IN TERROR
When the afternoon performance was over, Joe found a chance to speak to
Mr. Fleet, the man who owned the performing dogs.
"Pretty good act you have there," said the boy fish. He sat down and
began petting one of the dogs.
"Glad you think so," was the answer. "You have some little act
yourself. Strong, I believe your name is?"
"Yes," Joe nodded in friendly fashion. "I guess my act does go pretty
well, but it's more because of the novelty of it than from anything I
do. It's different from trapeze work."
"It certainly is. I don't see how you hold your breath so long."
"Practice," said Joe. "But if I just stayed under water I wouldn't be
able to hold the attention of the crowd long. I have to work in some
special stunts."
"So I noticed. That goldfish idea is a good one."
"And that brings me to what I want to say to you," Joe said. "I have a
new idea. You know, we've got to be always on the lookout for something
new." Mr. Fleet nodded in comprehension. "Now it occurred to me while I
was looking at your jumping dog," went on Joe, "that perhaps I could
use him in my act--with you to help, of course."
"I'd be very glad to do anything I could," returned Mr. Fleet. He had
soon become aware of the popularity of Joe's act, and as trained dogs
are not much of a novelty he welcomed the opportunity of increasing
attention to his particular act. To be associated with the boy fish
would be well worth while.
"What is your idea?" asked the dog trainer.
"This," said Joe. "I want to get something alive in the tank with
me--something bigger than the goldfish and the turtle. Of course the
fish look pretty, and I shall probably keep them, but they don't show
off well enough, especially at the far end of the tent. People can't
see them well--I mean as well as I'd like to have them."
"And you have an idea that you can take one of my dogs into the tank
with you?"
"Well, yes, that's what I've been thinking of," answered Joe. "Now take
the one that jumps off the pole. He seems to have a lot of nerve."
"He has. That dog is a wonder, but I had my own troubles training him.
However, I don't understand just what you mean."
"This," said Joe. "After you have put your dogs through their paces,
and I have done most of my act, why can't we have the jumping dog leap
into the tank, where I'm under the water?"
"We might be able to get him to do it," assented the trainer, slowly
considering the matter. "But he wouldn't stay under water with you."
"No, I don't suppose he would at first, certainly not very long at a
time," Joe said. "But he could be taught to. An animal, I think,
instinctively holds its breath under water. It doesn't try to breathe,
as a human being does who falls in for the first time. Of course a dog,
or any other animal, instinctively comes to the top as soon as it can
after finding itself under the water. But your dog is so smart we might
be able to teach it to swim under water, for say a minute at a time."
"Well, perhaps we might," assented Mr. Fleet. "Toto is very quick to
learn, and I suppose staying under water for a little while wouldn't be
any harder for him to accomplish than some of the tricks I've made him
do. But wouldn't it rather detract from you to have a dog sharing in
the applause?"
"I don't think so," replied Joe. "If we get Toto to stay under a minute
we'll be doing well, and we may have to cut it to a half. But if I stay
under more than three minutes it will give the public a good idea of
how much more endurance a human being has than an animal. That's only
an idea of mine, of course. I don't know that we could make it work,
but I feel like trying it."
"Well, I'm willing, if you are," assented Mr. Fleet. "We'll give it a
trial, anyhow. We can do it now, if you like."
"We'll try the preliminaries," said Joe. "That is, we'll try to get him
to jump into the tank of water first, so he'll get used to that. The
rest will come gradually."
"Come on, Toto!" called Mr. Fleet, and the intelligent animal started
up from his master's feet. "A new trick, old boy," went on the trainer.
Toto barked in anticipation.
"Toto is a very willing worker," said the trainer. "He seems to love
trying something new. If any of my dogs, or any dog in fact, can do
what you want, Toto is the boy!"
The big tent was practically deserted save for a few attendants who
were putting apparatus in shape for the evening performance. The high
pole from which Toto jumped was on a movable platform, and with the
help of some ring-men Joe and Mr. Fleet transported it over close to
the tank which was left filled with water ready for Joe's evening act.
"Hadn't you better take out the goldfish?" asked Mr. Fleet. "Some of
them may be hurt if Toto jumps in."
"No, I think not," said Joe. "The tank is big enough for them to swim
out of the way, and if the trick goes I'll want the dog used to the
fish in the water, so he might as well begin with them."
"Yes," assented the trainer. "I don't suppose you'd dare use a cat in
an act like this, even if you could get her to go into the water, which
most cats hate. She'd eat the goldfish."
"I'm afraid so!" laughed Joe. "But say! that would be a stunt, wouldn't
it? A diving cat! That would create a sensation, but I guess it
couldn't be done. I've heard of diving horses and diving bears, but
never of a diving cat. Well, we won't bother about that now."
The pole was in place near the tank, the top being reached by a rope
ladder up which Toto climbed. On top of the pole was a small padded
platform for the dog to rest on before he got the word to make the
leap.
"Up, Toto!" ordered Mr. Fleet, and with a bark the dog started up the
ladder. Reaching the platform, he sat there in a "begging position,"
waiting for the sign to jump.
"Down, Toto!" called Mr. Fleet, but instead of jumping, as he had
always done at the word, Toto only whined and moved about uneasily on
the little platform.
"Come on! Come on!" cried the trainer, but the little dog would not.
"He's afraid of the water," said Joe. "He's used to seeing a blanket
under him."
"I guess that's right," agreed the trainer.
"Well, let's hold a blanket over the tank," suggested Joe. "We can hold
it high enough at first so it won't touch the surface of the water.
Gradually we can lower it until we have a little water showing as it
seeps through the blanket. In that way perhaps we can get him used to
it."
"We'll try that," assented Mr. Fleet. Four men held a blanket which was
stretched over the top of the tank of water.
"Down, Toto!" commanded his master, and down the little dog jumped with
a bark of satisfaction.
"That's our plan!" cried Joe.
They kept on with the experiment until they had the dog leaping into
the blanket as it sagged down in the water, a quantity of which was
held in the depression of the cloth. Toto seemed to like the new trick.
He was eager for the leap, and splashed about joyously in the water.
An hour's practice was considered enough for one day.
"To-morrow we'll go at it again," said Mr. Fleet.
The more Joe thought of the new trick the better he liked it.
"To work with a diving dog will surely create a sensation," he mused.
"What's this I hear about you, Joe?" asked Jim Tracy at the evening
performance. "Trying some new stunt?"
"Well, yes, just trying it. You mean about the dog?"
"Yes."
"I don't know that we can work it," went on Joe; "but if we can it
ought to make a hit."
"That's the idea!" said the ring-master. "We've got to keep working for
new hits in the circus business all the while."
For several days after that, whenever opportunity offered, Joe and Mr.
Fleet put Toto through the jumping rehearsal, using the blanket.
Finally, when they thought the dog would no longer be afraid, they took
it away. But at first Toto refused to jump, and his master would not,
of course, use force.
Finally, however, patience won, and when another dog, a little water
spaniel, was put in the tank Toto seemed to think it was all right, and
made his first leap from the high platform into the tank where the
goldfish flitted about.
"Hurrah!" cried Joe, as the water splashed up, and the little dog swam
to the edge of the tank to be lifted out by his master. "Hurrah! We'll
have a diving dog yet!"
"But I'm afraid it will be some time before you can get him to stay
under water as long as you do," said Mr. Fleet.
However, the first part was accomplished, and for several days after
that Toto was given frequent practice in jumping into the tank, Joe not
having yet taken his place beneath the surface.
Then one afternoon, when it was thought that Toto had lost all fear of
the water, since he did the trick as naturally as he did some of his
older ones, Joe got in the tank, and Mr. Fleet called to the dog to
jump.
But the little animal flatly refused to leave the platform. No urging
or coaxing could make it take the jump. Whether the sight of Joe in the
tank frightened Toto, or whether the form of the boy fish was unduly
magnified to the dog because of the fact that Joe was under the
surface, could only be guessed at. The fact remained that Toto refused
to jump, though when Joe climbed dripping out the dog quickly jumped
in.
"Now, what do you think of that!" exclaimed Mr. Fleet. "Well, I've been
up against just as queer things in a different way when training other
dogs. You'll get them to the point of doing a trick, and maybe because
a new kind of fly buzzes around their ears they balk. But we won't give
up."
"Maybe it we try it when the tent is crowded, and the music is playing,
it will be different," suggested Joe. "Let's do it."
"But if he balks in public it will spoil the act," suggested Mr. Fleet,
"and we don't want that to happen. We'll keep on practising in
private."
And so they did, but Toto refused to make the jump while Joe was in the
tank, and the boy fish had about concluded to give up the trick and
think of something else.
"Though I do want to do it," he said. "Maybe we could break in another
dog."
"I haven't another one who will jump as fearlessly as Toto does,"
objected the trainer. "No, we'll have to stick to him."
The circus reached a town where a two days' stay was to be made. There
was a good attendance the first day, and as the weather was fine the
circus folk were in high spirits, for a combination of good weather and
good crowds is the best thing in the world for a circus.
Joe, musing on some way of making Toto do the jumping trick, had gone
into the animal tent a few minutes before the close of the afternoon
performance. His act had been unusually successful, but he was still
impressed with the idea that he must make it more novel. He and Mr.
Fleet had arranged to give Toto another trial when the crowd should
have departed, and Joe had come to the animal tent to talk to the dog
trainer.
The chariot races were over, the "grand concert" had been given, and
now the crowd began to file out of the big tent. Some, especially those
with children, were coming back into the animal tent for another look
at the elephants, camels, lions, tigers and other beasts, but most of
the audience was satisfied with the view they had had in passing
through to the "main top."
"What's the matter, Senor Bogardi?" asked Joe, as he saw the lion tamer
with an anxious look in his face, standing near a cage which was
covered with canvas. "More trouble?"
"Yes, friend Strong, more trouble," replied the man who went into their
cages and put the lions through their several tricks. "This time it is
Prince."
"The big Barbary lion?"
"Yes. Ever since we had to shoot his mate, Princess, he has not been
like himself. To-day he began throwing himself with all his force
against the iron door. He even started some of the bars, so I had to
screen him from the public to quiet him."
"Did it?"
"Yes, he seems to be more tractable now. But I want to see if I can not
take off the canvas. The public does not like it that they do not see
all the animals. I hope Prince is not going on a rampage as Princess
did."
Joe recalled the time when, by quick action, he had prevented the
lioness from escaping. She had been shot later, while he was in the
hospital recovering from the effects of a fall from his trapeze. Now
her mate was making trouble.
"Softly now, Prince! Softly," began the lion tamer, as he removed the
canvas cover. "Softly now, old boy!"
But no sooner was the cover off than the lion, which had been lying
down, jumped up with a roar and dashed himself against the iron door of
his cage.
Women in the crowd screamed with terror, and there was a rush to get
out of the tent.
"There is no danger!" Senor Bogardi assured the people. But they
thought it safer outside, and the rush for the exit continued.
The lion kept on throwing himself against the door, as though trying to
break out.
"We must put the canvas back!" cried the tamer.
"I'll help," offered Joe.
But, even as he spoke, the lion with one last, desperate leap gave a
bound against the side of the cage that almost overturned it. Then,
with a rending of wood and a snapping of metal, the door of the cage
sprang open, and the lion was loose in the tent.