"Is it all right?" Helen asked Joe, as he walked back to his car.
"Yes. The excitement is all over. It was the hippo," and he told what had taken place.
"And you caught him?" asked Helen.
"Oh, it was just luck," said Joe modestly. "I didn't take any chances, you may be sure."
"Maybe he thought you were a friend of his, because you work in a tank, too," laughed Helen, for the wagon in which the hippopotamus was kept was in two parts, one end being a tank for water.
"Maybe," agreed Joe. And at that laughing speech there came to mind a matter he knew must be settled. What would be done about Benny's tank act? The question would come up that day.
Breakfast was served to the circus folk in the big tent, which had been put up in advance. The earliest arrivals at the circus ground are the tent men, the cooks with their big stoves on heavy wagons, and the animals. So that when the performers get up they generally find a hot breakfast ready for them.
After the meal Joe strolled across the lot, watching the men at work. Some of them were gathered about the wagon containing the glass tank in which Benny, the "human fish," had done his act.
"You needn't open that," said Jim Tracy, who was already around, looking after his many duties. "We won't set up the tank."
"Why not?" asked one of the men.