“Don’t let that worry you,” responded the trainer. “I know what you mean; you don’t want to ‘graft’ the way a lot of fellows do who think they’re newspaper men. But that is all right. A real newspaper man never grafts, but this pass isn’t graft. We always send the newspapers lots of tickets, anyhow. It’s part of our advertising contract. This is simply an extra one for yourself, as a sort of recognition for what you did, though it doesn’t begin to pay for the trouble you saved us.”
“If you think it’s all right I’ll take it,” Larry answered.
“Of course it is. Come to the show, and see Nero go through his paces.”
Men by this time had come up to repair the broken cage, and with a nod of farewell, the trainer left Larry, as there were many things to attend to toward getting the circus into shape. Larry wandered about the big Garden, seeing odd little incidents that he made use of in his newspaper story.
He found the manager in charge of the freaks, and introducing himself, Larry started to ask if there was anything new that might make a story.
“Well, yes, here is a little item you might work in,” replied the manager, looking at Larry in what the reporter thought was a strange sort of way. “We’ve a romance on our hands.”
“A romance?”
“Yes, you see the living skeleton has gone and fallen in love with the fat woman.”
“Really?” asked Larry, thinking the manager might be trying to “string” him.
“Of course. Come out and have a talk with him. But that isn’t the worst. You see, the fat lady is smitten with the India rubber man, and the bearded lady has gone and fallen in love with the living skeleton, so you see, things are all mixed up. Come out into the freak room, and see for yourself.”