u out. Now, you mind!"

Pony said, "Oh, I won't tell anybody," and when Jim Leonard said that if
a circus man was to feel _him_ over, that way, and act so kind of
pleasant and friendly, he would be too proud to speak to anybody, Pony
confessed that he knew it was a great thing all the time.

"The way'll be," said Jim Leonard, "to keep in with him, and he'll keep
the others from picking on you; they'll be afraid to, on account of his
dog. You'll see, he'll be the one to come for you to-night; and if the
constable is there the dog won't let him touch you. I never thought of
that."

Perhaps on account of thinking of it now Jim Leonard felt free to tell
the other fellows how Pony was going to run off, for when a crowd of
them came along he told them. They said it was splendid, and they said
that if they could make their mothers let them, or if they could get out
of the house without their mothers knowing it, they were going to sit
up with Pony and watch out for the procession, and bid him good-bye.

At dinner-time he found out that his father was going to take him and
all his sisters to the circus, and his father and mother were so nice to
him, asking him about the procession and everything, that his heart
ached at the thought of running away from home and leaving them. But now
he had to do it; the circus man was coming for him, and he could not
back out; he did not know what would happen if he did. It seemed to him
as if his mother had done everything she could to make it harder for
him. She had stewed chicken for dinner, with plenty of gravy, and hot
biscuits to sop in, and peach preserves afterward; and she kept helping
him to more, because she said boys that followed the circus around got
dreadfully hungry. The eating seemed to keep his heart down; it was
trying to get into his throat all the time; and he knew that she was
being good to him, but if he had not known it he would have believed his
mother was just doing it to mock him.

Pony had to go to the circus with his father and sisters, and to get on
his shoes and a clean collar. But a crowd of the fellows were there at
the tent door to watch out whether the circus man would say anything to
him when he went in; and Jim Leonard rubbed against him, when the man
passed with his dog and did not even look at Pony, and said: "He's just
pretending. He don't want your father to know. He'll be round for you,
sure. I saw him kind of smile to one of the other circus men."