his face fell again. He choked on a great lump inhis throat. 

"Ginger!" he whistled dolefully, "how can I ever face the music overthere!"

The cottage was Andy's home, but the thought had no charm or sweetnessfor the lone orphan boy whom its roof had grudgingly sheltered for thepast five years. 

Once it had belonged to his father. He had died when Andy was ten yearsold. Then it had passed into the legal possession of Mr. Wildwood'shalf-sister, Miss Lavinia Talcott. 

This aunt was Andy's nearest relative. He had lived with her since hisfather's death, if it could be called living. 

Miss Lavinia's favorite topic was the sure visitation of the sins of thefather upon his children. 

She was of a sour, snappy disposition. Her prim boast and pride was thatshe was a strict disciplinarian. 

To a lad of Andy's free and easy nature, her rules and regulations weretorture and an abomination. 

She made him take off his muddy shoes in the woodshed. Woe to him if heever brought a splinter of whittling, or a fragment of nutshell, intothe distressingly neat kitchen!

Only one day in the week--Sunday--was Andy allowed the honor of sittingin the best room. 

Then, for six mortal hours his aching limbs were glued to astraight-backed chair. There, in parlor state, he sat listening to theprim old maid's reading religious works, or some scientific lecture, ora dreary dissertation on good behavior. 

She never allowed a schoolmate to visit him, even in the well-kept yard. She restricted his hours of play. And all the time never gave him aloving word or caress. 

On the contrary, many times a week Miss Lavinia administered atongue-lashing that suggested perpetual motion. 

Mr. Wildwood had been something of an inventor. He had gotten up ahoisting derrick that was very clever. It brought him some money. Thishe sunk in an impossible balloon, crippled himself in the initial voyageof his airship, and died shortly afterwards of a broken heart. 

Andy's mother had died when he was an infant. Thus it was that he fellinto the charge of his unloving aunt. 

It seemed that the latter had loaned Mr. Wildwood some money for hisscientific experiments. As repayment, when he died, she took the cottageand what else was left of the wreck of his former fortune. 

Even this she claimed did not pay her up in full, and she made poor Andyfeel all the time that he was eating the bread of charity. 

Andy's grandfather had been a famous sailor. Andy had read an oldprivate account among his father's papers of a momentous voyage hisgrandfather had made to the Antarctic circle. 

He loved to picture his ancestor among the ship's rigging. He had anadditional enthusiasm in another description of his father'sballoon venture. 

Andy wished he had been born to fly. He seemed to have inherited a sortof natural acrobatic tendency. At ten years of age he was the best boyrunner and jumper in the village. 

The first circus he had seen--not with Miss Lavinia's permission--setAndy fairly wild, and later astonished his playmates with prodigiousfeats of walking on a barrel, somersaulting, vaulting with a pole, andnumerous other amateur gymnastic attainments. 

For the past month a circus, now exhibiting in a neighboring town, hadbeen advertised in glowing prose and lurid pictures on big billboardsall over the county. 

Juvenile Fairview was set on fire anew with the circus fever. Andy'srope-walking feat and double somersault act from desk to desk thatmorning had resulted, getting him into the trouble of his life. Itfurthermore had interrupted other performances on the programme listedfor later on that very day. 

Andy's head had been full of the circus since he had seen its firstposter at a cross-roads. He could never pass a heap of sawdust withoutcutting a caper. 

In the spelling contest, he had stupefied his fellow students by nimblyrattling over such words as "megatherian, " "stupendous, " "zoologicalaggregation, " and the like. 

One of his sums covered the number of yards a clown could cover in agiven time on a handspring basis. He had shocked the schoolmaster byhanding in an essay on "The Art of Bareback Riding. "

Andy had tried every acrobatic trick he had seen depicted in the glowingadvance sheets announcing the circus. To repeated efforts in thisdirection his admiring schoolmates had continually incited him. 

He had tried the double somersault in the schoolroom that morning. Andyhad made a famous success of the experiment, but with the direful resultof smashing a desk, and subsequent expulsion. 

Thinking over all this, Andy realized that the beginning and end of allhis troubles was his irrepressible tendency towards acrobaticperformances. 

"And I simply can't help it!" he cried in a kind of reckless despair. "It's born in me, I guess. Oh, don't I hope Aunt Lavinia turns me out, as she has often threatened to do. Say, if she only would, and I couldjoin some show, and travel and see things and--live!"

Andy threw himself flat on the green sward. He closed his eyes and gavehimself up to a rapture of thought. 

Gay banners, brightly comparisoned horses, white wildernesses of circustents, tinselled clowns, royal ringmasters, joyful strains of musicfloated through his active brain. It was a day dream of rare beauty, andhe could not tear himself away from it. 

An idle hour went by before Andy realized it. As echoing voices rang outon the quiet air, he got to his feet rubbing his eyes as if theywere dazzled. 

"Recess already, " Andy said. "Well, I'll lay low until it's over. Idon't want to meet the boys just now. Then I'll do some more thinking. Isuppose I've got to decide to go home. Ugh! but I hate to--and I justwon't until the very last moment. "

Andy went in among the shrubbery farther away from the road, but hecould not hide himself. An active urchin discovered him from a distance. He yelled out riotously to his comrades, and they all came troopingalong pell-mell in Andy's direction. 

Their expelled schoolmate and favorite greeted them with a genial smile, never showing the white feather in the least. 

His chums found him carelessly tossing half-a-dozen crab apples fromhand to hand. Andy was an adept in "the glass ball act. " He describedrapid semicircles, festoons and double crosses. He shot the greenobjects up into the air in all directions, and went through theperformance without a break. 

"Isn't Andy a crackerjack?" gloated enthusiastic little Tod Smith. "Oh, say, Andy, you won't disappoint us now, will you?"

"What about?" inquired Andy. 

"The rest of it. "

"The rest of what?"

"Your show. You know you promised--"

"Oh, that's all off!" declared Andy gloomily. "I've made trouble enoughalready with my circus antics, I'm thinking. "

"Don't you be mean now, Andy Wildwood!" broke in Ned Wilfer, aparticular friend of the expelled boy. "Old Darrow has given us a doublerecess. We have a good forty minutes to have fun in. Come on. "

The speaker seized Andy's reluctant arm and began pulling him towardsthe road. 

"Got the horse?" he asked of a companion. 

"Sure, " eagerly nodded the lad addressed. "I got him fixed up, platform, blanket and all, before school. He's tied up, waiting, at the end offather's ten-acre lot. "

"Yes, and I've got the hoop all ready there, too, " chimed in Alf Warren, another schoolboy. 

"See here, fellows, " demurred Andy dubiously, "I haven't much heart forfrolic. I'm expelled, you know, and there's Aunt Lavinia--"

"Forget it!" interrupted Ned. "That will all right itself. "

Andy consented to accompany the gleeful, expectant throng. They hadarranged the night before to hold an amateur circus exhibition "on theirown hook. "

One boy had agreed to provide the "fiery steed" for the occasion. AlfWarren was to be property man, and donate the blazing hoop. 

They soon reached the corner of the ten-acre lot. There, tethered to astake and grazing placidly, was a big-boned, patient-looking horse. 

Across his back was strapped a small platform made of a cistern cover. This had been cushioned with a folded buggy robe. 

Alf Warren dove excitedly into a clump of bushes. He reappearedtriumphantly holding aloft a big hoop. It was wound round and round withstrips of woolen cloth which exuded an unmistakable and unpleasant odorof kerosene. 

"Say! it's going to be just like the circus picture on the side of thepost office, isn't it?" chuckled little Tod Smith. 

Ned Wilier took down the fence bars and led the horse out into the road. 

Andy pulled off his coat and shoes. He stowed them alongside a rock nearthe fence. Then he produced some elastic bands and secured his trousersaround the ankles. 

His eyes brightened and he forgot all his troubles for the time being, as he ran back a bit. 

"Out of the way there!" shouted Andy with glowing cheeks, posing for aforward dash. 

He made a quick, superb bound and landed lightly on the horse's back. 

Old Dobbin shied restively. Ned, at his nose, quieted him with a word. 

Andy, the centre of an admiring group, tested the impromptu platform. Heaccepted a short riding whip handed up to him by Alf Warren with a trulyprofessional flourish. Andy stood easy and erect, one hand on his hip. All that seemed lacking was the sawdust ring and a tinselled garb. 

"Ready, " announced Andy. 

All of the group except Ned Wilfer started down the road in the wake ofAlf Warren. The latter carried the hoop in one hand, some matches inthe other. 

The mob rounded the highway, purposely selected because it curved, anddisappeared from view. 

"Everything all right, Andy?" inquired Ned, strutting about with quite aringmaster-like air. 

"Yes, if the horse will go any. "

"Oh, he'll get up full speed, once started, " assured Ned. 

It was fully five minutes before an expected signal reached them. Fromfar around the bend in the road there suddenly echoed vivid shouts andwhistlings. 

"Start him up, " ordered Andy. 

Ned led the horse a few rods and got him to running. Then, dropping tothe rear, he kept pace with the animal, slapping one flank and urginghim up to greater speed. 

He fell behind, but kept on running, as Andy, guiding the horse by thelong bridle reins, occasionally gave him a stimulating touch of thelight whip he carried. 

Five hundred feet covered, old Dobbin seemed to enjoy the novelty of theoccasion, and kept up a very fair gait. 

Rounding the curve in the road and looking a quarter-of-a-mile ahead, Andy could see his schoolmates gathered around a tree stump surmountedby Alf Warren, holding the hoop aloft. 

Just here, too, for the space of a mere minute Andy could view theschoolhouse through a break in the timber. 

A swift side glance showed the big scholar, Graham, lounging in thedoorway. 

Just approaching him from the direction of the village was the oldschoolmaster, Mr. Darrow. 

"He has been up to see Aunt Lavinia, that's the reason of the doublerecess, " thought Andy, his heart sinking a trifle. Then, flinging careto the winds for the occasion, he uttered a ringing:

"Hoop-la!"

Andy felt that he must do justice to the expectations of his youngfriends. 

He swung outward on one foot in true circus ring fashion. He swayed backat the end of the bridles. He tipped thrillingly at the very edge of thecushioned platform. All the time by shouts and whip, he urged up oldDobbin to his best spurt of speed. 

At the schoolhouse door Mr. Darrow gazed at the astonishing spectaclewith uplifted hands. 

"Shocking!" he groaned. "Graham, there goes the most incorrigible boy inFairview. "

"Yes, " nodded Graham with a quaint smile, as Andy Wildwood flashed outof sight past the break in the timber--"he certainly is going some. "

"He'll break his neck!"

"I trust not. "

CHAPTER III

DISASTER

Old Dobbin pricked up his ears and kept royally to his task as he seemedto enter into the excitement of the moment. 

Andy had practiced on the animal on several previous occasions. Lumps ofsugar and apples had rewarded Dobbin at the end of the performances forhis faithful services. He seemed now to remember this, as he gallopedalong towards the waiting group down the road. 

Sometimes Andy had made the horseback somersault successfully. Sometimeshe had failed ignominiously and tumbled to the ground. Just now he feltno doubt of the result. The padded cushion cover was broad and steady. 

He kept the horse close to the inner edge of the road. The tree stumpupon which Alf Warren stood just lined it. 

By holding the hoop extended straight out, the horse's body would passdirectly under this. 

Nearer and nearer steed and rider approached the point of interest. 

The spectators gaped and squirmed, vastly excited, but silent now. 

About one hundred feet away from the tree stump, Andy shouted out thequick word:

"Ready. "

At once Alf Warren drew the match in his free hand across his coatsleeve. It lighted. He applied the ignited splinter to the edge ofthe hoop. 

The oil-soaked covering took fire instantly. The blaze ran round thecircle. The hoop burst into a wreath of light, darting flames. 

Andy fixed a calculating eye on hoop and holder. 

"Two inches lower, " he ordered--"keep it firm. "

The horse seemed inclined to swerve at a sight of the fiery hoop. Andysoothed Dobbin by word and kept him steady with the bridle reins. 

Everything seemed working smoothly. Andy moved to the extreme rear edgeof the platform and poised there. 

Five feet away from the hoop he dropped the riding whip. Then he flungthe reins across the horse's neck. 

With nerve and precision Andy started a forward somersault at just theright moment. 

He felt a warm wave cross his face. As he made the complete circle heknew that something was wrong. 

"Ouch!" suddenly yelled out Alf. 

A spurt of flame had shot against his hand that held the short stickattached to the hoop. 

Alf let go the hoop and dropped it. As Andy came down, righted again onthe platform, one foot struck the narrow edge of the hoop. 

He was in his stocking feet, and the contact cut the instep sharply. Itthrew Andy off his balance. He tried to right himself, but failed. Hetipped sideways, and was forced to jump to the ground. 

The hoop fell forward against the horse's mane. With a wild neigh ofterror and pain the animal leaped to one side, carrying away a sectionof rotten fence. The blazing hoop now dropped around its neck. 

A shout of dismay went up from the spectators. Alf, nursing his burnedfingers, looked scared. Andy glanced sharply after the flying horse andspurted after it. At that moment the school bell rang out, and the crowdmade a rush in the direction of the building. Alf Warren lagged behind. 

"Go ahead, " directed Andy, "I'll catch Dobbin. "

Ned Wilfer at that moment dashed up to Andy's side. 

"I'll stay and help you, " he panted. 

"Don't be tardy, don't get into trouble, " said Andy. 

Dobbin was making straight across a meadow. The kerosene soaked rags hadpretty well burned out. They smoked still, however, and in the breezeonce in a while a tongue of flame would dart forth. 

Dobbin passed a haystack, then another. He was momentarily shut out fromAndy's view on both occasions. 

At his second reappearance Andy noticed that the animal had got rid ofthe hoop. Dobbin now slackened his pace, snorted, and, laying down, rolled over and over in the stubble. 

The horse righted himself as Andy came up with him, breathless. 

"So, so, old fellow, " soothed Andy. "Just singed the mane a little, that's all. "

He patted the animal's nose and seized the bridle to lead Dobbin back tothe pasture from which he had started. 

"Oh, gracious!" exclaimed Andy, abruptly dropping the bridle quickerthan he had seized it. 

Forty feet back on the course Dobbin had come, the second haystack wasall ablaze. 

There the horse had thrown off the fire hoop, or it had burned throughat some part and had dropped there. 

It had set the dry hay aflame. As Andy looked, it spread out into afan-like blaze, enveloping one whole side of the stack. 

Andy was dumb with consternation. However, he was not the boy to face acalamity inactively. 

His quick eye saw that the stack was doomed. What troubled him more thanthat was the imminent danger to half-a-dozen other stacks nearlyadjoining it. 

"All Farmer Dale's hay!" gasped the perturbed lad. "Fifty tons, ifthere's one. If all that goes, what shall I do?"

Andy took in the whole situation with a vivid glance. Then he made abee-line dash for a broken stack against which rested a largefield rake. 

It was broad and had a very long handle. Andy ran with it towards theblazing heap of hay and set to work instantly. 

"This won't do, " he breathed excitedly, as an effort to beat out thespreading flames only caused burning shreds to fill the air. Thesethreatened to ignite the contiguous stacks. 

Once the first of these was started they would all go one after theother. They were out of the direct draught of the light breezeprevailing. What cinders arose went straight up high in the air. Themain danger threatened from the stubble. 

Creeping into this from the base of the haystack in flames, littlepathways of fire darted out like vicious serpents. 

Andy made for these with the rake. He beat at them and scraped theground. He stamped with his stockinged feet and pulled up clumps ofstubble with his hands. 

The trouble was that so many little fires started up at so manydifferent spots. Finally, however, the ground was a mass of burned-outgrass for twenty feet clear around the centre of the blaze. 

The haystack was sinking down a glowing mass, but now confined itselfand past spreading out. 

Andy flung himself on the ground fairly exhausted. His hands and facewere somewhat blistered, and he was wringing wet with perspiration. 

He looked pretty serious as he did "a sum out of school. "

"That stack held about two tons and a-half, " he calculated. "I heard afarmer at the post-office say yesterday that he was getting eightdollars in the stack for hay. There's twenty dollars gone up in smoke. Where will I ever get twenty dollars?"

Andy became more and more despondent the longer he thought of the dismalsituation. 

He stirred himself to action. With the rake he heaped together thebrittle filaments of burned hay. 

"It can't spread any now, " he decided finally. "It's dying down tonothing. Now then, what's next?"

Andy took a far look in all directions. The fire had burned so rapidlyand clear in the crisp light air that it did not seem to have beenobserved in the village. 

Andy wondered, however, that some of the Dales had not discovered it. Hestood gazing thoughtfully at the Dale homestead about aquarter-of-a-mile away. 

A great many impulsive, disheartening and also reckless projects ranthrough his mind. 

"It's an awful fix to be in, " ruminated Andy with a sigh of realdistress. "If ever it was up to a fellow to cut stick and run, it's upto Andy Wildwood at this minute. Expelled from school, burning up aman's haystack and then--Aunt Lavinia! The rest is bad enough, but whenI think of her it sends the cold chills all over me. Ugh!"

Andy looked for Dobbin. It was some time before he discovered theinnocent partner of his recent disastrous escapade. 

The old horse was half-a-mile distant, placidly making along the roadwayfor home. 

Andy rubbed his head in distress and uncertainty. He had a hard problemto figure out. Suddenly his eyes snapped and he straightened up briskly. 

"I won't crawl, " he declared. "'Toe the mark' is Aunt Lavinia's greatmotto. 'Face the music' is mine. I won't turn tail and play the sneak. I've destroyed some property. Well, the first honest thing to do is totry and make good. Here goes. "

Andy started for the road. He reached the spot where he had left hiscoat and shoes. Donning these he went to a little pool in the brush, washed his face and hands, and made a short cut for Farmer Dale's house. 

Andy's heart was beating pretty fast as he entered the farm yard, but hemarched straight up to the front door. 

Andy knocked, first timidly, then louder. 

There was no response. 

CHAPTER IV

A BUSINESS PROPOSITION

"Nobody at home, " said Andy to himself. 

He walked around the house to find all the windows closed and locked. 

"That's the reason no one came to the fire, " he resumed. "There'ssomebody, though. "

Andy started in the direction of the barn. He had caught the sound ofsome one chopping or hammering there. 

He came upon a hired hand splitting some sawed hickory slabs to whittledown into skewers. 

"Mr. Dale's folks all away?" inquired Andy. 

"Reckon they are, youngster, " answered the man. 

"Will they be gone long, do you think?"

"Mr. Dale won't. He drove the family over to Centreville. The circus isthere, you know. "

"Yes, " said Andy--longingly. 

"Took them early, so they could look around town. They're going to stayall night with some relations, Mr. Dale isn't, though. He ought to beback by this time. He's due now. Was talking of carting a couple ofloads of hay over to Gregson's this morning. "

Andy's heart sank at this. He did not tell the man about the fire. Backing away gloomily, he went out into the road again. 

Every point in the landscape suggested some section of his morning'smisfortunes. Andy craned his neck as he took in a distant view of theold school-house. 

He made out a female figure approaching it. Andy recognized the greenbombazine dress of Miss Lavinia Talcott. She carried a baggy umbrella inher hand. Andy from experience knew that its possession by the old maidwas generally a sign that she was on the war-path. 

"She's hunting for me, " thought Andy. "I suppose I've got to face themusic some time, but I'll not do it just now, I've got some business toattend to, first. "

Andy hurried down the Centreville turnpike. He walked along briskly, more to get out of possible range of Miss Lavinia than with any otherdistinct motive in mind. Still, Andy had "business" in view. That burneddown haystack haunted him. Somehow he must square himself with Mr. Dale, he said. He fancied he had found a way. 

Andy did not pause until he was fully a mile down the highway. He feltsafe from interruption now, and sat down on an old log and mused in adreamy, drifting sort of a way. 

The sound of approaching wagon wheels disturbed him in the midst of adepressing reverie. 

"It's Mr. Dale, " said Andy, getting up from the log and viewing theapproaching team. "I wanted to see you, Mr. Dale, " he spoke aloud as thecarry-all came abreast of him. 

"Oh, hello, you, Wildwood, " spoke the farmer with a grin. "Playinghookey, eh?"

"No, sir, " answered Andy frankly. "I was expelled from school thismorning. "

"Do tell me now!" said Dale. "Want a lift?"

"No, sir, " answered Andy, "I just wanted to take up a minute of yourtime. I'm sorry, Mr. Dale, I don't suppose you think any too much of mealready, and when I tell you--"

"Hey? Ha! ha!" chuckled Dale. "Think I'm sore on you because of thatcalf business? Not at all, not at all. Why, I got double price for thecritter, see?"

"There's something else, " announced Andy seriously. "The truth is, Mr. Dale, I burned down one of your haystacks about an hour ago. "

"What! You burned one of my haystacks? Which one--which one?" demandedDale, growing pale with excitement. 

"The little one to the north-east of the field, " explained Andy. "Ishould think it held between two and three tons. "

Farmer Dale dropped the lines and jumped down into the road from thewagon, whip in hand. All his jubilant slyness deserted him. He began toget frightfully worked up over Andy's news. 

"Wait a minute, " pleaded Andy. "Don't get excited till I explain. Imanaged to save the other stacks. It was all an accident, but I want topay the damage. Yes, I'll pay you, Mr. Dale. "

"You'll have to, you bet on that!" snorted the farmer wrathfully. "I'llgo to your aunt right off with the bill. "

"Don't do it, Mr. Dale, " advised Andy. "She preaches lots about honestyand responsibility and all that, but she's mighty close when it comes tothe dollars. She wouldn't pay you a cent, no, sir, but I will. That hayis worth about twenty dollars, I reckon, Mr. Dale?"

"Well, yes, it is, " nodded the farmer. "Good timothy is scarce, and thatwas a prime lot. "

"I've got no money, of course, " went on Andy, "but I thought this:couldn't you give me some work to do and let me pay it out in that way?I'll do my level best to--"

"Oh! that's your precious proposition, is it?" snarled Mr. Dale, switching the whip about furiously. "No, I couldn't. The hand I've gotnow is idle half the time. See here, Wildwood, arson is a pretty seriouscrime. You'd better square this thing some way. In fact you've got to doit, or there's going to be trouble. "

"I know what you mean, " said Andy--"you'll have me arrested. You mustn'tdo that, Mr. Dale--I feel bad enough, I'm in a hard enough corneralready. I want to do what's right, and I intend to. I owe you twentydollars. Will you give me time to pay it in? Will you take my note--withinterest, of course--for the amount?"

"Will I--take your note--interest? ha! ha! oh, dear me! dear me!" fairlyexploded Dale in a burst of uproarious laughter. 

"Secured, " added Andy in a business-like tone. 

"Secured by what?" demanded Dale eagerly. 

"I can't tell you now. I will to-night, or to-morrow morning. "

"You don't mean old ball bats, or your mud scow in the creek, or thatkind of trash?" inquired Dale suspiciously. 

"No, sir, I mean tangible security, " declared Andy. 

"You don't seem to carry much of it around with you, " suggested Dalebluntly, casting a sarcastic eye over Andy's well-worn clothes. 

"Perhaps not, " admitted Andy, coloring up. "I can give you security, though. What I want to know is this: If I can place good security in thehands of a trusty person, will you give me--say--three months to pay youoff in? If I don't, the person will sell the security and pay youin full. "

"Why don't you put the security in my hands?" asked the farmer shrewdly. 

"Because I have done some damage up at the schoolhouse. I want to payfor that, too. You will be satisfied with the security and the personholding it, Mr. Dale. I will let you know all about it before teno'clock to-morrow morning. "

Farmer Dale surveyed Andy with a long, curious stare, whistling softlyto himself. His hot temper was subdued, now that he saw a prospect ofpayment for the burned hay. 

"You talk straight off the reel, Wildwood, " he said. "I believe you'rehonest. Go on with your little arrangement, and let's see how it pansout. I shan't make any move until after ten o'clock to-morrow morning. "

"Thank you, Mr. Dale, " said Andy. "I won't disappoint you. "

Andy started to move away from the spot. 

"Hold on, " interrupted Dale. "Tell me how it happened. "

Andy gave an unbiased account of the morning's occurrences. 

"Ha! hum!" commented the farmer. "No end of scrapes because you're alively lad and can't help it. See here, Wildwood, do you know what Iwould do if I were in your place?"

"No, what's that, Mr. Dale?" asked Andy. 

"I'd join the show--yes, I would!" declared the farmer energetically. "Itell you I believe circus is born in you, and you can't help it. Youdon't have much of a life at home. You're not built for humdrum villagelife. Get out; grow into something you fancy. No need being a scampbecause you're a rover. My brother was built your sort. They pinned himdown trying to make a doctor of him, and he ran away. He turned up witha little fortune ten years later, a big-hearted, happy fellow. No oneparticularly knew it, but he'd been with a traveling minstrel show forthose ten years. Now he's settled down, and I'd like to see a finer manthan Zeb Dale. "

"Thank you, " said Andy, "I'll think of what you say. "

Farmer Dale jogged on his way. Andy faced towards Centreville. It seemedas if something was pulling him along in that direction. 

CHAPTER V

THE CIRCUS

At the first cross-roads a field wagon containing a farmer, his wife andhalf-a-dozen children whirled into Andy Wildwood's view. A merryjuvenile chorus told Andy that they were bound for the circus. 

"Trace loose, mister, " he called out as he noticed the trailing strap. 

"Whoa, " ordered the driver, halting with a jolt, and Andy adjusted thefaulty harness and smiled back cheerily at an eager little fellow in thewagon who inquired if he was going to the show, too. 

"Jump in, youngster, if ours is your way, " invited the farmer. 

Andy promptly availed himself of the offer. He sat with his feetdangling over the tailboard. The farther he got from Fairview the lesshe thought of the manifold troubles and complications he was leavingbehind him there. 

Andy did not intend to run away from home. He had business in view whichdemanded his presence in Fairview the next day. He was, however, resolved to go to Centreville. He would at least see the outside of thecircus, and could put on the time until evening. 

It was only six miles from Fairview to Centreville, and they soon camein sight of the county seat. 

Andy caught more and more of the circus fever as they progressed. Atevery branch road a new string of vehicles joined the procession. Theypassed gay parties of ruralites on foot. Andy leaped down from the wagonwith a "Thank you" to his host, at the first sight of the mammoth whitetents over on the village common. 

This was the second day of the circus at Centreville. It was scheduledto remain one more day. Its coming was a great event for the town, andthe place was crowded with pleasure-seekers. 

Andy reached the principal street just as the grand pageant went by. Itwas a spectacle that dazzled him. The music, the glitter, the pomp, thefair array of wild animals made him forget everything except that he wasa boy enjoying a rare moment of existence. 

It was the inner life of the circus people, however, that attractedAndy. It was his great ambition to be one of them. He was not content toremain a spectator of the outside veneer of show life. He wanted to knowsomething of its practical side. 

Andy did not dally around the ticket seller's booth, the side shows orthe crowded main entrance of the show. 

Once, when a small circus had visited Fairview, he had gotten a freepass by carrying buckets of water to the cook's tent. 

He had now a vague hope that some such fortunate chance might turn up onthis new occasion. 

Andy soon discovered, however, that the present layout was on a fardifferent scale to the second-class show he had seen at Fairview. 

It was a city in itself. There were well-defined bounds as to the circusproper. Ropes strung along iron stakes driven into the ground keptcurious visitors at a distance. 

The performers' tent, the horse tents, the cook's quarters and thesleeping space of the working hands were all guarded, and intruderswarned to keep their distance. 

Everything was neat and clean, and a well-ordered system prevailedeverywhere. 

The savory flavor of roasting meat made Andy desperately hungry. He sawa fat, aproned cook hastily gathering up some chips near a choppingblock. Andy offered to split him some fresh wood, but received only anungracious:

"Get out! No trespassers allowed here. "

Andy wandered about for a long time. He greatly envied a lad about hisown age who, adorned with a gilt-braided jacket, was walking a beautifulArabian steed up and down. 

While he was staring at the circus boy, two popcorn boys connected withthe show ran into him purposely and tripped him up. They went off with alaugh at his mishap. Andy concluded he was getting in the way as agruff, grizzled old fellow with a bludgeon ran forward and yelled to himto make himself scarce. 

"I wish I could get into the show, " murmured Andy "There seems no way towork it, though, " he added disconsolately. "I wonder if they'd let mestay here? When that canvas flaps I can see right into the main tent. "

Andy was right near the canvassed passageway leading from theperformers' tent to the main one. 

If no one disturbed him he could have occasional glimpses of what wasgoing on inside, and that was better than nothing. 

Fate, however, was against him. He heard quick breathing, and turningsaw the big watchman rapidly making for him, club uplifted. 

"Trying to get in under the canvas, eh?" roared the man. 

"Not I--I wouldn't steal anything, not even a sneak into the show, "declared Andy. 

He retreated promptly, but in doing so tripped over a guy rope and wentflat. 

Andy got up, his mouth full of fine shavings, but grasping something hishand had come in contact with and had clutched in his fall. 

He ran out of range of the watchman, who brandished his stick at the ladthreateningly. At a safe distance Andy inspected his find. 

"Only a handkerchief, " he said, "and a rather mussy one at that. Butthere's something knotted in it. I wonder what it is?"

It was a large dark-colored silk handkerchief. It had an odor of resin, and two of its corners were knotted. 

Untying one knot, Andy disclosed a mysterious device resembling two hardrubber shoe horns, joined in the centre by a concave piece of metal. 

He could not possibly imagine its use or value. Then Andy laughedoutright. The other knot undone revealed a small rabbit's foot. 

"Not much of a find, " he ruminated. "Queer kind of plunder, though. Wonder who owns it, and what that fandangle thing is?"

Andy pocketed the find and was about to move away from the spot, whenthe flap of the performers' tent moved apart. 

A man came out, all arrayed in tights and spangles for the circus ring. He wore a loose robe over his show costume and big slippers on his feet. His hair was nicely combed and his face powdered up for the performance. 

He looked very anxious and excited. Andy at once saw that he was lookingfor something in great haste and suspense. 

The man walked all around outside of the performers' tent, eagerlyscanning the ground. Then he enlarged the scope of his surveyand search. 

"Hey, Marco!" sang out another man, sticking his head past the flap ofthe tent. "Time to get in line. "

"Wait a minute, " retorted the other. "I've lost something, and I won'tgo on till I find it. "

The speaker looked positively distressed as he continued a disappointingsearch. A sudden idea struck Andy, and he drew the handkerchief and itsbelongings from his pocket. 

Just then the circus performer nearly ran against him. He looked up andmade a forward jump. He seized the handkerchief and the two odd objectsit contained with a fervent cry that astonished the bewildered Andy. 

"Give them to me, " he exclaimed eagerly. "They're mine. Where did youfind them? Boy, you've saved my life!"

CHAPTER VI

CIRCUS TALK

Andy knew that the circus actor's vehement statement was anexaggeration, still there was no doubting the fact that he was intenselypleased and grateful. 

"I found those things in the handkerchief over near the dressing tent, "explained Andy. 

"I must have dropped them there, or they got kicked out under the flapin hustling the baggage around, " cried the man. "Here, kid. "

The speaker made a motion towards his side, as if reaching for a vestpocket. 

"I forgot, " he laughed. "I have my ring togs on. Come along, I'll borrowsome coin for you. "

"Oh, no, " demurred Andy, "I don't want any pay. "

"Don't?" propounded the man in astonishment. "I want to do something foryou. I'm the Man with the Iron Jaw, and that hard rubber device is whatI hold in my mouth when I go up the rope, see?"

"And that rabbit's foot?" insinuated Andy, guessing. 

"Hoodoo. Don't grin, kid. If you were in the profession you'd understandthat a fellow values a charm that has carried him safe over Fridays, thirteenths, rotten trapezes and cyclones. We're a superstitious bunch, you know, and I'm no wiser than the rest. Why see here, of course youwant to see the show, don't you?"

"I just do, " admitted Andy with alacrity--"if it can be arranged. "

"Come with me. "

"Yes, sir. "

Andy readily followed after his gymnastic acquaintance. A word at thedoor flap of the performers' tent admitted them without challenge. 

Andy took a keen, interested look around. Near two stands holding silverstarred boxes was a performer in costume, evidently the conjurer of theshow. Beyond him, seated daintily on a large white horse, was a prettywoman of about thirty, waiting her call to the ring. 

A great-muscled fellow sat on a stool surrounded by enormous balls anddumb bells--the "Strong Man" of the circus. 

A trick elephant was being fed by its keeper at once side of the tent. Nearby was a young man dressed as a jockey, holding the chains leadingto the collars of a dozen performing dogs. 

Andy had a good memory. He knew from her resemblance to the posters hehad seen, that the lady on the white horse was Miss Stella Starr, "thedashing equestrienne. "

She seemed to be on good terms with everybody, particularly with Andy'snew acquaintance. 

"Who is your friend, Marco?" she asked, as the man passed by her. 

He explained, with a great many excited gestures. Then he beckoned toAndy as the equestrienne smiled pleasantly at him. 

"You bunk right there, kid, " said Marco, stowing Andy behind a pile ofseat planks that lined the side of the canvassed passageway joining theperformers' tent with the main one. 

Andy promptly climbed up on top of the heap of boards. The curtain thatseparated the two circus compartments was festooned at one side. Justbeyond was the orchestra. Andy could look over their heads and pastthem, with a perfect view of the performing ring. 

He gave himself up so completely to the enjoyment of the grand privilegeaccorded him, that for one engrossing, bewildering hour he seemed in adreamland of rare delight. 

Everything went smoothly and neatly. The various acts were new, andcleverly performed. 

When it came to Stella Starr's turn, Andy witnessed a second exhibitionof the superstitious folly of these strange circus folk. 

The equestrienne sharply halted the man who led her horse forward for adash into the ring. 

"Back him--instantly, " she called out. "Right foot first over the deadline. I wouldn't start on a left foot _entree_ for the whole day'sproceeds. "

The imperious mandate was obeyed, and Andy raptly witnessed somebareback riding that made his heart quicken and his eyes flash withpleasure and admiration. 

Miss Stella Starr had two acts. When she retired from the ring, kissingher little hands prettily to the applauding audience, the manager turnedher horse again facing the curtain in the canvassed passageway. 

The equestrienne sank gracefully to a rest on the flank of the big whitehorse, patting him affectionately, while some hands began rolling greattubs into the ring. 

These were to form a pyramid, up one side of which and down the otherthe white horse was to pass. 

Suddenly, as Andy's interest was divided between the ring and theequestrienne, a sharp crack rang out. It was accompanied by a swishing, ominous, tearing sound. 

An uneasy murmur swayed the audience. The manager ran out into the ring, swiftly glanced at the centre pole, and drawing a whistle from hispocket gave three piercing blasts. 

"It's a wind storm, " Andy heard some one remark. 

A second gust swayed the centre pole. The great spreads of canvas bulgedand flapped. The audience arose in their seats. 

Andy saw the manager seize a great megaphone near the band stand. Heshouted:

"Preserve order. There is no danger. Keep your seats. It is only apassing gust of wind. Play! play!" he shouted frantically to the band. 

"Take care!" shouted the man, Marco, with a look through the outsideflap, "she's coming again!"

A sudden tumult fell on the air. Shrieks, yells, a great babel arosefrom the audience. The centre pole creaked and swayed dangerously. Then, with a sharp rip the canvas roof over Andy's head was wrenched fromplace and went sailing up into the air. 

A heavy wooden cross-piece running between two supports had been tornloose at one end. The rope securing it whipped about and struck Andyin the face. 

He dodged, and was about to leap to the ground, when a sharp cry fromStella Starr announced a new peril. 

The free end of the heavy cross piece was descending with the force of adriven sledge hammer. She was directly within range. Andy saw herdanger, jumped erect, grabbed at the rope whipping about, and pulled ittowards himself. 

As the equestrienne shrank to the neck of the trembling horse upon whichshe sat, the timber just grazed her spangled hair. It struck the groundand tore loose above. Its other end hit the pile of seat planks witha crash. 

Andy felt them topple. He tried to steady himself, to jump aside. He wascaught in the tumble and went headlong to the sawdust, the planksfalling on top of him. 

CHAPTER VII

A WARM RECEPTION

Andy Wildwood was knocked senseless. When he came back to consciousnesshe found himself lying on a mattress in a little space surrounded bycanvas. It was one of the circus dressing rooms. 

He sniffed camphor, and one side of his head felt stiff and sore. Putting up his hand Andy discovered strips of sticking plaster there. 

"Was I hurt?" he asked, sitting up. 

"Circus doctor says not badly, " promptly answered Marco, who stood bythe mattress. "How is it, kid? No bones broken?"

"Oh, no, " answered Andy readily, getting to his feet. "Say, whathappened? The wind storm--"

"Gone over. It's sunshine outside now. A few hanks of thread will fixthe rips. The show went on all right after the squall. But say, you're adaisy. That timber--oh, here she is to talk for herself. "

Miss Stella Starr put in an appearance just here. She was neatly dressedin street costume. Her eyes were very bright, and there was a gratefulsmile on her womanly face as she grasped both of Andy's hands. 

"You are a good boy, " she said with enthusiasm. "Bring me a stool, Marco, I want to talk with him. "

Andy flushed with embarrassment, as the little lady went on to insistthat but for his quick foresight and energy she might have missed hersalary, lying in a hospital for many a long day. She was very anxious asto Andy's injuries, and looked greatly relieved to find them trifling. 

"Just a lump under the ear and a cut on one cheek, " reported Andyindifferently. "They're worth having to see you ride, Miss. "

"There, Marco!" cried the equestrienne brightly, "that is the handsomestcompliment I ever received. "

"The kid's a mascot, " pronounced Marco in his heavy, earnest way. "Hefound my lost traps, and he maybe saved your life. What can we do foryou, now?"

Andy shook his head vaguely. His bright face clouded. The human sympathyof his new friends had warmed his heart. It chilled, as he thought ofFairview and what awaited him there, especially Aunt Lavinia. 

The quick witted equestrienne read his face like a book. 

"See here, boy, " she said, laying her gloved hand winningly on Andy'ssleeve, "what is your name?" and as Andy told her she added; "And whatis your trouble?"

"Do I look as if I had trouble?" inquired Andy with a forced smile. 

"Don't try to fool Mrs. Jones, Wildwood, " advised Marco. "She's ourkeenest. Has a boy at school nearly as old as you, haven't you, Mary?"

"Jones? Mary?" spoke Andy in some wonder. "I thought the lady's name wasStella Starr. "

"On the posters and in the ring, yes, " laughed the equestrienne. "Come, Andy, make a clean breast of it. Have you gone circus-crazy, and runaway from home?"

"No ma'am, but I'd like to. "

"Oh, dear! I guess you boys are all alike, " commented the equestrienne. "Why do you wish to leave home?"

"It's a long story, " said Andy, with a sigh. 

"Tell it, Wildwood, " spoke Marco. "We will be glad to listen. "

"Yes, indeed, " assented Stella Starr. "I am interested in you, Andy. Youhave been of great service to us. Let us help you, if we can. "

Andy told his story. Stella Starr laughed merrily at his mild escapades. Marco's big eyes opened widely as Andy made plain the fact that he was avery fair amateur acrobat. 

"Why, the kid is up to the trained average, if he can do all thosethings, " he declared. 

Stella Starr studied Andy silently for a few minutes. Then she said:

"Andy, I believe you are a good, truthful boy. I am sorry for you. Youdeserve a better home. I don't believe you will ever have it withyour aunt. "

"Half-aunt, " muttered Marco. 

"I do not consider you owe her any particular duty. You are not happywith her?"

"No, ma'am, never, " said Andy. 

"And I believe you would be happy with us. "

"Yes, I would, " said Andy, with emotion. "I love the life here. "

"Very well, go back to Fairview just as you have planned. Arrange youraffairs just as a clear conscience dictates to you. If fate leads youback here, come to me directly. I will speak to the manager and ask himto take you on with the show. "

Tears of longing and gratefulness came to Andy's eyes. He could not stopthem. 

"You are good, kind people, " he said in a muffled tone. "If I never seeyou again I shall never forget you. "

Stella Starr kissed Andy on the cheek in a motherly way. Marco followedthe boy outside. He thumped him on the back with the farewell words, uttered with emphasis:

"Cut for it, kid. Take my advice--it's good. You've got the making of afirst-class ringer in you. Don't waste your ability in that humdrum townof yours. "

Andy started for Fairview in a daze. So much had happened since morningthat he could recall it all only in a series of long mental pictures. The kindness and suggestions of his new-found friends kept himthinking deeply. 

It was nearly dusk when Andy entered Fairview. He steered clear of oldcomrades and familiar haunts. When he reached home it was by way of therear fence. 

A light shone in the little kitchen. His aunt was bustling about in abrisk, jumpy way that told Andy she was full of excitement andbottled-up wrath. 

"Here goes, anyway, " he said finally, vaulting the fence and reachingthe woodshed. 

Andy took up a good armful of wood, marched right up to the back stepsand through the open doorway. He placed his load behind thekitchen stove. 

"You graceless wretch!" were Miss Lavinia's first words. 

She had a cooking fork in her hand and with it she jabbed the airviciously. 

"Go up stairs instantly, " she commanded next. 

"I'm not sleepy, and I'm hungry, " said Andy respectfully enough, butfirmly. 

He walked over to the set table and picked up two biscuits from a plate. 

"Put those down, you put those down!" screamed Miss Lavinia. "Will youmind me?"

Andy pocketed the biscuits. He was taking wise precautions in view ofpast experiences with his termagant relative. 

The boy stood his ground, and his aunt stamped her foot. Then shereached behind the stove and took up a stick used as a carpet beater. Armed with this she advanced threateningly upon Andy. 

"Don't strike me, Aunt Lavinia, " said Andy quickly. "I am getting toobig for that. I won't stand it!"

"You scamp! you disgrace!" shouted his irate relative, still advancingupon him. 

She beat at Andy, who snatched the stick from her hand, broke it in twoand threw it out through the open doorway. 

"I will go to my room if you insist upon it, " said Andy now. "I don'tsee the need of treating me like a dog, though. "

"Don't you?" screamed Miss Lavinia. "Oh, you precious rascal! Here I'veworked my fingers off to keep you respectable, and you go and disgraceme shamefully. Go to your room, Andy Wildwood. We'll attend to thismatter of yours in the morning. "

"What matter?" demanded Andy. 

"Never mind, now. Do as I say. There's a rod in pickle for you, youngman, that may bring you to your senses this time. "

Andy preferred loneliness up stairs to nagging down stairs. He left thekitchen and reached his own room. He lit a candle and sat down onthe bed. 

There was a sharp click at the door almost immediately. His aunt hadstolen silently up the stairs and had bolted him in. 

"As if that would keep me if I wanted to get out very bad!" thoughtAndy, with a glance at the frail door. "Oh, but I'm tired of all this!I've made up my mind. I shall leave Fairview. "

Andy went to a shelf, felt in an old vase, and took out a key. 

He fitted it to the lower drawer of the bureau in the room. It was fullof old clothes and papers that had belonged to his father. 

Finally Andy unearthed a little wooden box, and lifted it to the light. It held a lot of trinkets, and from among them Andy selected a largesilver watch and chain. He also took out a small box. It was made ofsome very dark smooth wood, and its corners and center were decoratedwith carved pieces of gold and mother of pearl. 

"The watch and chain are solid silver, " murmured Andy. "The box wasgiven to father by his father. It is made of some rare wood that growsin the South Sea islands. The gold on it is quite thick. I am sure thebare metal on those things is worth more than thirty dollars. "

Andy carefully stowed the watch and little box in an inner pocket. Thenhe lay down on the bed to think, but without removing any ofhis clothing. 

He silently munched the biscuits. His face cleared as reflection led todetermination. Andy planned to leave the house as soon as it was closedup for the night and Aunt Lavinia was asleep. 

"I can't stand it, " he decided. "She says I'm a burden to her. I've gota show to enjoy myself and maybe make some money. Yes, it's Centrevilleand the circus by morning. "

Andy was more tired out than he had fancied. He fell asleep. As he wokeup, he discovered that heavy footsteps tramping up the stairs hadaroused him. 

He had caught the echo of lighter feet. There was rustling in the narrowentry outside. 

Andy sprang up and listened intently. 

"Aunt Lavinia and some one with her, " he reflected. "I wonder who it canbe?"

Just then a gruff voice spoke out:

"Is the boy in that room, Miss Lavinia?"

"Yes, " said Andy's aunt. 

"Then have him out, and let's have this unpleasant duty over and donewith. "

CHAPTER VIII

"COASTING"

The key turned in the lock. Andy's candle had remained lighted. As thedoor was pushed open Andy saw a big portly man standing behind his aunt. 

"Put on your clothes, Andy Wildwood, " began Miss Lavinia. 

"I've got them on, " answered Andy. "What do you want?"

"Ask me that, " broke in the man, stepping into view. "Sorry, Andy, butit's me that wants you. You know who I am. "

"Yes, " nodded Andy, staring hard. 

He recognized the speaker as Dan Wagner, the village constable. Instantly the truth flashed over Andy. He turned to his aunt with apale, stern face. 

"Are you going to let this man take me to jail?" he demanded. 

"Yes, I am, " snapped Miss Lavinia. "You've gone just a little too farthis time, Andy Wildwood. "

"What have I done that's so bad?" inquired Andy indignantly. "What isthe charge against me?"

"That's so, Miss Lavinia, " observed the constable with a laugh. "There'sgot to be a specific charge, as I told you. "

"Charge!" sniffed Miss Lavinia scornfully. "I'll make a dozen of them. He's a bad, disobedient boy--"

"When did I ever disobey you?" interrupted Andy, calmly keeping histemper. 

"Oh, you! He's got himself expelled from school. "

"That's no crime, 'cordin' to the statoots, " declared the constable. 

"I don't care!" cried the angry spinster. "My duty is to keep this boyfrom going to ruin. You do yours. I explained it all to the judge. Hesaid that if I, as his guardian, swore Andy was an incorrigible, unmanageable boy, he would send him to the parental school at Byron tillhe was reformed. "

Andy grew white to the lips. He fixed such a glance on his aunt that shequailed. 

"Shame on you!" he burst forth. "You my guardian! What did you everguard for me, except too little clothes and victuals? I'm never out ofthe house after dark. I never refuse to do your hardest work. I evenscrub for you. Well, I won't any longer. I have made up my mind togo away. "

"You hear that? you hear that?" cried Miss Lavinia. "He's going to runaway from home!"

"Home!" retorted Andy scornfully. "A fine home this has been forme--snapped at, found fault with, treated like a charity pauper. Do yourduty, Mr. Wagner. But I warn you that no law can send me to the reformschool. This woman is not my legal guardian. She is not rightfully evena relative. I have friends in Fairview, I tell you, and they won't seeme wronged. I wonder what my poor dead father would say to you forall this?"

Miss Lavinia gave a shriek. She fell into a chair and kicked her heelson the floor and went into hysterics. 

The constable looked in a friendly way at Andy. He liked the lad's pluckand independence. He recalled, too, how Andy had once led him to a quiethaystack, where he had slept himself sober instead of risking hisposition and making a public show of himself on the streets of Fairview. 

"See here, Miss Lavinia, " he spoke, "I don't fancy treating Andy like acriminal. If I take him with me now I'll have to lock him up with twochicken thieves and a tramp. They're no good company for ahomebred boy. "

"He deserves a lesson, " declared Miss Lavinia. "He shall have it, too!"

"Let him stay here till morning, then I'll come after him. "

"He won't be here. Didn't you hear him say he was going to run away fromhome?"

"Haven't you got some safe place I can lock him up in?" suggestedWagner. "I've got to make you safe and sound, you know, " observed theofficer quite apologetically to Andy. 

"Yes, there is, " reported Miss Lavinia after brief thought. "You wait aminute. "

She went away and returned with a bunch of keys. The constable beckonedto Andy to follow her, and he closed in behind. 

A steep, narrow staircase led to an attic room at the extreme rear ofthe house. This, as Andy knew, was his aunt's strong room. 

It had a heavy door secured by a padlock, and only one window. As MissLavinia unlocked the door and the candle illuminated the interior of theapartment, the constable observed grimly:

"I reckon this will keep him safe and sound. "

Andy said nothing. He had made up his mind what he would do, andconsidered further talk useless. 

The apartment was littered up with chests, barrels and old furniture. Inone corner was a pile of carpets. Andy walked silently over to these, threw himself down, and found himself in darkness as the door was againstoutly padlocked on the outside. 

"If anybody cared for me here it might be different, " he observed. "Asthey don't, I must make friends for myself. "

In about half an hour Andy went to the window, It was a small one-panesash. Looking out, he could trace the reflection from a light in hisaunt's room on the shrubbery. 

Finally this light was extinguished. Andy waited a full hour. He heardthe town bell strike twelve. 

The lad took out his pocket knife, opened its big blade, and in a fewminutes had pried off the strip lining the sash. He removed the pane andset it noiselessly on the floor. 

As he stuck his head out through the aperture Andy looked calculatingand serious. 

It was fully thirty feet to the ground, and no friendly projectionoffered help in a descent. 

It was furthermore a question if he could even squeeze through thewindow space. 

Andy had nothing to make a rope of. The old pieces of carpet could notbe utilized in any way. If he could force his body through the windowhead first, it was a dive to go feet first on a dangerous drop. 

Andy investigated the aperture, experimented, took in the situation inall its various phases. Finally he decided what he would do. 

He had unearthed a long ironing board from a corner of the room. Hepulled a heavy dresser up to the window, and opened one of its drawers afew inches. 

By slanting the ironing board, he managed to get its broad end outthrough the window. Then he dropped it flat, with its narrow end heldfirmly under the projecting drawer. 

Andy got flat on the board, squirmed along it, and just managed tosqueeze through the window space. 

At the end of five minutes he found himself extended outside on theboard. A touch might throw it out of position and drop him like a shot. Very carefully he arose to his feet and backed against the clapboards ofthe house. 

Andy felt sideways and up over his head. He soon located what he knew tobe there--two lightning rod staples. The rod itself had rusted away. Thestaples had been used to hold up a vine. This drew bugs, Miss Laviniadeclared, and had been torn down. 

Andy hooked his finger around one of the staples. He got one foot on thewindow sill clear of the board. The other foot he lifted in the air. 

Stooping and getting a hold on the side of the ironing board, Andygently slid it out from its holding place and upright. 

He brought it and himself erect. Moving up his hand, he transferred itsgrasp to the second iron staple higher up the side of the house. 

Now Andy rested the board on his toes. He clasped it like a shieldagainst his body, its broad end nearest his face. 

Beyond its edge he took a keen glance. The moon shone brightly. Thenearest object it showed was a high, broad-branched thorn apple tree. 

It stood about twelve feet from the house, and its top was perhaps asfar below his foothold. 

"It's my only show, " said Andy. "I've got to coast it, or get all tornup. "

He let go his hold of the staple. Instantly he had a hand firmlygrasping either side of the ironing board Andy dropped to apast-centre slant. 

Giving his feet a prodigious push against the window sill, he shotforward and downward. 

For an instant Andy sailed through the air. He feared he might diveshort of the tree. He hoped he would land flat. 

The latter by luck or his own precision he did. The board struck thetree top. 

There was a sliding swish, a vast cracking of branches. 

His weight dropped one end of the ironing board. It landed against a bigbranch, and Andy found himself safely anchored in the tree top. 

CHAPTER IX

GOOD-BYE TO FAIRVIEW

Looking back at the attic window, Andy Wildwood wondered how he had evermade the successful descent. 

Any boy lacking his sense of athletic precision would have scored adangerous fall. Andy now slowly worked his way down thrown the branchesof the tree. He got a few sharp scratches, but was vastly pleased withhimself when he landed safely on the ground. 

"Good-bye to Fairview!" he spoke with a stimulating sense of freedom, waving his hand across the scene in general. "I may not come back richor famous, but I shall have seen the world. "

Andy did not turn in the direction of Centreville. He felt of the pocketcontaining his father's watch and the little box, and then headedstraight for Millville. 

That was where the big scholar, Graham, lived. It was five miles away. Graham boarded with the farmer who had bought Mr. Dale's cow and calf. 

Andy had kept Graham in mind ever since he had agreed to pay for burningup the hay stack. It was about two o'clock when he reached hisdestination. 

The night he and his school companions had restored the little calf toits frantic mother, Andy had seen Graham in the window of his room inthe old farmhouse. 

Andy now looked up at the window of this room. It was open. A trellisran up its side. The house was dark and silent. He scaled the trellisand rested a hand on the window sill. 

"Mr. Graham, " he called out softly. Then he repeated the call severaltimes, gradually raising his voice. 

There was a rustle of bed clothes, a droning mumble. Andy called again. 

"What is it? who is there?" questioned Graham's tones. 

"It's me, " said Andy. "Don't be disturbed. Just listen for a minute, will you?"

"Eh! Is that Andy Wildwood?" exclaimed Graham. 

"Yes, " answered Andy. 

A white-robbed figure came to the window and sat down in a chair there. Graham rubbed his eyes and stared wonderingly at the strange midnightvisitor clinging to the window sill. 

"Why, what's the trouble, Andy?" he questioned in a tone of surprise. 

"It's trouble, yes, you can make sure of that, " responded Andy with alittle nervous catch in his voice. "I'm having nothing but trouble, lately. There's so much of it around here that I've concluded to getout of it. "

"How get out of it?" demanded Graham. 

"I've left home--for good. I want to leave a clear record behind me, soI've come to you. You don't mind my disturbing you this way, I hope?"

"No--no, indeed, " answered Graham promptly. "Run away, eh?"

"Yes, I've got to. Aunt Lavinia has had me arrested; she wants to sendme to reform school. "

"Why, " exclaimed Graham indignantly, "that's a burning shame!"

"I thought so. The constable was around last evening. He locked me inthe attic for safe keeping, but I got free, and here I am, on my wayto--to--on my way to find work. "

"Do you mean circus work?" guessed Graham quickly. 

"Why, yes, I do. I don't mind telling you, for you have always been afriend to us smaller boys. "

"Always will be, Andy. "

"I believe that. We all like you. It's this way: I think I have a chanceto join a show, and I want to, bad. I shall be paid something. When Iam, I want to send it to you. "

"To me? What for, Andy?"

"Well, I smashed the desk and pulled down the chimney at theschoolhouse, you know. "

"Yes. "

"I calculate that damage amounts to about ten dollars. I burned down ahaystack belonging to farmer Dale yesterday. Twenty dollars, he says. I've agreed to pay him, and I want you to see the school trustees to-dayand explain to them that I'll pay for the desk and the chimney. I toldMr. Dale I would give him my note. I can't just now, but I will mailone, signed, to you. "

"Will Dale accept it?" asked Graham. 

"Yes, if I secure it. "

"Secure it, how?"

"That's why I came to see you, " explained Andy. "I've got in my pocket asilver watch and chain and a box ornamented with gold. They were left tome by my father. I want you to take the articles. Explain to Mr. Daleand the school trustees about them--that you are to hold them for thebenefit of my creditors, see?"

"That's quite business-like, Andy. "

"I will certainly send you some money. As soon as I do, divide it upwith the school and Mr. Dale. I will keep you posted as to mywhereabouts, but keep it a secret. Will you do all this for me?"

"Gladly, Andy. "

"Here are the things, " continued Andy, handing over the contents of hispocket. "And thank you. "

"Don't mention it. You're all right, Andy, " declared Graham in a warm, friendly way. "I shan't encourage you to run away from home, but I won'ttry to stop you. Have you got any money?"

"Why, no, " answered Andy. 

"You wait a minute, then. "

Graham took the watch and the box and retired from the window. As hereturned he pressed a folded piece of paper between Andy's fingers. 

"Take that, " he said. 

"What is it?" asked Andy. 

"It's a five-dollar bill. "

"Oh, Mr. Graham--"

"No nonsense, Andy. I know from practical experience what it is to startout in the world penniless. I have the money saved up for two years'board and schooling. I won't miss that little amount until way alongnext fall. You will have paid it back long before that, I'll warrant. "

"You bet I will--and you're awful good to me!" declared Andy heartily. 

"Just one more word, Andy, " resumed Graham earnestly. "If you aredetermined to be a circus tumbler, be the best or nothing. If you likeenjoyment, made it good, clean fun. I'm not afraid of you. I'm onlygiving the advice of a fellow older than you, who has learned that itpays to be right and do right in the long run. "

When Andy once more stood in the road with his royal friend's "Goodluck, old fellow!" still echoing in his ears, his heart was very full. 

"It's mighty good of him, " murmured Andy, safely stowing away thefive-dollar bill. "I'll deserve his good opinion, see if I don't!"

Andy walked on a mile or two further. Climbing a fence he made a snugbed alongside a convenient haystack. 

The sun was shining brightly when the lad awoke, refreshed and full ofspirit and hope. He somehow felt as though he was beginning the mosteventful day of his life. 

Andy turned his face in the direction of Centreville. He had no idea ofgoing direct there, however, that day. 

He did not know how many people from Fairview might have seen him therethe day previous. He did know that if Aunt Lavinia was determined topursue him, the first thing she would think of was his circuspredilections. 

Andy planned cautiously and with wisdom. From watching the circusposters he knew it's route. Centreville was in another county fromFairview. But Clifton, the next point of exhibition, was inanother state. 

"That suits me, " he murmured. 

Andy had an idea that once safely over the state line the law could notreach him so readily as on home territory. 

He knew the neighboring towns pretty fairly, and he fixed on Clifton ashis destination. Clifton was about eight miles from Centreville. 

Andy decided he would go there and put in the time until next morning. 

At midnight the show would pull up stakes at Centreville. He would be onhand to welcome its arrival at Clifton. 

"Then I will see Miss Starr and Mr. Marco, " he thought. "If the circusmanager will only take me on, I'll fall into great luck. "

Andy got to Clifton about noon. He changed the five-dollar bill, buyinga cheap but big dinner, for he was nearly famished. 

He learned where the circus was to exhibit, and went to the spot. Someworkers were already there, digging trenches, distributing sawdustand the like. 

Andy volunteered to help them. It would be good practice in the way ofexperience, he told himself. Until four o'clock in the afternoon he wasquite busy about the place. 

He had heard so much circus talk during his free labors that his mindwas more full of the show than ever. 

Andy had heard one of the workers describe to a new hand all theexcitement, bustle and novelty attending a jump from one townto another. 

He strolled about the place but grew restive. Just before dusk he boughtsome crackers and cheese, filled his pockets with the eatables, andstarted down the road leading towards Centreville. 

Andy met an advance guard of the circus about two miles out of Clifton. Some wagons carried the cooking camp outfit. A little farther on he wasmet by some menagerie wagons. 

"They'll come in sections, " ruminated Andy. 

"The big tent people won't make a start till after the eveningperformance. I won't risk going any farther. There's an open barn nearthe road. I'll take a little snooze, and wake up in time to join theprocession of big loads. "

Andy secured his little cash reserve in a marble bag. He ate some lunchand made for the open structure he had observed. 

It was an old doorless barn near a hay press. A great many bales werestack up at one side. Climbing among these Andy found a cozy boxed inspace, carried some loose hay to it, and composed himself for sleep. 

"Twenty cents a day is pretty economical living, " he reflected, as hestudied the stars visible through a chink in the roof. "I wonder whatthe circus people pay a beginner?"

Wondering about this, and a variety of similar themes, Andy dozed, butwas suddenly awakened by the sharp snap of a match and a brief flare. 

He got up and peered over the edge of the bales of hay that enclosed hisresting place. 

The moon was shining brightly. Outlined at the open doorway of the barnwas a man. He leaned against a post, had just lit a cigar, and waslooking intently down the road in the direction of Centreville. 

Some wagons rattled by and the man drew inside the barn out of view. Andy made out that he was well-dressed and very active and nervous inhis manner. 

"That man is waiting for some one, " decided Andy, gettinginterested--"yes, and he belongs to the show, I'll bet. "

Andy reasoned this out from the facility with which the man hummed out atune he had heard the circus orchestra play. 

The man paced restively to and fro. He went out into the road and lookedfar down it. He returned to the barn and resumed his impatient pacingto and fro. 

Nearly an hour went by in this fashion. Andy began to consider that hehad become curious without much reason. He was about to drop back againto his cozy bed when he heard the man utter an exclamation ofsatisfaction. 

He rubbed his hands and braced up, and as a new figure turned from theroad spoke in a cautious but distinct tone. 

"That you, Murdock?"

"It's me, sure enough, Daley, " came the reply. 

"S--sh--don't use my name here. You know--"

"All right. No one likely to hear us in this lonely spot, though, " spokethe newcomer addressed as Murdock. 

"Well, what have you to report?" questioned Daley eagerly. 

"It's all right. "

"You've fixed it?"

"Snug and sure. The show will have a big sensation to-night not down onthe bills. "

The listening Andy heard the man called Daley utter a gratified chuckle. 

"Good, " he said. 

"And there'll be a vacancy on the Benares Brothers' team to-morrow, "added Daley, "so give me the twenty dollars. "

CHAPTER X

A FIRST APPEARANCE

Andy pricked up his ears with a good deal of animation. The jubilantstatement of the fellow called Murdock did not sound honest. 

"I'm taking your word for it, " spoke Daley. 

He had drawn something from his pocket, evidently a roll of bills, foras he extended it Murdock said eagerly. 

"Twenty dollars?"

"Yes. Tell me how you fixed it. "

"Why, " answered Murdock with a cruel laugh, "you was laid off as one ofthe Benares Brothers up at the show on account of drinking, wasn't you?"

Daley moodily nodded his head. 

"They put on Thacher in your place. You and him are probably the onlytwo men in the profession who can do the somersault trapeze act with oldBenares. That puts you out of a job, for you're no good single. "

"I guess that is right. Thacher takes the bread out of my mouth, sinkhim!"

"You say, 'twenty dollars' if I fix Thacher so he can't act well, "declared Murdock in a cold-blooded way that made Andy shiver, "he won'tact for a spell after to-night, I'm thinking. "

"Come to the point--what did you do?"

"Why, after doing their regular stunt on a separate trapeze, Thatchersomersaults and catches a bar swing from centre. He hangs by his kneesand Benares swings from aloft and catches his hands in his dive forlife. Well, the minute Thacher lands on the centre trapeze to-night downhe goes forty feet head-first. It's broken limbs or nothing, for I cutthe bar free first thing after the afternoon performance. It's held inplace now by only two little pieces of thread that a child's fingercould break. "

"Um!" remarked Daley. "I guess I'll cut for it. They think I'm a hundredmiles away. It mustn't be known that I was this near the circus orthey'd suspect me. I presume they'll be wiring for me to come back now. "

"Oh, sure. They won't suspect me, either. I sneaked in the big tent andfixed the trapeze when no one was about. See here, Daley, if you do getyour job back you'd ought to give me an extra ten. "

"I'll see about it, " said Daley. 

The two worthies walked from the place. Andy watched them cross fieldsaway from the main road and away from both Clifton and Centreville. 

Little thrills of horror ran all over the boy. This was his first viewof the dark, plotful side of circus life, and it appalled him. 

"Why, " he exclaimed, "it may be murder. Oh, those wretches! The BenaresBrothers. I saw them yesterday. I remember the dive for life. I had tohold my breath when one man made that somersault, away up at the top ofthe tent. It was more than thrilling when he caught the other trapezewith his knees. It was curdling when his partner made his dive for life. One second over time, one miss of an inch, and it looked sure death. Andnow that trapeze has been tampered with, and--"

The excited Andy did not finish the sentence. He forgot all his ownplans and the possible danger of arrest at Centreville. 

He jumped down from the hay bales and dashed out of the barn. Andy spedalong the highway circus-ward at the top of his speed. 

The situation had appealed to him in a flash. The two plotters hadtalked in plain English. There was no misunderstanding their motivesand acts. 

Andy had a vivid picture in his mind--the big circus tent four milesaway. He could recall just where the Benares Brothers act came on theprogramme. 

"It was about ninth down the list yesterday afternoon, " he mused, softly. "They begin the show about eight o'clock. It's now about nine. Icalculate the Benares Brothers come on this evening at about a quarterto ten. Four miles. I can run that in half an hour. Yes, I shall bein time. "

Andy pressed his arms to his sides, took breath to conserve his stayingpowers, and maintained a steady, telling pace. 

The lights of Centreville began to show nearer. He heard a town bellstrike the half-hour as he came in sight of the grounds and theilluminated big tent of the show. 

The band inside was blaring away. The side shows were not doing muchbusiness. Some were getting ready for the removal. There were not manypeople around the main entrance. Andy, quite breathless, rushed up tothe ticket taker there. 

"I want to go in for just a minute, " he said--"I must see the manager. "

"Cut for it--no gags go here, " retorted the man rudely. 

"It's pretty important. Here, " began Andy. Then he paused in dismay. "Ohdear!" he spoke to himself, "I never put on my coat, that I used as apillow back in that barn. "

In the hurry and excitement of the occasion Andy had left the coat amongthe hay bales. Just before arranging his bed he had stowed the marblebag containing the balance of Graham's five dollars in a pocket ofthe garment. 

He could not therefore pay his fare into the show. Only for an instant, however, was Andy daunted. 

He suddenly realized that he could get more promptly to the manager orthe ringmaster from the rear. 

He ran around the big white mountain of canvas till he reached theperformers' tent. Patrolling outside of it was a club-armed watchman. 

"Please let me in, " said Andy hurriedly. "I want to see the manager, quick. "

"Yes, they all do. G'wan! Games don't go here. "

"No, no, I'm not trying to dead-head it, " cried Andy. "Please call Mr. Marco or Miss Starr. They know me--"

"G'wan, I tell you. I'm too old a bird to get caught by chaff. Get--now. "

The watchman struck Andy a sharp rap over the shoulders. Andy was indesperation. He was started to run around to some other of the minortents, when a shifting slit in the canvas gave him a momentary view ofthe interior of the big circus tent. 

"Oh, " cried Andy, wringing his hands, "the very act is on--the BenaresBrothers! I must act at once!"

Andy made a rush, intent on getting under the canvas at all hazards. Hechecked himself. If he succeeded in eluding the watchman outside, hewould have difficulty in getting to the manager. He might be capturedinside at once. He stood staring at the tent top in extreme anxietyand suspense. 

Shadows aloft enlightened him as to-what was going on. The BenaresBrothers were mounting aloft. He made them out bowing gracefully, pulledup on the toe coils. He saw their outlines, trapeze-seated. Theorchestra struck up a new tune. The act was about to commence. 

"I must stop them--I will warn them!" panted Andy with resolution. "If Igot to the manager he might not understand me or believe me. It might betoo late--there is not a minute to spare. "

Andy was quivering with excitement, his eyes flashing, his face flushed. 

He ran towards a guy rope, sprang up, caught at it, and hand over handrapidly ascended it. 

Where it tapped the lower dip of the upper canvas, he transferred hisgrasp. 

A seam was here, held together by hook and ring clear to the gap at thecentre pole. This seam, Andy discerned, ran right over to the trapezes. 

Andy scaled the course of the seam with the agility of a monkey, hookingthe rings with his fingers and pulling himself up. The canvas quivered, shook and gave, but he did not heed that. 

He came to the open gap around the centre pole, seized the bound edge ofthe canvas, and gazed down. 

Ten feet across was old Benares, just getting ready for some evolutions. Directly under Andy was the trapeze holding the man he supposed to beThacher. Over his head swung a smaller trapeze. 

Andy lay flat along the sloping canvas and stuck his head further down. 

"Mr. Thacher! Mr. Thacher!" he shouted. 

"Eh, why, hello! Who are you?"

In wonderment the trapezist gazed up at the earnest, agitated facegazing down at him. 

At that juncture there was an ominous rip. Andy's weight it seemed hadpressed too forcibly down upon a rotted section of the canvas. 

A strip about a foot wide tore free, binding and all, from the edgenearest the centre pole. It split six feet sheer. Andy's feet went overhis head, but he kept a tight grip on the end of the strip. 

Dangling in mid air sixty feet above the saw-dust ring, Andy swung inspace dizzy-headed, his first appearance before the circus public. 

CHAPTER XI

SAWDUST AND SPANGLES

Andy stared down at a sea of faces. They seemed far away. The circusmanager had stepped briskly out into the ring. 

In great wonderment he stood gazing aloft. The audience swayed, and ageneral murmur filled the air. Many pointed upwards. Some arose fromtheir seats, craning their necks in excitement. 

The orchestra dropped the music to low, undecided notes. Puzzledspectators wondered if the strange appearance above was part of some newnovelty change in the programme. 

Andy clung to the dangling strip of canvas for dear life. The trapezist, Thacher, stared at him in profound astonishment. He was about to speak, to demand an explanation, when there was a second ripping sound. 

"Look out!" cried Thacher sharply. 

Andy saw what was happening. The canvas strip that had torn freelengthwise was now splitting its breadth. 

In another moment a mere filament of cloth would hold Andy suspended. Hemust act, and act quickly, or take a plunge sixty feet down. 

Andy did not lose his presence of mind. Just the same as if he was onthe rafters of the old barn at home, or practicing on a rope strung fromtwo high tree tops, as had been many a time the case, he calculated hischances and set his skill at work. 

He ventured a brief swing on the frail strip of canvas. As it finallytore free in his hand, Andy dropped it. He had got his momentum, however. It was to swing sideways and down. The next instant Andy was atthe side of Thacher. One hand caught and held to a rope of the trapeze. There Andy anchored, resting one knee on the edge of the performing bar. 

"You're a good one!" muttered the trapezist in wonder. "Don't getrattled, now. "

"Not while I've got my grip. Say, " projected Andy, "I'm sorry tointerrupt the performance, but it's a matter of life or death. "

"Eh?" uttered Thacher in a puzzled way. "What's up?"

"Do you know a man named Murdock?"

"Ring man, fired last week. Yes. What of it?"

"Do you know a man named Daley?"

"Fired, too--for drinking. I took his place on this team. "

"They hate you. They have plotted to disable you. The trapezeyonder--Murdock has cut the ropes, secured the bar with thread, and theslightest touch will send a performer to the ring with broken limbs. "

"What! Are you crazy or fooling? Doped the rigging? Why, that's murder, kid!"

"They have done it just the same. Listen. "

Faster than he had ever talked before Andy told of the conversation hehad overheard in the old hay barn. He hurriedly recited his failure inreaching the manager. He told of his rapid ascent of the top canvas. Thepresent denouement had resulted. 

Under his face rouge Thacher showed the shock of vivid emotions. Themurmur below was increasing. The manager was looking up impatiently. 

Old Benares, across on his trapeze, regarded his partner inbewilderment. 

Suddenly Thacher shot out some words towards him. It was a kind ofcircus gibberish, mixed with enough straight English to enlighten Andythat his story was being imparted to Old Benares. 

"You must get me out of this, " said Andy. "The audience is becomingrestive. "

Thacher extended his hand, the back showing, in the direction of theorchestra. The band, at this signal, struck up a quick, lively tune. 

"Get clear on the bar, " directed Thacher rapidly, giving Andy more room. "Say, " he added, in some surprise at Andy's cleverness, "you seem athome all right. Performer?"

"Oh, no--only a little amateur practice. "

"It's given you the right nerve. Now then, you can't get up again, you've got to go down. Want to do it gracefully?"

"Sure, " smiled Andy, perfectly calm and collected. 

The situation rather delighted him than otherwise. He had supremeconfidence in his companion, and felt that he was in safe hands. 

"Are you grit for a swing?" pursued Thacher. 

"Try me, " said Andy. 

Thacher called over some further words to old Benares. The latter atonce swung down from his trapeze, holding on by his knees, both handsextended towards his partner. 

"Do just as I say, " directed Thacher to Andy. "Let me get you under thearms. Double your knees up to your chin. Can you hold yourselfthat way?"

"Yes, " assented Andy. 

"Now!" spoke Thacher sharply. 

The next instant the performer had dropped Andy in his clasp. He hadslipped an ankle halter to one of his own limbs. 

This alone held him. Head downward, he lightly swung Andy to and fro. Andy rolled up like a ball ready for the next move. 

All this had consumed less than two minutes. Now the audience believedAndy's sensational appearance a regularly arranged feature of theperformance. 

The oddity of a boy in ordinary dress coming into the act, as Andy haddone, excited the profoundest interest and attention. 

The manager in the ring below stood like one petrified, puzzled beyondall comprehension. 

The orchestra checked its music. An intense strain pervaded. Theaudience swayed, but that only. There was a profound silence. 

"One, two, three, " said Thacher, at intervals. 

"Come, " answered old Benares. 

At the end of a long, swift swing of his body, Thacher let go of Andy, who spun across a ten feet space that looked twenty to the audiencebelow. Andy felt a light contact, old Benares' double grip caughtunder his arms. 

The act was the merest novice trick analyzed by an expert, but it setthe audience wild. 

A prodigious cheer arose, clapping of hands, juvenile yells ofadmiration. The band came in with a ringing march. Old Benares rightedhimself, Andy with him. 

"Su-paarb!" he said. "Can you hold on alone--one little minute?"

"Sure, " said Andy. 

The trapezist reached up and untied the descending rope, secured it tothe bar, and shouted to those standing below. 

Two ring hands ran out into the sawdust, caught the other end, and heldit perfectly taut. 

"Can you slide down it?" asked Benares. 

Andy's eyes sparkled. 

"Say, Mr. Benares, " he replied, "if I wasn't rattled by all that crowd, I could do it head first. I've done the regular, one leg drop, fifty times. "

"You are admirable--an ex-paart!" declaimed old Benares. "Who are you, anyway?"

"Only Andy Wildwood. Do you think I could ever do a real circus act?"

"Do I think--hear them yell! You have made a hit. Good boy. Be careful. Go. "

Andy essayed an old rope performance he had seen done once, and had manytimes practiced. 

This was to secure one leg around the rope, throw himself outwards, foldhis arms, and wind round and round the rope, slowly descending. 

The orchestra caught the cue, and kept time with appropriate music. Asecond hush held the audience. Without a break, Andy descended the fortyodd feet of cable. 

Nearing its end, he caught at the rope to steady himself. Then hegracefully leaped free of it to the sawdust, and made a profound bow tothe audience amid wild thunders of applause. 

CHAPTER XII

AN ARM OF THE LAW

The circus manager followed Andy, as the latter darted past the bandstand and into the passageway leading to the performers' tent. 

His face was a blank of wonderment. The ringmaster joined him, and sodid one or two others as he hurried after Andy. 

They found the latter holding to a guy rope, Andy's head was spinning. The reaction from intense excitement made him weak and breathless forsome moments. 

The audience was still in a pleasant flutter of commotion over theunique act that had caught their fancy. 

The Benares Brothers went on with their performance, They cut out "thedive for life, " but they made up for it by some dazzling aerialevolutions that thrilled the spectators, and everybody seemed satisfied. 

Five minutes later they joined the group crowding around Andy. Themanager had just finished questioning the lad as to details of theremarkable story he had told. 

His face was stern and angry as he uttered some quick words to theringmaster. Then the latter, taking a weighted coiled-up toe rope in hishand, went out into the ring. 

From where he was Andy could see this flung aloft. It caught across thebar of the "doped" trapeze. 

At a touch this latter came hurtling to the ground. Old Benares, watching also, trembled with intense anger. 

"It is infamoos!" he declared. "Where should my partner be, but for thisboy?"

The ringmaster examined the loosened trapeze bar. Just as Andy hadstated, two slight threads alone had held it to the supporting ropes. 

Thacher laid a friendly, grateful hand on Andy's shoulder. He was toofull of emotion to speak. Andy looked up and smiled brightly. 

"Good thing I was around, wasn't it?" he said carelessly. "Oh, there'sMr. Marco. "

The Man with the Iron Jaw came up to the group at this juncture. 

"You, Andy Wildwood!" he said. "I heard of the trapeze. So it is youagain? Come with me. No, don't keep him, " continued Marco to Thacher ina hurried way that made Andy curious. "You can see him again. Come, lad. "

"What's the trouble, Mr. Marco?" asked Andy. 

Marco did not answer. He kept hold of Andy's arm and led him to therear. About to enter the performers' tent he dodged back. 

"Keep close to me, " he directed in a tone of suppressed excitement. "Quick, Wildwood--out this way. Hurry, now. "

He had darted towards the bottom of the canvas strip siding thepassageway. Lifting this up, he thrust Andy under it. Crawling after himand arising to his feet, he again grasped Andy's arm. 

Headed for the open space the main entrance faced, Marco suddenly jerkedAndy to one side. He now made swiftly for some small tents abutting theperformers' tent. 

"Hey! hi! hello!" some one had yelled out at them, and Andy saw twoskulking forms making towards them. 

A third figure joined them. Andy discerned evident pursuit in theirmanner and actions. 

"Keep with me. Run in, " directed Marco. 

He had thrust Andy into one of the little tents the boy recognized as adressing room. Marco dropped the flap and stood outside. 

"Where's the boy gone to?" puffed out a labored voice. 

"Gracious!" exclaimed Andy, under cover, but with a gasp of sheerdismay. "I understand now. "

Andy recognized the tones of this last speaker. They belonged to Wagner, the village constable of Fairview. 

"He's in that little tent, " spoke another voice. 

"Surround it, " ordered Wagner. "Here, you stand aside. The boy I've beenlooking for all day is in that tent. I want him. "

"Hold on, " retorted Marco. "This is private circus property. "

"Yes, and I'm a public officer, I'd have you know!" said Wagner. "Nouse. Don't interfere with the course of justice, or you'll getinto trouble. "

There was no light in the tent. The many flaring gasoline torchesoutside, however, cast a radiance that enabled Andy to pretty accuratelymake out the situation. 

He traced two shadowy figures making a circuit of the tent. He could seeMarco push back Wagner. 

The latter was unsteady of gait and voice. Andy theorized that he hadbeen commissioned by his aunt to pursue him. 

Wagner had come down to Centreville with two assistants. Their expenseswere probably paid in advance, and they had made a kind of individualcelebration of the trip. 

"I've been looking for that boy all day, " now spoke Wagner. 

"I know you have, " answered Marco, standing like a statue at the door ofthe tent. 

"He's a fugitive from justice. I'm bound to have him. I'm an arm of thelaw. "

"What's he done?" inquired Marco. 

"He's nearly broken his poor old aunt's heart. "

"I didn't ask about his aunt's heart. What's he done?"

"Oh, why--hum, that's so. Well, he's been expelled from school becauseof his crazy circus capers. "

"Indeed. I'm a circus man. Do you observe anything particularly crazyabout me?" demanded Marco. "Say, my friend, you get out of this. I'mMarco, the Man with the Iron Jaw. It won't be healthy for me to tackleyou, and I will if you make yourself obstreperous. You won't get thatboy until you show me convincingly that you have a legal right todo so. "

"Legal right? Why!" cried Wagner, drawing out a paper, "there's mywarrant. "

"Let me look at it, please. Oh, " said Marco, examining the document. "Issued in another county. We're pretty good lawyers, us show folks, andI can tell you that you will have to get a search warrant issued in thiscounty before you dare set a foot in that tent. "

The Fairview constable was nonplussed. Marco was right, and Wagner knewit. He threshed about, fumed and threatened, and finally said:

"All right. I guess you know the law. We may have no right to enter thattent without a local search warrant, but the minute we get the boyoutside we can take him on sight. "

"You won't have the chance, " observed Marco. 

"We'll see. Hey, " to his two assistants, "keep a close watch. I'm goingfor a local search warrant. Don't let Andy Wildwood leave that tent. Theminute he does, nab him. Mister, I hereby notify you that these two menare my regularly appointed deputies. "

"All right, " nodded Marco calmly. 

"Watch out, boys. I won't be gone half-an-hour. "

At that moment a waddling man came up smoking an immense pipe. 

"Ha, " he said to Mr. Marco, "I vant mine drums. "

"Wait a minute, Snitzellbaum, " directed Marco. 

Marco held the newcomer at bay until Wagner had disappeared in thedirection of the town. 

Then, leaning over, he whispered in the ear of the rotund musician. 

"Ha! ho! hum! vhat? ho--ho! ha--ha!"

"Hush!" warned Marco, with a quick glance at the constable's deputiespatrolling up and down. "Will you do it?"

"Vill I--oh, schure! Ha-ha! ho-ho! Mister Marco, you are von chenyus. "

"Want your drum, eh?" spoke Marco in a loud tone. "Well, go in and getit. "

Andy knew something was afoot from what he observed. He hoped it was inthe line of preventing his return to Fairview. 

In about five minutes the fat German came out of the tent, lugging hisbig bass drum with him. 

"I put him on dot vagon, " he puffed. "Good night, Mr. Marco. Vat dey domit dot poy in dere, hey?"

"Oh, I'll attend to him, " declared Marco. 

Another half-hour went by. At its end Wagner came hurrying up to thespot. He had a companion with him, a keen-eyed, shrewd-faced fellow, evidently a local officer. 

"I have a search warrant here, " said the latter. 

"All right, " nodded Marco accommodatingly, "go on with your search. "

"Told you I'd get that boy, " announced Wagner, with a chuckle liftingthe flap of the tent. "Say! How's this? Andy Wildwood is gone!"

CHAPTER XIII

ON THE ROAD

"Come oud!" said Hans Snitzellbaum. 

"I'm glad to, " answered Andy Wildwood. 

He took a long, refreshing draught of pure air, and stood up andstretched his cramped limbs with satisfaction. 

When the Man with the Iron Jaw had whispered to the fat musician outsidethe dressing tent guarded by Wagner's assistants, he had asked him toget Andy out of the clutches of the constable. 

The fat sides of Hans Snitzellbaum shook with jollity, and his merry eyetwinkled at the hint conveyed by Andy's staunch friend. 

When Hans came inside the tent, a whispered word to Andy was sufficientto make the young fugitive understand what was coming. 

Hans removed the top head of his big bass drum. Andy snuggled along therounded woodwork of the instrument, and the drum head was replaced. 

The double load was a pretty heavy one for the portly musician tohandle, but all went well. 

He got away from the dressing tent without arousing the suspicions ofthe constable's assistants. The drum was hoisted to the top of a movingwagon at some distance. Andy was rather crowded and short of breath, buthe lay quiet and serene as the wagon started up. 

They must have traveled four miles before the musician's welcomeinvitation to "come oud" followed a second removal of the drum head. 

Andy looked about him. They were slowly traversing the main road leadingfrom Centreville to Clifton. 

There was bright moonlight, and the general view was interesting andpicturesque. Ahead and behind a seemingly interminable caravan wasin motion. 

Chariots, cages, vehicles holding tent paraphernalia, a calliope, ticketwagons, horses, mules, ponies, seemed in endless parade. Performers andgeneral circus employees thronged the various vehicles. 

That in which Andy now found himself was a wagon with high, slattedsides, piled full of trunks, mattresses, seat cushions and curtains. 

The fat musician reclined in a dip in the soft bedding; his bulky bodyhad formed. Over beyond him lay a sad-faced man in an exhausted slumber, looking so utterly done out and ill that Andy pitied him. 

A boy about Andy's own age, and two men whose attire and generalappearance suggested side show "spielers, " or those flashily dressedfellows who announce the wonders on view inside the minor canvases, layhalf-buried among some gaudy draperies. 

The two men lay with their high silk hats held softly by both handsacross their breasts. The circus tinge was everywhere. One of them inhis sleep was saying: "Ziripa, the Serpent Queen. Step up, gentlemen. Eats snakes like you eat strawberry shortcake. Eats 'em alive! Bitestheir heads off!"

As the wagon jolted on Hans comfortably smoked a pipe fully four feetlong. His twinkling little eyes fairly laughed at Andy as the latterstepped out of the drum. 

"Hey, you find him varm, hey?" he asked. 

"I'd have smothered if I hadn't kept my mouth close to that vent hole, "explained Andy. "Is it all right for me to show myself now?"

"Yaw, " declared the fat musician. "You see dot sign?"

He pointed back a few yards. Andy recognized the four-armed semaphoreset where a narrow road intersected the highway they were traversing. 

"Oh, yes, " said Andy quickly, "that shows the State line. "

"Yaw, dot vas so. No one can arrest you now, Marco says, and Marco vaslike a lawyer, hey?"

"Will I see Mr. Marco soon again?" asked Andy. 

"For sure dot vas. He toldt me vot to do. Vhen we reach dot Cliftons, you vill go mit Billy Blow. He vill takes care of you till morning. Denyou goes to dot Empire Hotel und sees Miss Stella Starr. "

"Oh, I understand, " exclaimed Andy brightly and hopefully. "And who isBilly Blow, please?"

"Him, " explained Hans, pointing to the sleeping man with the sad, tiredface--"dot is Billy Blow, the clown. "

"Eh, what--clown? Not the one who rides the donkey and tells such funnystories?"

"Oh, yaw, " declared the musician in a matter-of-fact way. 

Andy was naturally surprised. He could hardly realize that the person hewas looking at could ever make up as the mirth-provoking genius who wasthe life and fun of the big circus ring. 

"Poor Billy!" said Hans, shaking his head solemnly. "First his vifefalls from a horse. She vas in dot hospitals. Den his little poy, Midget, is sick. Poor Billy!"

Andy suddenly remembered something. He craned his neck and lookedsteadfastly along the road. 

"I want to leave the wagon when we get a little further along, " he said. 

"I likes not dot, " answered Snitzellbaum. "Maybe you gets in droubles, so?"

"No, it's when we reach an old barn, " explained Andy. "I left somethingthere earlier in the evening. I won't be a minute getting it. "

In about half-an-hour, as they approached the hay barn where Andy hadoverheard the conversation between Daley and Murdock, he slipped downfrom the wagon. He ran ahead, went up among the hay bales, found thecoat containing the marble bag holding his little stock of money, andspeedily rejoined the musician. 

Hans finished his pipe and sank into a doze. Andy could not sleep. Hehad gone through too much excitement that day to readilycompose himself. 

He lay listening dreamily to the jolty clatter of the wagons, the shoutsof the drivers, and the commotion of the animals in the menagerie cages. Meanwhile he was thinking ardently of the next day. It would decide hisfate. He felt hopeful that the show would take him on from the fact thatMiss Stella Starr had required his presence the next morning. 

"Hey, " spoke a sudden voice, "give us a chaw, will you?"

Andy with a start turned to face the boy he had noticed asleep. Thelatter had rudely knocked his shoulder. He had looked mean to Andy whileslumbering. He looked tough as he fixed his eyes on Andy, wide open. 

"I don't 'chaw, '" said the latter. 

"Teeth gone?" sneered the other. 

"No, that's why I don't care to lose them, " retorted Andy. 

"Huh! Say, Snitzellbaum, loan me a little tobacco, will you?"

The speaker had nudged the musician. The latter eyed him with littlefavor. 

"You vas a kid, " he observed, stirring up. "Vhen you grow up, maybe. Notnow. "

The boy let out a string of rough expletives under his breath. Thenfixing his eye on Andy curiously, he demanded:

"Who's the kindergarten kid? Trying to break into the show?"

"I may, " answered Andy calmly. 

"Oho!" chuckled the other, with a wicked grin--"we'll have some funwith you, then. "

"Maybe not, " broke in the musician. "Dot poy has a pull. "

"Oh, has he?" snorted the other. 

"Yaw. Maybe you don't know, hey, Jim Tapp? You hear about dot cuttrapeze? Aha! It vas dis poy who discovered dot in time. "

"Eh!" ejaculated young Tapp, with a prodigious start. "Yes, " hecontinued very slowly, viewing Andy with a searching, hateful look. "Iheard of it. Says Murdock put up the job to break Thacher's neck. "

"Dot vas so. "

"How does he know it?"

"He overheardt dose schoundrels tell dot. "

"Maybe he's lying. "

"Did dot cut trapeze show if he vas, hey?"

"Then he's a spy. Sneaking in on gentlemen's private affairs. Bah!"cried Tapp, with a venomous stare at Andy, "I wouldn't train with youtwo at a hundred per week!"

He crawled over to the edge of the wagon preparatory to leaving thevehicle and seeking more congenial company. 

"Hey, you, Jim Tapp, " observed Snitzellbaum, "you vas a pal of Daley, hey? You see him? Vell, you tell him ve hang him up by dose heels, undMurdock mit him, vonce ve catch dem. See you?"

Tapp disappeared over the edge of the wagon into the road. 

"Mein friend, " remarked the musician to Andy, "you vatch oud for dotpoy. "

Andy Wildwood recalled the solemn warning before the next day was over. 

CHAPTER XIV

BILLY BLOW, CLOWN

Billy Blow, the clown, woke up just as the wagon reached the tent siteat Clifton. It was nearly midnight. 

His sleep did not seem to have refreshed him much. He got down from thevehicle like a man half-awake, and as if the effort hurt him. He had toshake himself to get the stiffness out of his limbs. 

"Dis vos dot poy I told you aboud, Billy, " said the musician. 

"Oh, yes, yes, " answered the clown in a preoccupied way, with a quicklook at Andy. "I'll take him under my wing until Marco comes along. Thisway, kid. I've some baggage to look after. Then we'll bunk. "

Andy bade Hans Snitzellbaum adieu with reluctance. He liked thebluff-hearted old German with his fatherly ways. 

"Goot py for dot bresent times, " said the fat musician. "Vhen I sees youmit dose tumblers, I gives some big bang-bang, boom-boom, hey?"

"I hope you will, " responded Andy with a cheery laugh. 

He followed Billy Blow. The latter finally found the wagon he was after. He bundled its contents about and got a small wooden box and a bigwicker trunk to one side. 

"Wish you'd mind these till I see if I can't make quick sleepingquarters, " Blow said to Andy. 

"Yes, sir, I'll be glad to, " answered Andy willingly, and the clownhurried off in his usual nervous fashion. 

Andy was kept keenly awake for the ensuing hour. It did not seem to benight at all. The scene about him was one of constant activity. 

Andy caught a glimpse of real circus life. Its details filled him withwonderment, admiration and keen interest. 

The scene was one of constantly increasing hustle and bustle. There wasinfinite variety and excitement in the occasion. For all that, there wasa system, precision and progress in all that was done thatfascinated Andy. 

The boy was witnessing the building of a great city in itself within thespace of half-a-dozen hours. 

The caravan wound in, section by section. The wagons moved to set placesas if doing so automatically, discharged their cumbersome loads, and retired. 

First came the baggage train, then the stake and chain wagons, the sideshows, paraphernalia, and the menagerie cages. 

The circus area proper had been all marked out, the ring graded, sawdust-strewn, and straw scattered to absorb dampness. 

The blacksmiths' wagons, cooks' caravan and the minor tents all removedto the far rear. The naphtha torches were set every twenty feet apart toilluminate proceedings. Workers were hauling on the ground greathogsheads of water. Near the dining tents half-a-hundred table clothswere already hanging out on wire clothes lines to dry. 

Some men were washing small tents with paraffin to season them againstthe weather. Finally the great forty-horse team lumbered up with itsmighty load. The boss canvasman with half-a-hundred assistants began theconstruction of "the main top, " or performing tent, holding fifteenthousand people. 

Andy, absorbed in every maneuver displayed, was completely lost in thedeepest interest when a voice at his side aroused him. 

"Tired waiting?" asked Billy Blow. 

"Oh, no, " answered Andy, "I could watch this forever, I think. "

"It would soon get stale, " declared the clown, with a faint smile. "Giveus a hand, partner--one at a time, and we'll get my togs and ourselvesunder cover. "

Andy took one handle of the box, the clown the other. They carried it tothe door of one of twenty small tents near the cook's quarters. Theybrought the wicker trunk also, and then carried box and trunk insidethe tent. 

Andy looked about it curiously. A candle burned on a bench. Beyond itwas a mattress. Near one side, and boxed in by platform sections as ifto keep off draughts, was a second smaller mattress. 

On a stool near it sat a thin-faced, lady-like woman. She was smilingdown at a little boy lying huddled up in shawls and a comforter. 

"This is my boy, Wildwood, " spoke Billy Blow. "New hand, Midge--if hemakes good. "

The little fellow nodded in a grave, mature way at Andy. According tohis size, he resembled a child of four. That was why they called himMidget. Andy learned later that he was ten years old. He had an act withthe circus, going around the ring perched on the shoulders of abare-back rider. He also sometimes had a part with "the Tom Thumbacrobats, " doing some clever hoop-jumping with a trick Shetland pony. 

He seemed to be just recovering from a fit of sickness. His face, prematurely old, was pinched and colorless. 

"Our Columbine in the Humpty Dumpty afterpiece, " was the way the clownintroduced the lady. "I don't know how to thank you for all yourtrouble, Miss Nellis. "

"Don't mention it, Billy, " responded the woman. "Any of us would fightfor it to help you or the kid, wouldn't we, Midge?"

"I don't know why, " answered the lad in a weary way. "I ain't much goodany more. "

"Now hear that ungrateful boy!" rallied Miss Nellis. "Billy, the doctorsays his whole trouble was poisoned canned stuff, bad water and a cold. He's broken the fever. Here's some medicine. Every hour a spoonful untilgone, and doctor says he'll be fit as ever in a day or two. "

"That's good, " said the clown, a lone tear trickling down his cheek. "Iwish I could afford the hotel for the lad, instead of thisrough-and-tumble shack life, but my wife's hospital bills drain mepretty well. "

"Never mind. Better times coming, Billy. Don't you get disheartened, "cheered the little woman. "Remember now, don't miss that medicine. "

Miss Nellis went away. Andy heard poor Billy sigh as he adjusted thelarger mattress. 

"There's your bunk, " he said to Andy. "Marco will see you early in themorning. "

Andy took off his coat and shoes and lay down on the rude bed. Hewatched Midget tracing the outlines of a picture with his white fingerin a book Miss Nellis had brought him. 

Andy saw the clown go over to a stool and place a homely, old-fashionedwatch and a spoon and medicine bottle Miss Nellis had given him upon it. 

Then Blow came back to the big mattress and sat down on it. He bent hisface in his hands in a tired way. Every minute he would sway withsleepiness, start up, and try to keep awake. 

"The man is half-dead for the want of sleep, worn out with all hisworries, " thought Andy. "Mr. Blow, " he said aloud, sitting up, "I can'tsleep a wink. This is all so new to me. I'll just disturb you rustlingabout here. Please let me attend to the little fellow, won't you, andyou take a good sound snooze? Come, it will do you lots of good. "

"No, no, " began the clown weakly. 

"Please, " persisted Andy. "Honest, I can't close my eyes. Now don't youhave a care. I'll give Midget his medicine to the second. "

Andy felt a glow of real pleasure and satisfaction as the clown laydown. He was asleep in two minutes. Andy went over to the stool. 

"I'm going to be your nurse, " he told Midget. "Suppose you sleep, too. "

"I can't, " answered the little fellow. "I've been asleep all day. Wish Ihad another book, I've looked this one through a hundred times. "

"I could tell you some stories, " Andy suggested. "Good ones. "

"Will you, say, will you?" pleaded the clown's boy eagerly. 

"You bet--and famous ones. "

Andy kept his promise. He ransacked his mind for the brightest storieshe had ever read. Never was there a more interested listener. Andytalked in a low voice so as not to disturb the clown. 

Midget seemed most to like the real stories of his own village life thatAndy finally drifted into. 

"That's what I'd like, " he said, after Andy had told of some boyishadventures back at Fairview. 

"Oh, I'm so tired of moving on--all the time moving on!"

"Strange, " thought Andy, "and that's just the kind of a life I'm tryingto get into. "

Midget became so animated that Andy finally got him to tell some storiesabout circus life. All that, however, was "shop talk" to the littleperformer, but Andy learned considerable from the keen-witted littlefellow, who appeared to know as much about the ins and outs of show lifeas some veteran of the ring. 

He enlightened his auditor greatly in the line of real circus slang. Andy learned that in show vernacular clowns were "joys, " and otherperformers "kinkers. " A pocket book was a "leather, " a hat a "lid, " aticket a "fake, " an elephant a "bull. " Lemonade was "juice, " eyes were"lamps, " candy peddlers were "butchers, " and the various tents "tops, "as, for instance: "main top, " "cook top, " and the side shows were"kid tops. "

Finally little Midge went to sleep. Andy woke him up each hour tilldaybreak to take his medicine. After the last dose Andy went outside tostretch his limbs and get a mouthful of fresh air. 

He saw men still tirelessly working here and there. Some were housingthe live stock, some unpacking seat stands, some fixing the banners onthe main tent. 

Andy did not go far from the clown's tent. It was fairly dawn. Happeningto glance towards the chandelier wagon he came to a dead stand-still, and stared. 

"Hello!" said Andy with animation. "There's that Jim Tapp, and the manwith him--yes, it's the fellow, Murdock, I saw with Daley in the oldhay barn. "

As he stood gazing Tapp caught sight of him. He started violently andspoke some quick words to his companion, pointing towards Andy. 

"That's the man who cut the trapeze, " murmured Andy. "I'll rouse theclown and tell him. He's a dangerous man to have lurking around. "

"Hey! hey!" called out Tapp at just that moment. 

Both he and his companion started running towards Andy. There was thatin their bearing that warned Andy they meant him no good. Andy didnot pause. 

"Stop, I tell you!" shouted the man, Murdock. 

Andy made a bee-line for the clown's tent. As he neared it he glancedback over his shoulder. 

Tapp was still putting after him. His companion had stooped to pick upan iron tent stake from the ground. 

This he let drive with full force. It took Andy squarely between theshoulders, and he dropped like a shot. 

CHAPTER XV

ANDY JOINS THE SHOW

The breath seemed clear knocked out of Andy's body. The shock of theblow from the stake deprived him of consciousness. 

Andy opened his eyes in about two minutes. He found himself lying on theground, half-a-dozen circus employees gathered around him. 

"Help me up, " said Andy in a confused way. "I mustn't miss giving Midgehis medicine. "

"Eh--the clown's boy?" spoke one of the men sharply. 

"Oh, " said Andy, regaining his senses more completely, "have I been herelong?"

"About two minutes. "

"Then Midge is all right--oh, dear!"

Andy, trying to arise, gasped and tottered weakly. The man who hadaddressed him seemed to be a sort of boss of the others. He held Andyfirmly as he said:

"Belong with Billy Blow? All right, we'll take you to his tent. But, say--what did those fellows knock you out for?"

"Did you see the fellows?" inquired Andy. 

"I was way over near the big bunk top. I heard some one holler, saw yourunning. Two fellows were after you. One let drive that stake. It tookyou between the shoulders like a cannon ball. An ugly throw, and awicked one. Wonder it didn't fetch you for good. "

"One of the fellows was a boy named Jim Tapp, " said Andy. 

"That rascal, eh?" spoke the man. "Thought he'd quit us. Was going to. Borrowed all he could, and salary tied up on an attachment. "

"The other was a man named Murdock. He's the fellow who cut the trapezeon Benares Brothers last night. "

"What!" cried the man, with a jump. "Hey, men--you hear that? Go forboth! Get them! They're wanted for these crooked jobs. "

Those addressed started on a chase, pursuant to directions of theirleader who had seen Murdock and Tapp run away as he came up to theprostrate Andy. 

The man himself helped Andy to the clown's tent. Their entrance arousedBilly Blow, who sprang up quickly as he noticed that Andy walked in apained, disabled fashion. He was quite another man for his long, refreshing sleep. 

"Why, what's the matter?" he asked. 

Andy's companion explained. The clown expressed his sympathy andindignation in the same breath. He urged that the show detectives bearoused at once. 

"I heard Harding say last night he'd spend a thousand dollars, but he'dget Daley and Murdock behind the bars for attempted murder, " declaredthe clown. 

The man who had assisted Andy went away saying he would consult with Mr. Giles Harding, the owner of the circus, at once. 

"You see, Murdock ventured here to find out how his wicked plotsucceeded, never suspecting that he was found out, " theorized the clown. "That fellow, Tapp, was always his crony. They're a bad lot, you canguess that from the stake they threw at you. No bones broken? Good!Hurts? I'll soon fix that. Strip, now. "

"All right. "

The clown had felt all over Andy's back as the latter sat down on thebench. Now he made Andy take off his coat and shirt. Then he produced abig bottle from his wicker trunk. 

"Ever hear of the Nine Oils?" he asked, as he poured a lot of black, greasy stuff out of the bottle into the palm of his hand. 

"No, " said Andy. 

"This is it, " explained the clown, beginning to rub Andy's backvigorously. "You've got quite a bruise, and I suppose it pains. Just laydown. When I get through, if the Nine Oils don't fix you up, I'll giveyou nine dollars. "

The clown rubbed Andy good and hard. Then he made him lie down on thebig mattress. The Nine Oils had a magical effect. Andy's pain andsoreness were soon soothed. He fell into a doze, and woke up to observethat Marco was in the tent conversing with the clown. 

"Hi, Wildwood, " hailed Andy's friend. "Having quite a time of it, aren'tyou?"

Andy got up as good as ever. His back smarted slightly--that was theonly reminder he had of Murdock's savage assault. 

Billy Blow had been telling Marco about Andy's latest mishap. Marco wasgreatly worked up over it. He said the attempted trick on old Benares'spartner had become noised about, and if the two plotters were arrestedand brought anywhere near the circus, they stood a good showof lynching. 

"I'll step down with you to the hotel about ten o'clock, Wildwood, " saidMarco. "Miss Starr has some word for you. "

Andy simply said "Thank you, " but his hopes rose tremendously. Heaccompanied Marco to the big eating tent and at the man's invitation hadbreakfast. The food was good and everything was scrupulously clean. 

Marco got a big tin tray, and he and Andy carried a double breakfast toBilly Blow's tent. 

The clown had got rested up and was bright and chipper, for little Midgeseemed on the mend, and was as lively as a cricket. The little fellowate a hearty meal, and then expressed a wish for an airing. Marcoborrowed one of the wagons used by some performing goats, and Andy rodeMidge around the grounds for half-an-hour. 

At about eight o'clock Andy went to the principal street of the town. Hebought himself a new shirt and a cap. Going back to the clown's tent hewashed up, and made himself generally tidy and presentable for thecoming interview at the Empire Hotel. 

Andy had a full hour to spare before the time set for that eventarrived. He took a stroll about the circus grounds, meeting jolly oldHans Snitzellbaum, and Benares and his partner, Thacher. 

His part taken in the impromptu arenic performance of the eveningprevious had become generally known. Andy was pointed out to thewatchmen and others, and no one hindered him going about as he chose. 

Andy viewed another phase of show detail now. It was the picturesquepart, the family side of circus daily life. 

He saw women busy at fancy work or sewing, their children playing withthe ring ponies or petting the cake-walking horse. 

Some of the men were mending their clothes, others were washing outcollars and handkerchiefs. What element of home life there was in thecircus experience Andy witnessed in his brief stroll. 

He was on time to the minute at the Empire Hotel. A bell-boy showed himup to the ladies' parlor on the second floor. 

Miss Stella Starr was listening to some members of the circus minstrelshow trying over some new airs on the piano. 

The moment she saw him she came forward with hand extended and a welcomesmile on her kindly face. 

She made Andy feel at home at once. She insisted on hearing all thedetails of his experience since the evening he had saved her fromdisaster during the wind storm. 

"I think now just as I thought night before last, Andy, " she saidfinally. "You do not owe much of duty to that aunt of yours. I think Iwould fight pretty hard to get away, in your place, with the reformschool staring me in the face. Well, Andy, I have spoken toMr. Harding. "

"Can--can I join?" asked Andy, with a good deal of anxiety. 

"Yes, Andy. I had a long talk with him about you, and--here he is now. "

A brisk-moving, keen-faced man of about fifty entered the parlor justthen. 

"Mr. Harding, this is the boy, Andy Wildwood, I told you about, " saidMiss Starr. 

"Oh, indeed?" observed the showman, looking Andy all over with oneswift, comprehensive glance. "They tell me you can do stunts, young man?"

"Oh, a little--on the bar and tumbling, " said Andy. 

"Well, I suppose you don't expect to star it for awhile, " said Harding. "You must begin at the bottom, you know. "

"I want to, sir. "

"Very good. I will give you a card to the manager. He will make youuseful in a general way until we have our two days' rest at Tipton, I'lllook you up then, and see if you've got any ring stuff in you. "

Andy took the card tendered by the showman after the latter had writtena few words on it in pencil. 

Andy made his best bow to Miss Starr. He was delighted and fluttered. Heshowed it so much that the showman was pleased out of the common. 

"Come back a minute, " he called out. "My boy, " he continued, placing afriendly hand on Andy's shoulder, "you have made a good start with us inthat Benares matter. Keep on the right side always, and you willsucceed. Never swear, quarrel or gamble. Assist our patrons, and becivil and obliging on all occasions. The circus is a grand centre offraternal good will, properly managed, and the right circus stands forhealth, happiness, virtue and vigor. Its motto should be courage, ambition and energy, governed by honest purpose and tempered byhumanity. I don't want to lecture, but I am giving you the benefit ofwhat has cost me twenty years experience and a good many thousandsof dollars. "

"Thank you, sir, I shall not forget what you have told me, " said Andy. 

For all that, Andy's mind was for the present full only of the pomp andglitter of his new calling. One supreme thought made his heart bubbleover with joy:

At last he had reached the goal of his fondest wishes. Andy Wildwood had"joined the circus. "

CHAPTER XVI

THE REGISTERED MAIL

Andy hurried back to the circus grounds the happiest boy on earth. Hewent straight to the clown's tent. 

Billy Blow was making up for the morning parade. Dressed up as away-back farmer, he was to drive a hay wagon, breaking into theprocession here and there along the line of march. Finally, when he hadcreated a sensation, he was to drop his disguise and emerge in his usualpopular ring character. 

While Billy was putting the finishing touches to his toilet he conversedwith Andy, congratulating him on his success in getting a job withthe show. 

"Wait about half-an-hour till the parade gets off the grounds, " headvised Andy. "Scripps, the manager, will be busy till then. You'll findhim in the paper tent. "

Andy knew what that was--the structure containing the programmes andgeneral advertising and posting outfits of the show. He had noticed itearlier in the day. A wagon inside the tent, with steps and windows, comprised the manager's private office. 

Little Midge was sitting up playing with some show children who hadbrought in a lot of toys. Andy went outside with Billy. 

"See here, " said the clown, as he hurried off to join the parade. "TellScripps that you bunk with me. Any objection?"

"I should say not. "

"You're welcome. The general crowd they'd put you with is a bit toorough for a raw recruit. Just stand what they give you till we reachTipton. You've got friends enough to pull you up into the performers'rank. We'll fix you out there. "

"Thank you, " said Andy. 

He strolled about with a happy smile on his face. Prospects looked fine, and Andy's heart warmed as he thought of all the good friends hehad made. 

"They're a nice crowd, " he thought--"Miss Starr, Marco, the BenaresBrothers, the clown. How different, though, to what I used to think!It's business with them, real work, for all the tinsel and glare. It's apleasant business, though, and they must make a lot of money. "

There was a shrill, whistling shriek from the calliope wagon. Thevarious performers scampered from their dressing rooms at the signal. 

Each person, vehicle and animal fell into line in the morning caravanwith a promptness and ease born of long practice. 

Soon there was a fluttering line of gay color, rich plush hangings, bullion-trimmed uniforms, silken flags and streamers. 

Zeno, the balloon clown, eating "redhots, " i. E. Peanuts, led theprocession, bouncing up and down on a rubber globe in the advancechariot. The bands began to play. The prancing horses, rumbling wagons, screaming calliope, frolicking tumblers, tramp bicyclists weaving in andout in grotesque costumes, often on one wheel, the Tallyho stage filledwith smiling ladies, old Sultan, the majestic lion, gazing in calmdignity down from his high extension cage--all this passed, a fantasticpanorama, before Andy's engrossed gaze. 

"It's grand!" decided Andy--"just grand! A fellow can never get lonesomehere, night or day. I'm going to like it. Now for the manager. Hope Idon't have any trouble. "

When Andy came to the paper tent he found a good many people inside. There were several performers and canvas men on crutches or bandaged up. There were village merchants with bills, newspaper men after free passesand persons seeking employment. 

They were called in turn up the steps of the wagon that constituted themanager's office. 

Mr. Scripps was a rapid talker, a brisk man of business, and he disposedof the cases presented in quick order. 

Andy saw four or five dissipated looking men discharged at a word. Theapplicants for work were ordered to appear at Tipton, two days later. 

Several were after an advance on their salary. Some farmers appearedwith claims for foraging done by circus hands. Finally Andy got to thefront and tendered the card Mr. Harding had given him. 

"All right, " shot out Scripps sharply, giving the lad a keen look. "You're the one who blocked the game on Benares? Good for you! We'llremember that, later. "

Scripps glanced over a pasteboard sheet on his desk, first asking Andyhis name and age, and writing his answers down in a big-paged book. 

"Half-a-dollar a day and keep, for the present, " he said. 

"All right, " nodded Andy--"it's a start. "

"Just so. Let me see. Ah, here we are. Report to the Wild Man of Borneoside top at twelve. "

"Yes, sir. "

"Hammer the big triangle there till two. Then--let me see again. Knowhow to ride a horse?"

"Oh, yes, " replied Andy eagerly. 

"All right, at two o'clock report for the jockey ring section at thehorse tent. They'll hand you a costume. "

Scripps wrote a number on a red ticket and handed this to Andy--his passas an employee. Just then a newcomer bundled up the stepsunceremoniously, a red-faced, fussy old fellow. 

"Mail's in, " he announced. "Give me the O. K. "

Scripps fumbled in a drawer of his desk and brought out a rubber stampand pad. 

"Mind your eye, Rip, " he observed, casting a scrutinizing look over theintruder. 

"Which eye?" demanded the old fellow. 

"The one that sees a bottle and glass the quickest. "

"H'm!" grumbled Ripley, or "Rip Van Winkle, " as he was familiarly knownby the show people. "My eyes are all right. Don't fret. I've been twentyyears with this here show, man and boy--"

"Yes, yes, we know all about that, " interrupted Scripps. "You'reseasoned, right enough. Don't leave the rig to come home without adriver, though, and money letters aboard, as you did last week. Here isa new hand. Break him in to keep his time employed. "

Ripley viewed Andy with some disfavor. Evidently he regarded him as asort of guardian. 

Andy, however, silently followed him outside. Ripley soon reached aclose vehicle, boarded up back of the seat and with two doors atthe rear. 

A big-boned mottled horse, once evidently a beauty, was between theshafts. As Andy lifted himself to the seat beside Ripley, the lattermade a peculiar, purring: "Z-rr-rp, Lute!"

He did not even take up the reins. The horse, with a neigh and a friskydance movement of the forefeet, started up. 

"Right, left, slow, Lute. Turn--now go"--Ripley gave a dozen directionswithin the next five minutes. He was showing off for Andy's benefit. Thelatter was, in fact, pleased. The animal obeyed every direction with aprecision and intelligence that fairly amazed the boy. 

Finally getting to a clear course outside the circus tangle, Ripley tookup the reins. 

He set his lips and uttered two sharp whistles, ending in a kind ofhiss. 

Andy was very nearly jerked out of his seat He had to hold on to itsside bar. For about five hundred yards the horse took a sprint thatknocked off his cap and fairly took his breath away. 

"Say, he's great!" Andy exclaimed irrepressibly, as Ripley slowed downagain. 

"I guess so, " nodded the latter, aroused out of his crustiness by Andy'senthusiasm. "That Lucille was famous, once. Past her prime a little now, but when her old driver has the reins, she don't forget, does she?"

Ripley took a turn into a side street and finally halted, giving Andythe reins. 

"Got to order something, " he said. 

Andy saw him enter a store, but only to leave it by a side door andcross an alley into a saloon. 

Ripley tried to appear very business-like when he came back to thewagon, but Andy caught the taint of liquor in his breath. 

Twice again the circus veteran made stops in the same manner. He becamequite chatty and confidential. 

Ripley explained to Andy that he went regularly for the circus mail ateach town where the show stopped. 

"Postmasters kick, with five hundred strangers calling for their mail, "he explained, "so we always forward a list of the employees. This mail, just before pay day, when the crowd is usually hard up, brings a goodmany money letters from friends. That rubber stamp you saw the managergive me O. K. 's all the registered cards at the post office. Once thewagon was robbed. The looters made quite a haul. Not when I was onduty, though. "

At a drug store Ripley got several packages and some more at a generalmerchandise store. Finally they reached the post office, and Ripleydrove around to a sort of hitching alley at its side. 

"Come with me to see how we do things, " he invited Andy. "Bring alongthose two mail bags. "

Andy had already noticed the bags. One was quite large. It was made ofcanvas, with a snap lock. The other was of leather, and smaller in size. 

Swinging these over his shoulder, Ripley entered the post-office. Heshowed his credentials from the circus, and was admitted behind theletter cases of the places. 

Andy watched him receive over a hundred letters and packages, receiptingfor the same on registry delivery cards. This lot he placed in the smallleather bag. 

The ordinary mail lay sorted out for the circus on a stamping table. This went into the big canvas pouch. 

The circus newspaper mail was ready tagged in a hempen sack. Ripleycarried this out to Andy. 

"Toss it in the wagon, " he ordered, following with the letter pouches. 

Andy opened the back doors of the wagon and tossed in the newspaper bag. 

"Say, back in a minute, " observed Ripley, depositing his own burdens onthe front wagon seat. 

Andy stood watching him. Ripley rounded a corner in the alley where awooden finger indicated a side entrance to a hotel bar. Ripley's failingwas manifest, and Andy decided that he did, indeed, need a guardian. 

The wagon stood on a space quite secluded from the street. Near theentrance to the alley several men were lounging about. 

Andy carried the leather pouch with him as he went around to the opendoors at the rear of the wagon. 

He climbed in, and stowed the newspaper bag and what packages they hadalready collected in a tidy pile. Ripley had indicated that there wasquite a miscellaneous load to pick up about town before they returned tothe circus. 

Andy was thus employed when the rear doors came together with a sharpsnap. 

They shut him in a close prisoner, for they were self-locking, on theoutside only. 

Andy, in complete darkness, now groped back to the doors. He heardquick, suppressed tones outside. 

The vehicle jolted. Some one had jumped to the front seat. A whipsnapped. Old Lute started up with a bound, throwing Andy off hisfooting. "Send her spinning!" reached him in a muffled voice from thefront seat. 

"Jump with the bag when we turn that old shed, " answered other tones. "Why, say! There's only one mail bag. "

"I saw them bring out two. I am dead sure of it. "

"And this is only common letters. "

"How do you know?"

"Jim Tapp described them--'get the leather one, ' he says. 'It's got themoney mail in it. '"

"Then where is it?"

"The kid must have it. "

"Inside the wagon?"

"Yes. "

"Whoa. "

With a sharp jerk the horse was pulled to a halt. 

Andy heard the two men on the seat jump to the ground. He knew thattheir motive was robbery. He knew further that this was another plot ofbad Jim Tapp, the friend and associate of criminals. 

In another minute the men would open the wagon doors, pull him out, perhaps assault him, take the registered mail and fly. 

Andy had only a second to act in. He theorized that the wagon, followingthe alley, was now probably halted in some secluded side lane. 

To escape the clutches of the would-be robbers was everything. Andy, having no weapon of defence, was no match for them. 

"If the rig once reaches the crowded streets, I'm safe, " thought Andy. 

Then he carried out a speedy programme. Forming his lips in a pucker, ashe had seen Ripley do, Andy uttered two sharp whistles, then a clear, resounding hiss. 

"Thunder!" yelled a voice outside. 

"Ouch!" echoed a second. 

The horse had given one wild, prodigious bound at hearing the familiarsignal. 

The vehicle must have grazed one of the thieves. Its front wheelsknocked the other down. 

"My! I'm in for it, " instantly decided Andy. 

For, swayed from side to side, he realized that the circus wagon wasdashing forward at runaway speed. 

CHAPTER XVII

A WILD JOURNEY

Andy Wildwood found himself in a box, in more ways than one. 

Judging from the sounds he had heard, the men bent on securing theregistered mail pouch had been baffled. The old circus horse had startedon a sudden and surprisingly swift sprint. From the feeling of turns, jerks and swings, Andy decided that within four minutes the rig had leftthe post-office fully half-a-mile to the rear. 

"I've started the horse all right, " said Andy. "Old Ripley's signal hasacted like a charm. How to stop the animal, though. That is the presentquestion?"

Andy ran at the two rear doors of the wagon. He steadied himself, armsextended so as to touch either side of the box. Then he gave the doors atremendous kick with the sole of his shoe. 

The doors did not budge. He felt over their inner surfaces where theycame together. The lock was set in the wood. They could be opened onlyfrom the outside. 

The wagon box had one aperture, Andy discovered. This was a smallventilating grating up in one corner above the seat. 

He sprang up on the newspaper bag. This brought his eyes on a level withthe grating. It was about four by six inches, with slanting slats. Andycould see down at the horse and ahead along the road. 

He grew excited and somewhat uneasy as he looked out. Lute was a sightfor a race track. Her head down, mane flowing, tail extended, she wascovering the ground with tremendous strides. 

Farther back on the route Andy had felt the wagon collide with curbs andwith other vehicles. Once there was a crash and a yell, and he felt surethey had taken a wheel off a rig they passed. Now, however, theyappeared to be quite clear of the town proper. 

The road ahead was a slanting one. A steep grade fully half-a-mile longled to a stone bridge crossing a river. It was so steep that Andywondered that Lute did not stumble. The wagon wheels ground and slid sothat the vehicle lifted at the rear, as if its own momentum would causea sudden tip-over. 

"We'll never reach the bottom of the hill, " decided Andy. "My! we'regoing!"

He shouted out words of direction to the horse he had heard Ripleyemploy. Lute did not hear, at least did not heed. Andy remembered nowthat in stopping the horse Ripley had used the reins. 

He held his breath as, striking a rut, the wagon bounded up in the air. He clung for dear life, with one hand clutching the ventilator bars asthe vehicle was flung sideways over ten feet, threatening to snap offthe wheels, which bent and cracked on their axles at theterrific strain. 

Contrary to Andy's anticipations they neared the bottom of the hillwithout a mishap. Suddenly, however, he gave a shout. A new dangerthreatened. 

The bridge had large stone posts where it began. Then a frail woodenrailing was its only side protection. The roadway was not very broad. Two full loads of hay could never have passed one another onthat bridge. 

"There's a team coming, " breathed Andy. "We'll collide, sure. Whoa!whoa!" he yelled through the grating. "No use. It's a smash, and abad one. "

Andy fixed a distressed glance on the team half-way across the bridge. Acollision was inevitable. Lute, striking the level, only increased heralready terrific rate of speed. 

Andy took heart, however, as she swerved to one side. 

The intelligent animal appeared to enjoy her wild runaway, and wanted tokeep it up. Apparently she aimed to keep precisely to her own side ofthe road and avoid a collision. 

The driver of the team coming had jumped from his seat and pulled hisrig to the very edge of the planking. All might have gone well but for aslight miscalculation. 

As Lute's feet struck the bridge plankway, she pressed close to theright. The wagon swerved. The front end of the box landed squarelyagainst the stone post. 

The shock was a stunning one. It tore the wagon shafts, harness and all, clear off the horse. With a circling twist the vehicle reversed likelightning. The box struck the wooden rail. This snapped like apipe stem. 

Lute, dashed on like a whirlwind, the driver of the other team staringin appalled wonder, the box slid clear of the plankway and went whirlingto the river bed fifteen feet below. 

Andy was thrown from side to side. Then, as the wagon landed, a newcrash and a new shock dazed his wits completely. He was hurled thelength of the box, his head fortunately striking where the newspaper bagintervened. 

Judging from the concussion, Andy decided that the wagon box had landedon a big rock in the river bed. There it remained stationary. Hestruggled to an upright position. One arm was badly wrenched. His facewas grazed and bleeding. 

"If I don't get out some way, " he panted, "I'll drown. "

It looked that way. He felt a great spurt of water, pouring in rapidlywhen the ventilator dipped under the surface. Then, too, the crash hadwrenched the box structure at various seams. Water was forcing its wayin, bottom, sides and top. 

From ankle-deep to knee-deep, Andy stood helpless. Then, locating thedoor end of the vehicle, he drew back and massed all his muscle for asupreme effort. Shoulders first Andy posed, and then threw himselfforward, battering-ram fashion. He felt he must act and that quickly, orelse the worst might be his own. 

CHAPTER XVIII

A FREAK OF NATURE

The doors at the rear of the wagon box gave way as Andy's body met theirinner surface with full force. He stood now on a slant, his bodysubmerged to the waist. 

The box had crashed on top of one big flat rock in the river bed, andhad tilted on this foundation against another upright rock. But for thisit might have gone clear under water or floated down stream, and Andymight have been drowned. 

All through his stirring runaway experience Andy had kept possession ofthe registered mail pouch. It was still slung from his shoulder as hegazed around him. He was careful lest he disturb the equilibrium of thewreck. He found out now that the door hinges had been knocked clear offand the frame badly wrenched in its fall. 

"Hello! hello!" shouted an excited voice overhead. 

"Hello yourself, " sang back Andy, looking up. 

The driver of the team into which the runaway had so nearly dashed stoodlooking down from the bridge planking. His eyes stared wide as Andysuddenly appeared like a jack-in-the-box. 

"Was you in there?" gulped the man. 

"I was nowhere else, " answered Andy. "Say, mister, where's that horse?"

"Oh, he's all right. See him?"

The man pointed along the other shore of the river bank. Lute hadcrossed the bridge. She had now taken herself to some marshy grassstretches, and was grazing placidly. 

Andy was about twenty feet from the shore. He could nearly make it byjumping from rock to rock, he thought. At one or two places, however, the current ran strong and deep, and he saw that he might have to dosome swimming. 

"See here, " he called up to the man on the bridge, "have you got a rope?"

"Yes, " nodded the man. 

"Long enough to reach down here?"

"I guess so. Let's try. Wait a minute. "

He went to his wagon. Shortly he dropped a new stout rope used insecuring hay loads. It had length and to spare. 

Andy tied the mail pouch to its end. Then he groped under water in thewagon box. He managed to fish out the various parcels it held, includingthe newspaper bag. 

These he sent up first. Then the man at the other end braced the cableagainst a railing post. Andy came up the rope with agility. 

He stamped and shook the water from his soaked shoes and clothing. Themail bag he again suspended across his shoulders. 

"Hi, another runaway!" suddenly exclaimed his companion. 

Andy traced an increasing clatter of a horse's hoofs and wagon wheels toa rig descending the hill at breakneck speed. 

"No, " he said. "It's Ripley. "

"Who's he?"

"The man who drove that wagon. Stop! stop!" cried Andy, springing intothe middle of the bridge roadway and waving his arms. 

The rig came up. It was driven by a man wearing a badge. Andy decided hewas some local police officer. Ripley was fearfully excited and his faceshowed it. 

"What did you do with that wagon?" sputtered Ripley, jumping to theplankway. 

Andy pointed down at the river bed and then at the distant horse. Briefly as he could he narrated what had occurred. 

Ripley nearly had a fit. He instantly realized that whoever was to blamefor the runaway, it was not Andy. 

"Where's the mail?" he asked. 

"There's the newspaper bag, " said Andy; "here's the registered mailpouch. Those thieves took the other bag of mail. "

"They did? Do you hear, officer? Get after them quick, won't you? Nevermind us. Describe them, kid. "

"How can I, when I never saw them?" said Andy. 

Ripley groaned and wrung his hands. He was in a frenzy of distress andindecision. 

"See here, " spoke the officer to him. "You had better go after thathorse. Your wagon isn't worth fishing up. Got all there was in it, lad?"

"Yes, sir, " answered Andy. 

"Very well, bundle that bag and those packages in here, and come withme. It's good you held on to that registered stuff. "

Ripley started after the runaway horse. The officer hurried townwards, questioning Andy closely. He stopped at the post-office and made someinquiries among the crowd loitering about its vicinity. Then he drove tothe town hall, went into his office, jumped in the buggy again, and theyproceeded toward the circus. 

"I've got a vague description of your two men, " he told Andy, "but thatisn't much, with so many strangers in town. You think they are partnersof that Rapp, whom the circus people know?"

"Tapp--Jim Tapp, " corrected Andy. "Yes, they mentioned his name. "

"The circus detectives ought to handle this case, then, " said thevillage officer. "I'd better see them right away. "

The manager of the show regarded Andy in some wonderment as he and theofficer unceremoniously entered his presence. His excitement increasedas Andy recited his story. 

"I warned Ripley, " he exclaimed. "Well, he shan't play the spoiled petany longer. As to you, Wildwood, you deserve credit for your pluck. I'llhave a talk with you when we get to Tipton. Too shaken up to do a littlegeneral utility work, till I can arrange for something better?"

"Not at all, sir, " answered Andy promptly. 

Andy saw that he had made a good impression on the manager. The latterwas pleased with him and interested in him. Andy waited outside thetent. Soon the village officer and two of the circus detectives soughthim out. These latter questioned him on their own behalf. 

"Daley, Murdock and Tapp are in this, " one of them remarked definitely. "They haven't got much, this time. The next break, though, may be forthe ticket wagon. They've got to be squelched. "

Andy put in a busy, pleasant day. He was getting acquainted, he wasbecoming versed in general circus detail. 

For an hour he hammered the huge triangle in front of a side show, asdirected. At the afternoon rehearsal he was one of twenty dressed likejockeys in the ring parade. 

Afterwards Andy was making for the clown's tent, when a fat, red-faced, perspiring fellow, aproned as a cook, hailed him. 

"Belong to show?" he asked, waving a frying pan. 

"Sure, I do, " answered Andy, proudly. 

"Help me a little, will you?"

"Glad to. What can I do?"

"Open these lard and butter casks and carry them in. I haven't time. There's a hatchet. My stuff is all burning up inside. "

A hissing splutter of his ovens made the cook dive into his tent. Andypicked up a chisel dropped by the cook. He opened six casks standing onthe ground and carried them inside. 

The cooking odor pervading the place was very pleasing. The cook'sassistants were few, some of the regulars were absent, Andy guessed fromwhat he heard the cook say. The latter was rushed to death, and jumpingfrom stove to stove and utensil to utensil in a great flutter ofexcitement and haste for he was behind in his work. 

Andy caught on to the situation. In a swift, quiet way he anticipatedthe cook's needs. He dipped and dried some skillets near a trough ofwater. He sharpened some knives. He carried some charcoal hods nearer toa stove needing replenishing. 

After awhile the cook began to whistle cheerily. His perplexities werelessening, and he felt good humored over it. 

"Things in running order, " he chirped. "You're a game lad. Hold on aminute. "

The cook emptied out a smoking pan into which he had placed a mass ofbatter a few minutes previous. 

"Don't burn yourself--it's piping hot, " he observed, tendering Andy atempting raisin cake, enough for two meals. 

"Oh, thank you, " said Andy. 

"Thank you, lad. Whenever you need a bite between meals, just drop in. "

Andy came out of the tent passing the cake from hand to hand. He caughta newspaper sheet fluttering by, wadded it up, and surmounted it withthe hot cake. 

"That's better, " he said. "My, it looks appetizing. Beg pardon, " addedAndy, as rounding a tent he ran against a boy about his own age. 

At a glance he saw that the stranger did not belong to the show. He waspoorly dressed, but clean-faced and bright-eyed, although he limped likea person who had walked too far and too long for comfort. 

"My fault, " said the stranger. "I've done nothing but gape since I camehere. Say, this circus is a regular city in itself, isn't it?"

"Yes, " answered Andy. "Stranger here?"

The boy nodded. He studied Andy's face quite anxiously. 

"Look here, " he said, "you look honest. Some lemonade boys I asked sentme astray with all kinds of wrong information. You won't, will you?"

"Certainly not, " said Andy. "What's the trouble?"

"Is it hard to get a talk with the circus manager?"

"Why, no. "

"Is it hard to join the show?"

"I have just joined, " said Andy. 

"Is that so?" exclaimed the stranger, brightening up. "Was it hard toget in?"

"Not particularly. What did you expect to do?"

"Anything for a start, " responded the other eagerly. "Only, my ambitionis to be an animal trainer. "

Andy became quite interested. 

"Why that?" he inquired. 

"Because it seems to be my bent. My name is Luke Belding. I'm an orphan. Been brought up on a stock farm, and know all about horses. And say, "added the speaker with intense eagerness, "if they'll take me on I'llthrow in a great curiosity. "

He held out what looked like a wooden cage covered with a piece ofwater-proof cloth. 

"Got it in there, have you?" asked Andy. 

"Yes. I've trained it, and it's cute. Honest, it's better as acuriosity, and to make people laugh, than a lot of the novelties theyhave in the side, tents. "

"Why, " said Andy, with increasing interest, "what may it be, now?"

"Well, " answered Luke, "it's a chicken. "

"Oh. Two-headed, three-legged, I suppose, or something of that sort?"

"Not at all. No, " said Luke Belding, "this is something you never sawbefore. It's a chicken that walks backward. "

CHAPTER XIX

CALLED TO ACCOUNT

Andy burst out laughing, --he could not help it. 

"That's strange, " he said. "A chicken that walks backward?"

"Yes, " answered Luke Belding, soberly. 

"Really does it?"

"Oh, sure. All the time. I've got it here. I'll show you. "

Luke made a move as if to remove the cloth cover from the box under hisarm, but Andy stopped him. 

"Hold on, " he said. "Come with me till I get rid of this cake, and thenyou shall show me. "

"H'm!" observed Luke, smacking his lips with a longing look at the cake, "it wouldn't take me long to get rid of it!"

"Hungry?" insinuated Andy. 

"Desperately. I'd be almost tempted to sell a half-interest in thechicken for a good square meal. "

"You shall have one without any such sacrifice, " declared Andy. "Comealong. "

They found the clown's tent empty. 

"Billy Blow is probably giving Midget an airing, " said Andy, half tohimself. 

"Who's Billy Blow?" inquired Luke. 

"The clown. "

"Do you know a real live clown? Say, that's great!" said Luke. "Mustkeep a fellow laughing all the time. "

"I thought so until yesterday, " answered Andy. "But no--they have theirtroubles, like other people. This poor, sorrowful fellow has his fill ofit. He don't do much laughing outside of the ring, I can tell you. There, we'll enjoy the cook's gift together. "

Andy drew up the bench and handed Luke fully three-quarters of thetoothsome dainty. It pleased him to see the half-famished boy enjoy thefeast. Luke poked a good-sized piece of the sake under the cage cover. There was a gladsome cluck. 

"Two of us happy, " announced Luke, with a smile that won Andy's heart. 

Andy decided that his new acquaintance was the right sort. Luke had aclear, honest face, and there was something in his eye that inspiredconfidence. 

"Now, then, " said Andy, as his companion munched the last crumb of thecake, "let's see your wonderful curiosity. "

"I'll do it, " replied Luke with alacrity. "Find me a little stick orswitch, will you?"

Andy went outside to hunt for the required article. As he returned witha stake splinter he observed that Luke had uncovered and set down thecage, which was a rude wooden affair. 

Near it, with a pertly cocked head and magnificently red feathers, stooda small rooster. Luke took the stick from Andy's hand. 

"Walk, Bolivar!" he ordered. 

Andy began to laugh. It was a comical sight. The rooster went struttingaround the tent backwards as rapidly and steadily as a normal chicken. It was ludicrous to watch it proceed, pecking at the ground andturning corners. 

"Now, then, Bolivar!" said Luke. 

He used the stick to direct the rooster, which kept time first with onefoot and then the other to a tune whistled by its owner, ending with atriple pirouette that was superb. 

"Well, that's fine!" commented Andy with enthusiasm. "How did you evertrain it?"

"Didn't, " responded Luke frankly--"except for the dancing. I've donethat with crows and goats, many a time. See here, " and he picked up thechicken and extended its feet. 

"Why, " cried Andy, "it was born with its claws turned backwards!"

"That's it, " nodded Luke. "See? A regular freak of nature. Odd enough toput among the curiosities?"

"It certainly is, " voted Andy. "The circus wouldn't use it, though--justa side show. "

"I don't care, " said Luke, "as long as I get started in with the show. Can you help me?"

"I'll try to, " declared Andy. "Wait here. I want to find Billy Blow andtell him about this. "

Andy went about the circus grounds until he discovered the clown. Billywas quite taken with the chicken, and finally decided to try and placethe boy with his freak. 

He and Luke went away together. When he came back the clown was alone. He told Andy that one of the side shows had agreed to try Luke and hiswonderful chicken for at least a week for the food and keep of both. 

Andy went on with the jockey riders in the evening performance. The lastperformance at Clifton was the next forenoon. He had only a glimpse ofMarco and others of his acquaintance meantime, with everything ona rush. 

"You see, Tipton is a regular vacation for us folks, " Billy Blowexplained to him. "Country around isn't populous enough for more thanone day's performances, and then only when the county fair is on. Werest two days, and play Saturday. Then is your chance. There's a gooddeal of shifting and taking on new hands. We'll watch out for you. You'll see some fun, too. All the new aspirants have been told to showup at Tipton. "

"Are there many?"

"About five to every town we've played in, " declared Billy. "They allwant to break in, and it's policy to give them a show. "

Andy was sent off by the manager to the superintendent of the movingcrew about noon. There was considerable lifting to do. Andy was tiredwhen, about six o'clock in the evening, he climbed up on a loaded wagonfor the well-earned ride to Tipton. 

He had met one of the circus detectives that morning, who told him theyhad so far discovered no trace of Jim Tapp, or his colleagues, or thestolen mail bag. 

They got to Tipton about eight o'clock in the evening. Andy was "toldoff" to help in the construction work the next morning, and had nowtwelve hours of his own time. 

He was hungry, and knowing that it would be difficult to get much to eatuntil late, when the cook's quarters had been re-established, he leftthe wagon as it reached the principal street in Tipton. 

Andy went to a restaurant and got a good meal. He decided to strollabout a bit, and then join the clown in his new quarters. 

Andy had been to Tipton before. His aunt had some acquaintances there. He walked up and down the principal street, looking in the storewindows, and studying the country people who had come to visit thecounty fair. 

Suddenly Andy drew back into the shadow of a doorway. Leaning against acurb hitching post was a person who enchained his attention. 

"It's Tapp--Jim Tapp, " said Andy. "I'd know that slouch of his shouldersanywhere. "

The person under his inspection was swinging a light bamboo cane andsmoking a cigarette. He wore a jet black moustache and a jet black speckof a goatee. Moustache and goatee were unmistakably of the variety Andyhad seen a circus fakir selling for twenty-five cents, back at Clifton. 

Their wearer kept his back to the lighted windows, so that his face wasin partial shadow. He also kept taking sidelong glances up and down thecurb, as if expecting some one. 

Andy watched him for fully five minutes, made up his mind, and at laststealthily glided up behind him. 

Seizing both the fellow's arms, he whirled him around face to face, letgo of him, and with two quick movements of one hand tore the falsemoustache and the false goatee from his face. His surmises were correct. It was Jim Tapp. 

The latter gave Andy a quick, startled glance. 

"Wildwood!" he said, and switched his cane towards Andy's face. 

"No, you don't!" cried Andy, grasping his arms again. "Jim Tapp, thecircus people want you. "

"Let go. Nobody wants me. I've done nothing. "

"Call Benares Brothers, the stake your partner hit me with, the stolenmail bag, nothing?" demanded Andy. "You'll come along with me or I'llcall the police. "

Tapp glanced sharply about. So far nobody seemed to particularly noticethem. He threw out his own arms and grasped Andy in turn. Thusinterlocked, he threw out a foot. Andy was taken off his guard. He wenttoppling, but he never let go of his antagonist. Both landed with acrash on the board sidewalk. 

There was a vacant lot just next to a brilliantly lighted store. As theytook a roll, they landed nearly at the inner edge of the walk. 

"There!" panted Andy, "you won't trip me again. "

He was the stronger of the two, and got Tapp on his back. Sittingastride of him, Andy caught both hands at the wrists. 

"Let go!" panted Tapp. "Say, don't draw a crowd. I'll go with you. "

"You'll go with a policeman, " declared Andy, glancing along the walk. "There'll be one here soon, for the crowd's coming. "

"Fight! fight!" yelled three or four urchins, dashing up to the spot. 

Others came hurrying along from inspecting the store windows. 

"What's the row?" demanded a man. 

"Fair fight. Let him up. Give him a chance, " growled a low-browedfellow, also approaching. 

"What is it? what is it?" inquired a fussy old lady, craning her necktowards the combatants. 

"Say, " ground out Tapp, vainly endeavoring to free himself, "let me up. It will pay you. Say, I can tell you something great. "

"Can you?" smiled Andy calmly. "Tell it to the police. "

"Hold on, " proceeded Tapp. "I'm not fooling. I know something. I can putyou on to something big. "

"How big?" insinuated Andy, disbelievingly. 

"I can, I vow I can! I'm in dead earnest. Say, Wildwood, nobody knows itbut me--you're an heir--"

"Eh? Bosh! I guess your heir is all hot air. Ah, here comes thepoliceman--oh, gracious! My aunt!"

Andy Wildwood let go his hold of Jim Tapp. With startled eyes, in sheerdismay he stared at a woman approaching them, her curiosity aroused bythe crowd. 

It was his aunt, Miss Lavinia Talcott. 

CHAPTER XX

ANDY'S ESCAPE

Jim Tapp gave a great wriggle as Andy involuntarily let go his hold ofthe young rascal. His ferret-like eyes twinkled and followed the glanceof Andy's own. 

Tapp was too keen a fellow not to observe that Andy was startled andunnerved by the unexpected appearance of some one on the scene. 

He probably caught the words spoken by Andy: "My aunt, " and presumablyidentified Miss Lavinia Talcott as the cause of the boy's disquietude. Further, Jim Tapp knew that Andy had run away from home and had beensought for by the police. As it turned out later in Andy Wildwood'scareer, Jim Tapp knew a great deal more than all this put together. Infact, he knew some things of which Andy never dreamed. 

Andy had been completely driven off his balance at the sight of hisaunt. It was natural that she should be at Tipton. She went there quiteoften. Loneliness at home and the variety of the county fair at Tiptonhad probably induced her to make the present visit. 

Instantly Andy thought of but one thing--to escape recognition. Still, the minute he let go of Tapp his presence of mind returned, and he wassorry he had lost his nerve on an impulse. It would have been quite aneasy thing to roll and force his antagonist over the sidewalk edge. Now, however, Tapp had wriggled past his reach. 

Andy made one grab for him, prostrate on the planks now, missed, rolledalong, and dropped squarely over the inner edge of the walk five feetdown into the vacant lot below. 

"She didn't see me, " he panted--"I'm sure she didn't. Too bad, though! Ihad that fellow, Tapp, tight. Why should I lose him, even now?"

Andy ran under the sidewalk for about ten feet. He rounded a heap ofsand and glided up a slant where an alley cut in. There he paused, hidden by a big billboard. Peering past this barrier he could view thecrowd he had just left. 

"Thief--stop thief!" fell in a frantic yell on his hearers. 

To his surprise it was Jim Tapp who uttered the call. He was flingingabout in great excitement. As a police officer ran up, Andy saw himpointing into the vacant lot. He also evidently told some specious storyto the officer. 

The latter jumped into the lot, and two or three followed him. Andy sawthat he was in danger of discovery, and directed a last glance at thecrowd on the sidewalk. He saw his aunt's bobbing bonnet retreating fromthe scene. He also saw Jim Tapp, apparently following her. He did notdare to go in the same direction. 

Andy dodged down the alley and came out on the next street. He lookedvainly for the two persons in whom he was interested. He failed tolocate them, and then proceeded in the direction of the circus grounds. He was very thoughtful, and in a measure worried and uneasy. 

"Tapp is pretty smart, " soliloquized Andy. "He's mean, too. If henoticed that I was flustered and afraid of Aunt Lavinia seeing me, andguesses who she is and connects my running away from home with her, hewould tell her where I am just out of spite. Wonder if she could have mearrested here, in another State?"

Andy was too tired to stay awake over this problem when he located theclown's new quarters. Before he retired, however, he got word to thecircus manager that Jim Tapp was evidently following the circus, and hadbeen seen in Tipton that very evening. 

The next morning Andy was too busy to give the matter of his aunt's nearproximity much thought. He worked with a gang hoisting the main tentuntil nearly noon. 

"Hi, Wildwood!" hailed a friendly voice, as Andy was leaving the cook'stent an hour later. 

The speaker was Marco. He made a few inquiries as to how Andy wasgetting along. Then he said: "I saw Miss Stella Starr this morning. Youknow the manager, of course?"

"Mr. Scripps--yes, " nodded Andy. 

"Well, about two o'clock they're going to line up the amateurs in theperformance tent. You be there. "

"All right, " said Andy. 

"Benares and Thacher will be on hand. You'll see some fun. Afterwardsthey'll put you through some stunts in dead earnest. It's your chance toget in on the tumbling act. Would you like that?"

"I should say so--if I can do it good enough. "

"Well, try, anyhow. If you're not up to average, Benares will train you. He's taken a fancy to you, and he'll help you along. Some of thetumblers leave us here, and they're shy on a full number. If they takeyou, stick hard for ten dollars. "

"A month?" said Andy. 

"No, a week. "

"Gracious!" exclaimed Andy, "that's too good to come out true. "

"Stick and strive, Wildwood--the motto will win, " declared Marco. 

When Andy went to the performers' tent at two o'clock, he found overfifty persons there. In its centre a balancing bar had been put up. Anold circus horse stood at one side. Some low trapezes were swung from apost. A number of the circus people were lounging on benches in onecorner of the tent. In another corner on other benches some twentypersons, mostly boys, were gathered. 

"Here, you're not on show yet, " spoke Benares, the trapezist, pullingAndy beside him as he passed along. "Your turn will come after they getrid of those aspirants yonder. "

CHAPTER XXI

A FULL-FLEDGED ACROBAT

The circus manager sat in a chair at the edge of a little sawdust ringthat had been marked out for the occasion. The ringmaster stood nearhim, in charge of the ceremonies. 

"Now, then, my friends, " observed this individual in a sharp, snappyway, "you people want a chance to get on as performers. That's good. Weare always looking for fresh talent. Show your paces. Who's first?"

A big, loutish fellow with an ungainly walk stepped forward. He waswrapped up in a tarpaulin. As he let it drop it was like atransformation scene. 

It seemed that some of the mischievous candy peddlers had got hold ofhim. They had induced him to appear for trial in costume. 

He wore a pair of tights three sizes too small for him. They hadpowdered his hair with fine sawdust and daubed his face with chalk anddyes. They had stuffed out his stockings until his calves resembledsticks of knotted wood. 

The manager nearly fell over in his chair with repressed laughter. Theaudience was one vast chuckle. 

"Well, sir, " spoke up the ringmaster, with difficulty keeping a straightface, "what can you do?"

"I'd like to be a clown, " grinned the victim. 

"A clown, sir. Good. Let's see you act. "

The fellow capered into the ring. One stocking came down, letting out aquart of sawdust. One tight split up to the knee as he made a jig stepthat brought the tears to the eyes of Billy Blow, who, with his boy, hadcome to witness the show. 

Then the fellow sang a funny song. It was funny. His voice was cracked, his delivery dolorous. He began to shuffle at the end of it. 

"Faster, faster, sir!" cried the ringmaster, snapping his whip acrossthe bare limb exposed. "Faster, I tell you!"

"Ouch!" yelled the aspirant. 

"Come, sir, faster. I say faster, faster, faster! Purely ring practice, my friend. We do this to all the clowns, you know. "

With the pitiless accuracy of a bullwhacker the ringmaster pursued hisvictim. The whip-lash landed squarely every time, biting like a hornet. The aspirant was now on the run. 

"Stop! Don't! Help!" he roared. "I don't want to be a clown!" and with abellow he ran out of the tent, followed by the hooting candy peddlers. 

"Well, who are you?" demanded the ringmaster of two colored boys whostepped forward. 

"Double trapeze act, sir, " said one of them. 

"Oh, here you are. Let's see what you can do. "

The ringmaster set free the temporary trapeze rigging. 

These aspirants did quite well, singly. When they doubled, however, there was trouble. 

The one swinging from the hands of the other lost his grip. He caughtout wildly, grabbed at the shirt sleeve of his partner to save himself. This tightened the garment at the neck. Then it gave way, buttons andall. Both tumbled to the ground. They began upbraiding one another, cameto blows, and the ringmaster sent them about their business, saying theshow could not encourage prize fighters. 

The programme continued. There was an ambitious lad who was quite awonder at turning rapid cartwheels. Another did some creditable polebalancing. One old man wanted to serve as a magician. All had a chance, but their merit was not distinguished enough to warrant theirengagement. 

Most of the crowd filed out when the last of the amateurs had done his"stunt. " Benares then stepped up to the ringmaster and beckoned to Andy. 

At his direction Andy threw off his coat and hat, and old Benares ledthe horse Andy had noticed into the main tent. It was a steady-paced, slow-going steed. The ringmaster got it started around the ring. 

"Do your best now, Wildwood, " whispered Marco, who with the clown andthe manager had followed into the main tent. 

Andy was on his mettle. He made a run, took a leap and landed on theplatform on the horse's back just as he had done a hundred times backat Fairview. 

"Very good, " nodded the ringmaster, as Andy rode around the ring, posing, several times. 

"Try the spring plank next, " suggested the manager. 

The single and double somersault were Andy's specialty. The apparatuswas superb. He was not quite perfect, but old Benares patted him on theshoulder after several efforts, with the words:

"Fine--vary fine. "

Andy did some creditable twisting on the trapeze, the manager and theringmaster conversing together, meantime. 

"Report to me in the morning, " said the latter to Andy at last. 

Marco followed the manager as he left the tent. He came back with apleased expression of face. 

"It's all right, lad, " he reported. "You're in the ring group as a sub. He tried to chisel me down, but I insisted on fair pay, and it's tendollars a week for you. "

Andy was delighted. That amount seemed a small fortune to him. No dangernow of not being able to pay back to Graham the borrowed five dollarsand his other Fairview debts. 

Benares took him in hand after the others had left. He gave him a greatmany training suggestions. He led him into the regular practicing tentand showed him "the mecanique. " This was a device with a wooden arm fromwhich hung an elastic rope. Harnessed in this, a performer could attemptall kinds of contortions without scoring a fall. 

Benares also showed Andy how to make effective standing somersaults by"the tuck trick, " This was to grasp both legs tightly half-way betweenthe knees and ankles, pressing them close together. At the same time theacrobat was to put the muscles of the shoulders and back in full play. The combined muscular force acted like a balance-weight of a wheel, andenabled that neat, finished somersault which always brought downthe house. 

"You ought to try the slack wire, too, when you get a chance, " advisedBenares. "We'll try you on the high trapeze in the triple act, sometime. Glad you're in the profession, Wildwood, and we'll all give you alift when we can. "

Andy felt that he had found some of the best friends in the world, andwas a full-fledged acrobat at last as he left the circus tent. 

CHAPTER XXII

AMONG THE CAGES

"Hi! Hello--stop, stop. "

"Oh, it's you, Luke Belding?"

Andy, passing through the circus grounds, turned at an eager hail. Theowner of the chicken that walked backwards came running after him. Hecaught Andy's arm and smiled genially into his face. 

"Well, " spoke Andy, surveying Luke in a pleased way. "You lookprosperous. "

In fact Luke did present signs of a betterment over his first forlornappearance on the circus scene. 

He wore a new jacket and a neat collar and necktie. His face had notrouble in it now. He presented the appearance of a person eminentlysatisfied with the present and full of hope and animation forthe future. 

"Prosperous?" he declaimed volubly--"I guess I am. Square meals, a sureberth for a week, jolly friends--and, oh, say! you're one of thetrue ones. "

"Am I?" smiled Andy--"I'm glad to hear you say so. "

"Billy Blow is another. He got me on at a side show. They give me mykeep, ten per cent, on what photographs I sell, and togged me outrespectable looking, gratis. "

"Good for you, " commended Andy heartily. "And what of the famouschicken?"

"In capital trim. Say, that wise little rooster seems to know he's onexhibition. There's some monkeys in our tent. He steals their food, fights them, cuts up all kinds of antics. Boss says he thinks he will bea drawing card. I've got him to turn a somersault now. Come on. "

"Come where?"

"I want to show you. See there. Isn't that grand, now?"

Luke led Andy into the tent where the side show was. A big frame coveredwith cheese cloth took up the entire width of the place. Upon this a manwith a brush was liberally spreading several quarts of glaring red andyellow paint. 

"Greatest Curiosity In The World--Remarkable Freak of Nature--The FamousBolivar Trick Rooster, Who Walks Backwards"--so much of the grandannouncement to the circus public had been already painted on the sign. 

"They're bound to give you a chance, anyhow, " observed Andy. "And I mustsay I am mighty glad of it. "

"And see here, " continued Luke animatedly. "Come on, old fellow. Easy, now. Ah, he wants a lump of sugar. "

Luke had approached a very strongly-built cage. 

Its occupant was one of the largest and ugliest-looking monkeys Andy hadever seen. 

It bristled and snarled at Andy, but as Luke opened the cage door leapedinto his arms, snuggled there, and began petting his face with one paw. 

Luke gave the animal a lump of sugar, coaxed it, stroked it. Then hetook it over to where an impromptu slack wire was strung between twoposts, and set the monkey on this. 

The animal went through some evolutions that were so perfect animitation of first-class human trapeze performance, that Andy was fairlyastonished. 

"The people here give me great credit on that, " announced Luke withhappy eyes, as he put the monkey back in his cage. "They were just goingto kill him when I came here"

"Kill him--what for?" asked Andy. 

"Oh, he was so savage. He bit off an attendant's finger, and maimed twosmaller monkeys. He wouldn't do anything but sulk and show his teeth allday long. I got at him. When he first grabbed my hand in his teeth Ijust let it stay there. Never tried to get it away or fight him. Justlooked him in the eyes sort of reproachfully, and began to boo-hoo. Oh, I cried artistic, I did. Say, that monkey just stared at me, dropped myhand and began to bellow at the top of his voice, too. Then he got sorryand licked my hand. A lump of sugar sealed the compact. Why, he's thesmartest animal in the show. You see what he did for me. The people hereare delighted. It's made me solid with them. "

Luke introduced Andy to the "Wild Man, " a most peaceable-lookingindividual out of his acting disguise. His wife was the Fat Woman, whodid not act as if she was very much afraid of her supposed savage anduntamable husband. 

"I want you to do something for me, " said Luke, presently. "Will you?"

"I'll try, " answered Andy. 

"I'd like to go through the menagerie. You see I'm not regular, so, while I have the run of the small tops, they won't pass me in at thebig flaps. "

Andy walked over with his new acquaintance to the menagerie. Thewatchman at the door admitted them at a word from Andy. 

The trainers, keepers and manager were busy about the place, feeding theanimals, cleaning the cages and the like. 

Luke's eyes sparkled as if at last he found himself in his element. Hepetted the camels affectionately, and talked to the elephants in apurring, winning tone that made more than one of them look at him as ifpleased at his attention. 

The lion cages were Luke's grand centre of interest. He stood watchingold Sultan, the king of the menagerie, like one entranced. 

Luke began talking to the beast in a musical, coaxing tone. The animalsat grim as a statue. Luke thrust his hand into his pocket. As hewithdrew it he rested his fingers on the edge of the cage. 

The lion never stirred, but its eyes described a quick, rollingmovement. 

"Look out!" warned Andy--"he's watching you. "

"I want him to, " answered Luke coolly. 

"But--"

Luke continued his animal lullaby, he kept extending his hand. Straightup towards the lion's face he raised his arm fearlessly, now inside thedanger line fully to the elbow. 

"Hi! Back! Thunder! He'll eat you alive!" yelled a trainer, discoveringthe lad's venturesome position. 

"S-sh. Good old fellow. Purr-rr. So--so. "

Old Sultan bristled. Then his corded sinews relaxed. He lowered hismuzzle. Andy stroked it gently. The animal sniffed and snuffed at hishand. He began to lick it. 

Just then the trainer ran up. He gave Luke a violent jerk backwards, throwing him prostrate in the sawdust. With a frightful roar Sultansprang at the bars of the cage, glaring apparently not at Luke, but atthe trainer. 

"Do you want to lose an arm?" shouted the latter, angrily. "You chump!that animal is a man-eater. "

"I'm only a boy, though, you see?" said Luke, arising and brushing thesawdust from his clothes. "He wouldn't hurt me. "

"Wouldn't, eh? Why--"

"He didn't, all the same. Did he, now? Say, mister, I'm a side showactor just now, but some day I'll work up to the cages here. Bet you Ican make friends with your fiercest member. "

"Bah! you keep away from those cages. "

"How did you dare to do that?" asked Andy, as the boys came out of themenagerie. 

"Why, I'll tell you, " explained Luke. "I love animals, and most timesthey seem to know it. Once a lion tamer summered at our farm on accountof poor health. He told me a lot of things about his business. One thingI tried just now. I've got a lot of fine sugar flavored with anise in mypocket. When I tackled Sultan I had my hand covered with it. Any wildanimal loves the smell of anise. You saw me try it on their champion, and it worked, didn't it?"

"You are a strange kind of a fellow, Luke, " said Andy studying hiscompanion interestedly. 

"That so?" smiled Luke. "I don't see why. You fancy tumbling. I'm deadgone on the cages. We both have our especial ambitions--say, I haven'tcaught your name yet. "

"Andy. "

"All right, Andy. Going to use your full name on the circus posters, orjust Andy?"

"The circus posters are a long way ahead, " smiled Andy. "But if I everget that far I think I'll use my right name--Andy Wildwood. "

"Eh? What's that? Andy Wildwood!" exclaimed Luke. 

Andy was amazed at a sharp start and shout on the part of his companion. 

"Why, what now--" he began. 

"Andy Wildwood? Andy--Wildwood?" repeated Luke. 

He spoke in a retrospective, subdued tone. He tapped his head as iftrying to awaken some sleeping memory. 

"Got it now!" he cried suddenly. "Why, sure, of course. Knew the name ina minute. "

Luke seized and pulled at a lock of his hair as if it was a sproutingidea. 

"You came from Fairville, " he resumed. 

"Fairview. "

"Then you're the same. Yes, you must be the fellow--Andy Wildwood, theheir. "

CHAPTER XXIII

FACING THE ENEMY

The young acrobat stared hard at Luke Belding. He wondered if the embryolion tamer was crazy--or had he not heard him aright?

Instantly Andy's mind ran back to the encounter with Jim Tapp on thestreets of Tipton the evening previous. 

This made the second time, then, within twenty-four hours that anallusion had been made to the fact that he was "an heir. "

Andy knew of no reason why a sudden mystery should come into his life. The coincidence of the double reference to the same thing, however, namely, an alleged heirship, struck him as peculiar. 

"Heir, " he spoke in a bewildered tone--"me an heir?"

"Yes, " said Luke. 

"Heir to what?"

"Why--oh, something, I don't know what. But the thing you're heir to isthere. "

"Where?" persisted Andy. 

"I don't know that, either--Fairview, I reckon. "

"Nonsense. I've got nothing at Fairview excepting a lot of debts. I wishyou'd explain yourself, Luke. There can't be anything to your absurdstatement. "

"Can't there?" cried Luke excitedly. "Well, you just listen and see--"

"Oh, Wildwood--been looking for you, " interrupted some one, just there. 

Andy looked up to recognize Marco. The latter nodded to Luke, andproceeded to lead Andy away with him. 

"Hold on, " demurred Luke. 

"You'll have to excuse your friend just now, " said Marco. "Veryimportant, Wildwood, " he added. 

"What is it, Mr. Marco?" inquired Andy. 

Marco showed two folded sheets of writing paper in his hand. 

"Your contract with the circus, " he explained. "There's a bad hitch inthis business. Hope to straighten it out, but we'll have to get right atit. Come to Billy Blow's tent. I want to have a private talk with you. "

Andy traced a seriousness in Marco's manner that oppressed him. Instantly all his mind was fixed on the matter of the contracts. 

"I'll see you a little later, Luke, " he said to his young friend. 

"All right, " nodded Luke. "I've got a good deal to tell you. But it willkeep. "

When they reached the clown's tent Marco sat down on the bench besideAndy. 

"Business, Wildwood, " he spoke, briskly tapping the papers in his hand. "I wanted to get you fixed right, and started right in to get a contractfrom Mr. Scripps. "

"Is that it?" asked Andy. 

"Yes, and favorable in every way--your end of it, and the circus end isall right. But there's another end. That is it. I reckon you'd betterget the gist of the trouble by reading it over. "

Marco separated one of the written sheets and passed it to Andy. 

"Oh, dear!" cried the latter in dismay the moment his eyes had taken inthe general subject matter of the screed before him. "That settles it. "

Andy's face ran quickly from consternation to utter gloom. 

The document before him was a legally-worded affair awaiting asignature. It stated that "Miss Lavinia Talcott, guardian relative ofAndrew Wildwood, minor, hereby agreed to hold the circus management freefrom any blame, damage or indemnity in case of accident to the saidAndrew Wildwood, this day and date a contracted employee of said circusmanagement. "

"She'll never sign it!" cried Andy positively. "How did they come tobring her name into this business, anyhow?"

"Hold hard. Don't get excited, Wildwood, " advised Marco. "Business isbusiness, even if it is unpleasant sometimes. You've got the facts. Don't grumble at them. Let's see how we can remedy things. "

"They can't be remedied, " declared Andy forcibly. "Why, Mr. Marco, Iwouldn't meet my aunt for a hundred dollars, and I couldn't get her tosign any such a paper if it meant a thousand dollars to me. "

Marco stroked his chin thoughtfully and in perplexity. 

"Then the jig's up, " he announced definitely. "You see, Wildwood, we'vehad all kinds of trouble--suits, judgments, injunctions--along offellows getting hurt in the show. One man lost an ear in theknife-throwing act. He recovered two thousand dollars damages. Anothersprained an ankle. Had to pay him eight dollars a week for six months. Now they put the clause in the contract holding the circus harmless insuch matters. Where it's a minor, they insist further that parent orguardian also sign off all claims. "

"But I have neither, " said Andy. "Miss Lavinia is only a half-aunt. "

"Well, Miss Starr explained just how matters stood to Mr. Scripps. Hehasn't got time to quibble over your aunt. Her signature fixesit--otherwise you're left out in the cold. "

Andy was never so dispirited in all his life. He sat dumb and wretched, like a person suddenly finding his house collapsed all about him, andhimself in the midst of its ruins. 

"Look here, Wildwood, " said Marco kindly, arising after a reflectivepause, "you think this thing over. You're a pretty smart young fellow, and you'll disappoint me a good deal if you don't find some way out ofthis dilemma. "

Andy shook his head doubtfully. He sat dejected and crestfallen for afull hour. Then he left the circus grounds, evading friends andacquaintances purposely. He went away from the town, reached meadows andwoods, and finally threw himself down under a great sheltering tree. 

Andy thought hard. There was certainly a check to his show career unlesshe secured the sanction and cooperation of his aunt. 

Judging from existing circumstances, Andy utterly despaired of movinghis unlovable, stubborn-minded relative towards any action that wouldfavor him. Especially was this true after he had defied her authorityand run away from home. 

"If Mr. Harding's circus won't take me without this restriction, whyshould any other show?" mused Andy. "Oh, dear! Just as things looked sobright and hopeful, to have this happen--"

The boy gulped, trying hard to keep back the tears of vexation anddisappointment. Then he became indignant. He got actually mad as hedecided that he was a victim of rank injustice. 

He arose under the spur of violent varied emotions, pacing the spotexcitedly, wrestling with the problem that threatened to destroy all hisfond youthful ambitions. 

Gradually his mind cleared. Gradually, too, a better balance came to histhoughts. He went logically and seriously over the situation. 

Daylight was just going as Andy arrived at a heroic decision. 

"There's only one way, " he said slowly and firmly. "It looks hopeless, but I'm going to try. Yes, make or break, I'm going to face AuntLavinia boldly. "

Andy Wildwood started in the direction of Tipton. 

CHAPTER XXIV

ANDY'S AUNT

Andy went straight to an old dwelling house in a retired part of thetown. 

He had been there twice before when younger, and remembered that an oldcouple named Norman lived there. 

The Normans were distant relatives of his Aunt Lavinia. She had otheracquaintances in Tipton, but, Andy recalled, usually made the Normanhome her headquarters, paying them some small sum for board and lodgingwhenever she visited them. 

The old ramshackly house stood far back from the street. Its front fencewas broken down, and Andy crossed the lot from the side. 

There was no light downstairs except in the kitchen at the rear. Anupstairs middle room, however, seemed occupied, for chinks of light camethrough the half-closed outside shutters. 

The slats of these were turned upwards, to catch light in the daytimeand shut out a view from street and garden. 

Just beneath this window was a door and steps. The latter had nearlyrotted away, and the door was nailed up and out of use. A frameworkformed of hoop poles rose up from the steps. Once green vines hadenclosed these. At present, however, only a few dead strands clung tothe original framework. 

The half-open top of this framework was not three feet under the windowsill of the lighted room. Across it lay some fishing poles and nets, also some old garden tools, it apparently being used as a catch-all foruseless truck about the place for a long time past. 

"I'll assume that aunt is in that room, " thought Andy, halting near thehoop-pole framework and looking up at the window. "She always has themiddle room here. Yes, she is there, and a man with her. Maybe I'dbetter skirmish around a little, instead of running the risk of beingnabbed before I can have an explanation. I want a little private talkwith aunt, alone, if I can get it. "

Andy bent his ear. He caught no words, only the sound of human voices. His aunt's high, strained tones were unmistakable. 

He seized one of the supporting poles of the framework. It rattled andquivered, yet he believed it would hold him if he proceeded carefully. It was no trick at all for Andy to make a quiet and rapid ascent. Heperched across the top of the framework and raised his head. 

Andy saw his aunt closing up a packed satchel on a chair. She had herbonnet on, as if just going out. 

At the hallway door was a man taking his leave. 

He was excessively polite, hat in hand, and making a most respectfulbow. 

"Well!" commented Andy, fairly aghast. 

Andy recognized the man instantly. He was the individual he had seen inthe hay barn. He was Daley's companion, the man who had "doctored" theBenares Brothers' trapeze in the circus at Centreville. 

In a flash Andy fancied he understood the situation, the motive of thisfellow's presence here and now. 

"Jim Tapp found out my aunt, " theorized Andy rapidly. "He, this fellow, and the mail thieves are all in a crowd. Murdock here has probably cometo tell my aunt that he knows where I am. She may have made a bargain topay him well if he will kidnap me, or in any way get me back toFairview. It's a fine fix to be in!" concluded Andy bitterly. 

He was for getting back to the ground, going to the circus, turning inthe contract, giving up all hopes of show life, and getting to a safedistance before his enemies could capture him. 

"No, I won't!" resolved Andy a second later, acting on a new impulse. "At least, not right away. I'll turn one trick on my enemies, first. Thecircus detectives want this scoundrel, Murdock, bad. I'll get down, follow him, and have him arrested the first policeman we meet. "

Andy, bent on a descent, paused. Murdock was speaking. 

"Are you going back home to Fairview to-night, Miss Talcott?" he asked. 

"Yes, " snapped Andy's aunt in her usual quick; sharp way. 

"Then I will call on you at Fairview. "

"If you want to, " was the ungracious answer. 

"No, no, " softly declared the oily rogue--"if you want me to, madam. This is your business, Miss Talcott. "

"Oh, " observed Andy's aunt snappily, "you're working for nothing, Isuppose?"

"I'm not, " frankly answered Murdock. "I'm working for a fee. What I get, though, is so small compared with what you may get--"

"Very well, " interrupted Miss Lavinia, "when you have this matter in aclear, definite shape, I shall be ready to listen to you. "

"Good evening, then, madam. "

"Evening, " retorted Andy's aunt with a curt nod, going on with herpacking. 

Andy rested his hand against the house to get a purchase and leap to theground. 

"Pshaw!" he exclaimed abruptly. 

One of the hoop poles bent nearly in two, throwing him off his balance. 

Andy caught at the window sill, and his body slipped to one side. Hetried to drop, found himself impeded, and held himself steady, looking down. 

His rustling about had made something of a racket. As he was seeking todetermine what had caught and held the side of his coat, one of thewooden shutters was thrust violently open. 

Its edge struck his head. He dodged aside. Then he sat staring, the fulllight from within the room showing him to its occupant as plain as day. 

"Um!" commented Miss Lavinia, simply. "Some one was there. And you, AndyWildwood!"

Andy was taken aback. His aunt was not particularly startled. She ratherlooked stern and suspicious. She did not grab him, or call for help, orseem to care whether he came in or stayed out. 

"Yes, it's me, Aunt, " said Andy, a good deal crestfallen andembarrassed. "You see, I wanted to see you--"

"Then why didn't you come like a civilized being! The house has doors. Tell me, do you intend to come in?"

"If you please, aunt. "

"You may do so. "

"Thank you, " fluttered Andy. 

He now discovered that his coat had caught in half-a-dozen fish hooksattached to an eel line all tangled up in the framework. It took himfully two minutes to get free. Andy climbed over the window sill andstood fumbling his cap. His old awe of his dictatorial relative was asstrong as ever within him. 

"Can't you sit down?" she demanded, sinking to a chair herself andfacing him steadily. "How long have you been outside there?"

"Only a few minutes, " answered Andy. 

"Did you see anybody in this room beside myself?"

"Yes, ma'am--a man. "

"And eavesdropping, I suppose?" insinuated Miss Lavinia. 

"I heard him say 'good night, '"

"Um!" commented Miss Lavinia. That closed the subject for the present. She had always known Andy to be a truthful boy, and his reply seemed tosatisfy her and relieve her mind. 

Andy wondered what he had better say first. The fixed, set stare of hisstern, uncompromising relative made him nervous. 

"See here, aunt, " he blurted out at last, "I've never seemed to doanything right I did for you, and you don't care a snap for me. I don'tsee why you keep hounding me down and wanting me back home. "

"I don't. "

"Eh?" ejaculated Andy. 

"No, I don't, " declared Miss Lavinia. 

"You don't want me back at Fairview?"

"I said so, didn't I?" snapped Miss Lavinia. 

"Then--then--"

"See here, Andy Wildwood, " interrupted his aunt in a tone of severity, "you have been a disobedient, ungrateful boy. You deserve to be lockedup. I've tried to have you. I am so satisfied, however, on reflection, that you will have a bad ending anyhow, that I have decided to wash myhands of you. "

"Glory!" uttered Andy to himself, in a vast thrill of delight. 

"Have you joined the circus?" continued Miss Lavinia. 

"They won't have me--"

"Why not?"

"Without your sanction. They want you to sign away any claims as todamages, if I get hurt. I knew you wouldn't do that. "

"You are mistaken, Andy Wildwood--I will do it. "

"It's too easy to be true!" breathed Andy, in wild amazement. "You--youwill sign such a paper?" he stammered. 

"Didn't I say so? Let me understand. You wish to cut loose from home andfriends for good, do you? You don't want to ever return to Fairview?"

"Not till I'm rich and famous, " answered Andy. 

"H'm! Very well. What have I got to sign?"

"That's it, " said Andy, with eager hand drawing a written sheet from hispocket. 

Miss Lavinia opened the document, read it through, went to the table, took a fountain pen from her reticule, signed the paper, returned itto Andy. 

"I'm dreaming! it's a plot of some kind!" murmured Andy, lost inwonderment. 

Miss Lavinia took out her pocket-book. 

"Andy Wildwood, " she said, her harsh features as mask-like as ever, "here are ten dollars. It is the last cent I will ever give you. Whenyou leave here you sever all ties between us. I have only onestipulation to make. You will not disgrace me by having anything to dowith anybody in Fairview. "

"That's all right, " said Andy. "I'll agree, except that I've got towrite to Mr. Graham on business. "

"What business?"

Andy explained in full. If he had been more versed in the wiles of theworld, less astonished at his aunt's strange compliance with his dearestwishes, he would have noticed a keen suspiciousness in the glance withwhich she continually regarded him. 

"I must insist that you do not write even to Graham, " she remarked. "About what you owe--I will pay that. Yes, I'll start you out clear. Youwon't write to Graham?"

"No, " said Andy slowly--"if you insist on it. "

"I will settle the five dollars you owe Graham, " promised Miss Lavinia, "I will pay the bill of damages at the school and to Farmer Dale, andsend you the receipts. Does that suit you?"

"Why--yes, " answered Andy in a bewildered tone. 

"You take that pen and a sheet of paper. Write an order on Graham todeliver to me those old family mementos you pawned to him. Also, give meyour address for a few weeks ahead. "

Andy did this. 

"And now, good night and good-bye, " spoke his aunt. "I hope you'll someday see the error of your ways, Andy Wildwood. "

Miss Lavinia did not offer to shake hands with Andy. She nodded towardsthe door to dismiss him, as she would have done to a perfect stranger. 

"Good-bye, Aunt Lavinia, " said Andy. "You're thinking a little hard ofme. But you've done a big thing in signing that paper, and I'll never doanything to make you ashamed of me. Ginger! am I afoot or horseback?Permission to join the show! Ten dollars! Oh my head is just whirling!"

These last sentences Andy tittered in a vivid gasp as he went down thestairs and once more reached the outer air. 

He hurried from the vicinity, fearful that his aunt might change hermind and call him back. 

"I don't understand it, " he mused. "I can't figure it out. That paperfixes it so she can't stop me joining the show, nor force me back toFairview. Then what is she having dealings with Murdock for?"

Andy could not solve this puzzle, and did not try to do so any further. 

Within an hour the two precious documents were "signed, sealed anddelivered, " and Andy Wildwood entered on his career as a salariedcircus acrobat. 

CHAPTER XXV

A BEAR ON THE RAMPAGE

"Hoop-la!"

All a-spangle, to the blare of quick music, the great tent ablaze withlight, the rows of benches crush-crowded with excited humanity, AndyWildwood left the spring-board. For a second he whirled in midair. Then, gracefully landing on the padded carpet, he made his bow amid pleasedplaudits and rejoined the row of fellow tumblers. 

"You've caught the knack, " spoke the ringmaster encouragingly. "Becareful on the double somersault, though. "

"It's just as easy to me, " asserted Andy. 

He proved his words when his turn came again. He was breathless but allaglow, as he and his seven fellow acrobats bowed in a row and retired tothe performers' tent. 

Andy was delighted with himself, his comrades, hisenvironment--everything. In fact, a constant glamour of excitement andenjoyment had come into his life. 

This was the second day after his strange interview with his aunt. Itwas the last evening performance of the show at Tipton. 

Andy had been away from the circus for two days. The morning afterhanding in the contracts, the manager had selected him to accompany thechief hostler and four of his assistants on a trip into the country. 

The show was to make a long jump after closing the engagement at Tipton. While Mr. Harding joined a second enterprise he owned in the West, thepresent outfit was to take up a route in the South. 

Many of those connected with the show were to leave. This cut theworking force down. They had too many horses, and with a string of fiftyof these the chief hostler started out to sell off the same. 

The expedition continued a day and a half. When Andy came back, he foundhimself in time for two rehearsals. That evening he made his firstappearance in public as a real professional. 

Outside of the charm of being seen, appreciated and applauded by others, Andy loved the vigorous exercise of the spring-board. The mechanicalathletic and acrobatic equipments of the show were superb. He made uphis mind he could about live among the balancing bars and trapezes, ifthey would let him. 

One disappointment Andy met with that somewhat troubled him. When hecame back from the horse-selling expedition, he found that Luke Beldinghad left the show. 

Billy Blow told Andy that Luke had been to his tent a dozen times to seehim. That morning early, before Andy's return, the side show Luke waswith had packed up and shipped by train to join a show going east. 

"So I'll never find out what I'm heir to, " smiled Andy. "Oh, well, ofcourse it was some absurd guess of Luke's. It's funny, though. Thatfellow, Jim Tapp, had the same delusion. By the way, Aunt Lavinia seemsto have been in earnest. Nobody appears to be looking for me to go backto Fairview. I am free to do as I choose. Now, then, to make a record. "

Sunday was passed at Tipton. Of the better class in the show, nearly allthe lady performers and some of the men went to church, and Andy wentalso. In the afternoon Billy Blow went the rounds of some friends, andtook Andy with him. 

It revealed a new phase of circus life, the domestic side, to Andy. There was no "shop talk. " The boy passed a pleasant hour among severalvery charming family circles. 

Next day everybody pitched into genuine hard work. The circus train hadbeen sent for, and occupied a long railroad siding. 

Andy was amazed at the system and order of the proposed transit. Thetrain was on a big scale. The manager had a car to himself. The starperformers were cared for in luxurious parlor coaches. Even the minoremployees were well-housed, and feeding arrangements for man and beastwere perfect. 

In order to reach their destination, which was Montgomery, a centralsouthern city, the train made many shifts from one railway line toanother. This took time, and necessitated many unpleasant stoppagesand waits. 

It was the second day of the trip when they were side-tracked at alittle way station. Here it was given out they would remain from noonuntil midnight, awaiting a fruit express which would pick them up anddeliver them at terminus. 

Billy Blow, his Boy Midget, and Andy had a compartment in a tourists'car. When the long stop was announced, Andy was glad to get a chance tostretch his limbs. 

He interested himself for more than an hour watching the menagerie menattend to the animals. They were fed and watered, their quarters neatlyrenovated, while a veterinarian went from cage to cage examining themprofessionally and treating those that were sick or ailing. 

Big Bob, the star bear of the show, had in some way run a great sliverinto one paw. This had festered the flesh, and bruin, bound with stoutropes, had been brought out of his cage on a wheeled litter, and laid onthe grass for careful treatment. 

Andy watched the skilful doctoring of the big, bellowing fellow withcuriosity. Then he strolled off into a stretch of timber to enjoy abrief walk. 

He reached a deliciously cool and shady nook, and threw himself down atthe mossy trunk of a tree to rest in the midst of fresh air, peacefulsolitude and merrily singing birds. 

Andy was lost in a soothing day dream when a great rustle made him situp, startled. 

A dark object passed close by him in and out among the bushes. It was ofgreat size, and was making its way fast and furiously. 

"I declare!" cried Andy, springing to his feet, "if it isn't the bear. Now how in the world did he get loose?"

Andy stood for a moment staring in wonder after the disappearing animal. It was certainly Big Bob. The animal was fully familiar to Andy. Thebeast wobbled to one side as it ran, and this the boy discerned was dueto the sore paw. He was a fugitive, and his escape had been discovered. Andy could surmise this from shouts and calls in the distance, back inthe direction of the circus train. 

Big Bob had a bad reputation with the menagerie men. At times placid andeven good-natured, on other occasions he was capricious, savage anddangerous. Even his trainer had narrowly escaped a death blow from oneof the animal's enormous paws when the brute was in one of its tantrums. 

The bear was lumbering along as if bent on getting a good start againstpursuit. He chose a sheltered route as if instinctively cunning. Andy, acting on a quick impulse, started after the bear. 

The route led up a hill. Big Bob scaled a moderately steep incline anddisappeared over its crest. 

Andy, reaching this, glanced backwards. From that height he could lookwell over the country. 

The belated train was in sight. From it, armed with pikes and ropes, adozen or more menagerie men were running. 

The alarm had spread to the settlement of houses near by. Andy sawseveral men armed with shotguns and rifles scouring adjacent woodstretches. 

"I won't dare to tackle the bear, but I'll try and run him down till hegets tired, " thought Andy. 

He remembered many a discussion of the menagerie men over the realdanger and loss involved in the escape of an animal. The fugitive rarelydid much damage except to hen roosts, beyond scaring human beings. Thetrouble was that armed farmers, pursuing, thought it great sport tobring down the fugitive with a shot. Big Bob was worth a good deal ofmoney to the show. The principal aim of the menagerie men, therefore, was to prevent the slaughter of an escaped animal. 

Down the hill bruin ran and Andy after him. Then there was a countryroad and Big Bob put down this. Andy could easily outrun the fugitive, but this was not his policy for the present. The disabled foot of theanimal diminished his normal speed. Andy believed that bruin would soonfind and harbor himself in some cozy nook. 

At a turn in the road Andy noticed that there was a house a few hundredfeet ahead. Beyond this several other dwellings were scattered about thelandscape. 

"I don't like that, " mused Andy. "It may mean trouble. I'd rather seethe old scamp take to the open country. Wonder if I can head him off?"

Andy leaped a field fence. He doubled his pace, got even with Big Bob, then ahead of him. He snatched up a pitchfork lying across a heap ofhay, and bolted over the fence to the road again. 

Extending the implement, he stood ready to challenge the approachingfugitive, and, if possible, turn bruin's course. 

Big Bob did not appear to notice Andy until about fifty feet distantfrom him. Then the animal lifted his shaggy head. His eyes glared, hiscollar bristled. 

With a deep, menacing roar the bear increased his speed. He headeddefiantly for the pronged barrier which Andy extended. Big Bob ransquarely upon the pitchfork. Its prongs grazed the animal's breast. 

Andy experienced a shock. He was forced back, thrown flat, and the nextminute picked himself up from the shallow ditch at the side of the roadinto which he had fallen. 

"Well, " commented Andy, staring down the road, "he's a good one!"

Big Bob had never stopped. He was putting ahead for dear life. Andywatched him near the farm house. 

The animal turned in at a road gateway. He ran rapidly up to an openwindow at the side of the house. 

Its sill held something, Andy could not precisely make out what at thedistance he was from the spot. He fancied, however, that it was dishesholding pies or some other food, put out to cool. 

Big Bob arose erect on his hind legs, his fore feet rested on the windowsill. His great muzzle dipped into whatever it held. 

At that moment from inside the farmhouse there rang out the mostcurdling yell Andy Wildwood had ever heard. 

CHAPTER XXVI

A CLEVER RUSE

The boy acrobat scrambled up from the roadside ditch, seized thepitchfork, and dashed along in the direction Big Bob had taken. 

A glance showed the audacious animal still at the window of thefarmhouse, though now under it. 

Bruin had swept the contents of the window sill to the ground with onemovement of his great paw. He was now discussing the merits of thedishes he had dislodged with a crash. 

Andy ran around to the other side of the house. From within occasionalhysterical shrieks issued. They were mingled with distracted sobs. Atanother open window Andy halted. 

He could look into a middle apartment crossing the entire house. Crouching in a corner was a young woman. Her eyes were fixed in terroron the window at which the bear had appeared. 

In her arms was a child, crying in affright. An older woman stood at atelephone, twisting its call bell handle frantically. 

"Don't be afraid, " said Andy. "It's a harmless old bear escaped from thecircus down at the tracks. "

The two women regarded him mutely, too scared to believe him. Andy heardthe telephone bell ring. 

"Quick! quick!" cried the woman at the instrument. "Send help. A bigbear! We'll be devoured alive!"

"No you won't, " declared Andy in a shout, making around the house. 

He hardly knew what to do next, but he kept his eyes open. He hoped forsome discovery among the truck littering the yard that would suggest away of getting Big Bob again on the run. 

"Capital--the very thing, " cried Andy suddenly. 

He dropped the pitchfork and whipped out his pocket knife. In twoseconds he had severed a forty-foot stretch of clothes line running froma hook on the house to a post. 

Then Andy ran to the kitchen door. Hanging at its side was a big pieceof raw beef. 

It was evidently from an animal recently slaughtered, for it was stillmoist and dripping. Andy tightly secured one end of the clothes lineabout it. He ran to the side of the house. 

Big Bob was just finishing a repast on some apple pie. Andy gave themeat a fling. It struck the bear in the face. Big Bob raised his head. He sniffed and licked his lips. He made an eager, hungry spring for themeat, which had rebounded several feet. 

"Come on, " said Andy, sure now that his bait was a good one, and thathis experiment would succeed. "I've got you, I guess. "

Andy started on a run, paying out the rope. Just as Big Bob was about topounce upon the toothsome spoil, Andy gave it a jerk. 

He gauged his rate of progress on a close estimate. Along the trail spedbruin. Andy put across the fields. 

He heard a bell ring out. Glancing back at the farmhouse, he saw a humanarm reaching through an open window. It pulled at a rope leading to abig alarm bell hanging from the eaves. Looking beyond the farmhouse healso saw three or four men in a distant field, summoned by the bell, nowrushing in its direction. 

"I'll get Big Bob beyond the danger line, anyhow, " decided Andy. "No, you don't!"

The fugitive had pounced fairly on the dragging beef. Andy gave it awhirling jerk. Bruin uttered a baffled growl. 

"Come on, " laughed Andy. "This is jolly fun--if it doesn't end in atragedy. "

Andy ran under the bottom rail of a fence. He made time and distance, for the bear did not squeeze through so readily. Andy put through abrushy reach beyond. Big Bob began to lag. He limped and panted. 

"If I can only tucker him out, " thought Andy. 

He kept up the race for fully half-an-hour. As he reached the edge of aboggy stretch, Andy saw, directly beyond, the top of a house poking upamong a grove of fir trees. 

Andy's eyes were everywhere as he neared the building. Its lower partwas so tightly shuttered and closed up that he decided at once it was anempty house. 

Getting nearer, however, he discovered that the door at the bottom ofthe stone cellar steps was open. Andy glanced back of him. Big Bob, withlolling tongue, was lumbering steadily on his track, perhaps twenty feetto the rear. 

"I'll try it, " determined Andy. 

He ran down the steps, halted in the dark cellar, pulled in the meat andflung it ahead of him. Then stepping to one side he prepared to actpromptly when the right moment arrived. 

Big Bob came to the steps, cleared them in a spring and ran past Andy. The latter dodged outside in a flash. He banged the door shut, shot itsbolt, sank to the steps and swept his hand over his dripping brow. 

"Whew!" panted Andy. "But I've made it. "

Andy felt that he had done a pretty clever thing. He had gotten thefugitive safely caged behind a stout locked door. The cellar had severalwindows, but they were high up, and too small for Big Bob to eversqueeze through. 

"I don't believe there is anybody at home, " said Andy, getting up toinvestigate. "I'm going to find out. Gracious! I have--there is. "

Andy was terribly startled, almost appalled. At just that moment afrightful yell rang out. It proceeded from the cellar into which he hadlocked the bear. 

A sharp crash followed. Andy, staring spellbound, saw one of the sidewindows of the cellar dashed out. 

Through the aperture, immediately following, there clambered a man. 

He was hatless, a big red streak crossed his cheek, his coat was inribbons down the back. 

White as a sheet, chattering and trembling, he scrambled to his feet, gave one affrighted glance back of him, and shot for the road likea meteor. 

Bang! bang! bang!

"Oh, dear!" cried the distressed Andy. "What's up now?"

CHAPTER XXVII

A ROYAL REWARD

Bang! bang!

Five sharp reports rang out from the cellar. Then came a roar from BigBob. Then a second frantic man appeared at the smashed window. 

One sleeve was in ribbons. He carried a smoking pistol. Without ado, like his predecessor he ran for the road. Glancing thither, Andy saw thetwo running down it, one after the other, like mad. 

Andy hardly knew what to make of it all. The two men did not look likefarmers. He went around the house, and hammered at the front door. Noresponse. Every window on the lower floor was tightly shuttered. 

Finally he came back to the smashed window. At first he could seenothing much beyond it. Then, his eyes becoming accustomed to thedarkness, he was able to make out the cellar interior quite clearly. 

His anxiety as to Big Bob was immediately relieved. If five bullets hadbeen fired at the bear, they had made no more impression than peas froma putty blower. The serene old animal was leisurely devouring the juicybait that had lured him to his present prison. 

"He's safe for a time, anyhow, " decided Andy. "I can't quite make outthe situation here. It looks to me as if those two men don't exactly fitto the premises. They are certainly not farmers, nor tramps. Maybe theyhad sneaked in the cellar for a nap, or to steal, leaving the door open, and Big Bob tackled them. "

Andy made further unsuccessful efforts to arouse the house. He was surenow that there was nobody at home. He sat down on its front stepsto think. 

Finally he noticed that a wire ran from the barb wire fence in frontinto the house. 

"They've got a telephone here, as they have at most of thesefarmhouses, " he decided. "That ought to help me out. If I could only getto the inside. "

Andy took another rambling tour about the house. Finally he discovered awindow an inch or two down from the top in the second story. 

His natural aptitude for climbing helped him out. With the aid of alightning rod he soon reached the window, lowered it further, steppedinto a bedroom, and descended a pair of stairs. Looking around thelittle front hall, he made out a telephone instrument on theoutside wall. 

Andy promptly turned the handle of the call bell. He placed the receiverto his ear. 

"Hello, " came the instantaneous response "this is Central. "

"Central--where?" asked Andy. 

"Brownville. "

"Are you anywhere near the way station where the circus train issidetracked?" inquired Andy. 

"Certainly. We're the station town. "

"Can you reach any of the circus folks?"

"Reach them?" responded the distant telephone operator animatedly. "Thewoods are full of them. They say the whole menagerie has escaped, andthey're hunting for the animals everywhere. What do you want?"

"I want to talk with some one connected with the show--and--quick. "

"All right I've just got to call to the street. Wait a minute. "

Soon a new voice came over the telephone: "Hello. "

"Who is that?" asked Andy promptly. 

"Brophy. "

"Oh, the chief hostler? Say, Mr. Brophy, this is Andy Wildwood. "

"The acrobat?--where are you?"

"Tumbler, yes. Listen: I've found and caged Big Bob. "

"What's that?--Say, where?"

Even over the wire Andy could discern that the man at the other end ofthe line was manifestly stirred up. 

"Let me tell you, " spoke Andy. "I've got the animal shut up in a cellar. For how long or how safe, I can't tell. You had better tell the trainer, and get some people here with the things to secure the bear. "

"I'll do it, " called back Brophy. "Try and keep those crazy farmers fromfinding him. There's a hundred of them out gunning. "

"All right. Listen. "

Andy described his present location. He wound up by saying he would staywithin call--- telephone 26--until the capturing crew put in anappearance. 

Andy sat down in an easy chair in the hall a good deal satisfied withhimself. However, he felt a trifle squeamish at the thought of thetenant of the premises returning and finding him there. 

A growling grunt came to his ears. Andy, tracing it, came to an opendoorway leading down under the front stairs to the cellar. 

This he closed and locked, although he saw that the stairs were toocrooked and narrow to admit of Big Bob ascending to the upper portion ofthe house. 

Andy simply rested. There was no further call on the telephone. Finallyhe arose abruptly to his feet. 

The sound of wagon wheels came from the front of the house. A minutelater footsteps echoed on the steps. A key grated in the front doorlock. The door swung open. 

"Hi--Hello! Who are you?" sang out a brusque, challenging voice. 

The minute the newcomer entered the hall his eyes fell on Andy. Theybecame filled with dark suspicion. He was a powerfully-built, intellectual-looking man. Andy believed he was the proprietor of thepremises, although he did not resemble a farmer. 

This man kicked the door shut behind him. He made a pounce on Andy andgrabbed his arm. 

"Let me explain "--began Andy. 

"How did you get in here?" retorted the man, his brow darkening. 

"By an open window--I was waiting--"

"Let's have a closer look at you, " interrupted the newcomer. 

Dragging Andy with him, the speaker threw open the parlor door. Thatroom was lighter, but as he crossed its threshold he uttered awild shout. 

He stood spellbound, staring about the apartment. Andy stared, too. 

The room was in dire disorder. A cabinet had all its drawers out. Thefloor was littered with their former contents. 

A stout tin box was overturned, its fastenings were all wrenched apart. 

"Robbed!" gasped the man. "Ha, I see--you are a burglar, " he continued, turning fiercely on the astonished youth. 

"Not me, " dissented Andy vigorously. 

"Yes, you are. All my coins and curios gone! Why, you young thief--"

"Hold on, " interrupted Andy, resisting the savage jerk of his captor. "Don't you abuse me till you know who I am. Yes, your place has beenburglarized--I see that, now. "

"Oh, do you?" sneered the man. "Thanks. "

"Yes, sir. I saw two men come out of the cellar here an hour ago. Ididn't understand then, but I do now. "

"From the cellar? Well, we'll investigate the cellar. "

"Better not, " advised Andy. "At least, not just yet. "

"Well, you're a cool one! Why not?"

"Because there's a bear down there. "

"A what?" cried the man, incredulously. 

"A bear escaped from the circus. Say, I just thought of it. Have theburglars taken much?"

"Oh, you're innocent aren't you?" flared out the man. 

"I certainly am, " answered Andy calmly. 

"Did they take much? My hobby is rare coins. With the missing curios, Iguess they've got about two thousand dollars' worth. "

"Would the stuff make quite a bundle?" asked Andy. 

"With the curios--I guess! Five pound candlesticks. Two large silverservers. The coins were set on metal squares, and would make bulkand weight. "

"I have an idea--" began Andy. "No, let me explain first. Please listen, sir. You will think differently about me when I tell you my story. "

"Go ahead, " growled his captor. 

Andy recited his chase of the bear and its denouement. Then he added:

"If those two men were the burglars, they got in by way of the cellar. They came out through the cellar window. I theorize they came down intothe cellar with their plunder. They disturbed the bear, and Big Bob wentfor them. When I saw them they were empty-handed. I'll bet they droppedtheir booty in their wild rush for escape. "

"Eh? I hope so. Let's find out. "

The man appeared to believe Andy. He released his hold on him. Just asthey came out on the front porch Andy spoke up:

"There are the circus people. They'll soon fix Mr. Bear. "

A boxed wagon had driven from the road into the yard. It held six men. The chief animal trainer jumped down from the vehicle, followed by thehead hostler. Four subordinates followed, carrying ropes, muzzles, pikes, and one of them a stick having on its end a big round cork filledwith fine needles. 

"I'm glad you've come, " said Andy, running forward to meet them. "BigBob is in there, " he explained to the trainer, pointing to the cellar. 

"You're a good one, Wildwood, " commended the trainer in an approvingtone. "How did you ever work it?"

Andy explained, while the trainer selected a muzzle for the bear andarmed himself with the needle-pointed device. Then he went to thecellar door. 

"Shut it quick after me, " he said. "Come when I call. "

Andy ran around to the broken window as soon as the trainer was insidethe cellar. 

He watched the man approach Big Bob. The bear snarled, made a stand, andshowed his teeth. 

One punch of the needle-pointed device across his nostrils sent himbellowing. A second on one ear brought him to the floor. The trainerpounced on him and adjusted the muzzle over his head. Then he deftlywhipped some hobbles on his front paws. 

He yelled to his assistants. They hurried into the cellar and soonemerged, dragging Big Bob after them. 

The owner of the place had stood by watching these proceedings silently. While the others dragged the bear to the boxed wagon the trainerapproached him. 

"If there's any bill for damages, just name it, " he spoke. 

"I'll tell you that mighty soon, " answered the man. 

He dashed into the cellar and Andy heard him utter a glad shout. He cameout carrying two old satchels. Throwing them on the ground heopened them. 

They were filled with coins and curios. The man ran these over eagerly. He looked up with a face supremely satisfied. 

"Not a cent, " he cried heartily. "No, no--no damages. Glad to haveserved you. "

"All right. Come on, Wildwood, " said the trainer, starting for thewagon. 

"One minute, " interrupted the owner of the place, beckoning to Andy. 

He drew out his wallet, fingered over some bank bills, selected one, andgrasped Andy's hand warmly. 

"You have done me a vast service, " he declared. "But for you--"

"And the bear, " suggested Andy, with a smile. 

"All right, " nodded the man, "only, the bear can't spend money. You can. I misjudged you. Let me make it right. Take that. "

He released his grasp of Andy's hand momentarily, to slap into his palma banknote. 

"Now, look here--" began Andy, modestly. 

"No, you look there!" cried the man, pushing Andy towards the wagon. "Good bye and good luck. "

Andy ran and jumped to the top of the wagon, which had just started up. 

Settling himself comfortably, he took a look at the banknote. His eyesstarted, and a flush of surprise crossed his face. 

It was a fifty dollar bill. 

CHAPTER XXVIII

"HEY, RUBE!"

"From bad to worse, " said the Man With the Iron Jaw. 

"Correct, Marco, " assented Billy Blow dejectedly. 

It was three weeks after the start of the southern tour of the circus. 

Marco, the clown, Midget, Miss Stella Starr, Andy and about a dozenothers were seated or strolling around the performers' tent about themiddle of the afternoon. 

Every face in the crowd looked anxious--some disheartened and desperate. 

Bad luck attended the southern trip of the show. They had reachedMontgomery in the midst of a terrific rain storm. Two animal cars hadbeen derailed and wrecked on the route. 

Three days later a wind storm nearly tore the main top to tatters. Someof the performers fell sick, due to the change of climate. Othersforesaw trouble, and joined other shows in the north. 

The season started out badly and kept it up. The attendance as they leftthe big cities was disastrously light. 

They had to cut out one or two towns here and there, on account of badroads and accidents. Now the show had reached Lacon, and after moretrouble found itself stalled. 

To be "stalled, " Andy had learned was to be very nearly stranded. Nosalaries had been paid for a full fortnight. Some of the performers hadgotten out executions against the show. 

Aside from this, on account of the absence of many attractionsadvertised in the show bills, disappointed audiences were showing anugly spirit. 

The show was tied up by local creditors, who would not allow it to leavetown until their bills were paid. 

To make matters worse, Sim Dewey, the treasurer of the show, had runaway with eleven thousand dollars two days before. 

This comprised the active capital of the show. Not a trace of thewhereabouts of the mean thief had been discovered. 

All these facts were known to the performers, and over the same theywere brooding that dismal rainy afternoon, awaiting the coming ofthe manager. 

"Here he is, " spoke an eager voice, and Mr. Scripps bustled into thetent. 

He rubbed his hands briskly and smiled at everybody, but Andy saw thatthis was all put on. Lines of care and anxiety showed about the pluckymanager's eyes and lips. 

"Well, my friends, " he spoke at once. "We've arrived at a decision. "

"Good, " commented Marco. "Let's have it. "

"I have had a talk with the lawyers who hold the executions against theshow, I have suggested four nights and two matinees at half-price, papering four counties liberally. We'll announce only the attractions wereally have, so there can be no kicking. What is taken in the treasureris to hand over to the sheriff. He is to pay fifty per cent on claimsagainst us. The balance, minus expenses, is to go for salaries. I shouldsay that we can pay each performer a full half salary. There's thesituation, friends. What do you say?"

"Satisfactory, " nodded Marco. 

"Billy Blow?"

"I've got pretty heavy expenses, with a wife in the hospital, " said theclown in a subdued tone, "but I'll try and make half salary do. "

"Miss Starr?"

The kind-hearted equestrienne smiled brightly. 

"Take care of the others first, Mr. Scripps, " she said. "While I havethese, we won't exactly starve. "

Miss Stella Starr shook the glittering diamond pendants in her prettypink ears. 

"Thank you, " bowed the manager, choking up a trifle. "Andy Wildwood?"

"I'm a mere speck in the show, " said Andy, "but I'll stick if thereisn't a cent of salary. It's the last ditch for my good, true friends, Mr. Scripps. "

The manager turned aside to hide his emotion. 

"Friends, " he resumed an instant later, "you break me all up with thiskind of talk. You're a royal, good lot. I've wired Mr. Harding that hemust help us out. Stick to your posts, and no one shall lose a dollar. "

There was not a dissent to his proposition as he completed calling thelist of performers. Andy's action shamed some into coming into thearrangements. The manager's words encouraged others. While some fewanswered grudgingly, the compact was made unanimous. 

"There's a crowd of hard roughs trying to make trouble, " concluded Mr. Scripps. "Leave that to the tent men. Give the best show you know how, try and please the crowds, and I guess we'll win out. "

Every act went excellently at the evening performance up to about themiddle of the programme. 

Andy did his level best. He won an encore by a trick somersault oldBenares had taught him. 

Billy Blow was at his funniest. He had the audience in fine, good humor. Little Midget over-exerted himself to follow in his father's lead. 

Marco was a pronounced success. Miss Stella Starr made one of her horsesdance a graceful round to the tune of "Dixie, " and the audiencewent wild. 

Andy, in street dress, came into the canvas passageway near theorchestra as the trick elephants were led into the ring. The managernodded to him. Andy saw that he was pleased the way things were going. 

For all that, he observed that Mr. Scripps kept his eye pretty closelyon a rough crowd occupying seats near the entrance. 

They seemed to be of a general group. They talked loudly and passed allkinds of comments on the various acts. 

Finally one of their number shied a carrot into the ring, striking theelephant trainer. 

The latter caught his cue instantly at a word from the ringmaster. Hepicked up the vegetable, made a profound bow to the sender, juggled itcleverly with his training wand, one-two-three, and turned the tablescompletely as the smart baby elephant caught it on the fly. 

Cat calls rang out derisively from a lot of boys, directed at the groupof rowdies from the midst of whom the carrot had been thrown. 

Then a man arose unsteadily from that mob and stumbled over the ringropes. 

The ringmaster, his face very stern and very white, stepped forward tointercept him. 

"What do you want?" he demanded. 

"Man insulted me. Going to lick him, " hiccoughed the rowdy, his eyesfixed on the elephant trainer. 

"Leave the ring, " ordered the ringmaster. 

"Me? Guess not! Will I, boys?" he demanded of his special crowd ofcronies. 

"No, no! Go on! Have it out!"

A good many timid ones arose from their seats. The ringmaster scentedtrouble. 

Stepping squarely up to the drunken loafer, his hand shot out in a flashand caught the fellow squarely under the jaw. He knocked him five feetacross the ropes, where he landed like a clod of earth in a heap. 

Instantly there was an uproar. The orchestra stopped playing. Themanager ran forward and put up his hand. 

"We will have order here at any cost, " he shouted. "Officer, " to theguard at the entrance, "call the police. "

With wild yells some fifty of the group from which the drunken rowdy hadcome sprang from the benches. They jumped over the ropes, crowding intothe ring and making for the manager. 

Half-a-dozen ring men ran forward to repel them. Fists brandished, andcudgels, too. The circus men went down among flying heels. 

Then arose a cry, heard for the first time by the excited Andy--neverlater recalled without a thrill as he realized from that experience itsterrific portent. 

"_Hey, Rube_!"

It was the world-wide rallying cry of the circus folk--the call indistress for speedy, reliant help. 

As if by magic the echoes took up the call. Andy heard them respond fromthe farthest haunts of the circus grounds. 

From under the benches, through the main entrance, under the loose sideflaps, a rallying army sprang into being. 

Stake men, wagon men, cooks, hostlers, candy butchers, came flying fromevery direction. 

Every one of them had found a weapon--a stake. Like skilled soldiersthey grouped, and bore down on the intruders like an avalanche. 

Women were shrieking, fainting on the benches, children were crying. Theaudience was in a wild turmoil. Some benches broke down. The scene wasone of riotous confusion. 

Suddenly a shot rang out. Then Andy had a final sight of crashing clubsand mad, bleeding faces, as some one pulled the centre-light rope. Thebig chandelier came down with a crash, precipitating the tent insemi-darkness. 

So excited was Andy, that, grasping a stake, he was about to dash intothe midst of the conflict. The manager pushed him back. 

"Get out of this, " he ordered quickly. "Look to the women and children. Our men will see to it that those low loafers get all they came for. "

"Wildwood, " spoke Marco rushing up to Andy just here, "they have cut theguy ropes of the performers' tent. I must get to my family. Look out forMiss Starr. Here she is. "

CHAPTER XXIX

A FREE TROLLEY RIDE

The young acrobat turned in time to see the performers' tent wobbleinwards. Miss Starr, quite flustered, ran rapidly to escape being caughtin its drooping folds. 

Following her, looking worn out and anxious, carrying Midget in hisarms, was Billy Blow. 

"Get them out of this!" cried Marco, holding up the flap of the canvaspassage way. 

"Here, let me take him, " directed Andy. "You're not equal to the heavyload. "

He removed Midget from the clown's arms, and led the way to the outerair. 

Yells and shots sounded from the main tent. Outside there was a swaying, excited mob. Andy evaded them, leading the way to the street lining thecircus grounds at one side. 

"Look there, " suddenly exclaimed the clown in a gasping tone. 

The main tent was on fire. A mob was trying to pull down the menagerietent. 

"Hi!" yelled the leader of a gang of boys rushing past them and halting, "here's some show folks. "

"Pelt them!" cried another voice. "They won't pay my father his feedbill. "

An egg flittered towards the fugitives. It struck Miss Starr on theback, soiling her pretty dress. 

Andy ran back, Midget held on one arm. He let drive with his free handand knocked the egg thrower head over heels. 

This was the signal for a wild riot. The crowd of young hoodlums pressedclose on Andy, and he retreated to the others. 

"Take him, Miss Starr, " he said quickly, placing Midget in her arms. "Hurry to the lighted street yonder. "

A rain of stones came towards them. Andy ran back at the crowd. In turnhe sent four of them reeling with vigorous fisticuffs. Then he rejoinedhis friends. 

A trolley car stood at one side of the street. The boys had yelled forhelp from others of their kind and their numbers increased dangerously. The motorman of the trolley car had neglected his duty and joined agaping crowd at a corner. Riot and enmity to the circus people was inthe air. Andy formed a speedy decision. 

"Quick!" he ordered, "get into that car. "

A brickbat knocked off his hat. A second smashed a window in the car asMiss Starr and the others got aboard. 

Two big fellows pounced upon Andy. He met one with a blow that laid himflat. With a trick leap he landed his feet against the stomach of theother, sending him reeling back, breathless. 

Andy made a jump over the front railing of the car. Another deluge ofmissiles struck the car. He noticed that his friends were safely aboard. Andy noticed, too, that the crank handle of the motor box was in place. 

"Anywhere for safety from that mob, " he thought. 

Grr-rr-whiz-z! The car started up. Shouts, missiles, running formspursued it. Andy stopped for nothing. He put on full speed. 

As he turned a sharp corner, Andy caught sight of a mass of light flamesshooting upward. A crowd was in pursuit of the car. Shouts, shots andthe roars of the animals in the menagerie caused a wild din. Hisinclinations lured him back to the scene of the excitement. His duty, however, seemed plain; to follow out Marco's instructions and convey hischarges to a place of safety. 

At a cross street some one hailed the car. Andy simply shot ahead thefaster. Soon they reached the limits of the town. Andy bent his ear, andcaught the distant clang of the trolley wagon. 

He had stolen a car, and they were in pursuit. The general temper wasadverse to the circus folks. Andy kept the car going. 

Miss Starr came to the front door of the car and stepped out on theplatform beside Andy. 

"Brave boy, " she said simply. 

"Miss Starr, what are your plans?" he asked. 

"Anything to get away from this horrid town, " she said. "I am not afraidbut what our tent men will teach that mob a lesson. They always do, inthese riots. I have seen a dozen of them in my time. The police, too, will finally restore order. As to the show, though--the southern tripis over. "

"Then you don't want to go back to Lacon?"

"Why should we? Our traps are probably burned, or stolen. If not, theywill be sent on to us on direction. The show can't possibly survive. Billy and his boy couldn't stand the strain of any more trouble. No, "sighed the equestrienne, "it is plain that we must seek anotherposition. "

Andy again heard the gong of the repair wagon. He thought fast. Puttingon renewed speed, he never halted until they had covered about fourmiles. Here was a little cluster of houses. He stopped the car. 

"Come with me, quick, " he directed his friends, entering the car andtaking up Midget in his arms. 

Andy had been over this territory the day previous doing some exigencybill-posting service. 

He led the way down a quiet street. After walking about four squaresthey reached railroad tracks and a little station. This was locked upand dark within. On the platform, however, was a box ready for shipment, with a red lantern beside it. 

"I hope a train comes soon, " thought Andy quite anxiously, as he caughtthe echo of the repair wagon gong nearer than before. 

"There's a whistle, " said little Midget. 

"That's so, " responded Andy, bending his ear. "Going north, too. I hopeit's a train and I hope it comes along in time. "

"In time for what?" inquired Midget. 

Andy did not reply. He could estimate the progress of the pursuing wagonfrom gong sounds and shouts in the distance. He traced its halt, apparently at the stranded car. Then the gong sounded again. 

Andy glanced down the street they had come. Two flashing, wobblinglights gleamed in the distance, headed in the direction of therailway station. 

"They've guessed us out, " said Andy. "Of course they can only delay us, but that counts just now. If the train--"

"She's coming!" sang out Midget in a nervous, high-pitched voice. 

Andy's nerves were on a severe strain. A locomotive rounded a curve. Thetrolley wagon was still a quarter-of-a-mile distant. 

The engine slowed down to a stop, the repair rig with flying horsesattached less than a square away. 

The baggage coach door opened. A man jumped out and started to put thebox aboard. 

"Hold on--through train, " he yelled at Andy. 

"That's all right. Quick, get aboard, " he urged his companions. 

Andy glanced from the windows of the coach they entered as the trainstarted up with a jerk. 

He saw the trolley wagon dash up to the platform. A police officer andsome company men jumped off. 

"Just in time, " murmured Andy with satisfaction, as the station flashedfrom view. 

The coach was nearly empty. He found a double seat. Miss Starr uttered agreat sigh of relief. Poor Billy Blow sank down, thoroughly tired out. Midget laughed. 

"I hope it's a long ride, " he said. 

"I'm afraid, " spoke Miss Starr, "it won't be, Midge. See, " and sheopened a little purse, showing only a few silver coins. "I have somemoney in a bank in New York, but that does not help us at thepresent moment. "

"I sent all I had to my poor wife, " announced the clown dejectedly. 

"That's all right, " broke in Andy cheerily. "Here's a route list, " andhe picked up a timetable from the next seat. "Can you tell me where thistrain is bound for?" he inquired politely of a gentleman occupying theopposite seat. 

"Baltimore. "

"That sounds good, " said Miss Starr. "There was a show there last week. The season's broken, we can't hope for a star engagement, but we mightget in for a few weeks. "

"I haven't the money to chase up situations all over the country, "lamented the clown. 

"Don't worry on that score, " put in Andy briskly. "You people find outwhere you want to go. I'll take care of the bills. "

"You, Andy?" spoke Miss Starr, with a stare. 

"Yes, ma'am. You see, I've got my savings--"

"Ho! ho!" laughed Billy Blow bitterly. "Savings! Out of what? Youhaven't drawn one week's full salary since you joined us. "

"Remember the needle and thread you loaned me on the train when we weregoing south, Miss Starr?" asked Andy. 

"Why, yes, I think I do, " nodded the equestrienne. 

"Well, I wanted it to sew up a fifty dollar bill for safe-keeping. Hereit is. "

Andy with his knife ripped open a fob pocket and produced the bank notein question. 

"Our common fund, " he cried, waving it gaily. "Mr. Blow, designate yourterminus. We'll not be put off the train, while this lasts. "

Billy Blow choked up. He directed one grateful glance at Andy. Then hesnuggled Midget close, and hid his face against him. 

Miss Starr put a trembling hand on Andy's arm. A bright tear sparkled inher eye. 

"Good as gold!" she said softly, "and true blue to the core!"

"Thank you. I think I'll get a drink of water, " said Andy, covering hisown emotion at this display of others by a subterfuge. 

He went to the end of the car. At the moment he put out his hand for theglass under the water tank, a person from a near seat put out his also. 

"Excuse me, " said Andy, as they joggled. 

"Certainly--you first, " responded a pleasant voice. 

"Hello!" almost shouted Andy Wildwood, starting as if from an electricshock. "Why, Luke Belding!"

"Eh? Aha! Andy Wildwood. Well! well! well!"

It was the ambitious lion tamer of Tipton--Luke the show boy, the ownerof the famous chicken that walked backwards. 

They shook hands with shining faces, forgetting the water, genuinelyglad at the unexpected reunion. 

"What are you ever doing here?" asked Andy. 

"Me?" responded Luke, drawing himself up in mock dignity, yet withal apleased pride in his eye. "Well, Wildwood, to tell you the truth I'vegot up in the world. "

"Glad of it. "

"And I am on my way to join the Greatest Show on Earth. "

CHAPTER XXX

WITH THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH

"The Greatest Show On Earth?" repeated Andy wonderingly. "You don'tmean--"

"I do mean, " nodded Luke vigorously. "The one--the only. Is there morethan one? I'm on my way to join it. "

"You're lucky, " commented Andy. 

"And ambitious, and tickled to death!" cried Luke effusively. "My! WhenI think of it, I imagine I'm dreaming. And say--I'm a capitalist. "

"Well!" smiled Andy. 

"Yes, sir--see?" and Luke spun round, exhibiting his neat apparel. "I'man independent gentleman. "

"You do look prosperous, " admitted Andy. 

"Living on my royalties. "

"Royalties? How's that?"

"You remember the chicken?"

"That walked backwards. I'll never forget it. "

"Well, sir, " asserted Luke, "it took. When we left you, we struck abrisk show. Big business and the chicken a winner from the start. Another side showman offered me a big salary, and my boss got worried. He agreed to pay me ten per cent gross receipts for Bolivar. I knew hehad a brother who was chief animal trainer with the Big Show. I took himup on condition that he got me a place there. He wrote to his brother, and I'm his assistant. On my way to Baltimore now. The show is on itsway through Delaware. "

"Wait here a minute, " spoke Andy, and he went back to his friends. 

Andy told them of meeting Luke, and the whereabouts of the Big Show. Just then the conductor came into the car, and they had to make arapid decision. 

"Let us get to Baltimore, anyway, " suggested the clown. "It's nearerhome--and my wife. "

Andy paid their fares. Miss Starr briefly told the conductor of theirmishaps at Lacon. Her eloquent, sympathetic eyes won Midget a free ride. 

Andy got pillows for his three friends, and some coffee and pie from theadjoining buffet car. 

He saw them comfortably disposed of for the night; and then went back toLuke. 

They sat down close together, two pleased, jolly friends. Andyinterested Luke immensely by reciting his vivid experiences since theyhad parted. 

"By the way, Luke, " he observed at last, "there's something I missedhearing from you at Tipton. Remember?"

"Let's see, " said Luke musingly. "Oh, yes--you mean about your being anheir?"

"That's it. "

Luke became animated at once. 

"I've often thought about that, " he said. "You know I was all struck ofa heap when you first told me your name!"

"Yes. "

"And asked if you was Andy Wildwood, the heir? Do you remember?"

"Exactly. "

"Well, it was funny, but early on the day I came to the circus I wastramping it along a creek. About three miles out of town I should think, I lay down to rest among some bushes. Ten minutes after I'd got there aboat rowed by some persons came along. They beached it right alongsidethe brush. Then one of them, a boy, lifted a mail bag from the bottom ofthe skiff. "

"A mail bag--- a boy?" repeated Andy, with a start of intelligence. "Didyou hear his name?"

"Yes, in a talk that followed. The man with him called him Jim. "

"Jim Tapp, " murmured Andy. 

"He called the man Murdock. "

"I thought so, " Andy said to himself. "They put up that mail robbery. "

"They cut open the bag and took out a lot of letters, " continued Luke. "A few of them had money in them. This they pocketed, tearing up theletters and throwing them into the creek. There was one letter the boykept. He read it over and over. When they had got through with theletters, he said to the man that it was funny. "

"What was funny?" asked Andy. 

"Why, he said there was a letter putting him on to 'a big spec. , ' as hecalled it. He said the letter told about a secret, about a fortune thewriter had discovered. He said the letter was to a boy who would neverknow his good luck if they didn't tell him. He said to the man there wassomething to think over. He chuckled as he bragged how they would make abig stake juggling the fortune of the heir, Andy Wildwood. "

"I don't understand it at all, " said Andy, "but it is a singular story, for a fact. "

"Well, that's all I know about it. The minute I heard your name, ofcourse I recalled where I had heard it before. "

"Of course, " nodded Andy thoughtfully. 

After that the conversation lagged. Luke soon fell asleep. For over twohours, however, Andy kept trying to figure out how he could possibly bean heir, who had written the letter, and to whom it had been addressed. 

The next day they arrived at Baltimore. A morning paper contained adispatch from Lacon. 

The circus men had nearly killed half-a-dozen of the mob of roughs. Thepolice had restored order, but fire and riot had put the show outof business. 

Miss Starr wired to the town in Delaware where the Big Show was playing. Luke had gone on to join it. By noon she received a satisfactory reply. Then she telegraphed to Lacon about their traps, directing the managerwhere to send them. 

That evening, after a long talk over their prospects, the four refugeestook the train for Dover. 

The next morning Miss Starr, Billy, Midget and Andy went to theheadquarters of The Biggest Show on Earth. 

Andy had a chance to inspect it while waiting for Bob Sanderson, theassistant manager, who was a distant relative of Miss Stella Starr. 

Its mammoth proportions fairly staggered him. Its details werebewildering in their system and perfection. Alongside of it, the circushe had recently belonged to was merely a side show. 

Sanderson was a brisk, business-like fellow. He soon settled on anengagement for Miss Starr and Billy and Midget for the rest ofthe season. 

"I don't think I can use the boy, though, " he said, glancing at Andy. 

"Then you can't have us, " said the equestrienne promptly. "Bob, you andI are old friends, but not better ones than myself and Andy Wildwood. Hestood by us through thick and thin, he makes a good showing in the ring. Why, before the Benares Brothers left us, they were training him for oneof the best acts ever done on the trapeze. "

"Is that so?" spoke Sanderson, looking interested. "The Benares Brothersjoined us only last week. Here, give me five minutes. "

"Miss Starr, you mustn't let me stand in your way of a good engagement, "said Andy, as the assistant manager left the tent. 

"It's the four of us, or none, " asserted the determined little lady. 

Sanderson came bustling in at the end of five minutes. 

"All right, " he announced brusquely, "I'll take the boy on. "

"You'll never regret it, " declared Stella Starr positively. 

CHAPTER XXXI

CONCLUSION

"Bravo!"

"Clever!"

Amid deafening applause, old Benares and Thacher retired from thesawdust ring, bowing profusely with a deep sense of pride andsatisfaction. 

Between them, hands joined in the group of three, Andy Wildwood imitatedtheir graceful acknowledgment of the plaudits of the vast concourse inthe great metropolitan amphitheatre. 

"Wildwood, " declared Thacher, as they backed towards the performers'room, "you've made a hit. "

"It is so!" cried old Benares, with sparkling eyes. "We are a threenow--The Three Benares Brothers. "

Andy was dizzy with exultation and delight. It was the first night ofthe Biggest Show on Earth in New York City. 

For a week he had been in training for the fantastic trapeze act whichhad won thunders of approbation. 

The Benares Brothers had appeared in the amphitheatre dome on a doubletrapeze. 

After several clever specialties, the ringmaster suddenly steppedforward. He lifted his hand. The orchestra stopped playing. 

Raising a pistol, the ringmaster directed it aloft. Bang! Crash! wentthe orchestra, and from a box suspended over the trapezes the bottomsuddenly dropped out. 

Following, an agile youthful form shot down through space. Quick aslightning the Benares Brothers swung by their feet, joined hands inmid-air, and the descending form--Andy Wildwood--catching at the wristsof Thacher, was swung back in a twenty foot circle. Crash! again theorchestra. Andy was flung through space across to old Benares, aplaything in mid-air, Benares catching at the feet of Thacher, Andytailing on in a graceful descent, thrilling the delighted audience. 

The act was not so difficult, but it was neat, rapid, unique. AndyWildwood felt that at last he was a full-fledged acrobat. 

The manager came back to compliment him. Billy Blow looked delighted. Miss Stella Starr said:

"Andy, we are all proud of you. "

The next morning's papers gave him special notice. Luke Beldingwhispered to him to demand double salary. 

Andy walked from his boarding house the next morning feeling certainthat he had made very substantial progress during his sixty days ofcircus life. 

He was passing a row of houses on a side street when a cab drove up tothe curb. Andy casually glanced at the passenger as he crossed thesidewalk. Then he gave a great start. 

"It can't be!" he ejaculated. Then he added instantly: "Yes, I'd knowhim among a thousand--Sim Dewey. "

The man entered an open doorway, and Andy ran after him. He heard thefellow ascend a pair of stairs and knock at a door. 

"Oh, good morning, Mr. Vernon. "

"Gracious!" exclaimed Andy--"Aunt Lavinia!"

Here was a stirring situation. There could be no mistake. Despite afalse moustache and a pair of dark eyeglasses, Andy had recognized thedefaulting cashier of the disbanded circus. Beyond dispute he hadrecognized the welcoming tones above as belonging to his aunt, MissLavinia Talcott. 

"It's like dreaming, " mused Andy. "All this happening together, and herein New York City! Why, what ever brought Aunt Lavinia here? Where didshe ever get acquainted with that scamp?"

Andy felt that he had an urgent duty to perform. Here was a mystery toexplore, a villain to capture. 

He went softly up the stairs. The place was a respectable boardinghouse, he concluded. Stealing softly past a door, he went half-way up asecond pair of stairs. 

Not five feet away from an open transom, Andy could now look into a roomcontaining three persons. 

A motherly, dignified old woman sat in a big arm chair. Near her wasAndy's aunt, smiling and simpering up at Dewey. The latter, dressed "tokill, " was bowing like a French dancing master. 

Dewey sat down. The chaperone, who seemed to be the landlady, did notengage in a brief conversation that ensued within the room. 

At its conclusion Andy saw his aunt hand Dewey a folded piece of paper. The defaulting circus cashier gallantly bowed over her extended hand andcame out of the room. 

"Hold on, Mr. Sim Dewey, " spoke Andy, down the stairs in a flash, andseizing Dewey's arm on the landing. 

"Eh? Hello--Wildwood!"

"Yes, it's me, " said Andy. "A word with you, sir, as to what businessyou have with my aunt. Then--the stolen eleven thousand dollars, ifyou please. "

Dewey had turned deadly white. He glared desperately at Andy, and triedto wrench his arm free. 

"Shall I arouse the street?" demanded Andy sternly. "It's jail foryou--"

Crack! The treacherous Dewey had slipped one hand behind him. He haddrawn a slung shot from his pocket. It struck Andy's head, and he wentdown with a sense of sickening giddiness. 

"Stop him!" shouted Andy, half-blinded, crawling across the landing. 

Dewey made a leap of four steps at a time. 

"Out of my way!" he yelled at some obstacle. 

"Hold on, mister!"

Andy arose to his feet with difficulty. He clung to the banister, descending the stairs as a frightful clatter rang out. 

A boy about his own age, coming up the stairs, had collided with Dewey. Both tripped up and rolled to the front entry. 

The boy got up, unhurt. Dewey, groaning, half-arose, fell back, and layprostrate, one limb bent up under him. 

Andy was still weak and dizzy-headed, but he acted promptly for theoccasion. 

He saw that Dewey had broken a limb, and was practically helpless. Heglanced out at the driver of the cab. He was an honest-faced old fellow. Andy ran out to him and spoke a few quick words. 

With Dewey writhing, moaning and resisting, this man, Andy and thestrange boy carried him to the cab. Andy directed the boy to get up withthe driver, He got inside the cab with Dewey. 

A hysterical shriek rang out at the street doorway. Andy saw his auntwildly wringing her hands. The maiden lady was held back from pursuingthe cab by the landlady. 

Within ten minutes the cab delivered Dewey at a police station, and Andytold his story to the precinct captain. 

They found in a secret pocket on the defaulting cashier certificates ofdeposit to the amount of ten thousand dollars, issued in a false name. The amount was a part of the stolen circus funds. 

In another pocket was discovered a draft for three thousand dollars, made over to the same false name by Miss Lavinia Talcott on the bankat Fairview. 

The police at once locked the prisoner up in a cell, sent for a surgeon, and asked Andy to telegraph to Mr. Giles Harding, the circus owner, at once. 

When Andy came out of the police station, he found the boy who hadassisted him waiting for him. 

He was a bright-faced, pleasant-mannered lad, but his appearancesuggested hard luck. 

Andy gave him a dollar, and got his name. It was Mark Hadley. Andy wasat once interested when the boy told him that his dead father had been aprofessional sleight-of-hand man in the west. 

Mark Hadley had come to New York on the track of an old circus friend ofhis father. This man, it turned out, was a relative of Dewey, masquerading now under the name of Vernon. 

The man had told him that Dewey could help him out. He did not knowwhere Dewey was living, but understood he was about to marry a ladyliving at the boarding house where Mark had gone, to meet the fellow ina most sensational manner, indeed. 

Andy invited Mark to call upon him later in the day, gave the youth hispresent address, and proceeded back to the boarding house to findhis aunt. 

The hour that followed was one of the strangest in Andy's life. 

There were reproaches, threats, cajolings, until Andy found out the truestate of affairs. 

It was only after he had proven to his humiliated and chagrined auntthat Dewey was a villain, that Miss Lavinia broke down and confessedthat she had been a silly, sentimental woman. 

It seemed that the letter Jim Tapp and Murdock had secured was from Mr. Graham, back at Fairview. 

Graham had discovered in a secret bottom of the box Andy had left withhim, a paper referring to a patent of Andy's father. 

As time had brought about, this paper entitled the heirs of the oldinventor to quite large royalties on a new electrical device which hadcome into practical use after Mr. Wildwood's death. 

The plotters had gone at once to Miss Lavinia. Her cupidity was aroused. She quieted her conscience by giving Andy ten dollars at Tipton, anddeciding to take charge of the royalty money "till he was of age. "

This was her story, told amid contrite tears and shame as Andy proved toher that Dewey was after her three thousand dollars, and would haveescaped with it only for his decisive action. 

Murdock had introduced her to Dewey. The latter had pretended to be inlove with her, had promised to marry her, and that day had induced theweak, silly old spinster to trust him with her little fortune. 

"I have been a wicked woman!" Miss Lavinia declared. "I will makeamends, Andy. You shall have your rights. Come home with me. "

"Not till my engagement is over, aunt, " replied Andy, "and then only fora visit, if you wish it. I love the circus life, and I seem to find justas many chances there to be good and to do good as in any othervocation. "

Miss Lavinia was given back her three thousand dollars the next day, andSim Dewey was sent to prison on a long term. 

Mr. Harding came on to the city the following day. He recovered allexcept a trifle of the stolen circus money. That evening he sent asealed envelope by special messenger to Andy. It contained five onehundred dollar bills--Andy's reward for capturing the embezzlingcircus cashier. 

The next afternoon Andy invited five of his special friends and severalof his acquaintances to a little dinner party. 

Miss Starr, Billy Blow the clown, Midget, old Benares, Thacher, LukeBelding and Mark Hadley were his guests of honor. 

Andy had found a starting place in the circus for Mark, whose ambitionwas to become a great magician. 

They were a merry, friendly party. They jollied one another. They sawnothing but sunshine in the sawdust pathway before them. 

"You are a grand genius!" declared old Benares to Andy. "My friends, onethought: in six weeks up from Andy the school boy, to Andy the acrobat. "

"Hold on now, Mr. Benares, " cried Andy, smilingly. "That was because ofmy royal, good friends like you. "

"And your own grit, " said Marco. "You assuredly deserve your success. "

And the other circus people agreed with Marco. 

For the time being Andy heard nothing more of Tapp, Murdock and Daley. The days passed pleasantly enough. He did his work faithfully, constantly adding to his fame as an acrobat. 

Between Andy and Luke Belding a warm friendship sprang up. Luke had muchto tell about himself. As time passed the lad who loved animals had manyadventures, but what these were I must reserve for another volume, to benamed, "Luke the Lion Tamer; or, On the Road with a Great Menagerie, " Inthat we shall not only follow brave-hearted Luke but also Andy, and seewhat the future held in store for the boy acrobat. 

"Andy, are you glad you joined the circus?" questioned Luke, one day, after a particularly brilliant performance in the ring. 

"Glad doesn't express it, " was the quick answer. "Why, it seems to bejust what I was cut out for. "

"I really believe you. You never make work of an act--like some of theacrobats. "

"It must be in my blood, " said Andy, with a bright smile. "Anyway, Iexpect to be Andy the Acrobat for a long while to come. "

And he was. 

THE END.