added, quickly: "An' this is
Saturday afternoon. What fun the boys at home are havin'! You see, there
hain't any school Saturday afternoon, an all the fellers go out in the
woods."

"And you wish you were there to go with them, don't you?" asked the
skeleton, sympathetically.

"Indeed I do!" exclaimed Toby, quickly. "It's twice as good as any
circus that ever was."

"But you didn't think so before you came with us, did you?"

"I didn't know so much about circuses then as I do now," replied the
boy, sadly.

Mr. Treat saw that he was touching on a sore subject, and one which was
arousing sad thoughts in his little companion's mind, and he hastened to
change it at once.

"Then I can tell Lilly that you'll come, can I?"

"Oh yes, I'll be sure to be there; an' I want you to know just how good
I think you both are to me."

"That's all right, Toby," said Mr. Treat, with a pleased expression on
his face; "an' you may bring Mr. Stubbs with you, if you want."

"Thank you," said Toby. "I'm sure Mr. Stubbs will be just as glad to
come as I shall. But where will we be tomorrow?"

"Right here. We always stay over Sunday at the place where we show
Saturday. But I must be going, or Lilly will worry her life out of her
for fear I'm somewhere getting cold. She's awful careful of me, that
woman is. You'll be on hand tomorrow at one o'clock, won't you?"

"Indeed I will," said Toby, emphatically, "an' I'll bring Mr. Stubbs
with me, too."

With a friendly nod of his head, the skeleton hurried away to reassure
his wife that he was safe and well; and before he had hardly disappeared
within the tent Toby had another caller, who was none other than his old
friend Old Ben, the driver.

"Well, my boy," shouted Ben, in his cheery, hearty tones, "I haven't
seen you since you left the wagon so sudden last night. Did you get
shook up much?"

"Oh no," replied Toby. "You see I hain't very big; an' then I struck in
the mud; so I got off pretty easy."

"That's a fact; an' you can thank your lucky stars for it, too, for I've
seen grown up men get pitched off a wagon in that way an break their
necks doin' it. But has Job told you where you was going to sleep
tonight? You know we stay over here till tomorrow."

"I didn't think anything about that; but I s'pose I'll sleep in the
wagon, won't I?"

"You can sleep at the hotel, if you want to; but the beds will likely be
dirty; an' if you take my advice you'll crawl into some of the wagons