lapped my
face, and my legs ached holdin' on."

"What's hanny bells and neroes?" demanded Betty.

"Big elephants. Father never let 'em put me up there, and they didn't
darst till he was gone; then I had to, else they'd 'a' thrashed me."

"Didn't any one take your part?" asked Mrs. Moss.

"Yes'm, 'most all the ladies did; they were very good to me, 'specially
'Melia. She vowed she wouldn't go on in the Tunnymunt act if they didn't
stop knockin' me round when I wouldn't help old Buck with the bears. So
they had to stop it, 'cause she led first rate, and none of the other
ladies rode half as well as 'Melia."

"Bears! oh, do tell about them!" exclaimed Bab, in great excitement, for
at the only circus she had seen the animals were her delight.

"Buck had five of 'em, cross old fellers, and he showed 'em off. I
played with 'em once, jest for fun, and he thought it would make a hit
to have me show off instead of him. But they had a way of clawin' and
huggin' that wasn't nice, and you couldn't never tell whether they were
good-natured or ready to bite your head off. Buck was all over scars
where they'd scratched and bit him, and I wasn't going to do it, and I
didn't have to, owin' to Miss St. John's standin' by me like a good
one."

"Who _was_ Miss St. John?" asked Mrs. Moss, rather confused by the
sudden introduction of new names and people.

"Why, she was 'Melia,--Mrs. Smithers, the ring-master's wife. His name
wasn't Montgomery any more'n hers was St. John. They all change 'em to
something fine on the bills, you know. Father used to be Senor Jose
Montebello, and I was Master Adolphus Bloomsbury after I stopped bein' a
flying Coopid and a Infant Progidy."

Mrs. Moss leaned back in her chair to laugh at that, greatly to the
surprise of the little girls, who were much impressed with the elegance
of these high-sounding names.

"Go on with your story, Ben, and tell why you ran away and what became
of your Pa," she said, composing herself to listen, really interested in
the child.

"Well, you see, father had a quarrel with old Smithers and went off
sudden last fall, just before the tenting season was over. He told me he
was goin' to a great ridin' school in New York, and when he was fixed
he'd send for me. I was to stay in the museum and help Pedro with the
trick business. He was a nice man and I liked him, and 'Melia was good
to see to me, and I didn't mind for awhile. But father didn't send for
me, and I began to h