"Mr. Tarbox, where on earth have you been?" inquired his wife, when her liege lord returned about 11.30 o'clock.

"I've been to the circus," said the farmer shortly.

"Oh, why didn't you take me, Nathan? I've always wanted to go to the circus," said Mrs. Tarbox in a tone of disappointment.

"It isn't a fit place for you," said her husband.

"You went!" said his wife, significantly. "If it's a fit place for you, why isn't it for me?"

"Do you think I went there for pleasure? You ought to know me better than to suppose I would visit such a demoralizing spectacle for amusement."

"Then why did you go?"

"I went to arrest that brute who kicked Bruiser to death and assaulted me. That's why I went."

"Did he feel bad when you arrested him?" asked Mrs. Tarbox, with natural curiosity.

"No; I had to defer it, for the warrant wasn't rightly made out."

"Dear me! Did it take all the evening?" asked his wife.

"Peace, woman! You ask too many questions," said Tarbox, who found it rather difficult to explain matters.

"It must have been so nice to see the circus," murmured Mrs. Tarbox; "but I am sure I should have been afraid of the giant."

"There was a fat woman," growled Tarbox, "who looked as silly as you do. I dare say she wasn't, though."

"How funny you are. Nathan!" said his wife, who wasn't at all sensitive. "How was she dressed?"

"How on earth should I know? She didn't wear a coat and pantaloons."

"It must take a sight of calico to make her a dress. How much does she weigh?"

"Two tons, more or less," answered Tarbox.

"Good gracious!" ejaculated his simple-minded wife. "I never heard the like. Do let me go to the circus, husband. I should so like to see her."

"You might never come back alive. There's lions, and tigers and wild cats all around. They often break out of their cages and kill a dozen people before they can be stopped."

Mrs. Tarbox turned pale and gave up her idea of going to the circus.

"You'd make a nice meal for a tiger. They're fond of bones," continued the farmer, grimly.

"O, Nathan, don't say another word. I wouldn't go now if I could get in for nothing."

The next day, after a consultation with Squire Price and the constable, Mr. Tarbox concluded that it wouldn't be worth while to obtain a new warrant for the arrest of the giant, as he had reason to believe that Mr. Spriggins would go out of town to avoid serving it. It was hard to give up his cherished scheme of vengeance, particularly as he had already expended a dollar in vain; but there seemed no alternative.

"One thing I can do," he said to himself; "if I can get hold of that boy that was with Enoch I'll give him a thrashing. He trespassed on my grounds, and I saw him laugh when the brute kicked Bruiser. I can manage him, anyway."

There was no afternoon performance at the circus except on Wednesday and Saturday, and Robert and his friend Charlie Davis were at leisure.

"Let's go on a tramp, Charlie," said Robert, after they had eaten dinner.

"I'm with you," said Charlie. "Where shall we go?"

"Oh, well, we'll go across the fields. Perhaps we'll go into the woods. Anything for fun."

The two boys set out about two o'clock, and after reaching the borders of the village took a path across the fields.

"I wish nuts were ripe, Rob," said Charlie. "We'd have a nice time knocking them off the trees. Do you remember last fall up in Maine?"

"Yes, but it's June now, and we can't have any fun of that kind. However, we can have a good time. Do you see those bars?"

"Yes."

"I'm going to vault over them."

"All right. I'll follow."

Robert ran swiftly, and cleared the bars without touching them. Charlie followed, but, being a shorter boy, felt obliged to let his hand rest on the upper bar. They were accustomed to springing from the ring upon the backs of horses, and practice had made that easy to them which was difficult for ordinary boys.

"I say, Charlie," said Robert, thoughtfully, as they subsided into a walk, "what are you going to do when you are a man?"

"Ride, I suppose."

"In the circus?"

"Of course."

"I don't think I shall."

"Why not?"

"I don't want to be a circus rider all my life."

"I should think you would. Ain't you the Boy Wonder?"

"I shan't be the Boy Wonder when I'm twenty-five years old."

"You can't make so much money any other way."

"Perhaps not; but money isn't everything I think of. I would like to get a better education and settle down to some regular business."

"There's more fun in circus riding," said Charlie, who was not as thoughtful a boy as his companion.

"I don't see much fun in it," said Robert. "It is exciting, I know, but it's dangerous. Any day, if your nerves are not steady, you are likely to fall and break a limb, and then good-by to your riding."

"There's no use in thinking about that."

"I think there is. What could we do if we had to give up riding?"

"Oh, something would turn up," said Charlie, who was of an easy disposition. "We might take tickets or keep the candy stand."

"That wouldn't be very good employment for a man. No, Charlie, I think this will be my last season at circus riding."

"What will you do?"

"I am saving money so that, at the end of the season, I can have something to keep me while I am looking round."

"You don't say so, Rob! How much have you saved up?"

"I've got about two hundred dollars saved up already."

Charlie whistled.

"I had no idea you were so rich," he said. "Why, I haven't got five dollars."

"You might have. You are paid enough."

"Oh, it goes some way. I guess I'll begin to save, too."

"I wish you would. Then if you want to leave the circus at the end of the season we'll go somewhere together, and look for a different kind of work. We can take a room together in Boston or New York, eat at the restaurants, and look for something."

"I don't know but I should like going to New York," said Charlie.

By this time they had reached the edge of the woods, and were probably a mile or more from the town. There was no underbrush, but the trees rose clear and erect, and presented a cool and pleasant prospect to the boys, who had become warm with walking. So far as they knew, they were alone, but in this they were mistaken. Mr. Tarbox had some wood-land near by, and he had gone out to look at it, when, alike to his surprise and gratification, his eyes rested on the two boys, whom he at once recognized as belonging to the circus, having seen them ride the evening before. He didn't care particularly for Charlie Davis, but Robert Rudd had been with Anak when he inflicted upon him so mortifying personal chastisement, and he looked upon the boy as an accomplice of the man.

"That's the very boy I wanted to see," said Tarbox to himself, with a cruel smile. "I can't manage that overgrown brute, but I can manage him. I'll give the boy a lesson, and that'll be better than nothing."

Tarbox was naturally a tyrant and a bully, and, like most men of his character, was delighted when he could get hold of a person of inferior strength.

"Oh ho!" he said to himself, "the boy can't escape me now."

"Look here, boy," he said, in an impatient tone.

Robert turned quickly, and saw the frowning face of Tarbox.