s back. There was a broad leather belt
around her waist and to this was fastened a rope. Very often was this
needed during those first three weeks of practice, for, true to her
word, Mlle. Zaretti no longer strapped on Calico's back the broad pad to
which he had been accustomed. At first the wooden-soles hurt and made
him flinch, but in time the skin became toughened and he minded them not
at all, although Mlle. Zaretti was no featherweight.

Long before the snow was gone Mlle. Zaretti had discarded the
derrick-arm. Urging Calico to his best speed she would grasp the cinch
handles and with one light bound land on his well-resined back. Then, as
he circled around in an even, rythmical lope, she would jump the banners
and dive through the hoops. It was more or less fun for Calico, but it
all seemed so utterly useless. There were no crowds to see and applaud.
He missed the music and the cheering.

At last there came a change. Calico and his mistress took a journey.
They arrived in the biggest city Calico had ever seen, and one
afternoon, to the accompaniment of such a crash of music and such a
chorus of "HI! HI! HI's!" as he had never before heard, they burst into
a great arena where were not only one ring but three, and about them,
tier on tier as far up as one could see, the eager faces and gay
clothes of a vast multitude of spectators. Calico, as you will guess,
had become a factor in "The Grandest Aggregation."

If Calico had longed for music and applause his wishes were surely
answered, for, although Mlle. Zaretti had jumped from a wagon-show to a
three-ring combination that began its season with an indoor March
opening, she was still a top-liner. That is, she had a feature act.

Thus it was that just as the Japanese jugglers finished tossing each
other on their toes in the upper ring and while the property helpers
were making ready the lower one for the elephants, in the centre ring
Mlle. Zaretti and Calico alone held the attention of great audiences.

"Mem-zelle Zar-ret-ti! Champ-i-on la-dy bare-back ri-der of the
wor-r-r-r-ld, on her beaut-i-ful Ar-a-bian steed!"

That was the manner in which the megaphone announcer heralded their
appearance. Then followed a rattle of drums and a tooting of horns,
ending in one tremendous bang as Calico, lifting his feet so high and so
daintily you might have thought he was stepping over a row of china
vases, and bowing his head so low that his neck arched almost double,
came