an would not hurt him.

And so Nero's circus lessons began. The first one he learned was leaping
over a long stick which the man held stretched out in the cage. At the
beginning Nero did not know what the stick was for, but he could see
that the man did not intend to strike him with it.

The trainer kept bringing the stick nearer and nearer to Nero, who
backed into the corner of the cage. At last the lion could back no
farther, as he was close against the wall of the cage.

"Well, if he doesn't take that stick out of my way I'll jump right over
it!" said Nero to himself. And that is just what he did, and the man
clapped his hands in delight, and cried:

"There! You have learned your first trick! That's fine! Now I must teach
you more!"

Nero was fast becoming a regular circus lion.

CHAPTER VIII

NERO MEETS DON

One day when Nero awoke in his circus cage, which stood in the big
winter barn, the lion saw that something very different was going on
from what had happened since he had been brought there from the jungle.
Men were running to and fro, and the first thing Nero noticed was that
Tum Tum, the jolly elephant, and all the other big animals with the long
trunks were gone.

"Why, where is Tum Tum?" asked Nero of Leo, his lion friend.

"Oh, he's out with the other elephants, pushing wagon cages about the
lot," said Leo.

"Pushing cages?" repeated Nero. "Is that a circus trick?"

"No, that is part of the circus work," answered Leo. "The elephants are
so big and strong that they are used instead of horses, sometimes, to
push the circus cages."

"But why is Tum Tum helping push the circus cages?" asked Nero. "Has
anything happened?"

"Well, something is going to happen," said Leo. "The circus is going to
start out on the road--we are going to travel from town to town. We are
going to travel on the railroad and live in a tent instead of this barn.
We shall see lots of people--boys and girls--who come to watch us eat,
and do tricks, and we shall hear the band music and--Oh, it's real
jolly!"

"I'm glad of that," said Nero. "I like to be jolly. But will Tum Tum
come back?" he asked, for he liked the big, jolly elephant, as, indeed,
all the circus animals did.

"Oh, yes, Tum Tum will come back," answered Dido, the dancing bear. "The
circus couldn't get along without him. And I couldn't do some of my best
tricks if Tum Tum didn't walk around the ring with the wooden platform
on his back for me to