"Well, I don't know," answered Kenneth; "I guess the horse was 'most as funny."
The young man looked hurt. "Well, I guess," he said, "that if that horse took you in his jaws once and bounded away into the Trackless Jungle, where the Baffled and Vociferous Cries of the—that is, I mean you wouldn't think him so funny."
"What are they going to do next?" asked Kenneth.
"Ground and lofty tumbling," said his companion. "See the big pneumatic mattress."
Half a dozen men came in and began turning all sorts of handsprings and summersaults on this, always bounding up very high. The clown kept getting in the way and rolling about, and sometimes the performers would bound on him. Suddenly two of the men seized him and threw him on the cushion, and he bounded up so high that he struck the top of the tent, and everybody roared again.
"Suppose he should come down on a tack?" suggested Kenneth.
"My, I wish he would!" laughed the other. "Wouldn't it be fun? He'd look just like a burst balloon."
There was a great deal more performing of various kinds, with the clown rolling about in the way all the time. Once when two strong men were tossing cannon-balls and lifting heavy weights, the clown bothered so much that they took him and played football with him, kicking him back and forth across the ring and having fine sport. There was also a grand race of the trained pneumatic kangaroos. They played leap-frog and did some high jumping, and were almost as funny as the clown. Suddenly Kenneth's companion exclaimed:
"Señor Chinchilla comes next. Now look out!"
The Señor came rolling in, sitting gracefully on his bicycle, Sir Sky-Rocket, all dressed in red and green. He dismounted, made a fine bow, and stood fanning himself while the ring-master made a little speech full of words which caused Kenneth's companion to open his eyes and mouth in astonishment. Another man took the saddle and handle-bar off the bicycle, and then the Señor bounded lightly on to the top of the frame, where he stood easily as the ring-master cracked his whip and the bicycle shot away around the ring. The clown was so impressed that he rolled away and disappeared. The band played, and the young man became so excited that Kenneth was sure he would tumble out of his seat, and so took hold of his arm.