Toby took the collar, and as he fastened it on the monkey's neck, he
said, in a voice that trembled considerably with emotion:
"You've all of you been awful good to me, an' I don't know what to say
so's you'll know how much I thank you. It seems as if ever since I
started with the circus you've all tried to see how good you could be;
an' now you've given me this monkey that I wanted so much. Some time,
when I'm a man, I'll show you how much I think of all you've done for
me."
The tears of gratitude that were gathering in Toby's eyes prevented him
from saying anything more, and then Mrs. Treat and Ella both kissed,
him, while Ben said, in a gruff tone:
"Now carry the monkey home, an' get your supper, for you'll want to come
down here this evening, an' you won't have time if you don't go now."
Ella, after making Toby promise that he would see her again that night,
went with Mr. and Mrs. Treat, while old Ben, as if afraid he might
receive more thanks, walked quickly away toward the dressing-rooms, and
there was nothing else for Toby and Abner to do but go home.
It surely seemed as if every boy in the village knew that Toby Tyler had
remained in the tent after the circus was over, and almost all of them
were waiting around the entrance when the two boys came out with the
monkey.
If Toby had staid there until each one of his friends had looked at and
handled the monkey as much as he wanted to, he and Abner would have
remained until morning, and Mr. Stubbs's brother would have been made
very ill-natured.
He waited until his friends had each looked at the monkey, and then he
and Abner started home, escorted by nearly all the boys in town.
The partners in the amateur circus scheme were nearly as wild with joy
as Toby was, for now their enterprise seemed an assured success, since
they had two real ponies and a live monkey to begin with. They seemed to
consider it their right to go to Uncle Daniel's with Toby; and when the
party reached the corner that marked the centre of the village, they
decided that the others of the escort should go no farther--a decision
which relieved Toby of an inconvenient number of friends.
As it was, the party was quite large enough to give Aunt Olive some
uneasiness lest they should track dirt in upon her clean kitchen floor,
and she insisted that both the boys and the monkey should remain in the
yard.
Toby had an idea that Mr. Stubbs's brother would be treated as one of
the family; and had any one hinted that the monkey would not be allowed
to share his bed and eat at the same table with him, he would have
resented it strongly.
But Uncle Daniel soon convinced him that the proper place for his pet
was in the wood-shed, where he could be chained to keep him out of
mischief, and Mr. Stubbs's brother was soon safely secured in as snug a
place as a monkey could ask for.
Not until this was done did the partners return to their homes, or the
centre of attraction, the tenting grounds, nor did Toby find time to get
his supper and go for the cows.
Not once during the afternoon had Toby said anything to Abner of the
good fortune that might come to him through old Ben; but when he got
back from the pasture and met Uncle Daniel in the barn, he told him what
the old driver had said about Abner.
"Are you sure you heard him rightly, Toby, boy?" asked the old
gentleman, pushing his glasses up on his forehead, as he always did when
he was surprised or perplexed.
"I know he said that; but it seems as if it was too good to be true,
don't it?"
"The Lord's ways are not our ways, my boy, and if He sees fit to work
some good to the poor cripple, He can do it as well through a circus
driver as through one of His elect," said Uncle Daniel, reverentially,
and then he set about milking the cows in such an absent-minded way that
he worried old Short-horn until she kicked the pail over when it was
nearly half full.
[TO BE CONTINUED.]