During this time Toby's funds had accumulated rather slower than on the first few days he was in the business, but he had saved eleven dollars, and Mr. Lord had paid him five dollars of his salary, so that he had the to him enormous sum of sixteen dollars; and he had about made up his mind to make one effort for liberty when the news came that he was to ride in public.
He had, in fact, been ready to run away any time within the past week; but, as if they had divined his intentions, both Mr. Castle and Mr. Lord had kept a very strict watch over him, one or the other keeping him in sight from the time he got through with his labors at night until they saw him on the cart with Old Ben.
“I was just gettin' ready to run away,” said Toby to Ella on the day Mr. Castle gave his decision as to their taking part in the performance, and while they were walking out of the tent, “an' I shouldn't wonder now if I got away tonight.”
“Oh, Toby!” exclaimed the girl, as she looked reproachfully at him, “after all the work we've had to get ready, you won't go off and leave me before we've had a chance to see what the folks will say when they see us together?”
It was impossible for Toby to feel any delight at the idea of riding in public, and he would have been willing to have taken one of Mr. Lord's most severe whippings if he could have escaped from it; but he and Ella had become such firm friends, and he had conceived such a boyish admiration for her, that he felt as if he were willing to bear almost anything for the sake of giving her pleasure. Therefore he said, after a few moments' reflection: “Well, I won't go tonight, anyway, even if I have the best chance that ever was. I'll stay one day more, anyhow, an' perhaps I'll have to stay a good many.”
“That's a nice boy,” said Ella, positively, as Toby thus gave his decision, “and I'll kiss you for it.”
Before Toby fully realized what she was about, almost before he had understood what she said, she had put her arms around his neck and given him a good sound kiss right on his freckled face.
Toby was surprised, astonished, and just a little bit ashamed. He had never been kissed by a girl before—very seldom by anyone, save the fat lady—and he hardly knew what to do or say. He blushed until his face was almost as red as his hair, and this color had the effect of making his freckles stand out with startling distinctness. Then he looked carefully around to see if anyone had seen them.
“I never had a girl kiss me before,” said Toby, hesitatingly, “an' you see it made me feel kinder queer to have you do it out here, where everybody could see.”
“Well, I kissed you because I like you very much and because you are going to stay and ride with me tomorrow,” she said, positively; and then she added, slyly, “I may kiss you again, if you don't get a chance to run away very soon.”
“I wish it wasn't for Uncle Dan'l an' the rest of the folks at home, an' there wasn't any such men as Mr. Lord an' Mr. Castle, an' then I don't know but I might want to stay with the circus, 'cause I like you awful much.”
And as he spoke Toby's heart grew very tender toward the only girl friend he had ever known.
By this time they had reached the door of the tent, and as they stepped outside one of the drivers told them that Mr. Treat and his wife were very anxious to see both of them in their tent.
“I don't believe I can go,” said Toby, doubtfully, as he glanced toward the booth, where Mr. Lord was busy in attending to customers, and evidently waiting for Toby to relieve him, so that he could go to his dinner; “I don't believe Mr. Lord will let me.”
“Go and ask him,” said Ella, eagerly. “We won't be gone but a minute.”
Toby approached his employer with fear and trembling. He had never before asked leave to be away from his work, even for a moment, and he had no doubt but that his request would be refused with blows.
“Mr. Treat wants me to come in his tent for a minute. Can I go?” he asked, in a timid voice, and in such a low tone as to render it almost inaudible.
Mr. Lord looked at him for an instant, and Toby was sure that he was making up his mind whether to kick him or catch him by the collar and use the rubber cane on him. But he had no such intention, evidently, for he said, in a voice unusually mild, “Yes, an' you needn't come to work again until it's time to go into the tent.”
Toby was almost alarmed at this unusual kindness, and it puzzled him so much that he would have forgotten he had permission to go away if Ella had not pulled him gently by the coat.
If he had heard a conversation between Mr. Lord and Mr. Castle that very morning he would have understood why it was that Mr. Lord had so suddenly become kind. Mr. Castle had told Job that the boy had really shown himself to be a good rider, and that in order to make him more contented with his lot, and to keep him from running away, he must be used more kindly, and perhaps be taken from the candy business altogether, which latter advice Mr. Lord did not look upon with favor, because of the large sales which the boy made.
When they reached the skeleton's tent they found, to their surprise, that no exhibition was being given at that hour, and Ella said, with some concern: “How queer it is that the doors are not open! I do hope that they are not sick.”
Toby felt a strange sinking at his heart as the possibility suggested itself that one or both of his kind friends might be ill; for they had both been so kind and attentive to him that he had learned to love them very dearly.
But the fears of both the children were dispelled when they tried to get in at the door and were met with the smiling skeleton himself, who said, as he threw the canvas aside as far as if he were admitting his own enormous Lilly:
“Come in, my friends, come in. I have had the exhibition closed for one hour, in order that I might show my appreciation of my friend Mr. Tyler.”
Toby looked around in some alarm, fearing that Mr. Treat's friendship was about to be displayed in one of his state dinners, which he had learned to fear rather than enjoy. But as he saw no preparations for dinner he breathed more freely and wondered what all this ceremony could possibly mean.
Neither he nor Ella was long left in doubt, for as soon as they had entered, Mrs. Treat waddled from behind the screen which served them as a dressing room, with a bundle in her arms, which she handed to her husband.
He took it and, quickly mounting the platform, leaving Ella and Toby below, he commenced to speak, with very many flourishes of his thin arms.
“My friends,” he began, as he looked down upon his audience of three, who were listening in the following attitudes: Ella and Toby were standing upon the ground at the foot of the platform, looking up with wide open, staring eyes; and his fleshy wife was seated on a bench which had evidently been placed in such a position below the speaker's stand that she could hear and see all that was going on without the fatigue of standing up, which, for one of her size, was really very hard work—“My friends,” repeated the skeleton, as he held his bundle in front of him with one hand and gesticulated with the other, “we all of us know that tomorrow our esteemed and worthy friend Mr. Toby Tyler makes his first appearance in any ring, and we all of us believe that he will soon become a bright and shining light in the profession which he is so soon to enter.”
The speaker was here interrupted by loud applause from his wife, and he profited by the opportunity to wipe a stray drop of perspiration from his fleshless face. Then, as the fat lady ceased the exertion of clapping her hands, he continued:
“Knowing that our friend Mr. Tyler was being instructed, preparatory to dazzling the public with his talents, my wife and I began to prepare for him some slight testimonial of our esteem; and, being informed by Mr. Castle some days ago of the day on which he was to make his first appearance before the public, we were enabled to complete our little gift in time for the great and important event.”
Here the skeleton paused to take a breath, and Toby began to grow more uncomfortably red in the face. Such praise made him feel very awkward.
“I hold in this bundle,” continued Mr. Treat as he waved the package on high, “a costume for our bold and worthy equestrian, and a sash to match for his beautiful and accomplished companion. In presenting these little tokens my wife (who has embroidered every inch of the velvet herself) and I feel proud to know that, when the great and auspicious occasion occurs tomorrow, the worthy Mr. Tyler will step into the ring in a costume which we have prepared expressly for him; and thus, when he does himself honor by his performance and earns the applause of the multitude, he will be doing honor and doing applause for the work of our hands—my wife Lilly and myself. Take them, my boy; and when you array yourself in them tomorrow you will remember that the only living skeleton, and the wonder of the nineteenth century in the shape of the mammoth lady, are present in their works if not in their persons.”
As he finished speaking Mr. Treat handed the bundle to Toby, and then joined in the applause which was being given by Mrs. Treat and Ella.
Toby unrolled the package, and found that it contained a circus rider's costume of pink tights and blue velvet trunks, collar and cuffs, embroidered in white and plentifully spangled with silver. In addition was a wide blue sash for Ella, embroidered to correspond with Toby's costume.
The little fellow was both delighted with the gift and at a loss to know what to say in response. He looked at the costume over and over again, and the tears of gratitude that these friends should have been so good to him came into his eyes. He saw, however, that they were expecting him to say something in reply, and, laying the gift on the platform, he said to the skeleton and his wife:
“You've been so good to me ever since I've been with the circus that I wish I was big enough to say somethin' more than that I'm much obliged, but I can't. One of these days, when I'm a man, I'll show you how much I like you, an' then you won't be sorry that you was good to such a poor little runaway boy as I am.”
Here the skeleton broke in with such loud applause and so many cries of “Hear! hear!” that Toby grew still more confused, and forgot entirely what he was intending to say next.
“I want you to know how much obliged I am,” he said, after much hesitation, “an' when I wear 'em I'll ride just the best I know how, even if I don't want to, an' you sha'n't be sorry that you gave them to me.”
As Toby concluded he made a funny little awkward bow, and then seemed to be trying to hide himself behind a chair from the applause which was given so generously.
“Bless your dear little heart!” said the fat lady, after the confusion had somewhat subsided. “I know you will do your best, anyway, and I'm glad to know that you're going to make your first appearance in something that Samuel and I made for you.”
Ella was quite as well pleased with her sash as Toby was with his costume, and thanked Mr. and Mrs. Treat in a pretty little way that made Toby wish he could say anything half so nicely.
The hour which the skeleton had devoted for the purpose of the presentation and accompanying speeches having elapsed, it was necessary that Ella and Toby should go and that the doors of the exhibition be opened at once, in order to give any of the public an opportunity of seeing what the placards announced as two of the greatest curiosities on the face of the globe.
That day, while Toby performed his arduous labors, his heart was very light, for the evidences which the skeleton and his wife had given of their regard for him were very gratifying. He determined that he would do his very best to please so long as he was with the circus, and then, when he got a chance to run away, he would do so, but not until he had said goodby to Mr. and Mrs. Treat and thanked them again for their interest in him.
When he had finished his work in the tent that night Mr. Lord said to him, as he patted him on the back in the most fatherly fashion, and as if he had never spoken a harsh word to him, “You can't come in here to sell candy now that you are one of the performers, my boy; an' if I can find another boy tomorrow you won't have to work in the booth any longer, an' your salary of a dollar a week will go on just the same, even if you don't have anything to do but to ride.”
This was a bit of news that was as welcome to Toby as it was unexpected, and he felt more happy then than he had for the ten weeks that he had been traveling under Mr. Lord's cruel mastership.
But there was one thing that night that rather damped his joy, and that was that he noticed that Mr. Lord was unusually careful to watch him, not even allowing him to go outside the tent without following. He saw at once that, if he was to have a more easy time, his chances for running away were greatly diminished, and no number of beautiful costumes would have made him content to stay with the circus one moment longer than was absolutely necessary.
That night he told Old Ben the events of the day, and expressed the hope that he might acquit himself creditably when he made his first appearance on the following day.
Ben sat thoughtfully for some time, and then, making all the preparations which Toby knew so well signified a long bit of advice, he said: “Toby, my boy, I've been with a circus, man an' boy, nigh to forty years, an' I've seen lots of youngsters start in just as you re goin' to start in tomorrow; but the most of them petered out, because they got to knowin' more 'n them that learned 'em did. Now, you remember what I say, an' you'll find it good advice: whatever business you get into, don't think you know all about it before you've begun. Remember that you can always learn somethin', no matter how old you are, an' keep your eyes an' ears open, an' your tongue between your teeth, an' you'll amount to somethin', or my name hain't Ben.”
When the circus entered the town which had been selected as the place where Toby was to make his debut as a circus rider the boy noticed a new poster among the many glaring and gaudy bills which set forth the varied and numerous attractions that were to be found under one canvas for a trifling admission fee, and he noticed it with some degree of interest, not thinking for a moment that it had any reference to him.
It was printed very much as follows:
MADEMOISELLE JEANNETTE AND MONSIEUR AJAX,
two of the youngest equestrians in the world, will perform their graceful, dashing, and daring act entitled
THE TRIUMPH OF THE INNOCENTS!
This is the first appearance of these daring young riders together since their separation in Europe last season, and their performance in this town will have a new and novel interest.
See MADEMOISELLE JEANNETTE AND MONSIEUR AJAX
“Look there!” said Toby to Ben, as he pointed out the poster, which was printed in very large letters, with gorgeous coloring, and surmounted by a picture of two very small people performing all kinds of impossible feats on horseback. “They've got someone else to ride with Ella today. I wonder who it can be?”
Ben looked at Toby for a moment, as if to assure himself that the boy was in earnest in asking the question, and then he relapsed into the worst fit of silent laughing that Toby had ever seen. After he had quite recovered he asked: “Don't you know who Monsieur Ajax is? Hain't you never seen him?”
“No,” replied Toby, at a loss to understand what there was so very funny in his very natural question. “I thought that I was goin' to ride with Ella.”
“Why, that's you!” almost screamed Ben, in delight. “Monsieur Ajax means you—didn't you know it? You don't suppose they would go to put 'Toby Tyler' on the bills, do you? How it would look!—'Mademoiselle Jeannette an' Monsieur Toby Tyler'!”
Ben was off in one of his laughing spells again; and Toby sat there, stiff and straight, hardly knowing whether to join in the mirth or to get angry at the sport which had been made of his name.
“I don't care,” he said, at length. “I'm sure I think Toby Tyler sounds just as well as Monsieur Ajax, an' I'm sure it fits me a good deal better.”
“That may be,” said Ben, soothingly; “but you see it wouldn't go down so well with the public. They want furrin riders, an' they must have 'em, even if it does spoil your name.”
Despite the fact that he did not like the new name that had been given him, Toby could not but feel pleased at the glowing terms in which his performance was set off; but he did not at all relish the lie that was told about his having been with Ella in Europe, and he would have been very much better pleased if that portion of it had been left off.
During the forenoon he did not go near Mr. Lord nor his candy stand, for Mr. Castle kept him and Ella busily engaged in practicing the feat which they were to perform in the afternoon, and it was almost time for the performance to begin before they were allowed even to go to their dinner.
Ella, who had performed several years, was very much more excited over the coming debut than Toby was, and the reason why he did not show more interest was, probably, because of his great desire to leave the circus as soon as possible, and during that forenoon he thought very much more of how he should get back to Guilford and Uncle Daniel than he did of how he should get along when he stood before the audience.
Mr. Castle assisted his pupil to dress, and when that was done to his entire satisfaction he said, in a stern voice, “Now you can do this act all right, and if you slip up on it and don't do it as you ought to, I'll give you such a whipping when you come out of the ring that you'll think Job was only fooling with you when he tried to whip you.”
Toby had been feeling reasonably cheerful before this, but these words dispelled all his cheerful thoughts, and he was looking more disconsolate when Old Ben came into the dressing tent.
“All ready are you, my boy?” said the old man, in his cheeriest voice. “Well, that's good, an' you look as nice as possible. Now remember what I told you last night, Toby, an' go in there to do your level best an' make a name for yourself. Come out here with me and wait for the young lady.”
These cheering words of Ben's did Toby as much good as Mr. Castle's had the reverse, and as he stepped out of the dressing room to the place where the horses were being saddled Toby resolved that he would do his very best that afternoon, if for no other reason than to please his old friend.
Toby was not naturally what might be called a pretty boy, for his short red hair and his freckled face prevented any great display of beauty; but he was a good, honest looking boy, and in his tasteful costume looked very nice indeed—so nice that, could Mrs. Treat have seen him just then, she would have been very proud of her handiwork and hugged him harder than ever.
He had been waiting but a few moments when Ella came from her dressing room, and Toby was much pleased when he saw by the expression of her face that she was perfectly satisfied with his appearance.
“We'll both do just as well as we can,” she whispered to him, “and I know the people will like us and make us come back after we get through. And if they do mamma says she'll give each one of us a gold dollar.”
She had taken hold of Toby's hand as she spoke, and her manner was so earnest and anxious that Toby was more excited than he ever had been about his debut; and, had he gone into the ring just at that moment, the chances are that he would have surprised even his teacher by his riding.
“I'll do just as well as I can,” said Toby, in reply to his little companion, “an' if we earn the dollars I'll have a hole bored in mine, an' you shall wear it around your neck to remember me by.”
“I'll remember you without that,” she whispered; “and I'll give you mine, so that you shall have so much the more when you go to your home.”
There was no time for further conversation, for Mr. Castle entered just then to tell them that they must go in in another moment. The horses were all ready—a black one for Toby, and a white one for Ella—and they stood champing their bits and pawing the earth in their impatience until the silver bells with which they were decorated rang out quick, nervous little chimes that accorded very well with Toby's feelings.
Ella squeezed Toby's hand as they stood waiting for the curtain to be raised that they might enter, and he had just time to return it when the signal was given, and almost before he was aware of it they were standing in the ring, kissing their hands to the crowds that packed the enormous tent to its utmost capacity.
Thanks to the false announcement about the separation of the children in Europe and their reunion in this particular town, the applause was long and loud, and before it had died away Toby had time to recover a little from the queer feeling which this sea of heads gave him.
He had never seen such a crowd before, except as he had seen them as he walked around at the foot of the seats, and then they had simply looked like so many human beings; but as he saw them now from the ring they appeared like strange rows of heads without bodies, and he had hard work to keep from running back behind the curtain whence he had come.
Mr. Castle acted as the ringmaster this time, and after he had introduced them—very much after the fashion of the posters—and the clown had repeated some funny joke, the horses were led in and they were assisted to mount.
“Don't mind the people at all,” said Mr. Castle, in a low voice, “but ride just as if you were alone here with me.”
The music struck up, the horses cantered around the ring, and Toby had really started as a circus rider.
“Remember,” said Ella to him, in a low tone, just as the horses started, “you told me that you would ride just as well as you could, and we must earn the dollars mamma promised.”
It seemed to Toby at first as if he could not stand up, but by the time they had ridden around the ring once, and Ella had again cautioned him against making any mistake, for the sake of the money which they were going to earn, he was calm and collected enough to carry out his part of the “act” as well as if he had been simply taking a lesson.
The act consisted in their riding side by side, jumping over banners and through hoops covered with paper, and then the most difficult portion began.
The saddles, were taken off the horses, and they were to ride first on one horse and then on the other, until they concluded their performance by riding twice around the ring side by side, standing on their horses, each one with a hand on the other's shoulder.
All this was successfully accomplished without a single error, and when they rode out of the ring the applause was so great as to leave no doubt but that they would be recalled and thus earn the promised money.
In fact, they had hardly got inside the curtain when one of the attendants called to them, and before they had time even to speak to each other they were in the ring again, repeating the last portion of their act.
When they came out of the ring for the second time they found Old Ben, the skeleton, the fat lady, and Mr. Job Lord waiting to welcome them; but before anyone could say a word Ella had stood on tiptoe again and given Toby just such another kiss as she did when he told her that he would surely stay long enough to appear in the ring with her once.
“That's because you rode so well and helped me so much,” she said, as she saw Toby's cheeks growing a fiery red; and then she turned to those who were waiting to greet her.
Mrs. Treat took her in her enormous arms, and, having kissed her, put her down quickly, and clasped Toby as if he had been a very small walnut and her arms a very large pair of nutcrackers.
“Bless the boy!” she exclaimed, as she kissed him again and again with an energy and force that made her kisses sound like the crack of the whip and caused the horses to stamp in affright. “I knew he'd amount to something one of these days, an' Samuel an' I had to come out, when business was dull, just to see how he got along.”
It was some time before she would unloose him from her motherly embrace, and when she did the skeleton grasped him by the hand and said, in the most pompous and affected manner:
“Mr. Tyler, we're proud of you, and when we saw that costume of yours, that my Lilly embroidered with her own hands, we was both proud of it and what it contained. You're a great rider, my boy, a great rider, and you 'll stand at the head of the profession some day, if you only stick to it.”
“Thank you, sir,” was all Toby had time to say before Old Ben had him by the hand, and the skeleton was pouring out his congratulations in little Miss Ella's ear.
“Toby, my boy, you did well, an' now you'll amount to something, if you only remember what I told you last night,” said Ben, as he looked upon the boy whom he had come to think of as his protege, with pride. “I never seen anybody of your age do any better; an' now, instead of bein' only a candy peddler, you're one of the stars of the show.”
“Thank you, Ben,” was all that Toby could say, for he knew that his old friend meant every word that he said, and it pleased him so much that he could say no more than “Thank you” in reply.
“I feel as if your triumph was mine,” said Mr. Lord, looking benignly at Toby from out his crooked eye, and assuming the most fatherly tone at his command; “I have learned to look upon you almost as my own son, and your success is very gratifying to me.”
Toby was not at all flattered by this last praise. If he had never seen Mr. Lord before, he might, and probably would, have been deceived by his words; but he had seen him too often, and under too many painful circumstances, to be at all swindled by his words.
Toby was very much pleased with his success and by the praise he received from all, and when the proprietor of the circus came along, patted him on the head, and told him that he rode very nicely, he was quite happy, until he chanced to see the greedy twinkle in Mr. Lord's eye, and then he knew that all this success and all this praise were only binding him faster to the show which he was so anxious to escape from; his pleasure vanished very quickly, and in its stead came a bitter, homesick feeling which no amount of praise could banish.
It was Old Ben who helped him to undress after the skeleton and the fat lady had gone to their tent and Ella had gone to dress for her appearance with her mother, for now she was obliged to ride twice at each performance. When Toby was in ordinary clothes again Ben said:
“Now that you're one of the performers, Toby, you won't have to sell candy any more, an' you'll have the most of your time to yourself, so let's you an' I go out an' see the town.”
“Don't you s'pose Mr. Lord expects me to go to work for him again today?”
“An' s'posin' he does?” said Ben, with a chuckle. “You don't s'pose the boss would let any one that rides in the ring stand behind Job Lord's counter, do you? You can do just as you have a mind to, my boy, an' I say to you, let's go out an' see the town. What do you say to it?”
“I'd like to go first rate, if I dared to,” replied Toby, thinking of the many whippings he had received for far less than that which Ben now proposed he should do.
“Oh, I'll take care that Job don't bother you, so come along”; and Ben started out of the tent, and Toby followed, feeling considerably frightened at this first act of disobedience against his old master.
During this walk Toby learned many things that were of importance to him, so far as his plan for running away was concerned. In the first place, he gleaned from the railway posters that were stuck up in the hotel to which they went that he could buy a ticket for Guilford for seven dollars, and also that, by going back to the town from which they had come, he could go to Guilford by steamer for five dollars.
By returning to this last town—and Toby calculated that the fare on the stage back there could not be more than a dollar—he would have ten dollars left, and that surely ought to be sufficient to buy food enough for two days for the most hungry boy that ever lived.
When they returned to the circus grounds the performance was over, and Mr. Lord in the midst of the brisk trade which he usually had after the afternoon performance, and yet, so far from scolding Toby for going away, he actually smiled and bowed at him as he saw him go by with Ben.
“See there, Toby,” said the old driver to the boy, as he gave him a vigorous poke in the ribs and then went off into one of his dreadful laughing spells—“see what it is to be a performer an' not workin' for such an old fossil as Job is! He'll be so sweet to you now that sugar won't melt in his mouth, an' there's no chance of his ever attemptin' to whip you again.”
Toby made no reply, for he was too busily engaged thinking of something which had just come into his mind to know that his friend had spoken.
But as Old Ben hardly knew whether the boy had answered him or not, owing to his being obliged to struggle with his breath lest he should lose it in the second laughing spell that attacked him, the boy's thoughtfulness was not particularly noticed.
Toby walked around the show grounds for a little while with his old friend, and then the two went to supper, where Toby performed quite as great wonders in the way of eating as he had in the afternoon by riding.
As soon as the supper was over he quietly slipped away from Old Ben, and at once paid a visit to Mr. and Mrs. Treat, whom he found cozily engaged in their supper behind the screen.
They welcomed Toby most cordially, and, despite his assertions that he had just finished a very hearty meal, the fat lady made him sit down to the box which served as table, and insisted on his trying some of her doughnuts.
Under all these pressing attentions it was some time before Toby found a chance to say that which he had come to say, and when he did he was almost at a loss how to proceed; but at last he commenced by starting abruptly on his subject with the words, “I've made up my mind to leave tonight.”
“Leave tonight?” repeated the skeleton, inquiringly, not for a moment believing that Toby could think of running away after the brilliant success he had just made. “What do you mean, Toby?”
“Why, you know that I've been wantin' to get away from the circus,” said Toby, a little impatient that his friend should be so wonderfully stupid, “an' I think that I'll have as good a chance now as ever I shall, so I'm goin' to try it.”
“Bless us!” exclaimed the fat lady, in a gasping way. “You don't mean to say that you're goin' off just when you've started in the business so well? I thought you'd want to stay after you'd been so well received this afternoon.”
“No,” said Toby—and one quick little sob popped right up from his heart and out before he was aware of it—“I learned to ride because I had to, but I never give up runnin' away. I must see Uncle Dan'l, an' tell him how sorry I am for what I did; an' if he won't have anything to say to me I'll come back; but if he'll let me I'll stay there, an' I'll be so good that by 'n' by he'll forget that I run off an' left him without sayin' a word.”
There was such a touch of sorrow in his tones, so much pathos in his way of speaking, that good Mrs. Treat's heart was touched at once; and putting her arms around the little fellow, as if to shield him from some harm, she said, tenderly: “And so you shall go, Toby, my boy; but if you ever want a home or anybody to love you come right here to us, and you'll never be sorry. So long as Sam keeps thin and I fat enough to draw the public you never need say that you're homeless, for nothing would please us better than to have you come to live with us.”
For reply Toby raised his head and kissed her on the cheek, a proceeding which caused her to squeeze him harder than ever.
During this conversation the skeleton had remained very thoughtful. After a moment or two he got up from his seat, went outside the tent, and presently returned with a quantity of silver ten cent pieces in his hand.
“Here, Toby,” he said—and it was to be seen that he was really too much affected even to attempt one of his speeches—“it's right that you should go, for I've known what it is to feel just as you do. What Lilly said about your having a home with us I say, an' here's five dollars that I want you to take to help you along.”
At first Toby stoutly refused to take the money; but they both insisted to such a degree that he was actually forced to, and then he stood up to go.
“I'm goin' to try to slip off after Job packs up the outside booth, if I can,” he said, “an' it was to say goodby that I come around here.”
Again Mrs. Treat took the boy in her arms, as if it were one of her own children who was leaving her, and as she stroked his hair back from his forehead she said: “Don't forget us, Toby, even if you never do see us again; try an' remember how much we cared for you, an' how much comfort you're taking away from us when you go; for it was a comfort to see you around, even if you wasn't with us very much. Don't forget us, Toby, an' if you ever get the chance, come an' see us. Goodby, Toby, goodby.” And the kind hearted woman kissed him again and again, and then turned her back resolutely upon him, lest it should be bad luck to him if she again saw him after saying goodby.
The skeleton's parting was not quite so demonstrative. He clasped Toby's hand with one set of his fleshless fingers, while with the other he wiped one or two suspicious looking drops of moisture from his eyes as he said: “I hope you'll get along all right, my boy, and I believe you will. You will get home to Uncle Daniel and be happier than ever, for now you know what it is to be entirely without a home. Be a good boy, mind your uncle, go to school, and one of these days you'll make a good man. Goodby, my boy.”
The tears were now streaming down Toby's face very rapidly; he had not known, in his anxiety to get home, how very much he cared for this strangely assorted couple, and now it made him feel very miserable and wretched that he was going to leave them. He tried to say something more, but the tears choked his utterance and he left the tent quickly to prevent himself from breaking down entirely.
In order that his grief might not be noticed and the cause of it suspected, Toby went out behind the tent, and, sitting there on a stone, he gave way to the tears which he could no longer control.
While he was thus engaged, heeding nothing which passed around him, he was startled by a cheery voice which cried: “Halloo! down in the dumps again? What is the matter now, my bold equestrian?”
Looking up, he saw Ben standing before him, and he wiped his eyes hastily, for here was another from whom he must part and to whom a goodby must be spoken.
Looking around to make sure that no one was within hearing, he went up very close to the old driver and said, in almost a whisper: “I was feelin' bad 'cause I just come from Mr. and Mrs. Treat, an' I've been sayin' goodby to them. I'm goin' to run away tonight.”
Ben looked at him for a moment, as if he doubted whether the boy knew exactly what he was talking about, and then said, “So you still want to go home, do you?”
“Oh yes, Ben, so much,” was the reply, in a tone which expressed how dear to him was the thought of being in his old home once more.
“All right, my boy; I won't say one word ag'in' it, though it do seem too bad, after you've turned out to be such a good rider,” said the old man, thoughtfully. “It's better for you, I know; for a circus hain't no place for a boy, even if he wants to stay, an' I can't say but I'm glad you're still determined to go.”
Toby felt relieved at the tone of this leave taking. He had feared that Old Ben, who thought a circus rider was almost on the topmost round of fortune's ladder, would have urged him to stay, since he had made his debut in the ring, and he was almost afraid that he might take some steps to prevent his going.
“I wanted to say goodby now,” said Toby, in a choking voice, “'cause perhaps I sha'n't see you again.
“Goodby, my boy,” said Ben as he took the boy's hand in his. “Don't forget this experience you've had in runnin' away; an if ever the time comes that you feel as if you wanted to know that you had a friend, think of Old Ben, an' remember that his heart beats just as warm for you as if he was your father. Goodby, my boy, goodby, an' may the good God bless you!”
“Goodby, Ben,” said Toby; and then, as the old driver turned and walked away, wiping something from his eye with the cuff of his sleeve, Toby gave full vent to his tears and wondered why it was that he was such a miserable little wretch.
There was one more goodby to be said, and that Toby dreaded more than all the others. It was to Ella. He knew that she would feel badly to have him go, because she liked to ride the act with him that gave them such applause, and he felt certain that she would urge him to stay.
Just then the thought of another of his friends—one who had not yet been warned of what very important matter was to occur—came to his mind, and he hastened toward the old monkey's cage. His pet was busily engaged in playing with some of the younger members of his family, and for some moments could not be induced to come to the bars of the cage.
At last, however, Toby did succeed in coaxing him forward, and then, taking him by the paw and drawing him as near as possible, Toby whispered, “We're goin' to run away tonight, Mr. Stubbs, an' I want you to be all ready to go the minute I come for you.”
The old monkey winked both eyes violently, and then showed his teeth to such an extent that Toby thought he was laughing at the prospect, and he said, a little severely, “If you had as many friends as I have got in the circus you wouldn't laugh when you was goin' to leave them. Of course I've got to go, an' I want to go; but it makes me feel bad to leave the skeleton, an' the fat woman, an Old Ben, an' little Ella. But I mustn't stand here. You be ready when I come for you, an' by mornin' we'll be so far off that Mr. Lord nor Mr. Castle can't catch us.”
The old monkey went toward his companions, as if he were in high glee at the trip before him, and Toby went into the dressing tent to prepare for the evening's performance—which was about to commence.
It appeared to the boy as if everyone was unusually kind to him that night, and, feeling sad at leaving those in the circus who had befriended him, Toby was unusually attentive to everyone around him. He ran on some trifling errand for one, helped another in his dressing, and in a dozen kind ways seemed as if trying to atone for leaving them secretly.
When the time came for him to go into the ring and he met Ella, bright and happy at the thought of riding with him and repeating her triumphs of the afternoon, nothing save the thought of how wicked he had been to run away from good old Uncle Daniel, and a desire to right that wrong in some way, prevented him from giving up his plan of going back.
The little girl observed his sadness, and she whispered, “Has anyone been whipping you, Toby?”
Toby shook his head. He had thought that he would tell her what he was about to do just before they went into the ring, but her kind words seemed to make that impossible, and he had said nothing when the blare of the trumpets, the noisy demonstrations of the audience, and the announcement of the clown that the wonderful children riders were now about to appear, ushered them into the ring.
If Toby had performed well in the afternoon, he accomplished wonders on this evening, and they were called back into the ring, not once, but twice; and when finally they were allowed to retire everyone behind the curtain overwhelmed them with praise.
Ella was so profuse with her kind words, her admiration for what Toby had done, and so delighted at the idea that they were to ride together, that even then the boy could not tell her what he was going to do, but went into his dressing room, resolving that he would tell her all when they both had finished dressing.
Toby made as small a parcel as possible of the costume which Mr. and Mrs. Treat had given him—for he determined that he would take it with him—and, putting it under his coat, went out to wait for Ella. As she did not come out as soon as he expected, he asked someone to tell her that he wanted to see her, and he thought to himself that when she did come she would be in a hurry and could not stop long enough to make any very lengthy objections to his leaving.
But she did not come at all—her mother sent out word that Toby could not see her until after the performance was over, owing to the fact that it was now nearly time for her to go into the ring, and she was not dressed yet.
Toby was terribly disappointed. He knew that it would not be safe for him to wait until the close of the performance if he were intending to run away that night, and he felt that he could not go until he had said a few last words to her.
He was in a great perplexity, until the thought came to him that he could write a goodby to her, and by this means any unpleasant discussion would be avoided.
After some little difficulty he procured a small piece of not very clean paper and a very short bit of lead pencil, and, using the top of one of the wagons, as he sat on the seat, for a desk, he indited the following epistle:
deaR ella I Am goin to Run away two night, & i want two say good by to yu & your mother. i am Small & unkle Danil says i dont mount two much, but i am old enuf two know that you have bin good two me, & when i Am a man i will buy you a whole cirkus, and we Will ride together. dont forgit me & i wont yu in haste
Toby Tyler.
Toby had no envelope in which to seal this precious letter, but he felt that it would not be seen by prying eyes and would safely reach its destination if he intrusted it to Old Ben.
It did not take him many moments to find the old driver, and he said, as he handed him the letter, “I didn't see Ella to tell her I was goin', so I wrote this letter, an' I want to know if you will give it to her?”
“Of course I will. But see here, Toby”—and Ben caught him by the sleeve and led him aside where he would not be overheard—“have you got enough money to take you home? for if you haven't I can let you have some.” And Ben plunged his hand into his capacious pocket, as if he was about to withdraw from there the entire United States Treasury.
Toby assured him that he had sufficient for all his wants; but the old man would not be satisfied until he had seen for himself, and then, taking Toby's hand again, he said: “Now, my boy, it won't do for you to stay around here any longer. Buy something to eat before you start, an' go into the woods for a day or two before you take the train or steamboat.
“You're too big a prize for Job or Castle to let you go without a word, an' they'll try their level best to find you. Be careful, now, for if they should catch you, goodby any more chances to get away. There”—and here Ben suddenly lifted him high from the ground and kissed him—“now get away as fast as you can.”
Toby pressed the old man's hand affectionately, and then, without trusting himself to speak, walked swiftly out toward the entrance.
He resolved to take Ben's advice and go into the woods for a short time, and therefore he must buy some provisions before he started.
As he passed the monkeys' cage he saw his pet sitting near the bars, and he stopped long enough to whisper, “I'll be back in ten minutes, Mr. Stubbs, an' you be all ready then.”
Then he went on, and just as he got near the entrance one of the men told him that Mrs. Treat wished to see him.
Toby could hardly afford to spare the time just then, but he would probably have obeyed the summons if he had known that by so doing he would be caught, and he ran as fast as his little legs would carry him toward the skeleton's tent.
The exhibition was open, and both the skeleton, and his wife were on the platform when Toby entered; but he crept around at the back and up behind Mrs. Treat's chair, telling her as he did so that he had just received her message and that he must hurry right back, for every moment was important then to him.
“I put up a nice lunch for you,” she said as she kissed him, “and you'll find it on the top of the biggest trunk. Now go; and if my wishes are of any good to you, you will get to your uncle Daniel's house without any trouble. Goodby again, little one.”
Toby did not dare to trust himself any longer where everyone was so kind to him. He slipped down from the platform as quickly as possible, found the bundle—and a good sized one it was, too—without any difficulty, and went back to the monkeys' cage.
As orders had been given by the proprietor of the circus that the boy should do as he had a mind to with the monkey, he called Mr. Stubbs; and as he was in the custom of taking him with him at night, no one thought that it was anything strange that he should take him from the cage now.
Mr. Lord or Mr. Castle might possibly have thought it queer had either of them seen the two bundles which Toby carried, but, fortunately for the boy's scheme, they both believed that he was in the dressing tent, and consequently thought that he was perfectly safe.
Toby's hand shook so that he could hardly undo the fastening of the cage, and when he attempted to call the monkey to him his voice sounded so strange and husky that it startled him.
The old monkey seemed to prefer sleeping with Toby rather than with those of his kind in the cage; and as the boy took him with him almost every night, he came on this particular occasion as soon as Toby called, regardless of the strange sound of his master's voice.
With his bundles under his arm and the monkey on his shoulder, with both paws tightly clasped around his neck, Toby made his way out of the tent with beating heart and bated breath.
Neither Mr. Lord, Castle, nor Jacobs were in sight, and everything seemed favorable for his flight. During the afternoon he had carefully noted the direction of the woods, and he started swiftly toward them now, stopping only long enough, as he was well clear of the tents, to say, in a whisper:
“Goodby, Mr. Treat, an' Mrs. Treat, an' Ella, an' Ben. Sometime, when I'm a man, I'll come back an' bring you lots of nice things, an' I'll never forget you—never. When I have a chance to be good to some little boy that felt as bad as I did I'll do it, an' tell him that it was you did it. Goodby.”
Then, turning around, he ran toward the woods as swiftly as if his escape had been discovered and the entire company were in pursuit.