The Circus Comes to Town Part 15

"No," said Darn loftily. "I've got a reserved box seat." He turned and walked off.

"What did I tell you, Sam?" laughed Mr. Burrows. "There's money in this jay town and we're going to get a bunch of it."

Jerry stepped hastily forward, a light of joy dancing in his eyes, with Chris treading on his heels. "Please, mister," said Jerry eagerly, "we'll carry water for the elephants."

"We want to see the circus," added Chris.

"You're too little to carry water," said Sam. "Where're all the bigger kids?"

"They've gone home to breakfast," replied Chris. "Please, mister, we can carry water. I'm big enough."

"Yes, I guess you're big enough," said the man with the diamond in his s.h.i.+rt, "but the elephants are awful thirsty and it will take you a long time. Sam, you see if you can find some other boys to help you."

Sam departed instantly.

"Where'll we get the water?" asked Chris.

"From that house across the road. You'll have to pump it. Your brother there had better go home; he's too little to carry water."

"No, I ain't, mister," said Jerry eagerly. "I'm awful strong for my age."

"How old are you?" asked the man.

"I don't know," Jerry confessed. Then, fearful of losing this opportunity to see the circus, he continued, "I guess I'm almost seven or mebbe eight."

"You don't know how old you are!" exclaimed the man. "You look much younger than seven or eight."

"He's not my brother," Chris explained. "He's a orfum my father found when he was alive. My brother's at home with mother and my sisters. We couldn't wake him up. But Jerry's awful strong."

"A orfum, hey? And awful strong?" said the man and seemed to be studying over something in his mind. "Have you ever seen a circus?" he asked.

"No, sir," they both a.s.sured him and Chris continued: "Mother did once, just after she was married to father. She wished she could bring us all to the circus but she didn't have money enough."

"H'm," said the man. "I used to be a orfum myself and I know how you feel."

"Did you?" asked Jerry, and he smiled up at the man, unafraid, with a sort of fellow feeling.

"I sure did," the man smiled down at Jerry. "I got to see my first circus through carrying water for the elephants."

At this moment Sam returned with four other boys, all older than either Jerry or Chris.

"I never saw boys so shy of a circus before, Mr. Burrows," he said.

"They've melted away as though the circus were a plague. But I guess we can get along with these."

"All right, Sam," replied Mr. Burrows, "but I want you to pump the water and let the boys do the carrying. These two boys," and he put a hand on Jerry's head and one on Chris's shoulder, "have never seen a circus.

They'll help carry water and be sure that they get a matinee ticket apiece."

"All right, sir," replied Sam. "Come on, boys."

"Let these two carry a pail between them," continued Mr. Burrows, "I don't want them breaking their backs."

Jerry felt an unusual warmth go surging through him. He was going to carry water for the elephants and get a ticket to the circus, after all!

He was gladder than ever that he had bought the cough medicine for Kathleen with the black half-dollar. He looked up at Mr. Burrows, and it was such a look as a friendless dog might give to a man who had just petted it and given it something to eat.

"Thank you, mister, for lettin' me carry water for the el'funts," said Jerry.

"That's all right," replied the man. "Here, there's a dime for peanuts.

Have a good time."

Jerry was too surprised to take the dime and Mr. Burrows pressed it into his hand and went back into the tent before Jerry had recovered.

"The boss must have taken a fancy to you!" said Sam to Jerry. "Well, them elephants is awful thirsty and we've got to get to work. Come on."

Jerry, envied of all the boys, put the dime in his blouse pocket. He seemed to be treading on air instead of the solid earth as he followed Sam to another part of the ground where the boys were given large pails.

He felt in his blouse pocket every now and then to make sure that he really had a dime and also that it had not grown wings and flown out of his pocket, or made a hole in it and dropped out. It was always there and his feeling of exhilaration at his good fortune kept up, despite the hard work of carrying that pailful of water from the pump across the street to the back of the second biggest tent, where he and Chris emptied it into a kind of a tub. There were half a dozen of the tubs to be filled, and before the third one was full Jerry's arms and back ached, but he gritted his teeth and kept on. He would show them that he wasn't too little to carry water for the elephants.

Under the ache in his arms and back, his exhilaration at the possession of the dime and the prospect of a ticket to the circus wilted but did not die. When the fourth tub was about full he sat down on the pump platform while Sam filled their pail with water.

"El'funts must drink a nawful lot of water," he said.

"Gettin' tired, ain't you?" asked Sam.

"No, I could carry water all day, I guess. It makes my back ache some because I ain't used to it."

"You kids have made more trips than the other boys," said Sam, "and I ain't going to fill your pail clear full any more. Don't try to go so fast with it. There's plenty of time."

"We want to carry enough for two tickets," said Jerry quickly. "Chris wants to see the circus, too, don't you, Chris?"

"You bet," replied Chris.

"You'll get a ticket apiece, all right, as long as I'm on the job," said Sam, giving them the pail not much more than half full of water.

"That's a whole lot easier to carry," Jerry a.s.sured Sam, as they started for the tub.

It seemed to Jerry that he and Chris had been carrying water for hours by the time the last tub was full. He felt almost starving. The sun seemed to be 'way up and he was so tired and hot that he was about ready to drop; but he found that when the work was done and Sam gave each boy a ticket it wasn't very late, after all.

"It's just nine o'clock," said Sam, "and you kids'd better scoot home and get some breakfast. Just show your mothers them tickets if they scold you for stayin' so long and I guess they'll hush right up. The matinee starts at 2:15, but if you want to see the menagerie, you'd better come about half-past one or right after the parade."

Those magic pieces of paper, which Jerry and Chris held tightly in their hands for fear of losing them, made them forget their hunger and weariness and they set off for home at full speed. They raced breathless into the house and found that Mrs. Mullarkey and Nora had finished was.h.i.+ng the breakfast dishes.

"Look, mother!" cried Chris, panting for breath after almost every word, "we've got tickets for the circus for helpin' carry water for the el'funts!"

"Oh, how nice!" said Mrs. Mullarkey. "They will be tickets to paradise to you. Now you'll get to see the circus, after all. But you must be about starved."

"We are, almost," Jerry admitted.

"Gee, my arms ache," Chris remarked.