MAKING THE APPARATUS
Joe smiled as he leaned back in his chair. He seemed very confident.
Mr. Brader looked at the young fellow with a puzzled air, and shook his
head.
"Of course we can make almost any kind of apparatus, Joe," he said,
"and I know you circus fellows take mighty big risks. But I wouldn't
like to make for you, or for any one else, a piece of apparatus that
would result in sure death. You can't ride a motor-cycle on a high
wire. It can't be done!"
"Would you say a person could ride a motor-cycle over a high trestle,
on a single rail of a railroad track?" asked Joe, still smiling.
"Of course that can't be done either!" exclaimed Mr. Brader. "Ride on a
single rail? Never!"
Joe pulled from his pocket a folded newspaper clipping and silently
handed it to the manufacturer. It was an account of the feat Joe had
performed--that of riding across a high railroad trestle just as he
had described it. The details will be found in the volume prior to this.
"Is this true, Joe?" asked Mr. Brader when he had read the article. "I
mean, does it refer to you? It isn't a press-agent's yarn, gotten up
for the benefit of the circus, is it?"
"Not at all," Joe assured him. "It's the real goods. I was in a hurry
to get back to the show, and that was the only way. I didn't know it
was going in the papers. But I did ride across on the single rail, and
if I can hold my machine on such a narrow path as that, isn't it going
to be easier to do it on a wire, with the wheel rims grooved to fit?"
Mr. Brader was shaken in his unbelief, that was easy to see.
"But if you did ride the rail once, you probably couldn't do it again,"
he said. "Besides, you were down on the ground. But if you have the
apparatus built as you have sketched it--why, your wire will be fifty
feet up in the air!"
"I know," admitted Joe. "But height doesn't bother me in the least."
"You certainly have nerve when it comes to high acts," conceded the
manufacturer. "But, Joe, I don't believe it can be done."
"Will you make the apparatus for me?"
"Well, of course if you're bound to have it made, I s'pose we might as
well get the business as any one else. But I surely would hate to be
the innocent means of injury to you, Joe, or--death."
"Don't worry. I think I can do it without getting hurt. Now let's go
into details."
Mr. Brader was still dubious, but Joe's story of riding the rail had
showed the manufacturer that the young fellow knew his own capabilities.
And though he regarded the whole affair as rather foolhardy, he had not
been in the business of manufacturing circus apparatus for many years
without realizing that most of the acts in the tent were more or less
risky. Even the simplest trapeze act is likely to result in the death
of the performer if he or she is not careful. But with all his nerve
and daring, Joe Strong was careful. He usually had at least a small
margin of safety on his side.
"Give me a little more detailed sketch, Joe, and tell me how you want
the rims of your cycle wheels made, and I'll see what can be done,"
promised Mr. Brader. "But I won't take any of the responsibility. And
I'd advise you to practise on a wire hung rather low at first. Don't
try the high wire until you get some idea of how the act will go."
"I'll not, Mr. Brader," the lad promised.
"I don't see why you quit the show," the manufacturer went on. "You had
a nice act--that tank one--by all accounts. Why didn't you stick at it?"
"Oh, I wanted something new," replied Joe. "It was a pretty act, I'll
admit that, but it wasn't dangerous enough to make the people gasp."
The manufacturer shook his head.
"That's the trouble with you circus folk," he said. "You want to put in
too many thrills. Well, I suppose it's the fault of the public as much
as it is yours."
"Besides," went on Joe, "I couldn't very well stay with the show and do
the tank act, and I didn't want to do trapeze work only.
"You see, Benny Turton, the fellow who had the act before I took it up
after he collapsed, got well and came back to work, and of course I had
to give him back the tank. I was willing to, anyhow, as I wanted to
give this high-wire idea of mine a trial."
"All right, we'll make the apparatus for you," said Mr. Brader. "I'll
send one of the men out to have a look at your machine. It may be that
we'll have to make new wheels for it."
"That's what I was thinking," Joe said. "Or else new rims to fit the
wire."
"How large a wire do you think of using, Joe?"
"About half an inch in diameter. You see I must have a pretty long
stretch, and I don't want too much weight to carry about the country
with me."
"Is that your idea--traveling around giving exhibitions?"
"Yes, for a while. You know there are lots of fairs, expositions and
things of that sort in the summer that like to book balloon ascensions,
parachute drops and other thrilling exhibitions to attract a crowd.
There is money in it, I hear, and I'm going into business on my own
account, as it were. I intend to go wherever they want me to give an
exhibition of riding a motor-cycle on a high wire, and I don't want to
have too much baggage to transport. A half-inch wire rope will be heavy
enough, won't it?"
"Oh, yes, plenty. But you'll have to have new wheels, with smaller
rims. I can tell that without looking. Your tires are nearly two inches
now, aren't they?"
"Yes," answered Joe.
An examination of his motor-cycle disclosed the rims to be fitted with
two-and-a-quarter-inch tires, and there was nothing to do but to make
new grooves to fit a half-inch rope.
To ride a swiftly moving motor-cycle with two-inch rims on a half-inch
wire would allow so much side play that it would result in an accident.
Therefore changing the rims was on the side of safety.
Joe engaged board in Hertford, as he expected to stay there not only
while his apparatus was being made, but afterward, to practise his new
act. Mr. Brader's factory was equipped with a testing room, fitted with
various safety appliances where circus folk who ordered new apparatus
could give practical tests to their new devices.
"But you'll have to have your trial outdoors, in a vacant lot, Joe,"
the manufacturer said. "There isn't room in the factory."
"I realize that. Well, as I'm going to perform out in the open, at
least until I go back to the circus, I may as well get used to it."
"Then you think you may rejoin the circus?"
"I may," and Joe's mind went back to Helen. "If my act goes well,
and they are willing to pay enough, I'll consider an offer. I may be
wrong in thinking I can do better by booking myself on an independent
circuit, but I can't be sure about it until I try. So I'm going to make
the effort."
Joe's original idea for the apparatus he wanted was but little changed
when the experts at Mr. Brader's factory began working on it. The
making of the new motor-cycle wheels was done in one department, while
the building of the shears and the platforms went on in another. On
second thought Joe saved the old wheels of his machine, so he could use
it for road-riding by taking off the new special wheels and putting
back the rubber-tired ones temporarily.
"If this is a success, and I make money enough at it, I'll have a
special motor-cycle made purposely for wire-riding," he decided.
"It would be best," agreed Mr. Brader. "This machine is a little too
heavy for you. You could use a lighter wire with a lighter machine."
The shears Joe was having made were shaped like the implement after
which they are named except that they were not in the same proportion.
There were two very long and two very short "legs." The long legs,
spread apart, rested on the ground. Through the crotch, or opening
between the two short, upper legs, ran the wire rope, the ends being
fastened to heavy iron anchors, which must be buried deep and well
covered with tamped earth at each performance.
There was an anchor at either end, and pulleys were provided for
putting a great strain on the rope, making it as tight as possible.
Even then it would sag considerably in the center when Joe rode over it
on his motor-cycle.
The shears were made of light but strong steel, built in triangular
open beam, or lattice, construction, and to them was fastened a long,
narrow platform. Joe needed a platform at each end of the wire, one to
enable him to gain a start, and the other to slow down on at the end of
his perilous journey. He planned to ride three hundred feet on the high
wire, though this distance could be shortened or lengthened as occasion
required.
The wire to be used was specially made for circus work. It was light in
weight, but very strong, and would stand a heavy strain. It was tested
to over twice the weight Joe would put upon it.
And finally, after about two weeks of work, Mr. Brader said to Joe one
day:
"Well, your apparatus is finished. You can try it to-morrow if you
like."
"Good!" cried Joe. "I only hope it works!"
"And I only hope you're not hurt--or killed," said Mr. Brader in a low
voice.