skylarking.

CHAPTER XVIII

WHEN THE CIRCUS CAME

I was going to school one day, but was pretty late in getting started.
The trouble was that our yellow hen, Valpurga, had been sick, and since,
of course, I couldn't trust any one else to attend to her, I had made
myself late.

When hens begin to mope, keeping still under a bush, drawing their heads
way down into their feathers, and just rolling their eyes about, that's
enough;--it is anything but pleasant when it is a hen you are fond of.
That's the way Valpurga was behaving. I gave her butter and pepper, for
that is good for hens.

But it wasn't about Valpurga I wanted to tell. It was about the
circus-riders being here.

The clock in the dining-room said five minutes of nine, and I hadn't
eaten my breakfast, hadn't studied any of my German grammar lesson, and
had to get to school besides. Things went with a rush, I can tell you;
with a piece of bread and butter in one hand, the German grammar open in
the other, I dashed down the hill.

"Prepositions which govern the dative: _aus_, _ausser_, _bei_,
_binnen_--_aus_, _ausser_, _bei_,"--pshaw, the ragged old book! There
went a leaf over the fence, down into Madam Land's yard. It was best to
be careful in going after it, for Madam Land's windows looked out to
this side, and she was furious when any one trod down her grass. I
expected every moment to hear her knock sharply on the window-pane with
her thimble. She didn't see me though, and I climbed back over the fence
with the missing leaf.

--"_aus_, _ausser_----"

Round the corner swung Policeman Weiby with a stranger, a queer-looking
man. The stranger was absolutely deep yellow in the face, with
black-as-midnight hair, and black piercing eyes. On his head he wore a
little green cap, very foreign-looking, and on his feet patent leather
riding-boots that reached above his knees.

Weiby puffed, threw his chest out even more than usual and looked very
much worried. It must be something really important, for day in and day
out Weiby has seldom anything else to do than to poke his stick among
the children who are playing hop-scotch in the street.

Though I was so terribly late, of course I had to stand still and look
after Weiby and the strange man until they disappeared around the corner
up by the office. Something interesting had come to town, that was
plain. Either a panorama, or a man who swallowed swords, or one who had
no arms and sewed with his to