d.i.c.k set off at a swinging pace, and kept it up. The boys fell in and kept pace with him, thinking that he would soon tire of it; but when they had covered three miles, and d.i.c.k had not abated a whit his speed, Garry and Phil saw that he was in earnest. Not to be outdone by him, they bent to their walking and made excellent time. They were pa.s.sing a barn, when suddenly Garry stopped dead short, gave a shout and then fell to laughter with all his might. This time it was d.i.c.k"s turn to a.s.sume a sarcastic att.i.tude, and make side remarks to Phil. Finally when Garry had controlled his laughter so that he could speak, he said to Phil:
"What do you think of me for a regular little Sherlock Holmes? I"ve found out why d.i.c.k is trying to set a pedestrian record this morning.
Just look at that barn!"
Phil took one look at the glaring posters pasted on the wall, then gave a shout.
"Aha, the boy wants to go to the circus!"
"Marvelous," grunted d.i.c.k. "Own up, wouldn"t you fellows like to see it yourself?"
The boys teased him for a few minutes, then they perceived that there was method in d.i.c.k"s madness and they decided that it would be good fun to see the circus if they could get there on time.
"Only reason I wanted you chaps to hurry a little was because I figured that if we covered a good number of miles we would get to a point where people would be on the way to the circus and we could get a lift and arrive in time to see the show this afternoon. Then we could get another start right after it let out, and so fix it as to arrive at the camp fairly early in the morning, covering our last ten miles while it was early and cool," he explained.
"That"s pretty good dope at that, d.i.c.k. Let"s go. We"ll see the circus and not waste any time doing it, either." And Garry set the pace as he finished talking.
They stopped at noon and prepared a hasty lunch by the side of the road, after d.i.c.k had stopped at a farm house and had his canteen filled with fresh milk.
By this time scores of automobiles and teams were on the road, but practically every one of them was filled to overflowing with adults and children, all presumably bound for the circus. Finishing their meal, they rested fifteen minutes, then Garry, glancing at his watch, remarked: "We have still ten miles to go, and it is now half-past twelve. The circus probably begins at half-past two, so that unless we get a ride we won"t get there in time to see the show. We couldn"t cover the ten miles in two hours, especially after having come as far as we have this morning."
"I"m going to see that circus, though, even if we have to wait for the evening performance," announced d.i.c.k. "What do you fellows think?"
"I guess it would be all right," answered Garry. "There is no life or death matter to make us arrive early in the morning at the camp, so we might as well take it easy for the rest of the way." Luck was with them, however, for they had gone little more than a mile when they heard a car coming behind them. It proved to contain only a single occupant who, as he neared the boys, slowed down and asked if they did not want a ride.
They were unanimous in their answer.
"On the way to the circus?" asked the driver.
"We"re going beyond that, but we thought that we would stop and see it if we reached there on time, otherwise we would have seen the evening performance."
"Lucky thing that I came along and happen to be going to that place myself then," chuckled the driver, "for there isn"t going to be any evening show. You see I happen to be connected with the circus, and we have such a long jump for tomorrow"s show that we cannot give a performance here tonight."
"Good thing you came along then, for if we had walked all this distance for nothing, I would have given up in disgust," remarked d.i.c.k.
"How far have you come?" asked the circus man.
"We left Hilton this morning," answered Garry.
The driver looked somewhat incredulous at this statement, then sizing up the appearance of the boys, who were wearing their customary khaki semi-uniform that they used as Rangers in the forest, decided that they were hiking for the summer and probably used to walking good distances in a short time.
"What are you chaps doing, walking across the state or something?"
Garry explained that they were forest rangers off duty temporarily and were bound for a lumber camp to pay it a visit.
As they drove along they asked several questions about the circus and circus life, and considerably amused the man by referring to many things in a way that circus people did not. The circus man told them of the many strange phrases employed by circus people, and the boys learned much of the talk of the circus.
They found, for instance, that circus people never speak of the tent. It is always called a top. There are the big top and the little tops. The only thing on the circus lot to be called a tent is the cook tent.
Several of the names applied to the performers were amusing. A clown is always called a joy, and if he is a new man with the circus he is called a First of May, because it is on that date that many contracts are made in the circus. Acrobats are called kinkers, and the people who do work on the high trapeze are called casters, and their work is called a casting act.
"Then there is the high diver, only we call it a tank diving act. You won"t see that this afternoon, for the diver fell a couple of days ago and broke his arm. Funny; he"s been diving forty feet into an eight foot tank for several years, and never got a scratch, and then he slips on a banana peeling and breaks his arm. It"s too bad, too, for the diving act always goes big in these small towns. I"d give twenty-five dollars for a diver this afternoon," concluded the man.
"Hand over the twenty-five," said d.i.c.k suddenly.
"What do you mean," asked the circus man in surprise.
"Just that you give me the twenty-five dollars and I"ll do your high dive for you this afternoon."
The circus man looked at the other two boys as if he doubted his ears, and Garry and Phil immediately a.s.sured them that d.i.c.k was a first cla.s.s swimmer and diver.
"Forty feet is not so much to d.i.c.k. He"s often done better than that in the river at home," Garry told the circus man.
"Yes, but you want to remember that this is an eight foot square tank, and only eight feet deep," he told d.i.c.k.
"That"s nothing, I"ll turn easily in eight feet. Have done it in a little less," d.i.c.k a.s.sured him.
"All right. I"ll take you to see the owner when we get there, and he and you can fix things up. He"ll be glad to pay you that amount for the work, for it"s a big attraction and we have advertised it a lot. That"s my business with the circus-to do the advertising."
In a little less than half an hour they had arrived at the circus lot, and true to his word, the advertising man carried d.i.c.k round to the ticket wagon and introduced him to the manager and owner.
It took d.i.c.k but a short time to convince the owner that he could dive, particularly when he offered to give an exhibition for him before the show started. The only thing that the manager insisted on was that d.i.c.k sign a statement relieving the circus from any responsibility in case any accident occurred.
d.i.c.k readily signed this, and then promising to be back in a short time to get some tights and get dressed, they wandered around the lot. They left their rifles and knapsacks in the ticket wagon, but Garry kept his lariat with him.
"What"s the idea?" asked Phil.
"There"s very little chance of anything happening, but I don"t want any of those riders to walk off with this lariat by mistake," he replied.
This decided the boys to keep theirs with them also, and accordingly they slung them over one shoulder. Several curious glances were cast at them as they wandered from show to show. The owner had given them pa.s.ses to everything, and they didn"t waste any of them.
Soon a bugle was heard blowing and in a moment they met the advertising man who informed them that called all the performers to be ready in a few moments. "Your act will be the fourth on the program, so you"d better go and get your togs on and be ready," he told d.i.c.k.
Garry and Phil elected to go to their seats and watch their chum do his act with the rest of the spectators.
"I"ll come and hunt you up as soon as I do the dive and collect that twenty-five good old dollars. I can use it very nicely one of these days," d.i.c.k said as he turned to follow the circus man to the dressing place.
While the circus was a small one, it boasted of rather better things than the average road circus, and among other things was a fairly good menagerie. Garry and Phil looked at all the animals as they pa.s.sed through to the "big top."
Two cages contained unusually fine specimens of lions, and near one was a caretaker, waiting for the lions to be taken into the big performing cage, after which he would clean the cage and have it ready on the s.h.a.ggy maned animal"s return from the ring.
"Wicked looking beast, isn"t he," Garry remarked to the man who stood near the cage.
"He is that, boss," answered the man. "He"s a a new one, and we don"t know him very well. We had a nice old chap before him, too old and tired and toothless to do any harm, but this one is young and vicious. The trainer has a lot of trouble with him, too."
A sound of band music made the boys hurry to their seats, and soon the "Grand entry" was on.
Several of the usual acts were put on, and then razorbacks, as the circus workers are called, pulled away some of the planking of the platform in the center of the arena, disclosing a tank filled with water.
Soon the boys espied d.i.c.k advancing to the platform, his chubby body enclosed in a glaring red bathing suit. He mounted to the tank, and the chums could see him gazing about trying to locate them, but this he failed to do.