Joe Strong on the Trapeze Part 17

Then Joe, amid applause, descended and went over to work with the two Spaniards. He carried the doctored trapeze with him.

"I didn't use this," he said, looking closely at Tonzo. "It seems to have been left out in the rain and one of the ropes has rotted."

"Rotted?" asked Sid, his voice trembling.

"Something like that, yes," answered Joe.

"Ah, that is too bad!" exclaimed Tonzo, and neither by a false note nor by a change in his face did he betray anything. "I am glad you discovered the defect in time."

"So am I," said Joe significantly. "Come on, now.

"Probably they fixed the rope with acid, and kept it ready against the chance that some day I might use it," reflected Joe. "The worst that could happen would be to spoil my tricks--I couldn't get much hurt falling into the net, and they knew that. But it was a mean act, all right, and I sha'n't forget it. I guess they want to discourage me so they can get their former partner back. But I'm going to stick!"

"Did you find out anything, Joe?" asked Helen, when she had a chance to speak to him alone.

"I sure did, thanks to you, little girl. I might have had a ridiculous fall if I'd used their trapeze. You were right in what you suspected."

"Oh, Joe! I'm so glad I saw it in time to warn you."

"So am I, Helen. It was a mean piece of business, and cunning. I never suspected them of it."

"Oh, but you will be careful after this, won't you, Joe?"

"Indeed I will! I want to live long enough to see you get your fortune. By the way, when is that lawyer coming?"

"He is to meet me day after to-morrow."

"I'll be on hand," Joe promised.

It rained the next day, and working in a circus during a rain is not exactly fun. Still the show goes on, "rain or shine," as it says on the posters, and the performers do not get the worst of it. It is the wagon and canvas men who suffer in a storm.

"And this is a bad one," Joe remarked, when he went in the tent that afternoon for his act. "It's getting worse. I hope they have the tent up good and strong."

"Why?" asked Helen.

"Because the wind's increasing. Look at that!" he exclaimed as a gust careened the big, heavy canvas shelter. "If some of the tent pegs pull out there'll be trouble."

Helen looked anxious as she set off to put Rosebud through his tricks, and Joe was not a little apprehensive as he was hoisted to the top of the tent. He saw the big pole to which his trapeze was fastened, swaying as the wind shook the "main top."

CHAPTER XIV

HELEN'S INHERITANCE

Joe Strong had scarcely begun his act when he became aware that indeed the storm was no usual blow and bl.u.s.ter, accompanied by rain. He could feel his trapeze swaying as the whole tent shook, and while this would not have deterred him from going on with his performance, he felt that an accident was likely to occur that would start a panic.

"It surely does feel as if the old 'main top' was going to fall,"

thought Joe as he swung head downward by his knees, preparatory to doing another act. He could see that many in the audience were getting uneasy, and some were leaving their seats, though the red-capped ushers were going about calling:

"Sit still! Keep your seats! There is no danger. The tent is perfectly safe."

Jim Tracy had ordered this done. As a matter of fact the tent was not perfectly safe, but under the circ.u.mstances it was best to tell the people this to quiet them and to avoid having them make a rush to get out, as in that case many would be hurt--especially the women and the children.

"It's a good thing it isn't night," reflected Joe. "Whew! That was a bad one!" he exclaimed as a terrific blast seemed fairly to lift one side of the tent. Men started from their seats and women and children screamed.

"Just keep quiet and it will be all right," urged the ring-master, but the crowd was fast getting beyond control.

Joe saw Jim Tracy sending out a gang of men to drive the tent pegs deeper into the ground. The rain softened the soil, and thus made the pegs so loose that they were likely to pull out. At the same time the rain, wetting the ropes, caused them to shrink, and thus exert a stronger pull on the pegs and poles. So the ropes had to be eased off, while the pegs were pounded farther into the ground with big mauls.

"Lively now, men!" called the ring-master.

The big tent swayed, sometimes the top of it being lifted high up by the wind which blew under it. Again the sides would bulge in, making gaps by which the rain entered.

But the band kept on playing. Jim saw to that, for nothing is more conducive to subduing a panic than to let the crowd hear music. The performers, too, kept on with their acts, and some of the audience began to feel rea.s.sured.

But the wind still kept up, blowing stronger if anything, and Joe and others realized that it needed but a little accident to start a rush that might end fatally for some.

Joe was just about to go into the second series of his gymnastic work when he heard a tent pole beneath him snap with a breaking sound. At first he thought it was the big one to which his apparatus was made fast, but a glance showed him this one was standing safe. It was one of the smaller side poles.

That part of the tent sagged down, the wind aiding in the break, and there were cries of fear from scores of women, while men shouted all sorts of directions.

But the circus people had gone through dangers like this before, and they knew what to do. Under the direction of Jim Tracy and his helpers, extra poles were quickly put in place to take the weight of the wet canvas off the broken one. This at once raised the tent up from those on whom it had partly fallen.

And then something else happened.

One of five horses which were being put through a series of tricks by a man trainer, suddenly bolted out of the ring. Joe, high up in the tent, saw him running, and noted that the animal was headed for the ring where Helen Morton was performing with Rosebud.

"He's going to run into her!" thought Joe. "I've got to do something!"

He must think and act quickly. While attendant's were running after the bolting horse Joe, looking down, saw that the animal would pa.s.s close to his life net. In an instant Joe had decided what to do.

He poised on the small platform, from which he made his swings, and dropped straight into the big net. Just as he had calculated, he bounced up again, and as he did so he sprang out to one side.

Joe's quick eyes and nerves had enabled him to judge the distance correctly. He leaped from the net just as the horse was opposite him, and landed on his back in a riding position.

It was the work of but a second to reach forward, grasp the little bridle which the animal wore, and pull him to one side.

And it was not a second too soon, either, for the horse was on the edge of the ring in which Helen was performing with Rosebud. If the maddened animal had gone in, there would have been a collision in which the girl performer would, undoubtedly, have been injured.

"Good work, Joe!" cried the ring-master. "But there's plenty more to be done. I guess we'll have to get all the men performers to help hold down the tent. I'm afraid she's going."

"It does look so," Joe admitted as he leaped from the horse and gave him in charge of one of the attendants. "What can we do?"

"Help drive in extra pins and attach more ropes. I'm going to dismiss the audience. We'll stay over here to-morrow, and give an extra performance to make up for it."

"I'll get a crowd together and we'll help the canvasmen," offered Joe.