Phil laughed good-naturedly.
"You remain here and watch the car, Teddy. I am going to run over town. Had your breakfast?"
"Say, I forgot all about that. I haven't had a thing."
"Your appetite will keep. I must look around a little.
Something may be going on that needs attention from our side."
Phil had reason, a few minutes later, to be thankful that his instinct had prompted him to hurry over town.
CHAPTER XVI
A BATTLE OF WITS
"The Robinson people, at least, have got to work," muttered the Circus Boy as he made his way downtown. Here and there, at rare intervals, he came across a window bill of the show mentioned.
There were blocks of windows, however, with no billing in them. Phil interpreted this to mean that his own men had secured the requisite permission to place their own bills there.
He smiled as he thought of the little trick. It was an idea of his own to square locations ahead of the lithographers. Ordinarily, the lithographer made his rounds with a bundle of bills on his arm. Entering a store he would say, "May I place this bill in your window?" Phil had adopted the plan of sending the men around first. After they had obtained the signed permission they would go back over the same ground and place the bills. This took a little more time, but it had the merit of fooling his rivals and getting many more places squared than could have been done in the old way.