mean to say anything
against your riding, my dear," he said to Helen. "But Janet Strong did
a different sort, for she was a powerful woman, and could handle a
horse better than most men."

"I guess I must get my liking for horses from her," Joe remarked.

"Very likely," agreed Bill Watson. "Some day I'll have a long talk
with you about your mother, Joe, and I'll give you all the information
I can. There may be some of her old acquaintances you can write to, to
find out if she was entitled to any property."

"Wouldn't it be fine if we both came into fortunes!" gaily cried Helen,
with sparkling eyes. "Wouldn't it be splendid, Joe?"

"Too good to be true, I'm afraid. But you have a better chance than I,
Helen."

"Perhaps. Would you leave the circus, Joe, if you got rich?"

"Oh, I don't know. I guess I'd stay in it while you did--to sort of
look after you," and he smiled quizzically.

"Trying to get my job, are you?" chuckled Bill. "Well, we are young
only once. But I must say, Helen, that this young man gave you as good
advice as I could, and I hope it turns out all right."

Joe liked Bill Watson--every one did in fact--and the young performer
was pleased to learn something of his mother, and glad to learn that he
would be told more.

The enforced rest Bill Watson had taken on account of a slight illness,
seemed to have done the old clown good, for he worked in some new
"business" in his acts when he again donned the odd suit he wore. His
presence, too, had a good effect on the other clowns, so that the
audiences, especially the younger portion, were kept in roars of
merriment at each performance.

Joe, also, did his share to provide entertainment for the circus
throngs. Perhaps it would be more correct to say that Joe provided the
thrills, for some of his feats were thrilling indeed. Not that the
other members of the Lascalla troupe did not share in the honors, for
they did. Both Sid and Tonzo were accomplished and veteran performers
on the flying rings and trapeze bars, but they had been in the business
so long that they had become rather hardened to it, and stuck to old
tricks and effects instead of getting up new ones.

Joe was especially good at this, and while some of his feats were not
really new, he gave a different turn to them that seemed to make for
novelty.

"But I don't like to see you take such risks," Helen said to him on
more than one occasion. "I'm afraid you'll be hurt."

"Y