the boy's scheme, they both believed that he was in the dressing-tent,
and consequently thought that he was perfectly safe.

Toby's hand shook so that he could hardly undo the fastening of the
cage, and when he attempted to call the monkey to him his voice sounded
so strange and husky that it startled him.

The old monkey seemed to prefer sleeping with Toby rather than with
those of his kind in the cage; and as the boy took him with him almost
every night, he came on this particular occasion as soon as Toby called,
regardless of the strange sound of his master's voice.

With his bundles under his arm, and the monkey on his shoulder, with
both paws tightly clasped around his neck, Toby made his way out of the
tent with beating heart and bated breath.

Neither Mr. Lord, Castle, nor Jacobs were in sight, and everything
seemed favorable for his flight. During the afternoon he had carefully
noted the direction of the woods, and he started swiftly toward them
now, stopping only long enough, as he was well clear of the tents, to
say, in a whisper,

"Good-bye, Mr. Treat, an' Mrs. Treat, an' Ella, an' Ben. Some time, when
I'm a man, I'll come back, an' bring you lots of nice things, an' I'll
never forget you--never. When I have a chance to be good to some little
boy that felt as bad as I did I'll do it, an' tell him that it was you
did it. Good-bye."

Then, turning around, he ran toward the woods as swiftly as if his
escape had been discovered and the entire company were in pursuit.

CHAPTER XVIII.

A DAY OF FREEDOM.

Toby ran at the top of his speed over the rough road; and the monkey,
jolted from one side to the other, clutched his paws more tightly around
the boy's neck, looking around into his face as if to ask what was the
meaning of this very singular proceeding.

When he was so very nearly breathless as to be able to run no more, but
was forced to walk, Toby looked behind him, and there he could see the
bright lights of the circus, and hear the strains of the music as he had
heard them on the night when he was getting ready to run away from Uncle
Daniel; and those very sounds, which reminded him forcibly of how
ungrateful he had been to the old man who had cared for him when there
was no one else in the world who would do so, made it more easy for him
to leave those behind who had been so kind to him when he stood so much
in need of kindness.

"We are goin' home, Mr. Stubbs!" he said, exultantly, to