TTLE

So still was it in the big circus tent after the band stopped playing,
while Joe prepared to do his head slide, that the whirr of the steel
wheels in his leather cap could plainly be heard as he slid down the
wire.

And as Helen and the others watched, the intention of the daring young
performer became evident.

He was going to coast through the blazing hoops of fire which the men
held in such a position that Joe could slide through them without
touching them. Though they were called "hoops," in reality they were not
completely closed, there being a slight opening to enable them to be
slipped over the slanting wire. If a gigantic letter "C" with a long
pole fastened to the lower curved part, can be imagined, it; will give
an exact idea of what is meant.

As to the fire itself, it was caused by blazing bits of tow fastened to
the circumference of the big wire hoops. And thus through the blazing
circles Joe Strong slid down the slanting wire on his head. At the lower
end of the wire, where it was fast to a stake in the ground, he caught
hold of the cable in his gloved hands and so slowed his speed. Then he
leaped to his feet and bowed in acknowledgment of the applause.

"Oh!" murmured Helen, as she watched. "It was only another of his
sensational acts. When I first saw the blazing hoops I half thought that
some one was trying to injure Joe, as they did when the acid was used on
his high trapeze. Oh, it was only a trick!"

And so it was. Joe had planned it that day after meeting Ham Logan. The
latter, talking about the time when he, too, had been a fire-eater, had
mentioned an act where a performer leaped through blazing hoops, and Joe
determined to use the idea, varying it to suit his purpose. That it was
effective was evidenced by the long-continued applause.

"But, Joe," asked Helen, when the performance was over and she and Joe
had received another ovation at the conclusion of the box mystery and
the vanishing lady trick, "wasn't there danger of setting your clothes
on fire when you went through the blazing hoops?"

"None at all," Joe assured her. "I have been planning a stunt like this
for some time, and my garments were fire-proofed. Of course I wouldn't
have done it otherwise. Look here!"

He took up a fancy jacket he had worn in his wire slide. Taking a match
Joe lighted it and held it against the cloth. It did not take fire.

"There was that day--"

"But I have perfected the act since then, He