foremost, without the use of his
hands. He dropped until it seemed certain that his head would hit the
ground, but he stopped himself when about an inch away, amid the
plaudits of the crowd.

Then, when he had finished this thrilling work, Joe had to hurry to the
dressing tent and put on the green fish suit.

The young "fish" was more at home in the tank on the second day than he
had been when he first made his bow to the public in the shimmering,
green, scaly suit. He was not so nervous, and this made it easier for
him to hold his breath.

Joe also worked in a few new tricks. He spent the morning of the
second day of the circus going over his box of apparatus, and he made
some changes in certain pieces to enable them to be used under water.
Joe tried to get some celluloid playing cards, but found they would
have to be made to order, so he wrote to Professor Rosello, his former
chief, and asked him to get them for him.

The professor was still resting, and his show, under lease, was on the
road. Joe kept up a correspondence with the man who had given him such
a good start toward becoming a public entertainer, and the professor
was always glad to hear of the success of his protege.

The circus performers who knew Benny, and there were few who at least
did not have some sort of an acquaintance with him, were very sorry to
learn of his disablement.

"Well, it's too bad he can't be with us!" said motherly Mrs. Talfo, the
fat woman. "Benny sure was a nice little boy, and I'm certainly sorry
for him."

"So am I," affirmed Senorita Tanlozo, the snake charmer. "He got me
some medicine once, when I had a terrible toothache, and I'll never
forget it."

"And will he not ever be able to appear in public again?" asked Senor
Bogardi, the lion tamer.

"I don't know about that," answered Joe. "Never is a long while. He'll
have to stay in the hospital for some time, the doctor says."

"Ugh! Hospitals!" exclaimed Madame Bullriva, the strong woman.
"Deliver me from them. They mean all right--those doctors and
nurses--but it's awful trying to lie on your back and want a drink of
water."

"Especially if you happen to know that you could get up and lift a
barrel of it, if you weren't ill," put in Tonzo Lascalla. "Yes, I,
too, am sorry for Benny. But it is what will happen to all of us in
this business."

"What will happen?" asked the snake charmer.

"Oh, we will be down and out some day. You may play once too often
with th