Part 1 (1/2)

The Circus Boys In Dixie Land, Or***

Winning the Plaudits of the Sunny South.

by Edgar B P Darlington.

CHAPTER I

UNDER CANVAS AGAIN

”I reckon the fellows will turn out to see us tomorrow night, Teddy.”

”I hope so, Phil. We'll show them that we are real circus performers, won't we?”

Phil Forrest nodded happily.

”They know that already, I think. But we shall both feel proud to perform in our home town again. They haven't seen us in the ring since the day we first joined the show two years ago, and then it was only a little performance.”

”Remember the day I did a stunt in front of the circus billboard back home?”

”And fell in the ditch, head first? I remember it,” and Phil Forrest laughed heartily.

”You and I weren't circus men then, were we?”

”No.”

”But we are now.”

”I guess we are,” nodded Phil with emphasis. ”Still, we have something to learn yet. We are a couple of lucky boys, you and I, Teddy Tucker. Had it not been for Mr. Sparling we might still have been doing ch.o.r.es for our board in Edmeston.”

”Instead, we are getting our envelopes with sixty dollars apiece in them from the little red ticket wagon every Tuesday morning, eh?”

”Just so.”

”I never thought I'd be able to earn so much money as that in a whole year,” reflected Teddy.

”Nor I.”

”Do you think we'll get any more 'raises' this season?”

”I haven't the least idea that we shall. You know our contracts are signed for the season at sixty dollars a week. That surely should be enough to satisfy us. We shall be able to save a whole lot of money, this year; and, if we have good luck, in five years more we'll be able to have a little show of our own.”

Teddy agreed to this with a reflective nod.

”What kind of show?”

”Well, that remains to be seen,” laughed Phil. ”We shall be lucky to have most any kind.”

”Do you know what sort I'd like to have?”

”No. What kind?”