During this time Toby's funds had accumulated rather slower than on the
first few days he was in the business, but he had saved eleven dollars,
and Mr. Lord had paid him five dollars of his salary, so that he had
the to him enormous sum of sixteen dollars; and he had about made up his
mind to make one effort for liberty when the news came that he was to
ride in public.
He had, in fact, been ready to run away any time within the past week;
but, as if they had divined his intentions, both Mr. Castle and Mr. Lord
had kept a very strict watch over him, one or the other keeping him in
sight from the time he got through with his labors at night until they
saw him on the cart with Old Ben.
“I was just gettin' ready to run away,” said Toby to Ella on the day Mr.
Castle gave his decision as to their taking part in the performance, and
while they were walking out of the tent, “an' I shouldn't wonder now if
I got away tonight.”
“Oh, Toby!” exclaimed the girl, as she looked reproachfully at him,
“after all the work we've had to get ready, you won't go off and leave
me before we've had a chance to see what the folks will say when they
see us together?”
It was impossible for Toby to feel any delight at the idea of riding in
public, and he would have been willing to have taken one of Mr. Lord's
most severe whippings if he could have escaped from it; but he and
Ella had become such firm friends, and he had conceived such a boyish
admiration for her, that he felt as if he were willing to bear almost
anything for the sake of giving her pleasure. Therefore he said, after
a few moments' reflection: “Well, I won't go tonight, anyway, even if I
have the best chance that ever was. I'll stay one day more, anyhow, an'
perhaps I'll have to stay a good many.”
“That's a nice boy,” said Ella, positively, as Toby thus gave his
decision, “and I'll kiss you for it.”
Before Toby fully realized what she was about, almost before he had
understood what she said, she had put her arms around his neck and given
him a good sound kiss right on his freckled face.
Toby was surprised, astonished, and just a little bit ashamed. He had
never been kissed by a girl before--very seldom by anyone, save the fat
lady--and he hardly knew what to do or say. He blushed until his face
was almost as red as his hair, and this color had the effect of making
his freckles stand out with startling distinctness. Then he looked
carefully around to see if anyone had seen them.
“I never had a girl kiss me before,” said Toby, hesitatingly, “an'
you see it made me feel kinder queer to have you do it out here, where
everybody could see.”
“Well, I kissed you because I like you very much and because you are
going to stay and ride with me tomorrow,” she said, positively; and then
she added, slyly, “I may kiss you again, if you don't get a chance to
run away very soon.”
“I wish it wasn't for Uncle Dan'l an' the rest of the folks at home, an'
there wasn't any such men as Mr. Lord an' Mr. Castle, an' then I don't
know but I might want to stay with the circus, 'cause I like you awful
much.”
And as he spoke Toby's heart grew very tender toward the only girl
friend he had ever known.
By this time they had reached the door of the tent, and as they stepped
outside one of the drivers told them that Mr. Treat and his wife were
very anxious to see both of them in their tent.
“I don't believe I can go,” said Toby, doubtfully, as he glanced toward
the booth, where Mr. Lord was busy in attending to customers, and
evidently waiting for Toby to relieve him, so that he could go to his
dinner; “I don't believe Mr. Lord will let me.”
“Go and ask him,” said Ella, eagerly. “We won't be gone but a minute.”
Toby approached his employer with fear and trembling. He had never
before asked leave to be away from his work, even for a moment, and he
had no doubt but that his request would be refused with blows.
“Mr. Treat wants me to come in his tent for a minute. Can I go?” he
asked, in a timid voice, and in such a low tone as to render it almost
inaudible.
Mr. Lord looked at him for an instant, and Toby was sure that he was
making up his mind whether to kick him or catch him by the collar and
use the rubber cane on him. But he had no such intention, evidently, for
he said, in a voice unusually mild, “Yes, an' you needn't come to work
again until it's time to go into the tent.”
Toby was almost alarmed at this unusual kindness, and it puzzled him so
much that he would have forgotten he had permission to go away if Ella
had not pulled him gently by the coat.
If he had heard a conversation between Mr. Lord and Mr. Castle that
very morning he would have understood why it was that Mr. Lord had so
suddenly become kind. Mr. Castle had told Job that the boy had really
shown himself to be a good rider, and that in order to make him more
contented with his lot, and to keep him from running away, he must
be used more kindly, and perhaps be taken from the candy business
altogether, which latter advice Mr. Lord did not look upon with favor,
because of the large sales which the boy made.
When they reached the skeleton's tent they found, to their surprise,
that no exhibition was being given at that hour, and Ella said, with
some concern: “How queer it is that the doors are not open! I do hope
that they are not sick.”
Toby felt a strange sinking at his heart as the possibility suggested
itself that one or both of his kind friends might be ill; for they had
both been so kind and attentive to him that he had learned to love them
very dearly.
But the fears of both the children were dispelled when they tried to get
in at the door and were met with the smiling skeleton himself, who said,
as he threw the canvas aside as far as if he were admitting his own
enormous Lilly:
“Come in, my friends, come in. I have had the exhibition closed for
one hour, in order that I might show my appreciation of my friend Mr.
Tyler.”
Toby looked around in some alarm, fearing that Mr. Treat's friendship
was about to be displayed in one of his state dinners, which he had
learned to fear rather than enjoy. But as he saw no preparations for
dinner he breathed more freely and wondered what all this ceremony could
possibly mean.
Neither he nor Ella was long left in doubt, for as soon as they had
entered, Mrs. Treat waddled from behind the screen which served them
as a dressing room, with a bundle in her arms, which she handed to her
husband.
He took it and, quickly mounting the platform, leaving Ella and Toby
below, he commenced to speak, with very many flourishes of his thin
arms.
“My friends,” he began, as he looked down upon his audience of three,
who were listening in the following attitudes: Ella and Toby were
standing upon the ground at the foot of the platform, looking up with
wide open, staring eyes; and his fleshy wife was seated on a bench which
had evidently been placed in such a position below the speaker's stand
that she could hear and see all that was going on without the fatigue of
standing up, which, for one of her size, was really very hard work--“My
friends,” repeated the skeleton, as he held his bundle in front of him
with one hand and gesticulated with the other, “we all of us know that
tomorrow our esteemed and worthy friend Mr. Toby Tyler makes his first
appearance in any ring, and we all of us believe that he will soon
become a bright and shining light in the profession which he is so soon
to enter.”
The speaker was here interrupted by loud applause from his wife, and he
profited by the opportunity to wipe a stray drop of perspiration
from his fleshless face. Then, as the fat lady ceased the exertion of
clapping her hands, he continued:
“Knowing that our friend Mr. Tyler was being instructed, preparatory to
dazzling the public with his talents, my wife and I began to prepare for
him some slight testimonial of our esteem; and, being informed by
Mr. Castle some days ago of the day on which he was to make his first
appearance before the public, we were enabled to complete our little
gift in time for the great and important event.”
Here the skeleton paused to take a breath, and Toby began to grow more
uncomfortably red in the face. Such praise made him feel very awkward.
“I hold in this bundle,” continued Mr. Treat as he waved the package on
high, “a costume for our bold and worthy equestrian, and a sash to match
for his beautiful and accomplished companion. In presenting these little
tokens my wife (who has embroidered every inch of the velvet herself)
and I feel proud to know that, when the great and auspicious occasion
occurs tomorrow, the worthy Mr. Tyler will step into the ring in a
costume which we have prepared expressly for him; and thus, when he
does himself honor by his performance and earns the applause of the
multitude, he will be doing honor and doing applause for the work of our
hands--my wife Lilly and myself. Take them, my boy; and when you
array yourself in them tomorrow you will remember that the only living
skeleton, and the wonder of the nineteenth century in the shape of the
mammoth lady, are present in their works if not in their persons.”
As he finished speaking Mr. Treat handed the bundle to Toby, and then
joined in the applause which was being given by Mrs. Treat and Ella.
Toby unrolled the package, and found that it contained a circus rider's
costume of pink tights and blue velvet trunks, collar and cuffs,
embroidered in white and plentifully spangled with silver. In addition
was a wide blue sash for Ella, embroidered to correspond with Toby's
costume.
The little fellow was both delighted with the gift and at a loss to know
what to say in response. He looked at the costume over and over again,
and the tears of gratitude that these friends should have been so good
to him came into his eyes. He saw, however, that they were expecting him
to say something in reply, and, laying the gift on the platform, he said
to the skeleton and his wife:
“You've been so good to me ever since I've been with the circus that I
wish I was big enough to say somethin' more than that I'm much obliged,
but I can't. One of these days, when I'm a man, I'll show you how much
I like you, an' then you won't be sorry that you was good to such a poor
little runaway boy as I am.”
Here the skeleton broke in with such loud applause and so many cries of
“Hear! hear!” that Toby grew still more confused, and forgot entirely
what he was intending to say next.
“I want you to know how much obliged I am,” he said, after much
hesitation, “an' when I wear 'em I'll ride just the best I know how,
even if I don't want to, an' you sha'n't be sorry that you gave them to
me.”
As Toby concluded he made a funny little awkward bow, and then seemed
to be trying to hide himself behind a chair from the applause which was
given so generously.
“Bless your dear little heart!” said the fat lady, after the confusion
had somewhat subsided. “I know you will do your best, anyway, and
I'm glad to know that you're going to make your first appearance in
something that Samuel and I made for you.”
Ella was quite as well pleased with her sash as Toby was with his
costume, and thanked Mr. and Mrs. Treat in a pretty little way that made
Toby wish he could say anything half so nicely.
The hour which the skeleton had devoted for the purpose of the
presentation and accompanying speeches having elapsed, it was necessary
that Ella and Toby should go and that the doors of the exhibition be
opened at once, in order to give any of the public an opportunity of
seeing what the placards announced as two of the greatest curiosities on
the face of the globe.
That day, while Toby performed his arduous labors, his heart was very
light, for the evidences which the skeleton and his wife had given of
their regard for him were very gratifying. He determined that he would
do his very best to please so long as he was with the circus, and then,
when he got a chance to run away, he would do so, but not until he
had said goodby to Mr. and Mrs. Treat and thanked them again for their
interest in him.
When he had finished his work in the tent that night Mr. Lord said to
him, as he patted him on the back in the most fatherly fashion, and as
if he had never spoken a harsh word to him, “You can't come in here to
sell candy now that you are one of the performers, my boy; an' if I
can find another boy tomorrow you won't have to work in the booth any
longer, an' your salary of a dollar a week will go on just the same,
even if you don't have anything to do but to ride.”
This was a bit of news that was as welcome to Toby as it was unexpected,
and he felt more happy then than he had for the ten weeks that he had
been traveling under Mr. Lord's cruel mastership.
But there was one thing that night that rather damped his joy, and that
was that he noticed that Mr. Lord was unusually careful to watch him,
not even allowing him to go outside the tent without following. He
saw at once that, if he was to have a more easy time, his chances
for running away were greatly diminished, and no number of beautiful
costumes would have made him content to stay with the circus one moment
longer than was absolutely necessary.
That night he told Old Ben the events of the day, and expressed the
hope that he might acquit himself creditably when he made his first
appearance on the following day.
Ben sat thoughtfully for some time, and then, making all the
preparations which Toby knew so well signified a long bit of advice, he
said: “Toby, my boy, I've been with a circus, man an' boy, nigh to forty
years, an' I've seen lots of youngsters start in just as you re goin' to
start in tomorrow; but the most of them petered out, because they got to
knowin' more 'n them that learned 'em did. Now, you remember what I say,
an' you'll find it good advice: whatever business you get into, don't
think you know all about it before you've begun. Remember that you can
always learn somethin', no matter how old you are, an' keep your eyes
an' ears open, an' your tongue between your teeth, an' you'll amount to
somethin', or my name hain't Ben.”