PREFACE.

As the Pacific Series, just completed, is devoted to stories of life and adventure on the Pacific coast, the Atlantic Series, of which the Young Circus Rider is the initial volume, will comprise stories located nearer home. The author will feel at liberty, however, should the exigencies of the plot require it, to change the scene temporarily to other parts of the continent.

The fascinations which the circus has always exercised over the minds of young people is so well known, that the author has felt justified in selecting the hero of the present story from that class of public performers who appeal so powerfully to the imagination of his young readers. In order to prepare himself for his task, he has made personal acquaintance with more than one hero of the ring, and has sought to furnish an inside view of the life which he describes. He hopes that the result may prove acceptable to the juvenile public in whose behalf he is always glad to labor.

Horatio Alger, Jr.

March 13, 1883.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER. PAGE
I.Anak, the Norwegian Giant[7]
II.Anak's Exploits[15]
III.The Wrath of Mr. Tarbox[24]
IV.Mr. Tarbox Invokes the Majesty of the Law[32]
V.Tarbox and the Constable go to the Circus[41]
VI.Tarbox is Defeated[50]
VII.The Evening Entertainment[59]
VIII.A Scheming Nephew[68]
IX.Two Boys on a Tramp[77]
X.Trapped[85]
XI.Dismay at the Home of Tarbox[94]
XII.The Canvas Man[102]
XIII.Catching a Thief[110]
XIV.Chestnutwood[115]
XV.A Compact[120]
XVI.The Canvas Man[127]
XVII.An Athletic Contest[136]
XVIII.The Canvas Man finds a Bonanza[144]
XIX.A Farce and a Tragedy[153]
XX.The Amateur Detectives[162]
XXI.Catching a Burglar[171]
XXII.Robert Rudd Leaves the Circus[180]
XXIII.What the Letter Contained[188]
XXIV.Robert Meets his Employer[193]
XXV.At Niagara Falls[198]
XXVI.A Victim of Treachery[207]
XXVII.Robert finds Himself in a Tight Place[216]
XXVIII.Robert Subdues a Horse[225]
XXIX.An Unpleasant Acquaintance[234]
XXX.The Tree of Refuge[241]
XXXI.Hercules—the Strong Man[247]
XXXII.Fitzgerald's Disappointment[253]
XXXIII.Fitzgerald Sees an Apparition[262]
XXXIV.The Mystery of Robert Rudd is Solved[266]