ful next time."

"You don't mean to say you'll go back to it, do you?" asked Helen.

"Sure, lady! I've got to earn my living! And this is the best thing I
know. I'll be out in a week. I didn't swallow any, thank goodness! Oh,
sure I'll go at it again."

Joe and Helen cheered the sufferer up as much as they could, and then
departed. Joe privately left a bill of substantial denomination with the
superintendent to be used for anything extra the patient might need.

On the way back to the circus, where they were soon to give their
evening performance, Joe was unusually quiet.

"What's the matter?" asked Helen. "Are you thinking of that accident on
the trapeze?"

"No," was the answer. "It's something different. I've got to get up a
new act for the show. That trapeze act, even the way I had to do it this
afternoon, isn't sensational enough. I've got to have something new, and
I've about decided on it."

"What?" asked Helen.

"I'm going to become a fire-eater!" was the unexpected, reply.

CHAPTER VII

THE PAPER EXPERT

For a moment Helen Morton stared at Joe Strong as though not quite sure
whether or not he was in his proper mind. Then, seeing plainly that he
was in earnest, she seemed to shrink away from him, as he had noticed
her shrink away, for a moment, from the burned man suffering there in
the hospital.

"What's the matter, Helen?" asked Joe, trying to speak lightly. "Don't
you want to see some more sensational acts in the show?"

"Yes, but not that kind," she answered with a shudder she could not
conceal. "Oh, Joe, if you were to--" She could not go on. Her breast
heaved painfully.

"Now look here, Helen!" he exclaimed with good-natured roughness, "that
isn't any way to look at matters; especially when we both depend on
sensations for making our living.

"You know, as well as I do, that in this business we have to take risks.
That's what makes our acts go. You take a risk every time you perform
with Rosebud. You might slip, the horse might slip, and you'd be hurt.
Now is this new act I am thinking of perfor--"

"Yes, I may take risks, Joe!" interrupted Helen. "But they are perfectly
natural risks, and I have more than an even chance. You might just as
well say you take a risk walking along the street, and so you do. An
elevated train might fall on you or an auto run up on the sidewalk. The
risks I take in the act with Rosebud are only natural ones, and really
shouldn't be counted. But if yo