"Get back to your act!"
"I"m off. I"ll see you later, Phil, then we will talk it over."
"We will, Teddy," and Teddy was off at top speed to take up his performance where he had so abruptly left it a few minutes before. The ringmaster had not missed him, though he saw at once that the boy was not on his station, when Teddy began to work again.
"Now, Phil, we will hear all about it. How in the name of the Sparling shows did you get into that uniform?"
"The captain of the river boat that picked me up fitted me out."
"So you really fell in?"
"I got _in,_ right."
"Tell me all about it."
The Circus Boy related his experiences from the time he found himself in the river, until his arrival in Memphis that morning.
"Marvelous--almost unbelievable," breathed Mr. Sparling as the tale was unfolded. "I never heard anything to compare with it."
When Phil told of his speech in the dining saloon of the river steamboat, Mr. Sparling leaned back with hands on his hips, laughing immoderately.
"Oh, Phil, you are the sort from which great showmen are made!"
Phil handed over the Memphis paper with the account of his experience, which the showman glanced over briefly.
"That will give us another turn-away in Memphis. You can"t stop them, after that. They will come to the show even if they have to fight their way in. That was a great stroke of enterprise, but I would rather it had not happened, of course."
"What--the interview?"
"No, of course not. I mean your accident."
"It is all right, Mr. Sparling. I am here now, and none the worse for my bath, but for a time I surely thought I was a goner.
I would not care to go through that experience again."
"I should say not. Yours was the most wonderful escape I ever heard of. I"ll wager there was never anything like it before on this river."
Mr. Sparling paused suddenly and bent a keen, searching glance on Phil Forrest"s face. The lad felt that he knew what was in the mind of his employer.
"Phil?"
"Yes, sir."
"You have not told me everything, yet."
"What makes you think that, Mr. Sparling?"
"Because I know you so well. There is something on your mind that you have not told me. I want to know what it is."
Phil"s eyes were lowered to the green gra.s.s at his feet. For a moment he was silent and thoughtful.
"What is it you wish me to tell you, Mr. Sparling?" he asked in a low voice.
"You have not given me a satisfactory explanation of how you came to get into the river."
"Perhaps I fell in," answered the lad with a faint smile.
"Perhaps. But you have not said so. I want you to tell me how you did get in."
"I think I was thrown in, Mr. Sparling," answered the Circus Boy quickly.
"Thrown in!" exclaimed the showman, leaping to his feet, his face working convulsively in his effort to control his emotions.
"Phil Forrest, do you mean that?"
"I do."
Mr. Sparling sat down helplessly.
"Is it possible?"
"I am sure of it, sir."
"Had anyone but you told me that I should have laughed. I know I can depend upon what you say. Tell me more about it?"
"As I have already said, I was leaning on the rail and dropped off into a doze. How long I had been in that position I do not know. I could not have been there many minutes, or I should have gone so soundly asleep that I would have fallen over to the deck, you know."
"Yes, yes."
"All at once I felt myself being lifted. At first, as I remember it, the sensation was as if the deck were dropping from under me.
As I recalled the incident afterwards, I realized that I had been lifted. You know all that occurred after that."
"Was there more than one who threw you overboard?"
"I am unable to say. I did not even see one," said Phil with a half-smile. "I felt myself being lifted--that"s all. The next minute I was in the river, with the "Marie" pounding away downstream at a lively clip."
"Dastardly! Dastardly!" growled the showman. "I shall send for a detective to meet us in Memphis tomorrow. This thing has gone far enough."
"I think I agree with you, sir," was Phil"s half-humorous answer.
"But I had been in hopes of solving this mystery myself."
"Yes, and you came near losing your life as the result.
No, sir! This thing must be cleared up at once. I shall wire to St. Louis now, and we will have a man with us sometime tomorrow.
Say nothing to anyone of my plan. The detective will join the show in some capacity or other, and have regular duties to perform. You will know him, but no one else will except myself. I think the Roman races are about due under the big top now. Suppose you go in and change your clothes, joining me at my table after you come out. We will talk these matters over at length this evening. When the officer reaches here I shall expect you to tell him freely all that you know as well as what you suspect. Keep nothing from him. Run along, Phil.
I want to think this matter over by myself for a few minutes."
As Phil entered the big top the Roman races were just coming on.
The chariot drivers, with their prancing steeds, had entered the arena.
Phil paused to wait until the fast and furious races were over.
The leading woman chariot driver was trying out a new three-horse team; that is, two of the horses were new to the work, the third, being an old hand. The new animals were spirited, and after the first round of the arena, Phil saw that they were nervous.