r if Ben knows this fellow who owns the show."

"Don't know, I'm sure. It wouldn't be a bad scheme to find out something
about him in view of the robbery last night."

"You're right, Stella. Another thing I've been thinking about: I've been
looking for Skip Riley, the Strongburg fireman, the supposed leader of
the Flying Demons. If they are going to try any of their monkey business
to-day he ought to be here."

"Haven't you heard the news? I intended to tell you, but must have
forgotten. The last time I was in Strongburg I heard that Riley had
resigned, and left the town for the East."

"I hadn't heard it. Then that puts it up to Creviss."

"But who is the fellow who runs the show? Ben says his name is Colonel
Ben Robinson, and that he is an old circusman down on his luck
temporarily."

"Look around and find out what you can. They will not suspect you if you
ask questions as they would me. If you find out anything, let me know."

"All right, Ted, I'll circulate, and report."

Ted wandered over to the show tents, and entered them all, with kindly
greetings to the performers, who all knew him as the leader of the
broncho boys, and asked him if they could be excused from performing
while the riding and other cowboy stunts were going forward, and Ted
told them to lay off if they wanted to, as most of the guests would be
out in the grand stand, anyhow.

In the last tent he entered he found the strong man lifting weights
against a lot of husky cow-punchers, and the giant and midget.

But it was the midget that struck him most forcibly. He had a sly,
cunning face and a bad eye, and when Ted came in he tried to hide behind
the giant, who picked him up as one would a baby in arms. But the little
fellow wriggled free and climbed down the big man like a monkey down a
tree. Then he slipped across to the middle of the tent and shinned up
the pole to the top, and hung there, looking down at Ted.

"What's the matter with the little fellow?" Ted asked the giant.

"Oh, he ain't got real good sense," rumbled the giant. "His brain
stopped growing with his body, I reckon. But you can teach him tricks
the same as you can a dog or a monkey, and he'll do them all right. I
reckon he's afraid of you. He is of some people, the boss in
particular."

"How long have you been with the boss?"

"Not very long. He just took the show over from the old boss a month
ago. We were going to pieces over to Cheyenne, and he come along and
boug