The boy who was so anxious to start a circus was a little fellow with such a wonderful amount of remarkably red hair that he was seldom called anything but Reddy, although his name was known—by his parents, at least—to be Walter Grant. His companion was Toby Tyler, a boy who, a year before, had thought it would be a very pleasant thing to run away from his uncle Daniel and the town of Guilford in order to be with a circus, and who, in ten weeks, was only too glad to run back home as rapidly as possible.
During the first few months after his return many brilliant offers had been made Toby by his companions to induce him to aid them in starting an amateur circus; but he had refused to have anything to do with the schemes, and for several reasons. During the ten weeks he had been away he had seen quite as much of a circus life as he cared to see, without even such a mild dose as this amateur show would be; and again, whenever he thought of the matter, the remembrance of the death of his monkey, Mr. Stubbs, would come upon him so vividly, and cause him so much sorrow, that he resolutely put the matter from his mind.
Now, however, it had been a year since the monkey was killed; school had closed during the summer season; and he was rather more disposed to listen to the requests of his friends. On this particular night Reddy Grant had offered to go with him for the cows—an act of generosity which Toby accounted for only on the theory that Reddy wanted some of the strawberries which grew so plentifully in Uncle Daniel's pasture. But when they arrived there the strawberries were neglected for the circus question; and Toby then showed he was at least willing to talk about it.
There was no doubt that Bob Atwood knew Reddy was going to try to induce Toby to help start a circus, and Bob knew also that Reddy and Toby would visit him, although he appeared very much surprised when he saw them coming up the hill toward his house. He was at home, evidently waiting for something, at an hour when all the other boys were out playing; and that in itself would have made Toby suspicious if he had paid much attention to the matter.
Bob was perfectly willing to talk about a circus—so willing, that, almost before Toby was aware of it, he was laying plans with the others for such a show as could be given with the material at hand.
"You see, we'd have to get a tent the first thing," said Toby, as he seated himself on the saw-horse as a sort of place of honor, and proceeded to give his companions the benefit of his experience in the circus line. "I s'pose we could get along without a fat woman or a skeleton; but we'd have to have the tent anyway, so's folks couldn't look right in an' see the show for nothin'."
Reddy had decided some time before how that trifling matter could be arranged. In fact, he had spent several sleepless nights thinking it over, and as he went industriously to work making shavings out of a portion of a shingle he said:
"I've got all that settled, Toby; an' when you say you're willin' to go ahead an' fix up the show, I'll be on hand with a tent that'll make your eyes stick out over a foot."
Bob nodded his head to show he was convinced Reddy could do just as he had promised; but Toby was anxious for more particulars, and insisted on knowing where this very necessary portion of a circus was coming from.
"You see, a tent is a big thing," he said, seriously, "an' it would cost more money than the fellers in this town could raise if they should pick all the strawberries in Uncle Dan'l's pasture."