The Corner House Girls on a Houseboat Part 23

"That must have been a lion," answered Ruth.

"Oh, do you think he'll get loose?" exclaimed Tess, holding back a little.

"I guess not."

"It's the same old crowd," remarked Neale, as he looked on the familiar scenes about the circus tent, while Mr. Howbridge walked along with Ruth. Agnes and Neale were together, and Dot and Tess had hold of hands.

Hank, after the arrival at the grounds, said he would travel around by himself, as he saw some men he knew. He agreed to be back at the ca.n.a.l boat at five o'clock, after the show.

"Wait until I get you a ticket," Neale said, as the mule driver was about to separate from them. Going to the red and gold wagon, Neale stepped to the window. The man inside was busy selling tickets and tossing the money taken in to an a.s.sistant, who sorted and counted it.

"How many?" asked the man in the ticket wagon, hardly looking up.

"Seven--two of 'em halves," answered Neale quickly.

"Well, where's the money--where's the cash?" asked the cashier rather snappily, and then, for the first time, he looked up. A queer change came over his face as he recognized Neale.

"Well, for the love of alligators!" he exclaimed, thrusting forth his hand. "When'd you get on the lot?"

"Just arrived," answered Neale with a smile. "Got some friends of mine here who want to see the show."

"Surest thing you know!" cried the cashier. "How many'd you say?

Seven--two halves? Here you are," and he flipped the tickets down on the wooden shelf in front of him. "Are you coming back to join the outfit?"

he went on. "We could bill 'Master Jakeway's' act very nicely now, I imagine. Only," and he chuckled, "we'd have to drop the 'Master.' You've got beyond that."

"No, I'm not coming back," answered Neale. "That isn't saying I wouldn't like to, perhaps. But I have other plans. I've heard that my father has returned from the Klondike, and I want to see my uncle to find if he has any news. Is he around--Uncle Bill, I mean?"

"Yes, he was talking to me a while ago. And I did hear him mention, some time back, that he had news of your father. Well, well! I am glad to see you again, Neale. Stop in and see me after the show."

"I'll try to," was the answer.

Hank, being given his ticket, went away by himself, and, after greeting some more of his circus friends, Neale began a search for his uncle. It was not an easy matter to locate any of the circus men on the "lot" at an hour just before the performance was to begin. And Tess and Dot were eager to go in and see the animals, the side shows, the main performance and everything else.

"I'd better take them in," Ruth said finally. "You can join us later, Neale, you and Mr. Howbridge."

So this plan was agreed on, and then the two eager girls were led into the tents of childish mystery and delight, while Neale and the lawyer sought the proprietor of the show.

They found him talking to Sully Sorber, the clown, who was just going in to put on his makeup.

At first Uncle Bill just stared at Neale, as though hardly believing the evidence of his eyes. Then a welcoming smile spread over his face, and he held out his hand.

"Well! Well! This is a coincidence!" exclaimed the ringmaster. "I was just figuring with Sully here if we would get any nearer Milton than this, as I wanted to have a talk with you, and now here you are! How did it happen? Glad to see you, sir," and he shook hands with Mr. Howbridge.

"I've been going to answer your letters, but I've been so busy I haven't had time. One of the elephants got loose and wrecked a farmer's barn, and I've had a damage suit to settle. But I am glad to see you both."

"Tell me!" exclaimed Neale eagerly. "Have you any news from father? Is he back from the Klondike? Where can I find him?"

"My! you're as bad as ever for asking questions," chuckled Mr. Bill Sorber. "But there! I know how it is! Yes, Neale, I have some real news, though there isn't much of it. I never see such a man as your father for not sending word direct. But maybe he did, and it miscarried. Anyhow, I've been trying to get in touch with him ever since I got your letter, Mr. Howbridge," he went on speaking to the lawyer.

"Yes, your father has come back from the Klondike," he resumed to Neale.

"He put in his time to good advantage there, I hear, and made some money. Then he set out for the States, and, in an indirect way, I learned that he is located in Trumbull."

"Trumbull? Where's that?" asked Neale eagerly.

"It's a small town on Lake Macopic!" answered the circus man.

Neale and the lawyer looked at one another in surprise.

"Do you know the place?" went on the ringmaster. "I must confess I don't. I tried to look it up to see if it was worth moving there with the show, but I couldn't even find it on the map. So it must be pretty small."

"I don't know exactly where it is," the lawyer said. "But the fact of the matter is that we are on our way to Lake Macopic in a houseboat, and it is quite a coincidence that Neale's father should be there. Can you give us any further particulars?"

"Well, not many," confessed Mr. Sorber. "Mr. O'Neil isn't much more on letter writing than I am, and that isn't saying much. But my information is to the effect that he had to go there to clear up some dispute he and his mining partner had. He was in with some men in the Klondike, and when it came to a settlement of the gold they had dug out there was a dispute, I believe. One of the men lived in Trumbull, and your father, Neale, had to go there to settle the matter. But I am glad to see you!"

he went on to the former circus lad. "And after the show, which is about to begin, we can have a long talk, and then--"

At that moment a loud shouting arose from the neighborhood of the animal tent. Mingled with the cries of the men was a peculiar sound, like that of some queer whistle, or trumpet.

"There goes Minnie again!" cried Mr. Bill Sorber. "She's broken loose!"

and he ran off at top speed while other circus employees followed, the shouting and trumpeting increasing in volume.

CHAPTER XVI

RUTH'S ALARM

"Minnie's loose!" cried Neale to Mr. Howbridge after the flight of the circus men. "Minnie is one of the worst elephants in captivity! She's always making trouble, and breaking loose. I imagine she's the one that wrecked the farmer's barn Uncle Bill was telling about. If she's on the rampage in the animal tent it means mischief!"

"An elephant loose!" cried Mr. Howbridge. "And Ruth and the children in the tent! Come on, Neale!" he cried. "Hurry!"

But there was no need to urge Neale to action. He was off on the run, and Mr. Howbridge showed that he was not nearly so old and grave as he sometimes appeared, for he ran swiftly after his more youthful companion.

The shouting continued, and the trumpet calls of the angry or frightened elephant mingled with them. Then, as Neale and Mr. Howbridge came within view of the animal tent, they saw bursting from it a huge elephant, followed by several men holding to ropes attached to the "ponderous pachyderm," as Minnie was called on the show bills. She was pulling a score of circus hands after her, as though they were so many stuffed straw men.

Mr. Bill Sorber at this time reached the scene, and with him were several men who had hurried after him when they heard the alarm. The ringmaster seemed to know just what to do. He caught an ankus, or elephant hook, from one of his helpers, and, taking a stand directly in the path of the onrushing Minnie, he raised the sharp instrument threateningly.

On thundered the elephant, but Mr. Sorber stood his ground. Men shouted a warning to him, and the screams and cries of women and children rose shrilly on the air. Minnie, which was the rather peaceful name for a very wild elephant, raised her trunk in the air, and from it came the peculiar trumpet blasts. The men she was pulling along were dragged over the ground helplessly.

"Can he stop her, Neale?" gasped Mr. Howbridge, as he ran beside the former circus boy.

"Well, I've seem him stop a wild lion that got out of its cage," was the answer. "But an elephant--"

And then a strange thing happened. When within a few feet of the brave, resolute man who stood in her path, Minnie began to go more slowly. Her shrill cries were less insistent, and the men being dragged along after her began to hold back as they regained their feet.

Mr. Sorber raised the ankus on high. Its sharp, curved point gleamed in the sun. Minnie saw it, and she knew it could cruelly hurt her sensitive trunk. More than once she had felt it before, when on one of her rampages. She did not want to suffer again.

And so, when so close that she could have reached out and touched the ringmaster with her elongated nose, or, if so minded, she could have curled it around him and hurled him to death--when this close, the elephant stopped, and grew quiet.