Chapter XV: Real News at Last

"Oh, look at the toy balloons! Look, Alice-doll," and Dot held her constant companion up in her arms.

Dot was in a state of great excitement, and kept repeating to Tess stories of her experiences of the summer previous when Dot, her older sisters and some friends, seated in a box of this very circus, Scalawag, the pony, had been publicly presented to the smaller Corner House girls--a scene, and a sensation, which is told of in a previous volume of this series and which, alas! Tess had missed.

"There's pink lemonade!" cried Tess. "Oh, I want some of that! Please, Ruth, may I have two glasses?"

"Not of that pink lemonade, Tess," answered the older girl. "It may be colored with hat dye, for all we know. We'll see Neale's Uncle Bill, who will take us to the best place to get something to drink."

"Just see the fat lady!" went on Dot next.

"Fat lady! Where? I don't see any!" exclaimed Tess. "Do you mean an elephant?" she asked.

"No. I mean over there!" and Dot pointed to a gayly painted canvas stretched along the front of the tent in which the side shows were showing.

"Oh, that! Only a painting!" and Tess showed in her voice the disappointment she felt.

"Well, the lady is real, and we can go inside and see her; can't we, Ruth?" pursued Dot. "Oh, I just love a circus; don't you, Alice?" and she hugged her doll in her arms.

"Yes, a circus is very nice," was the answer. "But now listen to me," went on Ruth. "Don't run away and get lost in the crowd."

"You couldn't run very far in such a crowd," answered Tess.

"No, but you could get lost very easily."

"Oh, see the camels! They are going for a drink, I guess."

"Well, they have to have water the same as the other animals."

"Oh, what was that?" cried Dot, as a gigantic roar rent the air.

"That must have been a lion," answered Ruth.

"Oh, do you think he'll get loose?" exclaimed Tess, holding back a little.

"I guess not."

"It's the same old crowd," remarked Neale, as he looked on the familiar scenes about the circus tent, while Mr. Howbridge walked along with Ruth. Agnes and Neale were together, and Dot and Tess had hold of hands. Hank, after the arrival at the grounds, said he would travel around by himself, as he saw some men he knew. He agreed to be back at the canal boat at five o'clock, after the show.

"Wait until I get you a ticket," Neale said, as the mule driver was about to separate from them. Going to the red and gold wagon, Neale stepped to the window. The man inside was busy selling tickets and tossing the money taken in to an assistant, who sorted and counted it.

"How many?" asked the man in the ticket wagon, hardly looking up.

"Seven--two of 'em halves," answered Neale quickly.

"Well, where's the money--where's the cash?" asked the cashier rather snappily, and then, for the first time, he looked up. A queer change came over his face as he recognized Neale.

"Well, for the love of alligators!" he exclaimed, thrusting forth his hand. "When'd you get on the lot?"

"Just arrived," answered Neale with a smile. "Got some friends of mine here who want to see the show."

"Surest thing you know!" cried the cashier. "How many'd you say? Seven--two halves? Here you are," and he flipped the tickets down on the wooden shelf in front of him. "Are you coming back to join the outfit?" he went on. "We could bill 'Master Jakeway's' act very nicely now, I imagine. Only," and he chuckled, "we'd have to drop the 'Master.' You've got beyond that."

"No, I'm not coming back," answered Neale. "That isn't saying I wouldn't like to, perhaps. But I have other plans. I've heard that my father has returned from the Klondike, and I want to see my uncle to find if he has any news. Is he around--Uncle Bill, I mean?"

"Yes, he was talking to me a while ago. And I did hear him mention, some time back, that he had news of your father. Well, well! I am glad to see you again, Neale. Stop in and see me after the show."

"I'll try to," was the answer.

Hank, being given his ticket, went away by himself, and, after greeting some more of his circus friends, Neale began a search for his uncle. It was not an easy matter to locate any of the circus men on the "lot" at an hour just before the performance was to begin. And Tess and Dot were eager to go in and see the animals, the side shows, the main performance and everything else.

"I'd better take them in," Ruth said finally. "You can join us later, Neale, you and Mr. Howbridge."

So this plan was agreed on, and then the two eager girls were led into the tents of childish mystery and delight, while Neale and the lawyer sought the proprietor of the show.

They found him talking to Sully Sorber, the clown, who was just going in to put on his makeup.

At first Uncle Bill just stared at Neale, as though hardly believing the evidence of his eyes. Then a welcoming smile spread over his face, and he held out his hand.

"Well! Well! This is a coincidence!" exclaimed the ringmaster. "I was just figuring with Sully here if we would get any nearer Milton than this, as I wanted to have a talk with you, and now here you are! How did it happen? Glad to see you, sir," and he shook hands with Mr. Howbridge. "I've been going to answer your letters, but I've been so busy I haven't had time. One of the elephants got loose and wrecked a farmer's barn, and I've had a damage suit to settle. But I am glad to see you both."

"Tell me!" exclaimed Neale eagerly. "Have you any news from father? Is he back from the Klondike? Where can I find him?"

"My! you're as bad as ever for asking questions," chuckled Mr. Bill Sorber. "But there! I know how it is! Yes, Neale, I have some real news, though there isn't much of it. I never see such a man as your father for not sending word direct. But maybe he did, and it miscarried. Anyhow, I've been trying to get in touch with him ever since I got your letter, Mr. Howbridge," he went on speaking to the lawyer.

"Yes, your father has come back from the Klondike," he resumed to Neale. "He put in his time to good advantage there, I hear, and made some money. Then he set out for the States, and, in an indirect way, I learned that he is located in Trumbull."

"Trumbull? Where's that?" asked Neale eagerly.

"It's a small town on Lake Macopic!" answered the circus man.

Neale and the lawyer looked at one another in surprise.

"Do you know the place?" went on the ringmaster. "I must confess I don't. I tried to look it up to see if it was worth moving there with the show, but I couldn't even find it on the map. So it must be pretty small."

"I don't know exactly where it is," the lawyer said. "But the fact of the matter is that we are on our way to Lake Macopic in a houseboat, and it is quite a coincidence that Neale's father should be there. Can you give us any further particulars?"

"Well, not many," confessed Mr. Sorber. "Mr. O'Neil isn't much more on letter writing than I am, and that isn't saying much. But my information is to the effect that he had to go there to clear up some dispute he and his mining partner had. He was in with some men in the Klondike, and when it came to a settlement of the gold they had dug out there was a dispute, I believe. One of the men lived in Trumbull, and your father, Neale, had to go there to settle the matter. But I am glad to see you!" he went on to the former circus lad. "And after the show, which is about to begin, we can have a long talk, and then--"

At that moment a loud shouting arose from the neighborhood of the animal tent. Mingled with the cries of the men was a peculiar sound, like that of some queer whistle, or trumpet.

"There goes Minnie again!" cried Mr. Bill Sorber. "She's broken loose!" and he ran off at top speed while other circus employees followed, the shouting and trumpeting increasing in volume.