"Well, no."
"What is your idea?"
"I"ve been thinking that I should like to sign up as a dwarf for the rest of the season and sit on the concert platform in the menagerie tent. It wouldn"t interfere with my other performance," said Teddy in apparent seriousness.
Mr. Sparling leaned back, laughing heartily.
"Why, you are not a dwarf."
"No-o-o. But I might be."
"How tall are you?"
"A little more than five feet," answered the lad with a touch of pride in his tone.
"You are almost a man. Why, Teddy, you are a full twenty inches taller than the tallest dwarf in the show."
Teddy nodded.
"Don"t you see you could not possibly be a"dwarf?"
"Oh, yes, I could. All the more reason why I could."
"What kind of a dwarf would you be, may I ask?"
"I could be the tallest dwarf on earth, couldn"t I?" asked Teddy, gazing at his employer innocently.
Everyone at the table broke out into a merry peal of laughter, while Teddy Tucker eyed them sadly for a moment; then he too added his laughter to theirs.
"If you were not already getting a pretty big salary for a kid, I"d raise your salary for that," exploded Mr. Sparling.
"You can forget I"m getting so much, if you want to," suggested Teddy humorously.
CHAPTER II
IN THEIR HOME TOWN
"Hey, Phil!"
"What is it, Teddy?"
"Wake up! We are in the old town again."
Phil Forrest pulled aside the curtain and peered out from his berth into the railroad yards, the bright May sunshine flooding the old familiar scenes at Edmeston. Far off he could just make out the red brick chimney of his Uncle Abner"s home.
What recollections it brought back to Phil Forrest--recollections that went back still further to a sweet face and laughing eyes his mother!
Phil dropped the curtain and lay face down in the pillow for a moment.
"I say, Phil."
"What is it?" demanded the lad in a m.u.f.fled voice.
"Guess who"s out there?"
"I don"t know."
"The gang"s out there."
"Who?"
"The gang. The whole high school crowd."
"Oh!"
"They"re looking for us. Lucky we"re on the last section, for if it was dark, we couldn"t make much of a splurge getting off the train. Aren"t you going to get up?"
"Yes."
Phil slowly pulled himself from his berth, then began drawing on his clothes. Teddy was already up and nearly dressed, full of expectation of what was before him. For Phil there was something that tinged his joy with sadness, though he could not make up his mind why it should be so. His reverie was broken in upon by the voice of Teddy Tucker.
"Come, hurry up!"
"I am all ready now," answered Phil. "Have you washed?"
"You bet. I always wash the first thing in the morning."
Together the Circus Boys stepped out on the platform.
There, lined up by the side of the track, were their companions and school fellows waiting to welcome them.
The high school boys uttered a shout when they espied Phil and Teddy.
"How"dy, fellows!" greeted Teddy, posing on the car platform for a moment, that they might gaze upon him admiringly.
Phil was already on the ground, hurrying toward the boys with both hands outstretched. A moment more and the two lads had been grabbed by their schoolmates and literally overwhelmed, while a crowd of villagers stood off against a pile of lumber, laughing and calling out greetings to the Circus Boys.
Phil and Teddy, as soon as they were able to get away, hurried to the circus lot for their breakfast. There they found a great crowd of people whom they knew, and for a few minutes they were kept busy shaking hands, after which the boys with faces wreathed in smiles, proudly entered the cook tent. Teddy glanced up quizzically when they got inside.
"Well I guess we"re some, eh, Phil?"
"I guess so. I hope everything goes all right today. I should die of mortification if anything were to happen to our acts.
You want to keep your mind right on your work today. Don"t pay any attention to the audience. Remember a whole lot of people are coming to this show today just because they are interested in you and me."
"I guess I know how to perform," sputtered Teddy.
"I haven"t said you do not. I know you do, but I don"t want you to forget that you do."