e circus, didn't they?"

The monkey made no reply, though Toby fancied that he winked an
affirmative answer; and he looked so sympathetic that he continued,
confidentially:

"Well, I'm the same feller, an' I don't mind telling you that I'm
awfully sorry that I promised that candy man I'd go with him. Do you
know that I came near crying at the supper table tonight; an' Uncle
Dan'l looked real good an' nice, though I never thought so before. I
wish I wasn't goin', after all, 'cause it don't seem a bit like a good
time now; but I s'pose I must, 'cause I promised to, an' 'cause the
candy man has got all my things."

The big tears had begun to roll down Toby's cheeks, and as he ceased
speaking the monkey reached out one little paw, which Toby took as
earnestly as if it had been done purposely to console him.

"You're real good, you are," continued Toby; "an' I hope I shall see you
real often, for it seems to me now, when there hain't any folks around,
as if you was the only friend I've got in this great big world. It's
awful when a feller feels the way I do, an' when he don't seem to want
anything to eat. Now if you'll stick to me I'll stick to you, an' then
it won't be half so bad when we feel this way."

During this speech Toby had still clung to the little brown paw, which
the monkey now withdrew, and continued to gaze into the boy's face.

"The fellers all say I don't amount to anything," sobbed Toby, "an'
Uncle Dan'l says I don't, an' I s'pose they know; but I tell you I feel
just as bad, now that I'm goin' away from them all, as if I was as good
as any of them."

At this moment Toby saw Mr. Lord enter the tent, and he knew that the
summons to start was about to be given.

"Goodby," he said to the monkey, as he vainly tried to take him by the
hand again. "Remember what I've told you, an' don't forget that Toby
Tyler is feelin' worse tonight than if he was twice as big an' twice as
good."

Mr. Lord had come to summon him away, and he now told Toby that he would
show him with which man he was to ride that night.

Toby looked another goodby at the venerable monkey, who was watching him
closely, and then followed his employer out of the tent, among the ropes
and poles and general confusion attendant upon the removal of a circus
from one place to another.

III. THE NIGHT RIDE

The wagon on which Mr. Lord was to send his new found employee was,
by the most singular chance, the one containing the monkeys