“An’ I’ll show you the best seats in the house,” added Joe. “Come on!”
Of course Tom was too dignified to show any visible effects of the pleasing sensations which seized him as he entered the abode of pomp and sawdust. He had never before seen so much of either.
As the performance was about to begin, Joe immediately conducted them to the reserved seat section, where real chairs took the place of piles of lumber.
“We haven’t stampeded the menagerie and it’s cost us only twenty-five cents per,” laughed Bob.
Dave, minus his red coat and cap, soon joined them; and from their point of vantage they witnessed the “Stupendous and Gorgeous Spectacle” which Spudger always gave to his patrons.
After the show, when the crowds had departed, Dave took the crowd to the small side tent and introduced them to “Little” Georgy, Zingar, the Randolpho family and Ormond de Sylveste. The circus people all expressed profound gratification at the meeting. The young giant was particularly charmed.
“I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if you’d have a job like mine some day,” he remarked to Tom.
“If it comes to that I’ll remember Spudger’s,” grinned the high school lad.
“We can’t have any fellows on our ball nine that measure over six feet three inches,” said Blake.
“Ball nine—ball nine!” queried Joe. “What ball nine?”