Jack finished removing his make-up, and then donned his street clothes. He was given a trunk by Sam, in which to put his clown outfit and some tubes of grease paint. So far his baggage was very light.
“Come on with me and I’ll see that you get a place in the sleeping-car,” said Sam, for the Bower & Brewster Show had its own special train, with quarters for the hundreds of performers, employees and animals.
Outside the dressing-tent Jack found that very little of the circus remained. The menagerie had entirely disappeared, and now men were beginning to take down the big tent. It was quite a different scene from the one of an hour before. Then it had been light, lively and gay, with strains of music and the laughter of the crowd.
Now it was dark; on all sides were rumbling wagons drawn by struggling horses, and men were shouting and calling to one another, trying to get their vehicles loaded so they could drive them to the flatcars by which they were transported. Yet though there was seeming confusion, everything was done by a careful system.
Jack found that the interior of the sleeping-car was not much like the regular Pullmans. But it answered the purpose, and he soon followed the example of the other circus performers and crawled into his bunk. He was tired, yet the excitement of what he had gone through kept him awake. Then, too, there were many disturbing noises caused by making up the train and loading the big wagons containing the tents, poles, supplies and animal cages.
Gentle snores on all sides of him told Jack that his companions were not disturbed by what, to him, were unusual things, for they fell asleep almost as soon as their heads touched the pillows. Finally sharp whistles of the locomotives told him that the train was ready to start, and soon he felt himself being lulled to slumber by the motion of the car and the steady click-clack as the wheels passed over the rail joints.
He was roused from his sleep by some one shaking him, and he looked up to see the good-natured face of Sam Kyle looking in on him.
“Time for breakfast,” announced the head clown.
“Breakfast? Is there a dining-car on the train?”
“Yes, for the manager and the star performers, but we’ll take ours in the tent.”