"Yes, about half an hour ago," was the answer. "He said he was going in to town."
"Going in to town—and so near performing time?" cried Joe. "I wonder what for! He ought to be here!"
Joe was worried, and when his signal for going on came Ham Logan was still missing. Joe Strong shook his head dubiously. It had been found necessary to get another man to help with the act.
"I don't like this," he murmured. "I don't like it for a cent!"
CHAPTER XXII
A SUDDEN WARNING
Only the fact that he had strong nerves and that he possessed the ability of concentrating his mind on whatever was uppermost at the time, enabled the young circus man to get through his various circus acts with credit at that performance. He began with the worry over Ham Logan's disappearance before him. And he was actually worried—a bad state of affairs for one whose ability to please and deceive critical audiences depends on his snappy acting, his quickness of hand and mind, and his skill.
But, as has been said, Joe possessed the ability to concentrate on the most needful matter, and that, for the time being, was his box trick, his fire-eating, and his slide on his head down the slanting wire through the blazing hoops.
Then came the blazing banquet, and this created the usual furor in the audience. Joe managed to get through it with credit, though his rather strange manner was noticed and commented on afterward by the young people associated with him.