"You must ask the manager. They always make giants taller than they are. It's equal all round, and nobody's hurt. And now, Robert, I'm going to ask you a question."
"What is it, Anak?"
"Do you expect always to be in this business?"
"Bareback riding, you mean? No, I hope not," said the boy, gravely.
"I hope not, too. It'll do for a time, and there isn't anything else open to a big overgrown fellow like me, but you are a smart boy, and there are plenty of chances for you to get into something else. You never told me about when you were a little boy; can you remember as far back?"
"Not much," answered the boy, soberly. "Sometimes I seem to remember a fine house and grounds, and it seems as if I were riding on a beautiful lawn, on a pony, with a servant at my side. But it is provoking that I can't remember any more, and the whole seems dim, and melts away, and it may be all imagination, after all."
"It may be all true, Robert. Was it in America, do you think, now?"
"That is more than I can tell. It may be all fancy."
"Have you any relations living?"
"Not that I know of," said the boy sadly; "I wish I had. I feel very lonely sometimes, and there doesn't seem much to live for."