TOBY TYLER;
OR, TEN WEEKS WITH A CIRCUS.
BY JAMES OTIS.
Chapter XIV.
MR. CASTLE TEACHES TOBY TO RIDE.
When Toby got within sight of the ring, he was astonished at what he saw. A horse with a broad wooden saddle was being led slowly around the ring; Mr. Castle was standing on one side, with a long whip in his hand, and on the tent pole, which stood in the centre of the ring, was a long arm, from which dangled a leathern belt on a long rope that was carried through the end of the arm, and run down to the base of the pole.
Toby knew well enough why the horse, the whip, and the man were there, but this wooden projection from the tent pole, which looked so much like a gallows, he could not understand at all.
"Come, now," said Mr. Castle, cracking his whip ominously as Toby came in sight, "why weren't you here before?"
"Mr. Lord just sent me in," said Toby, not expecting that his excuse would be received, for they never had been since he had arrived at the height of his ambition by joining the circus.
"Then I'll make Mr. Job understand that I am to have my full hour of your time, and if I don't get it, there'll be trouble between us."