go,' answered Jimmy sadly, 'and I don't know where
anybody is.'

'Mean to say they've gone away and left you?' asked the clown.

'They haven't been here.'

'Oh, so you came to the show by yourself?' said the clown.

'Yes,' replied Jimmy.

'Well,' was the answer, 'you're a nice young party'; and the clown sat
down on the barrier. 'Come now,' he said, 'suppose you tell us all about
it.'

So, in a very sleepy voice, Jimmy began to tell the clown his story. He
told him how he had fallen asleep in the waiting-room, and where he had
been going to; but he did not say anything about Coote, because he felt
afraid that the clown might send for the policeman, who would, after
all, put him into prison for travelling in the wrong train.

CHAPTER IX

THE CIRCUS

The clown listened to the story very attentively, but Jimmy gaped a
great deal while he told it. By the time he finished he could scarcely
keep his eyes open.

'You seem a bit sleepy,' said the clown.

'I'm hungry, too,' answered Jimmy.

'Well, you can't sleep here,' said the clown, 'and you don't see much to
eat, do you?'

'No, there isn't much to eat,' Jimmy admitted. 'But,' he added, 'I don't
see why I couldn't sleep here.'

'Because the tent's going to be taken down,' said the clown. 'We've been
here three days, and we're going on somewhere else.'

Jimmy looked disappointed. He rather liked the clown; at all events he
liked him a great deal better than Coote, and he did not feel at all
afraid of him.

'Just you come along with me,' said the clown, 'and I'll see what I can
do for you. Here, jump over! That's right,' he added, as Jimmy climbed
over the barrier which separated the seats from the ring in which the
performance had taken place. 'You come with me,' said the clown, 'and
we'll soon see whether we can't find you something to eat and a place to
lie down in.'

They left the tent, and outside the clown stopped to speak to the man
who had shouted from the cart and to the stout woman who had taken the
money. They often glanced at Jimmy while they talked, so that he guessed
they were talking about him.

'All right,' said the man, 'do as you like; it's no business of mine';
and then the clown came back to Jimmy and they walked away from the tent
together.

They seemed to be walking in and out amongst a number of curious-looking
carts and ornamental cars, the colour of gold, with pictures on their
sides. There were several vans too, like