CHAPTER II
THE SHAKY BRIDGE
Down the highway rode Joe Strong on his powerful motor-cycle. He did not look back after that final glance at the group of his circus friends, for, truth to tell, the parting had affected the lad more than he cared to admit.
He had started the spring season with the circus with the intention of leaving to take up a new line of daring work as soon as Benny Turton could resume his place. Still, Joe had not thought much of his departure—that is, he had not imagined he would feel it so.
But one can not part from one's friends without a few heart-aches, and Joe found this out, somewhat to his sorrow.
"They sure are a good bunch of folks," he mused, "even if some of them did think I got more than my share of applause.
"And there was Helen Morton. Well——"
But Joe did not like to think of parting from her. He told himself it would not be a parting for very long, for Helen had said something about giving up her trick riding at the end of the present season, as she was quite well off. She had inherited some money and property from her grandfather's estate, and this, of late, had increased in value.
"I don't know whether my new scheme is going to work or not," mused Joe, as he rode on; "but there's nothing like trying. If it does I'll give the public more thrills than I've ever been able to on the trapeze or in the fish tank."
As he came to a turn in the country road, along which he was speeding, Joe flashed a look back. Over the trees he could see the gay flags and banners of the circus, and part of the white top of the main tent was visible.
"Good-bye, old show," said Joe softly. "Good-bye!"
His voice was a bit husky, and there was moisture in his eyes. Perhaps it was caused by the wind. Joe brushed it away and then, as he passed on out of sight of the show, he tried to smile.
"Never mind. Maybe I'll see 'em again soon," he told himself. Though he spoke in the plural, it was in the singular that Joe thought.
"Twenty-two miles to Hertford," read Joe, as he passed a sign-post. "I ought to make it easily before supper. Then I can call and see Mr. Brader, and we can talk over what's best to be done. He may be able to use these same wheels, or I may have to have a new set made. That's got to be considered."
Joe came to a place where the road forked, and as he saw a farm wagon at the spot he slowed down long enough to call to the driver:
"Which is the best road to Hertford?"
"The one to the left is shorter," was the answer. "But if you take that you want to look out——"
"That's all right—thanks," Joe replied, and he flashed on before he heard the end of the farmer's reply. Thus he did not learn until afterward what it was he was to look out for.
"The shortest road is the one I want, every time," Joe thought. He was on a level stretch now, and turned on more power so that the speedy machine fairly "burned up the dust," as he expressed it. Joe was a skillful driver, and knew how to get the best out of his steed of steel, rubber and gasoline.
"Fifteen miles to Hertford," read Joe a little later. "I'm making good time, all right—better than I thought. I'm glad I took this shorter road."
Ahead of him he saw a white bridge, and in another minute he had reached it. As he rode across it the whole structure trembled and shook so that Joe was in alarm lest it go down with him.
The bridge fairly swayed from side to side, and Joe turned on more power to cross it as quickly as he could, on the same theory that a skater uses when he finds the thin ice giving way beneath him.
"Say, this bridge is dangerous!" Joe exclaimed to himself. "It's likely to go down with a heavy load on it. Wow! Mind that, would you!" he cried, as a plank slipped loose and went splashing into the stream beneath, just as the rear wheel of his machine passed over the place where the gap appeared.
The bridge trembled and the timbers groaned, as if in protest at being ridden on, and it was with great relief that Joe found himself safe on the other side.
"I've got to go back and see if I can't put that plank in place," the youth said, stopping his motor-cycle.
He leaned the machine against the roadside fence and walked back to the bridge. Near the middle was a gap where the plank had jarred out as Joe rode over it. The boy stepped gingerly upon the structure. Even his weight without the machine made the bridge tremble, though he knew it could hardly go down with him.
"There ought to be something done about this," said Joe. "It's a shame to have a bridge like this across a stream. It ought to be fixed, and at least there ought to be a warning about crossing it with anything heavier than a wheelbarrow. Maybe this is what that farmer was trying to warn me about—the shaky bridge.
"I wonder if I can't put up some sort of warning sign. And I've got to get that plank if I can. It's floating down stream, but maybe it will lodge against the bank. This is going to delay me."
Joe was looking about for something with which to make a warning sign, when, looking back over the road he had come, he saw a large automobile approaching at full speed.
"If they ever hit the bridge it will go down with them sure!" cried Joe. "I've got to warn them!"
He ran back across the tottering bridge toward the on-coming automobile as fast as he could, crying, as he waved his hands in warning:
"Stop! Stop! Don't cross the bridge! It isn't safe!"
While Joe is thus on his way to perform his duty, it will be a good opportunity for new readers to acquire a more intimate acquaintance with the hero, and to learn something about the previous books in this series.
The initial volume was "Joe Strong, the Boy Wizard; Or, The Mysteries of Magic Exposed." In that Joe first appears discussing with some of his country chums the performance given the previous night by Professor Rosello, a prestidigitator. Joe, whose father had been a magician, knew how to do some sleight-of-hand tricks, and he was showing his boy chums some of his work when they heard the sound of an explosion.
A fireworks factory in the vicinity had blown up, and Joe managed to save the life of Professor Rosello, who was in the place on business. In doing so Joe ruined his suit of clothes and this so incensed his foster-father, Amos Blackford, that the latter threatened to whip Joe. The lad felt he was too big for this childish punishment, and ran away from home.
Eventually he became associated with Professor Rosello, and learned to do some mystifying tricks, all of which are explained in the book mentioned.
From his mother, who before her marriage had been Janet Willoughby, an English girl who became a noted circus rider, Joe had inherited great nerve and daring. He was especially fitted for doing tricks in the air at great heights.
The second volume of the series was called "Joe Strong on the Trapeze; Or, the Daring Feats of a Young Circus Performer." In that we found Joe had had an offer to join the Sampson Brothers' Circus as a trapeze performer.
He did so and was at once wonderfully successful. As a boy he had often practised circus acts, and now his practice was of use. Joe made many friends in the circus, and a few enemies.
Among his friends was Bill Watson, a veteran clown who had known Joe's mother. It was Bill's idea that Joe had money coming to him from his mother's estate in England, her people having disowned her when she married "Professor Morretti," or Mr. Strong, Joe's father. But Joe's inquiries as to any inheritance due him had, so far, resulted in nothing.
Other circus friends were Benny Turton, "The Human Fish," and Helen Morton, who, with her trick horse, Rosebud, was one of the leading attractions of the circus.
The third book of the series was entitled "Joe Strong, the Boy Fish; Or, Marvelous Doings in a Big Tank." That story opens with the circus in full blast, for it was the beginning of the summer season.
Joe noticed Benny in distress in the tank, and rescued him just in time to save the boy from drowning. It developed that Benny had been staying under water too long and the pressure had affected his hearing and speech.
He went to a hospital for treatment and the circus folk were going to give up the tank act, when Joe offered to take Benny's place, for our hero was a natural swimmer, and in private he had stayed under water in the tank almost as long as had Benny Turton. Joe's offer was accepted, first temporarily and then permanently, and he became the "Boy Fish," and was so featured on the circus posters.
Joe changed Benny's act and added to it, introducing live goldfish into the tank, and later on a trained seal. He also did his trapeze work and thus received double money.
Joe was not as liberal with his money as some of the circus men thought he ought to be. For this reason he was called hard names. But he was saving his money to pay for an operation so Benny would not become deaf and dumb, and this dire possibility was prevented through Joe's act, and Benny Turton was able to rejoin the circus at the opening of the following season.
The "boy fish" had bought a motor-cycle and in his spare moments Joe had become an expert rider. Now, as this story opens, we find him riding away from the circus; for Joe had certain ideas he wished to carry out, and to do so he gave up his tank act, letting Benny resume his old work.
"I've got to stop them from getting on the bridge!" thought Joe, as he rushed on toward the automobile.
At first the automobile party paid no attention to him. But at last, when they were opposite Joe, who had leaped to one side of the road, the two men in the car seemed to comprehend that something was wrong.
"What is it?" asked the driver, bringing the machine to a sudden stop with a screech of the brakes.
"The bridge!" panted Joe. "It's too shaky to ride over! It nearly went down with me and my motor-cycle, and it surely will collapse with your big car! Don't risk it!"