"How much will you charge?" asked Jotham, eager but cautious.
"Oh, I won't charge you anything. I'll do it out of friendship. Come in, Rob."
"No, Charlie, not just now."
Robert suspected that Charlie meditated a practical joke, and did not care to take part in it.
They entered the tent—it was in the middle of the forenoon—and Charlie went to his friend the clown, and whispered a few words.
"So the young gentleman wants to take a lesson in riding, does he?" he asked.
"Yes," answered Jotham, eagerly, "if you have no objection."
"We'll do it for you as a favor," said the clown. "What's your name, young man?"
Jotham was about to answer correctly, when Charlie broke in—"His name is Lorenzo Leon, from Italy."