the circus came along,
patted him on the head, and told him that he rode very nicely, he was
quite happy, until he chanced to see the greedy twinkle in Mr. Lord's
eye, and then he knew that all this success and all this praise were
only binding him faster to the show which he was so anxious to escape
from; his pleasure vanished very quickly, and in its stead came a
bitter, homesick feeling which no amount of praise could banish.

It was Old Ben who helped him to undress after the skeleton and the fat
lady had gone back to their tent, and Ella had gone to dress for her
appearance with her mother, for now she was obliged to ride twice at
each performance. When Toby was in his ordinary clothes again Ben said,

"Now that you're one of the performers, Toby, you won't have to sell
candy any more, an' you'll have the most of your time to yourself, so
let's you an' I go out an' see the town."

"Don't you s'pose Mr. Lord expects me to go to work for him again
to-day?"

"An' s'posin' he does?" said Ben, with a chuckle. "You don't s'pose the
boss would let any one that rides in the ring stand behind Job Lord's
counter, do you? You can do just as you have a mind to, my boy, an' I
say to you, let's go out an' see the town. What do you say to it?"

"I'd like to go first-rate, if I dared to," replied Toby, thinking of
the many whippings he had received for far less than that which Ben now
proposed he should do.

"Oh, I'll take care that Job don't bother you, so come along;" and Ben
started out of the tent, and Toby followed, feeling considerably
frightened at this first act of disobedience against his old master.

CHAPTER XVII.

OFF FOR HOME!

During this walk Toby learned many things that were of importance to
him, so far as his plan for running away was concerned. In the first
place, he gleaned from the railroad posters that were stuck up in the
hotel to which they went that he could buy a ticket for Guilford for
seven dollars, and also that, by going back to the town from which they
had just come, he could go to Guilford by steamer for five dollars.

By returning to this last town--and Toby calculated that the fare on the
stage back there could not be more than a dollar--he would have ten
dollars left, and that surely ought to be sufficient to buy food enough
for two days for the most hungry boy that ever lived.

When they returned to the circus grounds the performance was over, and
Mr. Lord in the midst of the