could do nothing after that. He threw me down,
so that for a few minutes I was stunned."

"And how did the fight come out at the ticket stand, father?"

"Our men had almost overpowered the circus men, when the giant rushed
into the midst, and, seizing a club from Bob Stubbs, laid about him,
till half a dozen of our strongest men lay on the ground with broken
heads."

What puzzled Janet was, that her father should have come home in such
good humor after so disastrous a defeat. It was contrary to her
experience of him. She would naturally have expected that he would be
surly and quarrelsome. The mystery was soon made clear.

"But we've got even with them!" chuckled Hayden directly after.

"How is that, father?"

"We caught the kid."

"You have?"

"Yes; he was goin' to the circus cars to turn in when Stubbs and I
caught him."

"You--you didn't kill him, father?" asked Janet in alarm.

"No, not yet."

"Where is he?"

"Do you mind the deserted cabin on Knob Hill?"

"Yes, father."

"He's locked up in that, tied hand and foot."

"How long do you mean to keep him there?" asked Janet, anxiously.

"Till to-morrow, and then----" Dick paused ominously.

"Well, and then?"

"He'll be lucky if he gets off with a whole skin," growled her father.
"But for him I'd have brought down the tent about the ears of the people
that sat inside, and we'd have had a fine revenge on the showmen."

"You don't mean to kill the boy, do you, father?"

"What is it to you, lass? You'd best mind your own business. You've got
nothing to do with it."

"How does the boy look? Was it the one that drove the first chariot,
father?"

"Like enough, lass! Did you see him?"

"Yes; I saw the parade. Everybody was out in the streets then."

"And you took partic'lar notice of the boy? That's like a lass,"
chuckled Hayden.

"But it was his duty, father, to stand by the show, seein' he belongs to
it."

"I don't trouble myself about that. He brought that monster on me, and
I'm sore yet with the fall he gave me. I'll take it out of the kid."

"But it seems to me, father, it would be better to lay for the giant."

"What folly is that, lass? I'd be main glad to give the giant a dose of
what he gave me, but he'll leave town to-night, and I ain't big enough
to tackle him, even if I had the chance. So I'll revenge myself on his
friend, the boy. The kid may be his son, for aught I know."

"And what will you do for him, father?" asked Janet,