gave the three golden sovereigns to their Father to carry for
them, and he put them in the most inside pocket he had, for safe
keeping! Then while he stayed to sell his butter and eggs, and to do
his buying, the Twins started out to see the Fair by themselves.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

WHAT THEY SAW.

The first person they stopped to watch was a Juggler doing tricks. It
was quite wonderful to see him keep three balls in the air all at the
same time, or balance a pole on the end of his nose. But when he took
out a frying-pan from behind his stall, and said to the Twins, who were
standing right in front of him, "Now, I'll be after making you a bit of
an omelet without any cooking," their eyes were fairly popping out of
their heads with surprise.

The Juggler broke an egg into the frying-pan. Then he clapped on the
cover, waved the pan in the air, and lifted the cover again. Instead of
an omelet there in the frying-pan was a little black chicken crying
"Peep, peep," as if it wanted its mother!

The Juggler looked very much surprised himself, and the Twins were
simply astonished.

"Will you see that now!" Larry whispered to Eileen. "Sure, if only Old
Speckle could be learning that trick, 'twould save her a deal of
sitting."

"Indeed, then, 'tis magic," Eileen answered back, "and there's no luck
in that same! Do you come away now, Larry McQueen, or he might be
casting his spells on yourself and turning you into something else
entirely, a goat maybe, or a Leprechaun!"

This seemed quite likely to Larry, too, so they slipped hurriedly out
under the elbows of the crowd just as the Juggler was in the very act of
finding a white rabbit in the crown of his hat. They never stopped
running until they found themselves in the middle of a group of people
in a distant part of the Fairgrounds.

This crowd had gathered around a rough-looking man with a bundle of
papers under his arm. He was waving a leaflet in the air and shouting,
"Ladies and Gentlemen--Whist now till I sing you a song of Old Ireland.
'Tis the Ballad of the Census Taker!" Then he began to sing in a voice
as loud as a clap of thunder. This was the first verse of the song:--

"_Oh_, they're taking of the Census
In the country and the town.
_Have_ your children got the measles?
_Are_ your chimneys tumbling down?"

Every one seemed to think this a very funny song and at the end of the
second verse they all joined in the chorus. The Ballad S