THE GREAT EVENT
Uncle Daniel seemed quite as anxious as Toby that he should leave the
house in time to meet his circus friends before the entrée was made, and
Aunt Olive afterwards said he didn't sleep a wink after two o'clock for
fear he might not waken in time to rouse the anxious boy.
It was fully an hour before sunrise when Uncle Daniel awakened Toby, and
cautioned him to eat as much of the lunch Aunt Olive had set out as
possible, insisting that what he could not eat he should put into his
pocket, as it would be a long while before he would get his dinner.
The two miles Toby was obliged to walk seemed very short ones, and at
nearly every house on the road one or more boys were watching for him
quite as eagerly as for the show itself, so that by the time he arrived
at the place where two or three of the wagons had drawn up by the side
of the road, he had as many as a hundred boys for an escort, all of whom
were urging him to get the manager to take out a few lions and tigers
for their inspection before starting for the village.
Toby could hold out no promise to them; on the contrary, he insisted
that he hardly knew the manager, save by sight, and explained to them
that they were unwise to come with him on any such errand, since none of
the curiosities could be seen there, and if old Ben were still with the
company he should ride back with him.
But the boys put very little faith in what he said, seeming to have the
idea that he simply wanted to get rid of them, and, instead of going
away, they surrounded him more closely.
Toby watched anxiously as each wagon came up, and he failed to
recognize any of the drivers. For the first time it occurred to him that
perhaps those whom he knew were no longer with this particular company,
and his elation gave way to sadness.
Fully twenty wagons had come, and he had just begun to think his fears
had good foundation, when in the distance he saw the well-remembered
monkey-wagon, with the burly form of old Ben on the box.
Toby could not wait for that particular team to come up, even though it
was driven at a reasonably rapid speed; but he started towards it as
fast as he could run, and, following him something like the tail of a
comet, were all his friends, who, having come so far, were determined
not to lose sight of him for a single instant, if it could be prevented
by any exertions on their part.
Old Ben was driving in a sleepy sort of way, and paid no attention to
the little fellow who was running towards him, until Toby shouted, and
then the horses were stopped with a jerk that nearly threw them back on
their haunches.
"Well, Toby, my son! I declare, I am glad to see you;" and old Ben
reached down for the double purpose of shaking hands and helping the boy
on to the seat beside him. "Well, well, well, it's been some time since
you've been on this 'ere box, hain't it? I'd kinder forgotten what town
it was we took you from; I knew it was somewhere hereabouts though, an'
I've kept my eye peeled for you ever since we've been in this part of
the country. So you found your Uncle Dan'l all right, did you?"
"Yes, Ben, an' he was awful good to me when I got home; but Mr. Stubbs
got shot."
"No? you don't tell me! How did that happen?"
Then Toby told the story of his pet's death, and, although it had
occurred a year before, he could not keep the tears from his eyes as he
spoke of it.
"You mustn't feel bad 'bout it, Toby," said Ben, consolingly, "for, you
see, monkeys has got to die jest like folks, an' your Stubbs was sich a
old feller that I reckon he'd died anyhow before long. But I've got one
in the wagon here that looks a good deal like yours, an' I'll show him
to you."
As Ben spoke he drew his wagon, now completely surrounded by boys, up by
the side of the road near the others, and opened the panel in the top so
that Toby could have a view of his passengers.
Curled up in the corner nearest the roof, where Mr. Stubbs had been in
the habit of sitting, Toby saw, as Ben had said, a monkey that looked
remarkably like Mr. Stubbs, save that he was younger and not so sedate.
Toby uttered an exclamation of surprise and joy as he pushed his hand
through the bars of the cage, and the monkey shook hands with him as Mr.
Stubbs used to do when greeted in the morning.
"Why, I never knew before that Mr. Stubbs had any relations!" said Toby,
looking around with joy imprinted on every feature. "Do you know where
the rest of the family is, Ben?"
There was no reply from the driver for some time; but instead, Toby
heard certain familiar sounds as if the old man were choking, while his
face took on the purplish tinge which had so alarmed the boy when he saw
it for the first time.
"No, I don't know where his family is," said Ben, after he had recovered
from his spasm of silent laughter, "an' I reckon he don't know nor care.
Say, Toby, you don't really think this one is any relation to your
monkey, do you?"
"Why, it must be his brother," said Toby, earnestly, "'cause they look
so much alike; but perhaps Mr. Stubbs was only his cousin."
Old Ben relapsed into another spasm, and Toby talked to the monkey, who
chattered back at him, until the boys on the ground were in a perfect
ferment of anxiety to know what was going on.
It was some time before Toby could be persuaded to pay attention to
anything else, so engrossed was he with Mr. Stubbs's brother, as he
persisted in calling the monkey, and the only way Ben could engage him
in conversation was by saying,
"You don't seem to be very much afraid of Job Lord now."
"You won't let him take me away if he should try, will you?" Toby asked,
quickly, alarmed at the very mention of his former employer's name, even
though he had thought he would not be afraid of him, protected as he now
was by Uncle Daniel.
"No, Toby, I wouldn't let him if he was to try it on, for you are just
where every boy ought to be, an' that's at home; but Job's where he
can't whip any more boys for some time to come."
"Where's that?"
"He's in jail. About a month after you left he licked his new boy so bad
that they arrested him, an' he got two years for it, 'cause it pretty
nigh made a cripple out of the youngster."
Toby was about to make some reply; but Ben continued unfolding his
budget of news.
"Castle stayed with us till the season was over, an' then he went out
West. I don't know whether he got his hair cut trying to show the Injuns
how to ride, or not; but he never come back, an' nobody I ever saw has
heard anything about him."
"Are Mr. and Mrs. Treat with the show?"
"Yes, they're still here; he's a leetle thinner, I believe, an' she's
twenty pound heavier. She says she weighs fifty pounds more'n she did;
but I don't believe that, even if she did strike for five dollars more a
week this season on the strength of it, an' get it. They keep right on
cookin' up dinners, an' invitin' of folks in, an' the skeleton gets
choked about the same as when you was with the show. I don't know how it
is that a feller so thin as Treat is can eat so much."
"Uncle Dan'l says it's 'cause he works so hard to get full," said Toby,
quietly, "an' I shouldn't wonder if I grew as thin as the skeleton one
of these days, for I eat jest as awful much as I used to."
"Well, you look as if you got about all you needed, at any rate," said
Ben, as he mentally compared the plump boy at his side with the thin,
frightened-looking one who had run away from the circus with his monkey
on his shoulder and his bundle under his arm.
"Is Ella here?" asked Toby, after a pause, during which it seemed as if
he were thinking of much the same thing that Ben was.
"Yes, an' she keeps talkin' about what big cards you an' her would have
been if you had only stayed with the show. But I'm glad you had pluck
enough to run away, Toby, for a life like this hain't no fit one for
boys."
"And I was glad to get back to Uncle Dan'l," said Toby, with a great
deal of emphasis. "I wouldn't go away without he wanted me to, if I
could go with a circus seven times as large as this. Do you suppose
young Stubbs would act bad if I was to take him for a walk?"
"Who?" asked Ben, looking down at the crowd of boys with no slight show
of perplexity.
"Mr. Stubbs's brother," and Toby motioned to the door of the cage. "I'd
like to take him up in my arms, 'cause it would seem so much like it
used to before his brother died."
Ben was seized with one of the very worst laughing spasms Toby had ever
seen, and there was every danger that he would roll off the seat before
he could control himself; but he did recover after a time, and as the
purple hue slowly receded from his face, he said:
"I'll tell you what we'll do, Toby. You come to the tent when the
afternoon performance is over, an' I'll fix it so's you shall see Mr.
Stubbs's brother as much as you want to."
Just then Toby remembered that Ben was to be his guest for a while that
day, and, after explaining all Aunt Olive had done in the way of
preparing dainties, invited him to dinner.
"I'll come, Toby, because it's to see you an' them that has been good to
you," said Ben, slowly, and after quite a long pause: "but there hain't
anybody else I know of who could coax me out to dinner; for, you see,
rough fellows like me hain't fit to go around much, except among our
own kind. But say, Toby, your Uncle Dan'l hain't right on his speech, is
he?"
Toby looked so puzzled that Ben saw he had not been understood, and he
explained:
"I mean, he don't get up a dinner for the sake of havin' a chance to
make a speech, like the skeleton, does he, eh?"
"Oh no, Uncle Dan'l don't do that. I know you'll like him when you see
him."
"And I believe I shall, Toby," said Ben, speaking very seriously; "I'd
be sure to, because he's such a good uncle to you."
Just then the conversation was interrupted by the orders to prepare for
the parade; and as the manager drove up to see that everything was done
properly, he stopped to speak with and congratulate Toby on being home
again, a condescension on his part that caused a lively feeling of envy
in the breasts of the other boys, because they had not been so honored.