“It happened on an afternoon when our tent was pitched between the littlest of towns and the greatest of woods. The crowd had come, the band had begun to play, the circus was in full swing. I was in the ring, jesting with the ringmaster and cutting my cleverest capers. But my thoughts were in the depths of the woods. For I could see the green of the trees through the eaves of the tent and the rugged brown trunks through the half-curtained door. And, oh, how they called me! Not even the mirth of the tow-headed boy who sat in the very front row, nor the forget-me-nots on the bonnet of the little girl just behind him could take the tug from my heart.
“Now on this day, as always, there came the moment when I made a face at the ringmaster while he, on his part, let fly with his whip. And, as was the fashion, I pretended great awe of him and dashed from the ring to escape his advance. This bit of acting I had done whole dozens of times, always scampering as far as the door at the rear of the tent and then coming back to my place. But, just as I reached the curtain on this afternoon, the great wind-puffs began! How the hundreds upon hundreds of branches bent forward; and how they swept backward again! They were beckoning me onward, beckoning as never before!
“And so, without so much as turning my head, I bounded on through the door and ran straight for the trees. As I reached the first of them, there came the voice of the ringmaster bidding me return. Soon other voices, voices great and small and deep and shrill, rose in one clear cry:
“‘Come back, Dan! Come back, Diggeldy Dan!’
“But the woods now held me fast in their arms.
“‘On, on, Diggeldy Dan!’ called every leaf.
“‘Stop, stop!’ pleaded every child and, mingling with their voices, I could hear the guttural bass of the ringmaster’s shout.
“How I ran! Deep, deep into the depths of the boundless woods I sped; and deep, deep into the boundless woods came they who gave chase. Peering back over my shoulder, I could see all the children, and all their fathers and mothers and uncles and even their aunts coming pell-mell in pursuit, all led by the ringmaster in his shiny top hat and shiny top boots.
“‘You must not run away, Dan!’ warned a voice from within.
“‘Come away, come away, Dan!’ sang the leaves from the trees.