ingmaster.

"Because I wasn't sure until the last minute that I would do it,"
answered Joe. "I hadn't practiced it as much as I should have liked, but
when I got up there on the platform I felt pretty sure I could do it. I
wasn't running much risk anyhow, except that of failure. I knew I
wouldn't fall, for I could have grabbed the wire in my hands if I had
started to topple over."

"But how did you do it?" asked some one, who came up to join the
wondering throng after Joe's feat had been performed. "I've seen you
stand on your head before, but to slide down a wire--say, what sort of
scalp have you, anyhow?"

Joe laughed and held out a close-fitting skull-cap of leather. Fastened
to the leather was a small steel framework, and in this frame were two
small grooved wheels, like the wheels of a trolley by means of which
street cars receive the electric current from the wire. Joe put the cap
on his head to show how it enabled him to do the trick. The big races
were on now, as the close of the performance was close at hand, and the
crowd was paying attention to the contests and not to the group of
performers surrounding the young magician.

Once they had seen the cap with the grooved wheels on top placed on
Joe's head, his friends understood how the trick was done. He had simply
to balance himself on his head on the wire, a feat he had often
performed before. The natural attraction of gravitation did the rest. He
simply slid down on the wheels, his extended arms and legs steadying
him.

"It's just as if you had a roller skate on your head," said Senorita
Tanlozo, the snake charmer, who had strolled into the main tent after
her act in the side show was over.

"Exactly," said Joe, with a smile. "Would you like to try it?"

"Not while my snakes are alive!" she assured him.

"Well, it's another drawing card for the Sampson Brothers' Show," said
Jim Tracy that night when the receipts were being counted and
preparations being made for moving on to the next city. "How long are
you going to keep it up, Joe?"

"As to that, I can't say," was the answer. "But I like the game, and I
want to see the circus a success."

"It's a big one now, thanks in a large part to you," observed the
ringmaster. "But you'd better take a rest now, Joe, my boy. Don't try to
pull off any more spectacular stunts."

"Oh, I haven't pulled off my big one yet," replied the young magician.
"I mean the one with the fire. I'm working on that. If it com