“But he’ll have me arrested. I don’t want to be locked up for something I didn’t do.”
“I don’t blame you for that. But wait a while. There’s no need to go back right away. Finish out the season with us, if you like. I know the old man would hate to lose you now.”
“I want to stay, too,” said Jack. “I’m getting to like the life very much.”
“Well, then, stick it out till fall. Then write to the professor, asking for news of your folks. He’ll give you some, if he has it, even though he wants to arrest you. But perhaps by then he’ll get over his anger, or maybe he’ll find, in the meanwhile, that you didn’t steal the cup. Anyway, you can write to him, and promise to return, if he will not have you locked up, until you have a chance to prove that you’re innocent. That’s what I’d do.”
“I guess I will,” decided Jack. “I’ll write to him when it’s about time for the circus to close up.”
“That won’t be for a couple of months yet,” said Sam. “Maybe you’d better write now.”
“No, if I do, very likely he’d find out where I was and have me locked up. I’ll wait a while.”
But if Jack had only written then he would have saved himself much anguish of heart, and not a little physical suffering. But he did not know, not being able to look into the future.
One day, after he had finished his performance in the ring, Jack went to the property man.
“I wish I could have my platform made a little higher,” he said.