“Oh, nothing like that will ever happen to me!” said the trick pony. But that only goes to show we never can tell what is going to happen in this world, doesn’t it? For Tinkle is in this very book you are reading. And how surprised he was when he heard about it and saw his pictures!
But now we will leave him talking to Mappo, if you please, and go back to where George and Mabel live. You will remember that Patrick, the coachman, had gone to the store for salve for one of the horses, and that George and Mabel, with their father and mother, were visiting in the country.
When Patrick came back with the salve the first thing he noticed was that Tinkle was not in his stall.
Patrick searched all around for Tinkle, but, of course, could not find him. He asked the people living in neighboring houses, but none of them had seen Tinkle go away, because the men shut him up inside the moving van, you see. Some persons had seen the big wagon near the stable but none had seen Tinkle put into it.
Patrick even got a policeman and a fireman, whom he knew, to look for Tinkle, but they could not find him. And when, a day or so later, Mr. and Mrs. Farley came back from the country, with George and Mabel, the two children cried when told that Tinkle was gone.
“I think I must cheer them up a bit,” said Mr. Farley to his wife one afternoon. “They are thinking too much about Tinkle. I must take their minds off him.”
“How will you do it?” asked Mrs. Farley.
“A circus is coming to town to-morrow,” said her husband. “I’ll take the children to see that, and when they watch the funny monkeys, the queer clowns and the big elephants they will forget about Tinkle.”
So, when the big show with the white tents came to the city where the Farleys lived, George and Mabel were taken with their father to see the wonderful sight.
“Do you think there’ll be any ponies in the circus?” asked George.