me Old Ben, an' I've got so used to the name that I
don't need any other."

Toby wanted very much to ask more questions, but he wisely concluded
that it would not be agreeable to his companion.

"I'll ask the old man about it," said Toby to himself, referring to the
aged monkey, whom he seemed to feel acquainted with; "he most likely
knows, if he'll say anything." After this the conversation ceased, until
Toby again ventured to suggest, "It's a pretty long drive, hain't it?"

"You want to wait till you've been in this business a year or two," said
Ben, sagely, "an' then you won't think much of it. Why, I've known the
show towns to be thirty miles apart, an' them was the times when we had
lively work of it; riding all night and working all day kind of wears on
a fellow."

"Yes, I s'pose so," said Toby, with a sigh, as he wondered whether he
had got to work as hard as that; "but I s'pose you get all you want to
eat, don't you?"

"Now you've struck it!" said Ben, with the air of one about to impart a
world of wisdom, as he crossed one leg over the other, that his position
might be as comfortable as possible while he was initiating his young
companion into the mysteries of the life. "I've had all the boys ride
with me since I've been with this show, an' I've tried to start them
right; but they didn't seem to profit by it, an' always got sick of the
show an' run away, just because they didn't look out for themselves as
they ought to. Now listen to me, Toby, an' remember what I say. You see
they put us all in a hotel together, an' some of these places where we
go don't have any too much stuff on the table. Whenever we strike a new
town you find out at the hotel what time they have the grub ready, an'
you be on hand, so's to get in with the first. Eat all you can, an' fill
your pockets."

"If that's all a feller has to do to travel with a circus," said Toby,
"I'm just the one, 'cause I always used to do just that when I hadn't
any idea of bein' a circus man."

"Then you'll get along all right," said Ben, as he checked the speed of
his horses, and, looking carefully ahead, said, as he guided his team to
one side of the road, "This is as far as we're going to-night."

Toby learned that they were within a couple of miles of the town, and
that the entire procession would remain by the roadside until time to
make the grand entree into the village, when every wagon, horse, and man
would be decked out in the most gorgeous a