"Ha! I knew I was right!" cried Ham triumphantly. "You're the boy they called Buzz, the Human Fly. I saw you perform at Chester, and I heard later about your running away. And you helped to let a lion and a chimpanzee escape, too."
"I did not!" cried Tommy. "The men who were discharged let those animals get away. I had nothing whatever to do with it."
"Oh, yes, that's your story; but the circus people tell it differently," put in Carl Dudder. "I was talking to one of them only the other day. They'd give a good deal to catch you and those men."
As he spoke he advanced toward Tommy as if to catch hold of the lad.
The boy from the circus shrank back and looked very much alarmed.
"Here, Carl Dudder, you leave that boy alone!" cried the doctor's son. "Don't you dare to touch him!"
"I'll do as I please. The boy doesn't belong to you," blustered
Carl.
"I know that—-but you are not going to lay the weight of your finger on him."
"Don't do it," whispered Ham to his crony in alarm. "Remember, they are five to two."
"I think there is a reward for this boy," answered Carl in an equally low tone of voice.
"Well, if there is, keep mum and we may be able to get it."