ning.

He started as the manager exclaimed: "Here they come! After us!"

Outside the tent a sound of running.

The secretary of the fair, a German hardware-dealer with an
automobile-cap like a yachting-cap, panted in, gasping: "Come quick!
They won't wait any longer! I been trying to calm 'em down, but they
say you got to fly. They're breaking over the barriers into the track.
The p'lice can't keep 'em back."

Behind the secretary came the chairman of the entertainment committee,
a popular dairyman, who was pale as he demanded: "You got to play
ball, Mr. Ericson. I won't guarantee what 'll happen if you don't play
ball, Mr. Ericson. You got to make him fly, Mr. George. The crowd 's
breaking----"

Behind him charged a black press of people. They packed before the
tent, trying to peer in through the half-closed tent-opening, like a
crowd about a house where a policeman is making an arrest. Furiously:

"Where's the coward? Fake! Bring 'im out! Why don't he fly? He's a
fake! His flying-machine's never been off the ground! He's a
four-flusher! Run 'im out of town! Fake! Fake! Fake!"

The secretary and chairman stuck out deprecatory heads and coaxed the
mob. Carl's manager was an old circus-man. He had removed his collar,
tie, and flashy diamond pin, and was diligently wrapping the thong of
a black-jack about his wrist. Their mechanic was crawling under the
side of the tent. Carl caught him by the seat of his overalls and
jerked him back.

As Carl turned to face the tent door again the manager ranged up
beside him, trying to conceal the black-jack in his hand, and casually
murmuring, "Scared, Hawk?"

"Nope. Too mad to be scared."

The tent-flap was pulled back. Tossing hands came through. The
secretary and chairman were brushed aside. The mob-leader, a
red-faced, loud-voiced town sport, very drunk, shouted, "Come out and
fly or we'll tar and feather you!"

"Yuh, come on, you fake, you four-flusher!" echoed the voices.

The secretary and chairman were edging back into the tent, beside
Carl's cowering mechanic.

Something broke in Carl's hold on himself. With his arm drawn back,
his fist aimed at the point of the mob-leader's jaw, he snarled: "You
can't make me fly. You stick that ugly mug of yours any farther in and
I'll bust it. I'll fly when the wind goes down----You would, would
you?"

As the mob-leader started to advance, Carl jabbed at him. It was not a
very good jab. But the leader stopped. The manager