ON the following week the circus moved down through Pennsylvania. Fine
weather favored the show, and the crowd at each performance was very
large.
"This is going to be a banner season," said Giles, the treasurer,
"unless we get tripped up as we were last season."
He referred to a serious matter, namely, that of thousands of stolen
tickets, which during the previous summer had been secured and sold by
outside speculators.
This season a few tickets had thus far been missing, but the number was
not sufficient to cause a serious loss.
Leo's performances in the ring improved every day. Already was he as
good as Jack Snipper, and soon he would outrival the other acrobat in
every way.
Leo's acts, while disguised as a clown, were highly amusing, even better
than some of the regular clowns, of which there were eight.
"He could do clown and get big wages, even if he didn't know a thing
about gymnastics," remarked Natalie Sparks.
Natalie was now a warm friend to Leo, much to Snipper's disgust.
The second-rate gymnast had always been enamored of the Fire Queen, but
he could make no progress in his suit.
One day he met Natalie in the dressing-tent when no one else was
present.
He began to talk familiarly to her, and then attempted to kiss her.
"Don't you dare!" she cried angrily.
"I guess you won't mind very much," said Snipper, and then, despite her
struggles, he bent over and stuck his repulsive face close to her fair
cheek.
But just then Leo came on the scene. For a moment he stood in amazement.
"Leo, make the horrid fellow go away!" panted Natalie.
"Do as Miss Sparks wishes, Snipper!" cried the young gymnast.
"Mind your own business!" grumbled Snipper.
"This is my business," returned Leo warmly.
And rushing up, he collared the second-rate gymnast and hurled him
halfway across the tent.
Snipper was clearly in the wrong, and, as Natalie had called on Leo for
assistance, he did not dare raise a row.
He sneaked out, shaking his fist at Leo as he did so.
"Oh, Leo, I am very thankful you came in," panted Natalie as soon as she
could recover.
"So am I," went on the boy honestly, and then, as he looked at the
beautiful girl, both blushed.
Following the scene just recorded, Jack Snipper was more ugly than ever.
Whenever he met or passed Leo he would mutter something under his
breath.
"Look out for him, Leo," said Dick Pomeroy, the tumbler, one day. "He's
cutting a club for you."
"I've got my optics peeled," laughed Leo.
That afternoon, after the performance, Leo was walking around outside,
near the side-show.
Presently he saw something that at once interested him.
A "flim-flam worker," as such criminals around a circus are called, was
trying to swindle a countryman out of twenty dollars.
He was working an old game, which consists in getting an outsider to
hold the stakes in a bet with another flim-flammer.
The game is to mix the stakeholder up and make him put up his own money,
and then secure all the cash in sight.
Leo was interested for two reasons.
In the first place, he did not wish to see the countryman swindled.
In the second place, he knew that swindlers of any kind were not allowed
to work in the vicinity of the "Greatest Show on Earth."
The flim-flam man was about to receive the countryman's money when Leo
stepped up.
"Drop this," he said quietly.
"Wot yer givin' us, sonny?" came in a hoarse growl from the swindler.
"I say drop the game." Leo turned to the countryman. "Put away your
money, or you will be swindled out of it."
"By gum! Is thet so?" ejaculated the farmer, and he at once thrust the
cash out of sight.
At this the would-be swindler turned on Leo.
"I'll thrash you for that!" he howled, and rushed at the young gymnast,
while the two partners in the deal did the same.
Leo knew it would be foolish to attempt to stand up against all three,
so he gave a peculiar whistle, known to all circus hands.
A cry of "Hi! Rube!" arose and soon several circus detectives reached
the spot. But the swindlers vanished before they could be captured.
The countryman, whose name was Adam Slocum, was much pleased over what
Leo had done, and insisted on shaking hands. He invited Leo to call on
him when the circus came to the next town.
"Thank you, I'll call," said Leo.
Snipper had witnessed the scene between the swindlers and Leo. When the
three men went off he followed them.
All four met at a low resort half a dozen blocks from the circus
grounds.
Snipper knew the men. As a matter of fact, he would have left the circus
and joined them in their work, but he had his reasons for remaining as
an employee of the "Greatest Show on Earth," as will be seen later.
The four men had a conference, which lasted over an hour.
Then Snipper and one of them called on a local locksmith.
The swindler told a long story of having lost the keys to his trunk, and
he ordered the locksmith to make him three keys from impressions
furnished by Snipper.
With these keys in his possession, Snipper went back to the circus
grounds.
On the following day, toward evening, there was a commotion at the
entrance to the main tent of the circus. One of the managers of the
great aggregation had discovered that hundreds of circus tickets had
been sold throughout the district at a discount from the regular price,
fifty cents.
A hurried examination was made, and then it was learned that two
thousand tickets had been stolen from one of the box-office wagons.
These tickets were now either sold to individuals or in the hands of the
outside speculators.
Who could have stolen the tickets was a mystery, until a slip of paper
was handed to Giles, the treasurer, which read:
"Leo Dunbar was hanging around the ticket wagon last night.
Better watch and search him.
"A Friend."
Giles lost no time in acting upon the suggestion given in the note. He
ran to the dressing-tent and, finding a key to fit Leo's trunk, opened
it.
A first examination of the contents revealed nothing, but then the
treasurer brought to light three heavy strips of red paper, each marked
100--50s.
They were the strips used around bundles of tickets.
This was sufficient proof against Leo for Giles. He told several of the
others, including Mr. Lambert, the general manager, and then waited for
the boy to come in from his performance in the ring.
Amid a generous round of applause, the young gymnast finished his turn
and bowed himself out.
On his appearance in the dressing-tent, Giles at once placed his hand on
our hero's shoulder.
"Consider yourself under arrest, Leo Dunbar," he said sternly.
Leo was much startled.
"What for?"
"For stealing two thousand circus tickets."