elly. Ef he
ain't stole the yaller ribbon offen Sal Whitmire's weddin' bonnit, I'm
blind. Well, jus' wate, jus wate. Ef thar ain't a nuther circus to home
tonite it'll be bekase his daddy ain't well."

Alfred and Bindley bowed low, right and left, kissing their hands to the
audience, then saluting the trapeze in turn. (This pantomime
introduction they had copied from Mathews and Hunting, noted trapezists
in those days.) However, the same salutes have been employed by all
aerialists these many years, therefore Alfred and Bindley should not be
charged with stealing the business of others.

Preparatory to ascending to the trapeze Alfred unwound the nubia from
his waist, casting it on the ground. Lin grabbed it up with a look that
seemed to say: "Thank Gawd, I'll get that anyhow."

Trapeze performers usually ascend to their rigging on a net webbing,
hand over hand sailor fashion. Alfred and Bindley, after their bows and
salutes, climbed up the trunk of the tree to the limb on which their
trapeze was suspended. Coon like, they crawled out on the limb and
lowered themselves to the trapeze.

They kissed their hands to the uplifted faces below. At an agreed signal
they bent backward, beginning with the feats performed by all
trapezists. After every trick the aerialists would come up smiling,
seated on the lower bar, side by side. Turning themselves upside
down--which is the clearest explanation that can be written--they hooked
their feet over the short bar in the small swing above and hung
motionless head downward with folded arms.

As they thus clung one of the yellow ribbons or garters on Alfred's limb
became loosened. The long ribbon fluttered in the air, furling and
unfurling it gracefully descended.

Lin reached up her hands to catch it, muttering through her set teeth:
"I wonder ef he'll shed the rest uf his borryed plumes. I wish he wud.
Stretchin' an' crawlin' about he'll bust 'em sure." And Lin looked at
Alfred's limbs with an anxious expression: "Ef he does you kan't sew 'em
an' I ain't got no yarn thet'll match tu darn 'em."

The last feat was the hanging head downward by Bindley, clasping Alfred
by the ankles. Hen Ragor, with the aid of a rope cast over the lower
bar, pulled the performers, backwards and forwards. When the proper
momentum was gained Alfred released his hand hold on the bar. Henry was
to hold the bar away from the swing of the human pendulum until Alfred
clapped his hands. He was then suppose