ther. 'What do
you want?'

'All right, Nan, all right,' said the clown, and he put an arm in front
of Jimmy to push open the door. Whilst Jimmy felt glad to find shelter
from the rain, the clown went to the back room, which must have been
extremely small, and carried on a conversation with the girl whom he
called Nan. Jimmy felt certain he was telling her all about himself.

Presently they both came out again, and Nan went to a shelf and brought
some rather fat bacon and bread, and a knife and fork with black
handles. There were two beds--one in the back part of the van and one in
the front. Jimmy sat down on the one in the front to eat his supper, and
before he had finished Nan gave him a mug of tea, which made him feel
much warmer, although it did not taste very pleasant.

The clown had gone away again, and Jimmy wondered why there was such a
noise outside the van.

'They're only putting the horses in,' said Nan, when he questioned her.

'I should have thought they would be taking them out at this time of
night,' answered Jimmy.

'We always travel at night,' she explained, 'and then we're ready for
the performance in the daytime.'

'But when do you go to sleep?' asked Jimmy.

'When we get a chance,' she said. 'But the best thing you can do's to go
to sleep now. Suppose you lie down in there,' and she pointed to the
room which was boarded off behind.

'Whose bed is it?' he asked.

'Father's, when he gets time to lie in it,' was the answer.

'But he can't if I'm there,' said Jimmy.

'He's got a lot to do before he thinks of bed,' exclaimed Nan. 'He's got
to see to the horses. But I'll lie down as soon as we start, and
presently father and I'll change places.'

CHAPTER X

ON THE ROAD

It all seemed very strange to Jimmy, and he would not have felt very
much surprised if he had suddenly awakened to find himself back in the
dormitory at Miss Lawson's, and all his adventures a dream.

The bed did not look very clean, and Jimmy thought at first that he
should not care to lie down on it. He felt too tired to waste much time,
however, and he did not even take off his clothes, but lay down just as
he was, and in half a minute he fell fast asleep.

And though the horse was put between the shafts, and there was a loud
shouting as the long line of carts and vans began to move, Jimmy did not
open his eyes for some time.

He might not have opened them even then if Nan, who had also been
asleep, had no