At length Billy Whiskers found himself before the great tent. People were beginning to crowd in. There were hundreds and thousands of them. The day was hot and the dust stifling. There was an awful racket and Billy had all he could do to keep from being trodden under foot.
As he waited, he wondered what he was to do next and almost wished that he was safely with his dear friends at Cloverleaf Farm. Finally he made up his mind that as there was no one likely to offer him a ticket, the only way for him to get inside was to go. So he made a rush for it right through the opening in the side of the tent, past the ticket takers, who made a grab at him.
“Never touched me!” shouted Billy. Then he raised his head to find himself surrounded by such sights as he had never even dreamed of.
CHAPTER V
GOING THE ROUNDS
“MY stars!” said Billy, as he cast a frightened look around, “I don’t wonder now that my friend Bob ran for his life and hid under the barn when he saw animals like these coming toward him. I’d run too if I could, but I can’t now. If all these people feel safe and can have a good time, I guess I can take care of myself.”
Having in a great measure collected his wits by this time, and his heart no longer beating so that he could scarcely breathe, the result of the excitement of rushing past the ticket takers, he made a more careful survey of his surroundings and quickly decided on his course of action.
He saw that he was in the section of the great tent devoted to the wild animals and freaks. As all readers know just how the cages are placed around the sides of the tent, with the elephants and camels in the middle; and how the human skeleton, the fat lady, bearded woman, hairy man, dwarf, giant and such like freaks are seated on a raised and rickety platform not far from the elephants, we will not stop to describe the scene that now presented itself to Billy Whiskers’ wondering gaze. It looked grand to him and he was just as excited as boys and girls are when they find themselves inside the great tent with all its wonders spread out before them.
“I’ll first call on the animals and make friends with those that look pleasant and answer good-naturedly the few questions which I want to ask,” thought Billy. “Then I will go in and see the Circus that the billboards at The Corners had so much to say about, and especially the clown who makes Tom and Harry Treat laugh so that they can never mention him without almost splitting themselves. I didn’t like all the things they said about him. If he makes those poor horses race too fast and strikes people with that board of his that cracks so, I shall be tempted to give him a dose of his own medicine. I am not so meek yet, in spite of what Terrence Bull Pup is pleased to say, that I can stand it to see horses abused or innocent actors hurt by an outlandish looking clown.”