"You speak as though you belonged to the circus," said Uncle Daniel.
"I do," answered the boy. "That is, I'm with one of the side-shows, and I help around when there's nothing else to do."
"Well, it was very kind of you to bring back my little boy," went on Mrs. Bobbsey. Freddie was busy telling Flossie all the wonderful things he had seen.
"Oh, I didn't do anything, ma'am," the boy said. "I sort of knew this little fellow."
"You knew him?" questioned Uncle Daniel.
"Well, that is I'd seen him before."
"But I can't understand how Freddie became lost," said Mrs. Bobbsey, while Uncle Daniel was wondering where the strange boy had seen Freddie before. "How did you get lost, Freddie?" his mother asked him.
"Lost! I wasn't lost!" he exclaimed. "I knew where I was all the time. I was with the elephants. It was you who got lost, mamma—you and Nan and Flossie and Bert—"
"Well, we called you lost," laughed Uncle Daniel. "But you're all right now, thanks to this boy. Do you live around here?" he asked. "I don't seem to remember you, though I know most of the folks in this section. But if you have seen Freddie before you must live around here."
"Oh, no, sir," was the answer. "I'm with the circus. But I used to live—"