onable suggestion that he paid no
attention to anything around him until he heard his own name mentioned;
and then, fearing lest some new misfortune was about to befall him, he
listened intently.

"I'm afraid you couldn't do much of anything with him," he heard Mr.
Lord say. "He's had enough of this kind of life already, so he says, an'
I expect the next thing he does will be to try and run away."

"I'll risk his getting away from you, Job," he heard the other say; "but
of course I've got to take my chances. I'll take him in hand from eleven
to twelve each day--just your slack time of trade--and I'll not only
give you half of what he can earn in the next two years, but I'll pay
you for his time, if he gives you the slip before the season is out."

Toby knew that they were speaking of him, but what it all meant he could
not imagine.

"What are you going to do with him first?" Job asked.

"Just put him right in the ring and teach him what riding is. I tell
you, Job, the boy's smart enough, and before the season's over I'll have
him so that he can do some of the bareback acts, and perhaps we'll get
some money out of him before we go into winter quarters."

Toby understood the meaning of their conversation only too well, and he
knew that his lot, which before seemed harder than he could bear,
was about to be intensified through this Mr. Castle, of whom he had
frequently heard, and who was said to be a rival of Mr. Lord's so far as
brutality went. The two men now walked toward the large tent, and Toby
was left alone with his thoughts and two or three little boy customers,
who looked at him wonderingly and envied him because he belonged to the
circus.

During the ride that night he told Old Ben what he had heard,
confidently expecting that that friend at least would console him; but
Ben was not the champion which he had expected. The old man, who had
been with a circus, "man and boy, nigh to forty years," did not seem to
think it any calamity that he was to be taught to ride.

"That Mr. Castle is a little rough on boys," Old Ben said, thoughtfully;
"but it'll be a good thing for you, Toby. Just so long as you stay with
Job you won't be nothin' more 'n a candy boy; but after you know how to
ride it 'll be another thing, an' you can earn a good deal of money an'
be your own boss."

"But I don't want to stay with the circus," whined Toby; "I don't want
to learn to ride, an' I do want to get back to Uncle Dan'l."

"Th