CHAPTER IX
GETTING HIS FIRST CALL
"Let him go. Emperor won't hurt me," laughed Phil as soon as hecould get his breath, for he was moving along at a pace whichwould have meant a tumble to the ground had the elephant notsupported the lad with its trunk.
The audience soon seeing that no harm had come to the boy, set upanother roar, which was still loud in Phil's ears when Emperorset his burden down after reaching the elephant quarters in themenagerie tent.
"You're a bad boy. Get down, sir, and let me off," chided Phil.
The elephant, to his surprise, cautiously let himself down to hisknees, his trunk at the same time reaching out surreptitiouslyfor a wisp of fresh grass.
Phil slipped off, laughing heartily. He had lost all fear of thegreat, hulking beast.
"Don't punish him, please," begged the boy when the keeper camehurrying along with Jupiter. "But if you will make him let mealone, I'll go in the other tent. I want to see the circus."
"Wait a moment. I'll chain him up."
The keeper soon had Emperor fast. Then after a finalaffectionate petting Phil ran lightly to the other tent andquickly made his way to his seat. The people were so engrossedin the acts in the ring that they did not observe the boyparticularly this time.
"Did I make a show of myself, Mrs. Cahill?" questioned the lad,with sparkling eyes.
"You did not. You were as handsome as a picture. There isn'tone of all those people that looks so handsome or so manly as--"
"Please, please, Mrs. Cahill!" begged the lad, blushingviolently. "Have you seen anything of my friend Teddy? I hadforgotten all about him."
"That looks like him down there."
"Where?"
"There, leaning against that pole," she pointed.
Phil gazed in the direction indicated, and there, sure enough,was Teddy Tucker leaning carelessly against the center pole. Hehad no right to be there, as Phil well knew, and he watched withamused interest for the moment when the other boy's presencewould be discovered.
It came shortly afterwards. All at once the ringmaster fixed acold eye on Teddy.
"Hey, you!"
Teddy gave no heed to him.
"Get out of there! Think you own this show?"
The lad made believe that he did not hear.
The ringmaster's long whip lash curled through the air, going offwith a crack that sounded as if a pistol had been fired, andwithin an inch of Teddy's nose.
Teddy sprang back, slapping a hand to his face, believing that hehad been hit. Then there followed a series of disconcertingsnaps all around his head as the long lash began to work, but soskillfully was it wielded that the end of it did not touch him.
But Teddy had had enough. He turned and ran for the seats.
"Come up here," cried Phil, laughing immoderately. "Here's aseat right beside us and there won't be any ringmaster to botheryou."
Considerably crestfallen, the lad climbed up to where Phil andMrs. Cahill were sitting.
"You mustn't go down there, you know, Teddy. They don't allowoutsiders in the ring while the performance is going on. Someonemight get hurt--"
"They let you in," bristled Teddy.
"That was different. They couldn't help themselves, and neithercould I. Emperor took me in whether I would or not; and, infact, I didn't know I was going till I was halfway there."
Phil's companion surveyed him with admiration.
"My, but you did cut a figure up on that elephant's head! Ishould have been afraid."
"There was nothing to be afraid of. But let's watch theperformance. There's a trapeze act going on now."
For a few moments the lads watched the graceful bodies of theperformers slipping through the air. One would swing out fromhis perch, flying straight into the arms of his fellow-performerwho was hanging head down from another swinging bar. On thereturn sweep the first performer would catch his own bar andreturn to his perch.
"Looks easy. I'll bet I could do that," nodded Teddy.
Phil shook his head.
"Not so easy as it looks."
"How much do you suppose they get--think they must get as much asa dollar and a half a day for doing that? I'd do it for adollar, if I could," averred the irrepressible Teddy Tucker.
"They get a good many more dollars than that, Teddy. I've heardthat some of them get all of twenty-five or thirty dollars aweek."
Phil's companion whistled.
The next act was a bareback riding exhibition, by a pretty,graceful young woman whom the ringmaster introduced asMademoiselle Mora.
At the crack of the whip she sprang lightly to the back of thegray old ring horse and began a series of feats that made theboys sit forward in their seats.
At the conclusion of the act Mademoiselle Mora ran out to theedge of the ring, and blowing a kiss at the blushing Phil,tripped away on fairy feet for the dressing tent.
"Did you see her? She bowed to me?" exclaimed Teddyenthusiastically.
"Guess she didn't see you at all, young man," replied Mrs. Cahilldryly. "There's others in the tent besides you, even if theringmaster did crack his whip in your face and just miss yournose."
A clown came out and sang a song about a boy who had rescued abeautiful young woman from a runaway horse and got kidnaped by anelephant. The song made a hit, for most of the audienceunderstood that it referred to Phil Forrest.
And so the performance went on, with a glitter and a crash, ahaze of yellow dust hanging like a golden cloud in the afternoonsun, over spectators and performers alike.
"Hello, there's Rod!" exclaimed Teddy.
"Who?"
"Rod. The red-haired kid we saw this morning, only his hair isblack now. He's covered up his own looks so he won't set thetent on fire."
"Oh, you mean Rodney Palmer? Yes, I guess that is he."
"See, they're pulling him up on a rope. I wonder where he isgoing?"
"To those flying rings," explained Phil. "And there is a youngwoman going up, too."
One after another was pulled up, until a troupe of four hadascended and swung off to the rings that were suspended far upthere in the haze.
Both Phil and Teddy were more than ordinarily interested in thisact, for they were no mean performers on the rings themselves. Inthe schoolyard an apparatus had been rigged with flying rings,and on this the boys had practiced untiringly during the springmonths, until they had both become quite proficient.
"Isn't he great?" breathed Teddy, as Rodney Palmer swung out intothe air, letting his legs slip through the rings until only histoes were hanging to the slender support.
"Yes; he certainly does do it fine."
"We can do it just as well."
"Perhaps, but not so gracefully."
"See, he's swinging his hand at us."
Sure enough, Rodney had picked out the two lads, and was smilingat them and waving a hand in their direction. The two lads feltvery proud of this, knowing as they did that they were the envyof every boy of their acquaintance within sight of them.
The climax of the act was when the young woman seemed to plungestraight down toward the ground.
The women in the audience uttered sharp little cries of alarm.But the performer was not falling. Strong slender ropes had beenfastened to her heels, the other ends being held by one of theperformers who was hanging from the rings.
As a result the falling girl's flight was checked just before shereached the ground and the spectators breathed a sigh of profoundrelief.
"My, that was great! I wouldn't want to do that."
"No, you're too heavy, Teddy. That's why they have a girl do it.She is slender and light--"
"I'd be light headed."
"Guess, I would, too," laughed Phil.
At this juncture an attendant came running up the steps, haltingbefore the lads.
"Are you Phil Forrest?" he asked.
"Yes."
"The boss wants to see you."
"Mr. Sparling? All right. I wanted to see
the rest of the show,but I'll go." Phil rose reluctantly and followed the guide."I'll meet you by the ticket wagon if I don't get back here,Teddy," he said.