Transcriber's Note
Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variations
in hyphenation have been standardised but all other spelling and
punctuation remains unchanged.
[Illustration: ANAK ASTONISHES THE FARMER.]
_ATLANTIC SERIES._
THE
YOUNG CIRCUS RIDER;
OR,
THE MYSTERY OF ROBERT RUDD.
BY
HORATIO ALGER, JR.
PHILADELPHIA
HENRY T. COATES & CO.
FAMOUS ALGER BOOKS.
=RAGGED DICK SERIES.= By HORATIO ALGER, JR. 6 vols. 12mo. Cloth.
RAGGED DICK.
FAME AND FORTUNE.
MARK THE MATCH BOY.
ROUGH AND READY.
BEN THE LUGGAGE BOY.
RUFUS AND ROSE.
=TATTERED TOM SERIES.= By HORATIO ALGER, JR. 4 vols. 12mo. Cloth. FIRST
SERIES.
TATTERED TOM.
PAUL THE PEDDLER.
PHIL THE FIDDLER.
SLOW AND SURE.
=TATTERED TOM SERIES.= 4 vols. 12mo. Cloth. SECOND SERIES.
JULIUS.
THE YOUNG OUTLAW.
SAM'S CHANCE.
THE TELEGRAPH BOY.
=CAMPAIGN SERIES.= By HORATIO ALGER, JR. 3 vols.
FRANK'S CAMPAIGN.
PAUL PRESCOTT'S CHARGE.
CHARLIE CODMAN'S CRUISE.
=LUCK AND PLUCK SERIES.= By HORATIO ALGER, JR. 4 vols. 12mo. Cloth.
FIRST SERIES.
LUCK AND PLUCK.
SINK OR SWIM.
STRONG AND STEADY.
STRIVE AND SUCCEED.
=LUCK AND PLUCK SERIES.= 4 vols. 12mo. Cloth. SECOND SERIES.
TRY AND TRUST.
BOUND TO RISE.
RISEN FROM THE RANKS.
HERBERT CARTER'S LEGACY.
=BRAVE AND BOLD SERIES.= By HORATIO ALGER, JR. 4 vols. 12mo. Cloth.
BRAVE AND BOLD.
JACK'S WARD.
SHIFTING FOR HIMSELF.
WAIT AND HOPE.
=PACIFIC SERIES.= By HORATIO ALGER, JR. 4 vols. 12mo.
THE YOUNG ADVENTURER.
THE YOUNG MINER.
THE YOUNG EXPLORERS.
BEN'S NUGGET.
=ATLANTIC SERIES.= By HORATIO ALGER, JR. 4 vols.
THE YOUNG CIRCUS RIDER.
DO AND DARE.
HECTOR'S INHERITANCE.
HELPING HIMSELF.
=WAY TO SUCCESS SERIES.= By HORATIO ALGER, JR. 4 vols. 12mo. Cloth.
BOB BURTON.
THE STORE BOY.
LUKE WALTON.
STRUGGLING UPWARD.
=NEW WORLD SERIES.= By HORATIO ALGER, JR. 3 vols. 12mo. Cloth.
DIGGING FOR GOLD.
FACING THE WORLD.
IN A NEW WORLD.
_=Other Volumes in Preparation.=_
COPYRIGHT, 1883, BY PORTER & COATES.
PREFACE.
As the Pacific Series, just completed, is devoted to stories of life
and adventure on the Pacific coast, the Atlantic Series, of which the
Young Circus Rider is the initial volume, will comprise stories located
nearer home. The author will feel at liberty, however, should the
exigencies of the plot require it, to change the scene temporarily to
other parts of the continent.
The fascinations which the circus has always exercised over the minds
of young people is so well known, that the author has felt justified
in selecting the hero of the present story from that class of public
performers who appeal so powerfully to the imagination of his young
readers. In order to prepare himself for his task, he has made
personal acquaintance with more than one hero of the ring, and has
sought to furnish an inside view of the life which he describes. He
hopes that the result may prove acceptable to the juvenile public in
whose behalf he is always glad to labor.
HORATIO ALGER, JR.
March 13, 1883.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER. PAGE
I. Anak, the Norwegian Giant 7
II. Anak's Exploits 15
III. The Wrath of Mr. Tarbox 24
IV. Mr. Tarbox Invokes the Majesty of the Law 32
V. Tarbox and the Constable go to the Circus 41
VI. Tarbox is Defeated 50
VII. The Evening Entertainment 59
VIII. A Scheming Nephew 68
IX. Two Boys on a Tramp 77
X. Trapped 85
XI. Dismay at the Home of Tarbox 94
XII. The Canvas Man 102
XIII. Catching a Thief 110
XIV. Chestnutwood 115
XV. A Compact 120
XVI. The Canvas Man 127
XVII. An Athletic Contest 136
XVIII. The Canvas Man finds a Bonanza 144
XIX. A Farce and a Tragedy 153
XX. The Amateur Detectives 162
XXI. Catching a Burglar 171
XXII. Robert Rudd Leaves the Circus 180
XXIII. What the Letter Contained 188
XXIV. Robert Meets his Employer 193
XXV. At Niagara Falls 198
XXVI. A Victim of Treachery 207
XXVII. Robert finds Himself in a Tight Place 216
XXVIII. Robert Subdues a Horse 225
XXIX. An Unpleasant Acquaintance 234
XXX. The Tree of Refuge 241
XXXI. Hercules—the Strong Man 247
XXXII. Fitzgerald's Disappointment 253
XXXIII. Fitzgerald Sees an Apparition 262
XXXIV. The Mystery of Robert Rudd is Solved 266
THE
STAR OF THE CIRCUS.
CHAPTER I.
ANAK, THE NORWEGIAN GIANT.
About three o'clock in the afternoon an oddly assorted couple walked
through the main street in the manufacturing town of Crampton. One
was a man of herculean proportions, fully seven and a half feet
high, but with a good-natured face that relieved the fears which he
might otherwise have inspired. The other was a boy of fifteen, tall
and slender, with a dark complexion and bright eyes. He found some
difficulty in keeping pace with his tall companion.
"You're going too fast for me, Anak," he said at last. "Remember, my
legs are not quite so long as yours."
The giant laughed—a deep, resonant and not unmusical laugh, and
answered: "I'm always forgetting that, Robert. I suppose I ought to
walk alone, for I can't find any one to match me."
"See how people are looking at us," continued the boy, glancing quickly
back. "There's an army of small boys following us."
"Do you want to see me scatter them?" asked Anak.
"Yes; it will be fun."
The burly giant turned, and assuming a terrific frown, ran back,
his long limbs carrying him on at remarkable speed. Instantly the
boys, with loud shouts of dismay, broke ranks and scattered in every
direction, not daring even to look over their shoulders.
Anak came back, laughing heartily.
"I wonder what the boys thought I would do to them," he said. "The fact
is, I like young people, and am always ready to take their parts; but
then, they don't know that. Did I look very alarming just now?"
"Yes," answered Robert; "if I hadn't known you, I might have run too."
"I don't know about that, Robert. No one can accuse you of want of
courage."
Robert smiled, and his dark face looked very attractive when he smiled.
"I am not afraid of horses," he said.
"No; you are the most daring bareback rider I ever knew."
"I don't think I ever was afraid of horses," continued the boy,
thoughtfully. "I can't remember the time when I was not used to them."
"How long have you been a bareback rider?" asked Anak.
"I think I commenced when I was nine years old."
"And now you are—how old?"
"Fifteen."
"You never told me how you came to join a circus, Robert."
"I was wandering about the country—tramping—without a friend, and
without any means of living, when a circus man offered to train me as a
rider. Anything was better than tramping, and I accepted—"
"And now you are
ROBERT RUDD,
THE BOY WONDER!
_The Best Bareback Rider in the World._"
"That's what the circus bills say," replied Robert, smiling. "Now let
me introduce you. Gentlemen and ladies," said the boy, waving his hand,
as if addressing an audience, "I have the pleasure of introducing to
you,
ANAK!
THE CELEBRATED NORWEGIAN GIANT!
_Eight feet in height, and weighing four hundred and twenty pounds,
who has been exhibited before all the crowned heads of Europe, and
is generally acknowledged to be the tallest giant in the world!_"
"Good for you, Robert!" said the giant, good naturedly. "You've got it
by heart, my boy."
"I want to ask you a favor, Anak," said Robert, slyly: "Speak a little
Norwegian; I want to know how it sounds."
"Oh go away with you! I don't know any more Norwegian than you do."
"How is that? You don't mean to say you've forgotten your native
language?"
"I never knew a bit of Norwegian, Rob, my boy; and as for native
language, I'm minded to tell you a secret."
"Go ahead!"
"I was born in Tipperary, and they didn't use to speak Norwegian there
when I was a boy."
"Then why do they call you a Norwegian?"
"It sounds better than Irish, you see."
"But haven't you ever been caught? Didn't you ever have a Norwegian
come up and try to talk to you in his own language?"
"Yes," said Anak, laughing, "and mighty embarrassing it was, too."
"What did you do?"
"Faith, I opened upon him in old Irish. You ought to have seen the
fellow stare. I shrugged my shoulders, and said I, 'You speak bad
Norwegian,' and the crowd believed me. He slunk away, and that's the
way I got over that."
"What's your real name, Anak?"
Anak looked about him guardedly, and finding that no one was within
earshot, he answered, "Tom O'Connor, but don't give me away, Robert!"
"I don't believe I could, Anak," said the boy, laughing.
Anak joined in the laugh, and Robert continued, "When did you get your
growth? I mean, how old were you?"
"I kept on growing till I was twenty-one. When I was sixteen I was six
feet high, and everybody thought I was through, but I kept on till I
reached seven and a half feet, and then was tall enough to show."
"How about that eight feet, Anak?"
"You must ask the manager. They always make giants taller than they
are. It's equal all round, and nobody's hurt. And now, Robert, I'm
going to ask you a question."
"What is it, Anak?"
"Do you expect always to be in this business?"
"Bareback riding, you mean? No, I hope not," said the boy, gravely.
"I hope not, too. It'll do for a time, and there isn't anything else
open to a big overgrown fellow like me, but you are a smart boy, and
there are plenty of chances for you to get into something else. You
never told me about when you were a little boy; can you remember as far
back?"
"Not much," answered the boy, soberly. "Sometimes I seem to remember a
fine house and grounds, and it seems as if I were riding on a beautiful
lawn, on a pony, with a servant at my side. But it is provoking that I
can't remember any more, and the whole seems dim, and melts away, and
it may be all imagination, after all."
"It may be all true, Robert. Was it in America, do you think, now?"
"That is more than I can tell. It may be all fancy."
"Have you any relations living?"
"Not that I know of," said the boy sadly; "I wish I had. I feel very
lonely sometimes, and there doesn't seem much to live for."
"You've plenty of friends, Rob—all of us like you."
"Yes, you all treat me well."
"You have always been a favorite in the circus, my lad."
"Yes; I never had anything to complain of except that my trainer was
sometimes a little rough. But it isn't as if I had somebody belonging
to me—a brother, or a cousin, at the least. Have you any relations,
Anak?"
"Yes, I've got any number of cousins, and my old mother's living, too,
bless her heart."
"In Norway?" asked Robert, slyly.
"Oh go away! they know no more about Norway than you do. It is in
Tipperary they all live. I've forty or fifty cousins at the least, and
I'll give you a half a dozen with pleasure, if it'll do you any good."
"I don't think they would answer my purpose, Anak," answered the boy,
smiling.
"Well, as I was sayin', Robert, I wouldn't stay with the circus always
if I was you."
"What else is there for me to do?"
"Wait and see. You're young yet."
"My education is very poor, you know, Anak."
"Can't you read and write?"
"Yes, but not much more. I should like to go to school for two years."
"Sure you look like a gentleman, and you'll be one some day, I
shouldn't wonder."
"Look there, Anak!" said the boy, suddenly; "there's a man who appears
to be in trouble."
As he spoke he pointed to the driver of a team, which seemed to have
settled in the mud, for it was now spring-time, and the roads were in
a bad condition. The driver was shouting frantically to the horse, who
was making desperate efforts to pull the wagon out of the mire, but
without success.