he did these extra exploits so well and so easily
that no one in the audience suspected that it was anything but the
regular procedure.

Then Joe, amid applause, descended and went over to work with the two
Spaniards. He carried the doctored trapeze with him.

"I didn't use this," he said, looking closely at Tonzo. "It seems to
have been left out in the rain and one of the ropes has rotted."

"Rotted?" asked Sid, his voice trembling.

"Something like that, yes," answered Joe.

"Ah, that is too bad!" exclaimed Tonzo, and neither by a false note nor
by a change in his face did he betray anything. "I am glad you
discovered the defect in time."

"So am I," said Joe significantly. "Come on, now.

"Probably they fixed the rope with acid, and kept it ready against the
chance that some day I might use it," reflected Joe. "The worst that
could happen would be to spoil my tricks--I couldn't get much hurt
falling into the net, and they knew that. But it was a mean act, all
right, and I sha'n't forget it. I guess they want to discourage me so
they can get their former partner back. But I'm going to stick!"

"Did you find out anything, Joe?" asked Helen, when she had a chance to
speak to him alone.

"I sure did, thanks to you, little girl. I might have had a ridiculous
fall if I'd used their trapeze. You were right in what you suspected."

"Oh, Joe! I'm so glad I saw it in time to warn you."

"So am I, Helen. It was a mean piece of business, and cunning. I
never suspected them of it."

"Oh, but you will be careful after this, won't you, Joe?"

"Indeed I will! I want to live long enough to see you get your
fortune. By the way, when is that lawyer coming?"

"He is to meet me day after to-morrow."

"I'll be on hand," Joe promised.

It rained the next day, and working in a circus during a rain is not
exactly fun. Still the show goes on, "rain or shine," as it says on
the posters, and the performers do not get the worst of it. It is the
wagon and canvas men who suffer in a storm.

"And this is a bad one," Joe remarked, when he went in the tent that
afternoon for his act. "It's getting worse. I hope they have the tent
up good and strong."

"Why?" asked Helen.

"Because the wind's increasing. Look at that!" he exclaimed as a gust
careened the big, heavy canvas shelter. "If some of the tent pegs pull
out there'll be trouble."

Helen looked anxious as she set off to put Rosebud through his trick