He had taken off his pointed hat, and had put on a long loose overcoat over his clown"s dress. As he had been laughing or making fun all the time he was in the ring, Jimmy thought that he never did anything else; but the clown looked quite solemn now, and the paint on his face had become smudged after getting wet outside in the rain.
"Hullo!" he exclaimed on seeing Jimmy. "What are you doing here?"
"Nothing," answered the boy.
"Suppose you do it outside!"
"But I shall get so wet outside," said Jimmy.
"Lor! Where"s your nurse?" asked the clown.
"I haven"t got one," cried Jimmy, a little indignantly. "I go to school."
"Be quick then and go," said the clown.
"But I"ve nowhere to go," answered Jimmy sadly, "and I don"t know where anybody is."
"Mean to say they"ve gone away and left you?" asked the clown.
"They haven"t been here."
"Oh, so you came to the show by yourself?" said the clown.
"Yes," replied Jimmy.
"Well," was the answer, "you"re a nice young party"; and the clown sat down on the barrier. "Come now," he said, "suppose you tell us all about it."
So, in a very sleepy voice, Jimmy began to tell the clown his story. He told him how he had fallen asleep in the waiting-room, and where he had been going to; but he did not say anything about Coote, because he felt afraid that the clown might send for the policeman, who would, after all, put him into prison for travelling in the wrong train.
CHAPTER IX
THE CIRCUS
The clown listened to the story very attentively, but Jimmy gaped a great deal while he told it. By the time he finished he could scarcely keep his eyes open.
"You seem a bit sleepy," said the clown.
"I"m hungry, too," answered Jimmy.
"Well, you can"t sleep here," said the clown, "and you don"t see much to eat, do you?"
"No, there isn"t much to eat," Jimmy admitted. "But," he added, "I don"t see why I couldn"t sleep here."
"Because the tent"s going to be taken down," said the clown. "We"ve been here three days, and we"re going on somewhere else."
Jimmy looked disappointed. He rather liked the clown; at all events he liked him a great deal better than Coote, and he did not feel at all afraid of him.
"Just you come along with me," said the clown, "and I"ll see what I can do for you. Here, jump over! That"s right," he added, as Jimmy climbed over the barrier which separated the seats from the ring in which the performance had taken place. "You come with me," said the clown, "and we"ll soon see whether we can"t find you something to eat and a place to lie down in."
They left the tent, and outside the clown stopped to speak to the man who had shouted from the cart and to the stout woman who had taken the money. They often glanced at Jimmy while they talked, so that he guessed they were talking about him.
"All right," said the man, "do as you like; it"s no business of mine"; and then the clown came back to Jimmy and they walked away from the tent together.
They seemed to be walking in and out amongst a number of curious-looking carts and ornamental cars, the colour of gold, with pictures on their sides. There were several vans too, like small houses on wheels, with windows and curtains painted on them, such as Jimmy had often seen at Ramsgate, with men selling brooms and baskets, walking by the horses.
There were no men selling brooms or baskets here, although they all seemed to be very busy: some being dressed just as they had left the ring, and others leading cream-coloured and piebald horses, instead of going to bed, as Jimmy thought it was time to do.
"Come along," said the clown, as the boy seemed inclined to stop to look on.
"Where are we going?" asked Jimmy.
"You"ll see," was the answer.
"But where is it?" asked Jimmy.
"Where I live," said the clown.
"Oh, we"re going to your house," cried Jimmy, feeling pleased at the chance of entering a house again, for it seemed a very long time since he had left Aunt Selina"s.
"Well," said the clown, "it"s a sort of house. You might call it a house on wheels, and you wouldn"t be far out."
Suddenly Jimmy seized the clown"s arm and gave a jump.
"What"s that?" he exclaimed.
"Don"t be frightened," said the clown.
"Only what is it?" asked Jimmy, with a shaky voice.
"He won"t hurt you," was the answer. "It"s only old Billy, the lion."
Jimmy heard him roar as if he were only a yard or two away, and he felt rather alarmed, until they had left his cage farther behind.
"Is that the lion who had your head in his mouth?" asked Jimmy.
"Well," said the clown, "it isn"t in his mouth now, is it?"
"I didn"t see the little clown," exclaimed Jimmy, and the clown stared down at the ground.
"No," he answered, as if he felt rather miserable, "we shan"t see him again ever."
Then they stopped at the back of one of the vans, and Jimmy saw that there was a light inside it.
"Up you get," said the clown, and Jimmy scrambled up a pair of wide steps which put him in mind of a bathing-machine.