“Look there!” said Toby to Ben, as he pointed out the poster, which was
printed in very large letters, with gorgeous coloring, and surmounted
by a picture of two very small people performing all kinds of impossible
feats on horseback. “They've got someone else to ride with Ella today. I
wonder who it can be?”
Ben looked at Toby for a moment, as if to assure himself that the boy
was in earnest in asking the question, and then he relapsed into the
worst fit of silent laughing that Toby had ever seen. After he had quite
recovered he asked: “Don't you know who Monsieur Ajax is? Hain't you
never seen him?”
“No,” replied Toby, at a loss to understand what there was so very funny
in his very natural question. “I thought that I was goin' to ride with
Ella.”
“Why, that's you!” almost screamed Ben, in delight. “Monsieur Ajax means
you--didn't you know it? You don't suppose they would go to put 'Toby
Tyler' on the bills, do you? How it would look!--'Mademoiselle Jeannette
an' Monsieur Toby Tyler'!”
Ben was off in one of his laughing spells again; and Toby sat there,
stiff and straight, hardly knowing whether to join in the mirth or to
get angry at the sport which had been made of his name.
“I don't care,” he said, at length. “I'm sure I think Toby Tyler sounds
just as well as Monsieur Ajax, an' I'm sure it fits me a good deal
better.”
“That may be,” said Ben, soothingly; “but you see it wouldn't go down so
well with the public. They want furrin riders, an' they must have 'em,
even if it does spoil your name.”
Despite the fact that he did not like the new name that had been given
him, Toby could not but feel pleased at the glowing terms in which his
performance was set off; but he did not at all relish the lie that was
told about his having been with Ella in Europe, and he would have been
very much better pleased if that portion of it had been left off.
During the forenoon he did not go near Mr. Lord nor his candy stand, for
Mr. Castle kept him and Ella busily engaged in practicing the feat which
they were to perform in the afternoon, and it was almost time for
the performance to begin before they were allowed even to go to their
dinner.
Ella, who had performed several years, was very much more excited over
the coming debut than Toby was, and the reason why he did not show more
interest was, probably, because of his great desire to leave the circus
as soon as possible, and during that forenoon he thought very much more
of how he should get back to Guilford and Uncle Daniel than he did of
how he should get along when he stood before the audience.
Mr. Castle assisted his pupil to dress, and when that was done to his
entire satisfaction he said, in a stern voice, “Now you can do this act
all right, and if you slip up on it and don't do it as you ought to,
I'll give you such a whipping when you come out of the ring that you'll
think Job was only fooling with you when he tried to whip you.”
Toby had been feeling reasonably cheerful before this, but these
words dispelled all his cheerful thoughts, and he was looking more
disconsolate when Old Ben came into the dressing tent.
“All ready are you, my boy?” said the old man, in his cheeriest voice.
“Well, that's good, an' you look as nice as possible. Now remember what
I told you last night, Toby, an' go in there to do your level best an'
make a name for yourself. Come out here with me and wait for the young
lady.”
These cheering words of Ben's did Toby as much good as Mr. Castle's had
the reverse, and as he stepped out of the dressing room to the place
where the horses were being saddled Toby resolved that he would do his
very best that afternoon, if for no other reason than to please his old
friend.
Toby was not naturally what might be called a pretty boy, for his short
red hair and his freckled face prevented any great display of beauty;
but he was a good, honest looking boy, and in his tasteful costume
looked very nice indeed--so nice that, could Mrs. Treat have seen him
just then, she would have been very proud of her handiwork and hugged
him harder than ever.
He had been waiting but a few moments when Ella came from her dressing
room, and Toby was much pleased when he saw by the expression of her
face that she was perfectly satisfied with his appearance.
“We'll both do just as well as we can,” she whispered to him, “and I
know the people will like us and make us come back after we get through.
And if they do mamma says she'll give each one of us a gold dollar.”
She had taken hold of Toby's hand as she spoke, and her manner was so
earnest and anxious that Toby was more excited than he ever had been
about his debut; and, had he gone into the ring just at that moment, the
chances are that he would have surprised even his teacher by his riding.
“I'll do just as well as I can,” said Toby, in reply to his little
companion, “an' if we earn the dollars I'll have a hole bored in mine,
an' you shall wear it around your neck to remember me by.”
“I'll remember you without that,” she whispered; “and I'll give you
mine, so that you shall have so much the more when you go to your home.”
There was no time for further conversation, for Mr. Castle entered just
then to tell them that they must go in in another moment. The horses
were all ready--a black one for Toby, and a white one for Ella--and they
stood champing their bits and pawing the earth in their impatience until
the silver bells with which they were decorated rang out quick, nervous
little chimes that accorded very well with Toby's feelings.
Ella squeezed Toby's hand as they stood waiting for the curtain to be
raised that they might enter, and he had just time to return it when
the signal was given, and almost before he was aware of it they were
standing in the ring, kissing their hands to the crowds that packed the
enormous tent to its utmost capacity.
Thanks to the false announcement about the separation of the children in
Europe and their reunion in this particular town, the applause was long
and loud, and before it had died away Toby had time to recover a little
from the queer feeling which this sea of heads gave him.
He had never seen such a crowd before, except as he had seen them as he
walked around at the foot of the seats, and then they had simply looked
like so many human beings; but as he saw them now from the ring they
appeared like strange rows of heads without bodies, and he had hard work
to keep from running back behind the curtain whence he had come.
Mr. Castle acted as the ringmaster this time, and after he had
introduced them--very much after the fashion of the posters--and the
clown had repeated some funny joke, the horses were led in and they were
assisted to mount.
“Don't mind the people at all,” said Mr. Castle, in a low voice, “but
ride just as if you were alone here with me.”
The music struck up, the horses cantered around the ring, and Toby had
really started as a circus rider.
“Remember,” said Ella to him, in a low tone, just as the horses started,
“you told me that you would ride just as well as you could, and we must
earn the dollars mamma promised.”
It seemed to Toby at first as if he could not stand up, but by the time
they had ridden around the ring once, and Ella had again cautioned him
against making any mistake, for the sake of the money which they were
going to earn, he was calm and collected enough to carry out his part of
the “act” as well as if he had been simply taking a lesson.
The act consisted in their riding side by side, jumping over banners and
through hoops covered with paper, and then the most difficult portion
began.
The saddles, were taken off the horses, and they were to ride first on
one horse and then on the other, until they concluded their performance
by riding twice around the ring side by side, standing on their horses,
each one with a hand on the other's shoulder.
All this was successfully accomplished without a single error, and when
they rode out of the ring the applause was so great as to leave no doubt
but that they would be recalled and thus earn the promised money.
In fact, they had hardly got inside the curtain when one of the
attendants called to them, and before they had time even to speak to
each other they were in the ring again, repeating the last portion of
their act.
When they came out of the ring for the second time they found Old Ben,
the skeleton, the fat lady, and Mr. Job Lord waiting to welcome them;
but before anyone could say a word Ella had stood on tiptoe again and
given Toby just such another kiss as she did when he told her that he
would surely stay long enough to appear in the ring with her once.
“That's because you rode so well and helped me so much,” she said, as
she saw Toby's cheeks growing a fiery red; and then she turned to those
who were waiting to greet her.
Mrs. Treat took her in her enormous arms, and, having kissed her, put
her down quickly, and clasped Toby as if he had been a very small walnut
and her arms a very large pair of nutcrackers.
“Bless the boy!” she exclaimed, as she kissed him again and again with
an energy and force that made her kisses sound like the crack of the
whip and caused the horses to stamp in affright. “I knew he'd amount
to something one of these days, an' Samuel an' I had to come out, when
business was dull, just to see how he got along.”
It was some time before she would unloose him from her motherly embrace,
and when she did the skeleton grasped him by the hand and said, in the
most pompous and affected manner:
“Mr. Tyler, we're proud of you, and when we saw that costume of yours,
that my Lilly embroidered with her own hands, we was both proud of it
and what it contained. You're a great rider, my boy, a great rider, and
you 'll stand at the head of the profession some day, if you only stick
to it.”
“Thank you, sir,” was all Toby had time to say before Old Ben had him by
the hand, and the skeleton was pouring out his congratulations in little
Miss Ella's ear.
“Toby, my boy, you did well, an' now you'll amount to something, if you
only remember what I told you last night,” said Ben, as he looked upon
the boy whom he had come to think of as his protege, with pride. “I
never seen anybody of your age do any better; an' now, instead of bein'
only a candy peddler, you're one of the stars of the show.”
“Thank you, Ben,” was all that Toby could say, for he knew that his old
friend meant every word that he said, and it pleased him so much that he
could say no more than “Thank you” in reply.
“I feel as if your triumph was mine,” said Mr. Lord, looking benignly
at Toby from out his crooked eye, and assuming the most fatherly tone at
his command; “I have learned to look upon you almost as my own son, and
your success is very gratifying to me.”
Toby was not at all flattered by this last praise. If he had never seen
Mr. Lord before, he might, and probably would, have been deceived by
his words; but he had seen him too often, and under too many painful
circumstances, to be at all swindled by his words.
Toby was very much pleased with his success and by the praise he
received from all, and when the proprietor of the circus came along,
patted him on the head, and told him that he rode very nicely, he was
quite happy, until he chanced to see the greedy twinkle in Mr. Lord's
eye, and then he knew that all this success and all this praise were
only binding him faster to the show which he was so anxious to escape
from; his pleasure vanished very quickly, and in its stead came a
bitter, homesick feeling which no amount of praise could banish.
It was Old Ben who helped him to undress after the skeleton and the
fat lady had gone to their tent and Ella had gone to dress for her
appearance with her mother, for now she was obliged to ride twice at
each performance. When Toby was in ordinary clothes again Ben said:
“Now that you're one of the performers, Toby, you won't have to sell
candy any more, an' you'll have the most of your time to yourself, so
let's you an' I go out an' see the town.”
“Don't you s'pose Mr. Lord expects me to go to work for him again
today?”
“An' s'posin' he does?” said Ben, with a chuckle. “You don't s'pose the
boss would let any one that rides in the ring stand behind Job Lord's
counter, do you? You can do just as you have a mind to, my boy, an' I
say to you, let's go out an' see the town. What do you say to it?”
“I'd like to go first rate, if I dared to,” replied Toby, thinking of
the many whippings he had received for far less than that which Ben now
proposed he should do.
“Oh, I'll take care that Job don't bother you, so come along”; and
Ben started out of the tent, and Toby followed, feeling considerably
frightened at this first act of disobedience against his old master.