REAL NEWS AT LAST
"Oh, look at the toy balloons! Look, Alice-doll," and Dot held her
constant companion up in her arms.
Dot was in a state of great excitement, and kept repeating to Tess
stories of her experiences of the summer previous when Dot, her older
sisters and some friends, seated in a box of this very circus, Scalawag,
the pony, had been publicly presented to the smaller Corner House
girls--a scene, and a sensation, which is told of in a previous volume
of this series and which, alas! Tess had missed.
"There's pink lemonade!" cried Tess. "Oh, I want some of that! Please,
Ruth, may I have two glasses?"
"Not of that pink lemonade, Tess," answered the older girl. "It may be
colored with hat dye, for all we know. We'll see Neale's Uncle Bill, who
will take us to the best place to get something to drink."
"Just see the fat lady!" went on Dot next.
"Fat lady! Where? I don't see any!" exclaimed Tess. "Do you mean an
elephant?" she asked.
"No. I mean over there!" and Dot pointed to a gayly painted canvas
stretched along the front of the tent in which the side shows were
showing.
"Oh, that! Only a painting!" and Tess showed in her voice the
disappointment she felt.
"Well, the lady is real, and we can go inside and see her; can't we,
Ruth?" pursued Dot. "Oh, I just love a circus; don't you, Alice?" and
she hugged her doll in her arms.
"Yes, a circus is very nice," was the answer. "But now listen to me,"
went on Ruth. "Don't run away and get lost in the crowd."
"You couldn't run very far in such a crowd," answered Tess.
"No, but you could get lost very easily."
"Oh, see the camels! They are going for a drink, I guess."
"Well, they have to have water the same as the other animals."
"Oh, what was that?" cried Dot, as a gigantic roar rent the air.
"That must have been a lion," answered Ruth.
"Oh, do you think he'll get loose?" exclaimed Tess, holding back a
little.
"I guess not."
"It's the same old crowd," remarked Neale, as he looked on the familiar
scenes about the circus tent, while Mr. Howbridge walked along with
Ruth. Agnes and Neale were together, and Dot and Tess had hold of hands.
Hank, after the arrival at the grounds, said he would travel around by
himself, as he saw some men he knew. He agreed to be back at the canal
boat at five o'clock, after the show.
"Wait until I get you a ticket," Neale said, as the mule driver was
about to separate from them. Going to the red and gold wagon, Neale
stepped to the window. The man inside was busy selling tickets and
tossing the money taken in to an assistant, who sorted and counted it.
"How many?" asked the man in the ticket wagon, hardly looking up.
"Seven--two of 'em halves," answered Neale quickly.
"Well, where's the money--where's the cash?" asked the cashier rather
snappily, and then, for the first time, he looked up. A queer change
came over his face as he recognized Neale.
"Well, for the love of alligators!" he exclaimed, thrusting forth his
hand. "When'd you get on the lot?"
"Just arrived," answered Neale with a smile. "Got some friends of mine
here who want to see the show."
"Surest thing you know!" cried the cashier. "How many'd you say?
Seven--two halves? Here you are," and he flipped the tickets down on the
wooden shelf in front of him. "Are you coming back to join the outfit?"
he went on. "We could bill 'Master Jakeway's' act very nicely now, I
imagine. Only," and he chuckled, "we'd have to drop the 'Master.' You've
got beyond that."
"No, I'm not coming back," answered Neale. "That isn't saying I wouldn't
like to, perhaps. But I have other plans. I've heard that my father has
returned from the Klondike, and I want to see my uncle to find if he has
any news. Is he around--Uncle Bill, I mean?"
"Yes, he was talking to me a while ago. And I did hear him mention, some
time back, that he had news of your father. Well, well! I am glad to see
you again, Neale. Stop in and see me after the show."
"I'll try to," was the answer.
Hank, being given his ticket, went away by himself, and, after greeting
some more of his circus friends, Neale began a search for his uncle. It
was not an easy matter to locate any of the circus men on the "lot" at
an hour just before the performance was to begin. And Tess and Dot were
eager to go in and see the animals, the side shows, the main performance
and everything else.
"I'd better take them in," Ruth said finally. "You can join us later,
Neale, you and Mr. Howbridge."
So this plan was agreed on, and then the two eager girls were led into
the tents of childish mystery and delight, while Neale and the lawyer
sought the proprietor of the show.
They found him talking to Sully Sorber, the clown, who was just going in
to put on his makeup.
At first Uncle Bill just stared at Neale, as though hardly believing the
evidence of his eyes. Then a welcoming smile spread over his face, and
he held out his hand.
"Well! Well! This is a coincidence!" exclaimed the ringmaster. "I was
just figuring with Sully here if we would get any nearer Milton than
this, as I wanted to have a talk with you, and now here you are! How did
it happen? Glad to see you, sir," and he shook hands with Mr. Howbridge.
"I've been going to answer your letters, but I've been so busy I haven't
had time. One of the elephants got loose and wrecked a farmer's barn,
and I've had a damage suit to settle. But I am glad to see you both."
"Tell me!" exclaimed Neale eagerly. "Have you any news from father? Is
he back from the Klondike? Where can I find him?"
"My! you're as bad as ever for asking questions," chuckled Mr. Bill
Sorber. "But there! I know how it is! Yes, Neale, I have some real news,
though there isn't much of it. I never see such a man as your father for
not sending word direct. But maybe he did, and it miscarried. Anyhow,
I've been trying to get in touch with him ever since I got your letter,
Mr. Howbridge," he went on speaking to the lawyer.
"Yes, your father has come back from the Klondike," he resumed to Neale.
"He put in his time to good advantage there, I hear, and made some
money. Then he set out for the States, and, in an indirect way, I
learned that he is located in Trumbull."
"Trumbull? Where's that?" asked Neale eagerly.
"It's a small town on Lake Macopic!" answered the circus man.
Neale and the lawyer looked at one another in surprise.
"Do you know the place?" went on the ringmaster. "I must confess I
don't. I tried to look it up to see if it was worth moving there with
the show, but I couldn't even find it on the map. So it must be pretty
small."
"I don't know exactly where it is," the lawyer said. "But the fact of
the matter is that we are on our way to Lake Macopic in a houseboat, and
it is quite a coincidence that Neale's father should be there. Can you
give us any further particulars?"
"Well, not many," confessed Mr. Sorber. "Mr. O'Neil isn't much more on
letter writing than I am, and that isn't saying much. But my information
is to the effect that he had to go there to clear up some dispute he and
his mining partner had. He was in with some men in the Klondike, and
when it came to a settlement of the gold they had dug out there was a
dispute, I believe. One of the men lived in Trumbull, and your father,
Neale, had to go there to settle the matter. But I am glad to see you!"
he went on to the former circus lad. "And after the show, which is about
to begin, we can have a long talk, and then--"
At that moment a loud shouting arose from the neighborhood of the animal
tent. Mingled with the cries of the men was a peculiar sound, like that
of some queer whistle, or trumpet.
"There goes Minnie again!" cried Mr. Bill Sorber. "She's broken loose!"
and he ran off at top speed while other circus employees followed, the
shouting and trumpeting increasing in volume.