“I'll risk his getting away from you, Job,” he heard the other say; “but of course I've got to take my chances. I'll take him in hand from eleven to twelve each day—just your slack time of trade—and I'll not only give you half of what he can earn in the next two years, but I'll pay you for his time, if he gives you the slip before the season is out.”
Toby knew that they were speaking of him, but what it all meant he could not imagine.
“What are you going to do with him first?” Job asked.
“Just put him right in the ring and teach him what riding is. I tell you, Job, the boy's smart enough, and before the season's over I'll have him so that he can do some of the bareback acts, and perhaps we'll get some money out of him before we go into winter quarters.”
Toby understood the meaning of their conversation only too well, and he knew that his lot, which before seemed harder than he could bear, was about to be intensified through this Mr. Castle, of whom he had frequently heard, and who was said to be a rival of Mr. Lord's so far as brutality went. The two men now walked toward the large tent, and Toby was left alone with his thoughts and two or three little boy customers, who looked at him wonderingly and envied him because he belonged to the circus.
During the ride that night he told Old Ben what he had heard, confidently expecting that that friend at least would console him; but Ben was not the champion which he had expected. The old man, who had been with a circus, “man and boy, nigh to forty years,” did not seem to think it any calamity that he was to be taught to ride.
“That Mr. Castle is a little rough on boys,” Old Ben said, thoughtfully; “but it'll be a good thing for you, Toby. Just so long as you stay with Job you won't be nothin' more 'n a candy boy; but after you know how to ride it 'll be another thing, an' you can earn a good deal of money an' be your own boss.”
“But I don't want to stay with the circus,” whined Toby; “I don't want to learn to ride, an' I do want to get back to Uncle Dan'l.”
“That may all be true, an' I don't dispute it,” said Ben; “but you see you didn't stay with your uncle Daniel when you had the chance, an' you did come with the circus. You've told Job you wanted to leave, an' he 'll be watchin' you all the time to see that you don't give him the slip. Now what's the consequence? Why, you can't get away for a while, anyhow, an' you'd better try to amount to something while you are here. Perhaps after you've got so you can ride you may want to stay; an' I'll see to it that you get all of your wages, except enough to pay Castle for learnin' of you.”
“I sha'n't want to stay,” said Toby. “I wouldn't stay if I could ride all the horses at once an' was gettin' a hundred dollars a day.”