“Very good!” said Nathan Wampole, highly pleased, and Carl Ross also smiled his approval.
At the conclusion of the show that evening Leo decided to join the company, and from that moment on he and Carl Ross became warm friends.
From Cokeville the company proceeded to Lumbertown and then to Wimblerun. For the time being Leo lost track of the circus and devoted himself entirely to his new position. His acts on the stage were well received, yet Carl Ross remained, as heretofore, the star of the combination.
“I wish I could do tricks,” said Leo, as he watched the young magician at practice. “But I don’t believe I could learn.”
“You could learn as easily as I could learn to act on the trapeze,” laughed Carl. “If I tried that I would get dizzy and fall sure.”
“Every one to his own line,” concluded Leo. “I can go up any distance into the air and not be afraid.”
“Up in a balloon?”
“Yes, even up in a balloon,” and Leo told of his adventures along that line.
For several weeks matters ran smoothly, but then they took a turn. Leo found out that Nathan Wampole loved dearly to play cards, and every dollar the manager could raise was staked and lost at the gaming-table. For two weeks he could not get a cent of salary.
“I don’t like this,” he said to Carl Ross, when the pair talked the matter over.