stunt, and it would be an act of
charity to give him work."

"All right--you can be the charity," said the ringmaster. "What do you
say, Bill Watson?"

"Oh, give him a chance," replied the old clown good-naturedly. "We all
have our troubles. He can't do much harm, anyhow."

"I don't know about that," said Jim, with a shake of his head. "This
playing with fire by a man who can't keep away from fire-water, is
risky."

"Well, I'll take the chance," said Joe. And that was characteristic of
him--taking chances.

Ham Logan was deeply grateful to Joe for what the young performer did.
That is, he hired the former fire-eater as a sort of handy man in the
circus, Ham to be subject to Joe's direction day and night.

"And let the fire-water alone!" demanded Joe. "I will! I really will!"
said the old circus performer. He seemed to mean it.

Joe advanced him money enough to get some better clothes, to have a bath
and be shaved, and it was quite a different person who appeared at the
tent the following day, ready to help Joe. As Ham knew more about fire
than any assistant Joe had yet been able to train, the new man was given
charge of the various apparatus Joe used in his sensational acts,
including the one of sliding down the wire on his head through the
blazing hoops.

One matter bothered Joe and his friends, in spite of the great success
the circus was having, and this was the bogus tickets. Several hundred
of them were presented at the performances in the city where the two-day
stay was made--the city already mentioned as being the location of a big
automobile industry. And where the tickets came from remained a mystery.
They were so nearly like the ones issued from the ticket wagon that not
until duplicate numbers had been observed could the fraud be detected.

And as the men at the main entrances had no time in the rush to compare
serial numbers, there seemed no way of stopping the cheating. It was
impossible to see to it that every one who came to the show purchased
admission tickets at the wagon. The surging crowds around prevented
this.

Men engaged by the circus circulated through the throngs about the tent,
seeking to learn whether any unauthorized persons were selling bogus
tickets. But none was seen.

"It is evident," said Mr. Moyne, "that the counterfeiters get a bunch of
the fake tickets and sell them in large lots to some men. These men, in
turn, dispose of them at reduced prices to others, and perhaps th