camels were covered with fancifully embroidered
velvets, and even the drivers of the wagons were resplendent in their
uniforms of scarlet and gold. Now, in the gray light of the early
morning, everything was changed. The horses were tired and muddy, and
wore old and dirty harness; the gilded chariots were covered with mud
bespattered canvas, which caused them to look like the most ordinary
of market wagons; the elephants and camels looked dingy, dirty, almost
repulsive; and the drivers were only a sleepy looking set of men, who,
in their shirt sleeves, were getting ready for the change which would
dazzle the eyes of the inhabitants of the town.

Toby descended from his lofty bed, rubbed his eyes to thoroughly awaken
himself, and, under the guidance of Ben, went to a little brook near by
and washed his face. He had been with the circus not quite ten hours,
but now he could not realize that it had ever seemed bright and
beautiful. He missed his comfortable bed, the quiet and cleanliness, and
the well spread table; even although he had felt the lack of parents'
care, Uncle Daniel's home seemed the very abode of love and friendly
feeling compared with this condition, where no one appeared to care even
enough for him to scold at him. He was thoroughly homesick, and heartily
wished that he was back in his old native town.

While he was washing his face in the brook he saw some of the boys who
had come out from the town to catch the first glimpse of the circus, and
he saw at once that he was the object of their admiring gaze. He heard
one of the boys say, when they first discovered him:

"There's one of them, an' he's only a little feller; so I'm going to
talk to him."

The evident admiration which the boys had for Toby pleased him, and this
pleasure was the only drop of comfort he had had since he started. He
hoped they would come and talk with him; and, that they might have the
opportunity, he was purposely slow in making his toilet.

The boys approached him shyly, as if they had their doubts whether he
was made of the same material as themselves, and when they got quite
near to him and satisfied themselves that he was only washing his face
in much the same way that any well regulated boy would do, the one who
had called attention to him said, half timidly, "Hello!"

"Hello!" responded Toby, in a tone that was meant to invite confidence.

"Do you belong to the circus?"

"Yes," said Toby, a little doubtfully.

Then