“I have been wanting to see you, to ask what you wish us to do tonight—where we are to travel?”
“You may sleep in my wagon. I’ll take a horse for tonight.”
“I could not think of doing such a thing. No, Mr. Sparling, if I am to be a circus man, I want to do just as the rest of them do. Where do the other performers sleep?”
“Wherever they can find places. Some few of the higher paid ones have berths in wagons. Others sleep in the band wagon. The rest, I guess, don’t sleep at all, except after we get into a town. The menagerie outfit will be leaving town very soon now. You may go through with them if you wish.”
“If you do not object, I think I should prefer to remain until the rest of the show goes out.”
“Suit yourself.”
Mr. Sparling understood how the lads felt, and perhaps it would be better to let them break in at once, he reasoned. They would become seasoned much sooner.
The tent was taken down and packed away in the wagons in an almost incredibly short time.
“Come on; let’s go into the circus tent and see what’s going on there,” suggested Teddy.
Phil agreed, and the lads strolled in. They found the performance nearly over. When it was finished quite a large number remained to see the “grand concert” that followed.