Then, after a moment's
hesitation, in which she looked about the tank, she plunged in and
began to swim about as though used to it all her life.

"Good!" cried Joe. "The glass sides didn't bother her a bit. I was
afraid they would. Now to see how she acts with me."

He had on his fish suit and, moving slowly in order not to alarm the
sea-lion, Joe went into the glass tank with her. At first Lizzie seemed
a bit timid, and came out. But Joe coaxed her in again with a bit of
fish, and soon he and the seal were swimming about in the big glass
tank, while the circus folk outside applauded gladly.

Around and around swam Joe, going through many evolutions, and,
swimming sometimes at his side, sometimes above and sometimes below
him, went Lizzie.

"Say! That's a great act!" cried Jim Tracy, coming in at that moment.
"A great act!"

He told Joe as much when the boy fish came out to breathe, as Lizzie
had also to do, for a seal has lungs, and not gills like a fish.

"It was a great act, Joe!" said the ring-master.

"It remains to be seen whether she'll do as nicely in public," Joe
replied.

CHAPTER XVIII

SAD NEWS

Joe spent as much time as he could spare before the afternoon
performance in practising with Lizzie. The trained seal seemed to have
taken naturally to the boy fish and was becoming quite friendly. She
would let Joe put his arms around her as they both swam under water,
and she made no attempts to bite. This was one thing Joe had feared,
for he knew that a nip from the sharp teeth of the sea-lion would make
a bad wound.

But Lizzie seemed content with the fish, and the number of them she
could eat and the ease with which she bit them into two pieces when
they were too large to take at one mouthful showed her appetite as well
as the strength of her jaws and the keenness of her teeth.

"Going to put on the new act this afternoon, Joe?" asked the
ring-master at the conclusion of the practice.

"I think I'd better not," was the answer. "Something might go wrong,
and it would queer me, I think. Wait a few days. I want to get her used
to the tent, the crowds and the lights. You see, she has only worked in
theatres up to the present time."

"Well, maybe you're right," agreed the ring-master.

So that afternoon Joe did his usual tank act, with the goldfish placed
in the big glass box. Joe ate his bananas under water, and though he
tried to equal his other record of four minutes and ten seconds he