, go up to the lot and get your tickets from the
wagon, or buy them at one of the authorized agencies."

There were many questions fired at Joe and his friends by the shipyard
men, but they had time to answer only a few.

"We've got to get back to the performance," said Joe to the detectives.
"You can take them with you," and he nodded toward Bill Carfax and his
crony. "Jim and I will see you later."

"Oh, we'll take them with us all right!" laughed one of the detectives.
"Move lively, boys!" he added to the two prisoners. "The jig is up!"

And the two counterfeiters seemed to know it.

"What does it all mean?" asked Helen of Joe, when he got back a little
before the time to go on with his acts. He had washed his face and
changed to his circus costume. The two prisoners had been locked up.

"Well, it means we killed two birds with one stone," said Joe. "We got
rid of the men who have been making us lose money my means of the
counterfeit tickets, and we have also under lock and key Bill Carfax,
who tried several times to injure me, or at least to spoil my act, by
means of acid on the trapeze rope and by changing the fireproof
mixture."

"Oh, I'm so glad!" cried Helen. "Then you were in danger?"

"I suppose so--danger of injury, perhaps, but hardly death. I think
Carfax, desperate as he was, would stop at that."

"How did you find out about him and the other man?"

"I'll just have time to tell you before my first act," said Joe. "It was
Harry Loper who gave me the first idea. When he broke down it was
because of what he had done, and on account of what Bill Carfax wanted
him to do again. It was Bill who got into the tent once and put acid on
my trapeze wire. And it was because he bribed poor Loper that he was
able to do it. Bill pretended it was only a trick to make me slip,
because he wanted to get even with me for discharging him. So poor, weak
Harry let him sneak into the tent, disguised so none of our men would
know him. Bill climbed up, put acid on the wire, and the fiery stuff did
the rest.

"Well, that preyed on Harry's mind, but he kept putting it away. But
finally, knowing the hold he had on him, Bill came back and gave him a
bottle of acid to work some further harm to me or my apparatus. But Ham
discovered that in time.

"Bill was provoked over his failure, and, when he wasn't helping Inky
Jed get out the bogus tickets, he followed the show and tried to prevail
on Harry to play another trick on me.