e flaming portion into his mouth.

He closed his lips, seemed to be chewing something, opened his mouth,
and showed it empty.

"A little light lunch!" he remarked, but his smile faded as Helen
screamed in horror.

CHAPTER IX

THE CHEMIST'S LETTER

"Oh, Joe, you'll surely burn yourself!" exclaimed the startled bareback
rider.

"Did you get burned?" questioned Mrs. Watson.

"Some trick!" declared the snake charmer.

For the moment there was some excitement, for this was a new act for the
circus people.

Helen soon recovered her customary composure, and then she explained the
cause of her excitement and the startled cry she had given. She had, of
course, expected some trick with fire when Joe had summoned her and the
others to his own private part of the dressing tents. But she had not
expected to see him actually put the blazing material in his mouth.

"I thought there was some sleight-of-hand performance about it," she
said. "I had an idea that you only pretended to put the blazing stuff in
your mouth, Joe. And when I saw it I was afraid you'd breathe in the
flames and--and--"

She did not need to go on, they all understood what she meant, for
every one in the circus knew that Helen and Joe were engaged.

"I once saw a little boy burned at a bonfire at which he was playing,"
went on Helen. "He died. Since then the sight of fire near a human being
has always a bad effect on me. But I suppose I can get over it, if I
know there is no danger," she said with a slight smile at Joe.

"Well, I can assure you there isn't the slightest danger," he declared.
"If there was, I should be the first to give it up. I am as fond of
living as any one."

"You don't show it, young man, in some of the tricks you do," commented
Mrs. Watson, with the freedom befitting a "circus mother," and the
privilege of an old friend. "You must remember that you don't live only
for yourself," and she looked significantly at Helen.

"Oh, I'll be careful!" promised Joe. "And now I'll do the trick again
for you, and let you see that it's absolutely harmless. Any of you could
do it--if you knew how."

"Excuse me!" exclaimed Jim Tracy. "Not for mine!"

However they all watched Joe eagerly and interestedly, even Helen. He
did not seem to make any unusual preparations. He merely took a drink of
what seemed to be water. Then he ignited something in the flame of the
candle and placed the burning stuff in his mouth, seeming to chew it
w