Part 41 (1/2)
”I had left s in it When I went out to watch Teddy's ot all about the trunk When I came back, there it lay, near the end--”
”Somebody put it there!” exploded the showman
”Yes”
”But who? Find that out for me--let me knoho the man is and you'll hear an explosion in this outfit that will raise the big top right off the ground”
”Leave it to hed harshly
”How?”
”I think I knoho theannounce leaped from his chair so suddenly that he overturned the table in front of hi all over the place
CHAPTER XXI
AN ELEPHANT IN JAIL
”Who is he?”
”I would not care to answer that question just now, Mr
Sparling,” answered Phil calht--that is, not until I aet out”
”Re, it is a serious accusation you ask ainst aIteither to fasten the act on someone--on a particular one--or else prove that I am wholly mistaken”
The showive the slightest intio, Mr Sparling?” he asked after the interview had come to an end
”No! I expect you'll own this show yet”
He watched Phil walking away fro
”If I thought that young rascal really thought he knew, I'd take him across my knee and spank him until he told me No; he's more of a man than any two in the whole outfit I'd rather lose a horse than have anything happen to that lad”
Days followed each other in quick succession The show had by this ti a circuit of sood attendance
The owner of the shoas in high good hu The acts of Phil Forrest and Teddy Tucker had proved to be a cards in the circus performance proper So important did the owner consider them that the names of the two circus boys were now prominently displayed in the advertise all this tis under the instruction of Mr Miaco On the side they were taking lessons in tu as well For this purpose what is known as a ”
This consisted of a belt placed about the beginner's waist >From it a rope led up over a pulley, the other end of the rope being securely held by so start, jump into the air and try to turn At the saive it a hard pull, thus jerking the boy free of the ground and preventing his falling on his head
After a few days of this, both boys had progressed so far that they were able to work on a mat, made up of several layers of thick carpet, without the aid of the ”mechanic” Of course their act lacked finish Their movements were more or less clumsy, but they had mastered the principle of the somersault in remarkably quick tiht to be able to join the perfor act, which was one of the features of the show