the skeleton, an' the fat woman, an' Old Ben, an' little Ella. But
I mustn't stand here. You be ready when I come for you, an' by mornin'
we'll be so far off that Mr. Lord nor Mr. Castle can't catch us."

The old monkey went toward his companions, as if he were in high glee at
the trip before him, and Toby went into the dressing tent to prepare for
the evening's performance--which was about to commence.

It appeared to the boy as if every one was unusually kind to him that
night, and, feeling sad at leaving those in the circus who had
befriended him, Toby was unusually attentive to every one around him. He
ran on some trifling errand for one, helped another in his dressing, and
in a dozen kind ways seemed as if trying to atone for leaving them
secretly.

When the time came for him to go into the ring and he met Ella, bright
and happy at the thought of riding with him and repeating her triumphs
of the afternoon, nothing save the thought of how wicked he had been to
run away from good old Uncle Daniel, and a desire to right that wrong in
some way, prevented him from giving up his plan of going back.

The little girl observed his sadness, and she whispered, "Has any one
been whipping you, Toby?"

Toby shook his head. He had thought that he would tell her what he was
about to do just before they went into the ring, but her kind words
seemed to make that impossible, and he had said nothing, when the blare
of the trumpets, the noisy demonstrations of the audience, and the
announcement of the clown that the wonderful children riders were now
about to appear, ushered them into the ring.

If Toby had performed well in the afternoon, he accomplished wonders on
this evening, and they were called back into the ring, not once, but
twice; and when finally they were allowed to retire, every one behind
the curtain overwhelmed them with praise.

Ella was so profuse with her kind words, her admiration for what Toby
had done, and so delighted at the idea that they were to ride together,
that even then the boy could not tell her what he was going to do, but
went into his dressing-room, resolving that he would tell her all when
they both had finished dressing.

Toby made as small a parcel as possible of the costume which Mr. and
Mrs. Treat had given him--for he determined that he would take it with
him--and, putting it under his coat, went out to wait for Ella. As she
did not come out as soon as he expected he asked some one to tell