A DANGEROUS SWING
There is no cry which so startles the average circus audience as that
which is raised when one of the wild animals is said to be at large. Not
even the alarm that the big tent is falling or is about to be blown over
will cause such a panic as the shout:
"A tiger is loose!"
There is something instinctive, and perfectly natural, in the fear of
the wild jungle beasts. Let it be said that a tiger or a lion is loose,
and it causes greater fear, even, than when it is stated that an
elephant is on a rampage. An elephant seems a big, but good-natured,
creature; though often they turn ugly. But a lion or a tiger is always
feared when loose.
But the chances are not one in a hundred that a circus lion or a tiger,
getting out of its cage, would attack any one. The creature is so
surprised at getting loose, and so frightened at the hue and cry at once
raised, that all it wants to do is to slink off and hide, and the only
harm it might do would be to some one who tried to stop it from running
away.
Joe Strong, Jim Tracy, and the other circus executives and employees
knew this as soon as they heard the cry: "A tiger is loose." Who raised
the cry and which of the several tigers in the Sampson show was out of
its cage, neither Joe nor any of those in the big tent near him knew.
But they realized the emergency, and knew what to do.
"Keep your seats! Don't rush!" cried Joe, as he released Helen's hand
and hurried to the front of the platform. "There is no danger! The
animal men will catch the tiger, if one is really loose. Stay where you
are! Keep your seats! Don't rush!"
It is the panic and rush that circus men are afraid of--the pushing and
"milling" of the crowd and the trampling under foot of helpless women
and children.
There was some commotion near the junction of the animal tent and that
in which the main performance took place. What it was, Joe did not
concern himself about just then. He felt it to be his task to prevent a
panic. And to this he lent himself, aided by Helen, Jim Tracy, and
others who realized the danger.
And while this is going on and while the expert animal men are preparing
to get back into its cage the tiger which, it was learned afterward, had
got out through an imperfectly fastened door, time will be taken to tell
new readers something about Joe Strong and the series of books in which
he is the central character.
Joe Strong seemed destined for a circus life and for entertaining
audiences with sleight-of-hand and other mystery matters. His father,
Alexander Strong, known professionally as Professor Morretti, was a
stage magician of talents, and Joe's mother, who was born in England,
had been a rider of trick horses.
His parents died when Joe was young. He did not have a very happy
boyhood, and one day he ran away from the man with whom he was living
and joined a traveling magician, who called himself Professor Rosello.
With him Joe, who had a natural aptitude for the business, learned to
become a sleight-of-hand performer.
In the first book of the series, entitled "Joe Strong, the Boy Wizard;
Or, the Mysteries of Magic Exposed," is told how Joe got on in life
after his first start. Joe was not only a stage magician, but he had
inherited strength, skill and daring, and he liked nothing better than
climbing to great heights or walking in lofty and dizzy places where the
footing was perilous. So it was perhaps natural that he should join the
Sampson Brothers' Show. And in the second book is related, under the
title, "Joe Strong on the Trapeze; Or, the Daring Feats of a Young
Circus Performer," what happened to our hero under canvas.
Joe loved the circus life, even though he made some enemies. But he had
many friends. There was Helen Morton. Then there was Benny Turton, who
did a "tank act," and was billed as a "human fish." Jim Tracy, the
ringmaster, Bill Watson, the veteran clown, and his wife, the circus
"mother," Tom Layton, the elephant man who taught the big creatures many
tricks, were only a few of Joe's friends.
Among others might be mentioned Señor Bogardi, the lion tamer, Mrs.
Talfo, the professional "fat lady," Señorita Tanzalo, the pretty snake
charmer, and Tom Jefferson, the "strong man." Joe loved them all. The
circus was like one big family, with, as might be expected, a "black
sheep" here and there.
Joe became an expert on the trapeze, and, later, when Benny Turton was
temporarily in a hospital, Joe "took on" the tank trick. In the third
volume some of his under-water feats are related, while in the fourth
book Joe's acts on a motor cycle on the high wire are dealt with.
With his "Wings of Steel," Joe caused a sensation, and after an absence
from the circus for a time he joined it again, bringing this act to it.
Eventually Joe was made one of the circus owners, and now controlled a
majority of the stock. He had also inherited considerable money from his
mother's relatives in England, so that now the youth was financially
well off for one who had started so humbly.
The book immediately preceding this one is called "Joe Strong and His
Box of Mystery; Or, the Ten Thousand Dollar Prize Trick." In that volume
is related how Joe constructed a trick box, out of which he made his way
after it was locked and corded about with ropes. Helen Morton helped him
in this trick, which was very successful.
The circus management offered a prize of ten thousand dollars to
whomsoever could fathom how the trick was done. Bill Carfax, an enemy of
Joe's and a former circus employee, tried to solve the problem but
failed.
The box trick was a great attraction for the circus, and Joe was in
higher favor than before.
He had been on the road with the show for some time when the events
detailed in the first chapter of this book took place.
By dint of much shouting and urging the people to retain their seats and
not rush into danger, Joe Strong and the others succeeded in calming the
circus crowd. Meanwhile there was much suppressed excitement.
"Is the tiger caught? Is he back in his cage?" was asked on every side.
While Joe and his fellow showmen were calming the crowd, the animal men
were having their own troubles. Burma, one of the largest of the
tigers, had got loose, having taken advantage of the open door of his
cage. He rushed out with a snarl of delight at his freedom. His jungle
cry was echoed by the roar of a lion in the next cage, and this was
followed by the cries and snarls of all the wild jungle beasts in the
tent.
Fortunately the animal tent was deserted by all save the keepers, the
audience having filed into the tent where the main show was going on.
"Head him off now! Head him off!" cried Tom Layton, the elephant man, as
he saw the tiger dart out of its cage--a flash of yellow and black.
"Head him off! Don't let him get in the main top!"
"That's right! Head him off!" cried Señor Bogardi, the lion tamer. "He
won't hurt any one--he's too scared!"
This was true, but it was difficult to believe, and some of the people
seated in the "main top," or big tent, who were nearest the animal tent,
hearing the cries and learning what had occurred, spread the alarm.
Burma, the tiger, slunk around in behind the cages of the other animals.
All about him were men with clubs and pointed goads, with whips and
pistols. The circus men had had to cope with situations like this
before. They surrounded the tiger, advancing on him in an ever-narrowing
circle, and in a short time they drove him into an emergency cage which
was pushed forward with the open door toward him. Burma had no choice
but to enter, to get away from the cracking whips and the prodding
goads. And, after all, he was glad to be barred in again.
So, without causing any harm except for badly frightening a number of
people in the audience, the tiger was caged again, and the circus
performance went on.
Joe Strong did his Box of Mystery trick. The usual announcement of a
reward of ten thousand dollars to whomsoever could solve it was made,
and there was great applause when Joe managed to get out of the big box
without disturbing the six padlocks or the binding ropes.
"I'm glad Bill Carfax isn't here to make trouble, trying to show how
much he knows about this trick," said Joe to the ringmaster, as he
stepped off the stage at the conclusion of the trick.
"Yes, you put several spokes in Bill's wheels when you turned the laugh
on him that time," said Jim Tracy. "I don't believe he'll ever show up
around our circus again."
But they little knew Bill Carfax. Those who have read the book just
before this will recall him and remember how unscrupulous he was. But
his plans came to naught then. Any one who wishes to learn how the
wonderful box trick was worked will find a full explanation in the
previous volume.
Helen Morton received much applause at the conclusion of her act with
her trick horse, Rosebud. Joe Strong's promised wife was an accomplished
bareback rider, as well as one of her fiancé's helpers in his mystery
tricks.
"Well, I'm glad to-day is over," said Helen to Joe that night, as they
went to the train that was to take them to the next city where the
circus performance would be given. "What with doing the vanishing lady
act for the first time in a long while and the tiger getting loose, we
have had quite a bit of excitement."
"Yes," agreed Joe. "But everything came out all right. I'm going to put
on a new stunt next week."
"What's that?" asked Helen. "Something in the mystery line?"
"No. I'm going back to some of my high trapeze work. You know, since we
lost Wogand there hasn't been any of the big swing work done."
"That's so," agreed Helen. "But I've been so busy practicing the
vanishing lady act with you on top of my other work that I hadn't given
it a thought. But you aren't going to do that dangerous trick, are you?"
"I think I am," Joe answered. "It's sensational, and we need sensational
acts now to draw the crowds. I used to do it, and I can again, I think,
with a little practice. I'm going to start in and train to-morrow."
"I wish you wouldn't," said Helen, in a low voice, but Joe did not seem
to hear her.
The big swing was a trapeze act performed on the highest of the circus
apparatus. Part of this apparatus consisted of two platforms fastened to
two of the opposite main poles, and up under the very roof of the big
top.
Midway between the platforms, which were just large enough for a man to
stand on, was a trapeze with long ropes, capable of being swung from one
resting place to the other. It was, in reality, a "big swing."
Joe's act, which he had often done, but which of late had been performed
by a man billed as "Wogand," was to stand on one platform, have the long
trapeze started in a long, pendulumlike swing by an attendant, and then
to leap down, catch hold of the bar with his hands, and swing up to the
other platform. If he missed catching the bar it meant a dangerous fall;
a fall into a net, it is true, but dangerous none the less. Its danger
can be judged when it is said that Wogand had died as an indirect result
of a fall into the net. He missed the trapeze, toppled into the net,
and, by some chance, did not land properly. His back was injured, his
spine became affected, and he died.
When circus performers on the high trapezes fall or jump into the safety
nets, they do not usually do it haphazardly. If they did many would be
killed. There is a certain knack and trick of landing in a net.
Joe Strong, ever having the interest of the circus at heart, had decided
to do this dangerous swing. He was an acrobat, as well as a stage
magician, and he had decided to take up some of his earlier acts which
had been so successful.
"But I wish he wouldn't," said Helen to herself. "I have a premonition
that something will happen." Helen was very superstitious in certain
ways.
But to all she said, Joe only laughed.
"I'm going to do the big swing," he replied simply.