“You’ve won the bet.”
“Keep your money; it was only a trick,” smiled Carl.
“And how was it done?”
“Ah, that’s one of our professional secrets,” laughed Carl. “Good-night,” and he and Leo retired.
“How was the trick done?” the reader asks. We will tell them. When Carl went out he procured another egg and put in one end a bit of quicksilver. This egg he substituted for the original egg when he waved the latter in the air. The egg with the quicksilver could, of course, be set on end with ease, for the quicksilver’s weight would balance the other end.
Leaving the town the next day, Leo and Carl struck out for a city five miles away, having heard that it was a good place in which to perform. There was no stage running to the city, so the pair walked the distance. When they reached the outskirts Leo suddenly stopped short and pointed to several billboards fastened to the side of a barn.
“What’s the matter?” asked Carl. “I don’t see anything but circus bills. And the circus won’t be here until the day after to-morrow.”
“It’s the ‘Greatest Show on Earth’—the circus I used to travel with,” said the young acrobat.
“Oh, that’s so. Well, we needn’t come in contact with the crowd, if you don’t care to do so,” said Carl.
For Leo had told his friend the whole story of the stolen circus tickets and Carl sympathized with him over the fact that he was under suspicion.