"Bill was provoked over his failure, and, when he wasn't helping Inky Jed get out the bogus tickets, he followed the show and tried to prevail on Harry to play another trick on me. Just what it was Harry doesn't know. He refused to do it, and then he came and confessed to me. So much for Harry. He's a sorry boy, and I think he'll turn over a new leaf.
"Now about Ham. Just as I feared, he got to drinking again. But it was because Bill met him when poor Ham's nerves were on edge, and Bill induced him to take liquor. Then Ham went all to pieces and started on a spree which lasted until now. He managed to get from place to place, always under Bill's eye, and at last he landed here, very weak and ill. Mrs. Donlon looked after him.
"And it was here that Ham first heard Bill and his crony plotting about the bogus circus tickets. The two counterfeiters planned to make a big strike here with the shipyard workers. Then Ham sent the warning to me. I called on him, learned the plans of Bill and Jed, and we sent for the detectives. The latter, we learned, were about to make an arrest anyhow, but it was of the men who really printed the bogus tickets. They hadn't a clew, as yet, to Bill and Jed, who were the real backers of the game. The detectives came on, disguised themselves with us, and we caught the scoundrels in the very act. Now they're locked up."
"Oh, Joe, it's wonderful!" exclaimed Helen. "I'm so glad it's all over. And are you going to bring Ham back to the show?"
"Just as soon as he's able to travel. Micky Donlon wants to join too, and I may give him a chance later. Well, our troubles seem to be over for a time, but I suppose there'll be more."
"Oh, look on the bright side!" exclaimed Helen. "Why be a fire-eater if you can't look on the bright side?" she laughed.
"That's so," agreed her admirer. "Well, I've got to get ready to eat some fire right now."
As Joe had said, everything was cleared up. Bill Carfax was at the bottom of most of the personal troubles of the young circus man, and his acts were actuated by a desire for vengeance. As to the ticket trick, Bill was only a sort of agent in that. Jed Lewis, alias Inky Jed, was an expert counterfeiter. He had already served time in prison for trying to make counterfeit money, and when he fell in with Bill, and heard the latter tell of some of his circus experiences, the more skillful scoundrel became impressed with the chance of making money by selling spurious tickets.
They had some printed and worked the scheme among crowds of men coming from factories, just as they were doing when they were caught.
As Ham told Joe, the old fire-eater had overheard the plots and saw his chance to do Joe a favor. Carfax, it was surmised, hoped to get Ham Logan under his influence through drink, so that he might use him in order to injure Joe, after having failed with Harry Loper.