"How long has he been riding?"
"Ever since he was eight or nine years old. That boy is perfectly fearless with horses. Not many grown men can ride as well. And that isn't all! I could easily make a lion tamer of him if he were willing. He has a wonderful power over the wild beasts. I believe he would go into their cages and they wouldn't offer to harm him."
"My cousin Julian had a passion for horses," thought Hugo. "If this boy were his son he would come honestly by his taste."
"You don't know how he came to adopt such a life, do you?" he asked.
"No; I believe the boy was alone in the world. I have heard him say he was under the care of a man who called himself his uncle, but for whom he does not seem to entertain any affection. Whether this man deserted him, or he ran away from the man, I don't know. At any rate he fell in with some men in our business, and a well-known rider, seeing that the boy was quick and daring, offered to instruct him in his special line. The boy accepted, and that is the way he drifted into the show business."
"You say he has no relatives?"
"None that he knows of."
"Has he any education?"