The clown listened to the story very attentively, but Jimmy gaped a great deal while he told it. By the time he finished he could scarcely keep his eyes open.

'You seem a bit sleepy,' said the clown.

'I'm hungry, too,' answered Jimmy.

'Well, you can't sleep here,' said the clown, 'and you don't see much to eat, do you?'

'No, there isn't much to eat,' Jimmy admitted. 'But,' he added, 'I don't see why I couldn't sleep here.'

'Because the tent's going to be taken down,' said the clown. 'We've been here three days, and we're going on somewhere else.'

Jimmy looked disappointed. He rather liked the clown; at all events he liked him a great deal better than Coote, and he did not feel at all afraid of him.

'Just you come along with me,' said the clown, 'and I'll see what I can do for you. Here, jump over! That's right,' he added, as Jimmy climbed over the barrier which separated the seats from the ring in which the performance had taken place. 'You come with me,' said the clown, 'and we'll soon see whether we can't find you something to eat and a place to lie down in.'

They left the tent, and outside the clown stopped to speak to the man who had shouted from the cart and to the stout woman who had taken the money. They often glanced at Jimmy while they talked, so that he guessed they were talking about him.

'All right,' said the man, 'do as you like; it's no business of mine'; and then the clown came back to Jimmy and they walked away from the tent together.

They seemed to be walking in and out amongst a number of curious-looking carts and ornamental cars, the colour of gold, with pictures on their sides. There were several vans too, like small houses on wheels, with windows and curtains painted on them, such as Jimmy had often seen at Ramsgate, with men selling brooms and baskets, walking by the horses.

There were no men selling brooms or baskets here, although they all seemed to be very busy: some being dressed just as they had left the ring, and others leading cream-coloured and piebald horses, instead of going to bed, as Jimmy thought it was time to do.

'Come along,' said the clown, as the boy seemed inclined to stop to look on.

'Where are we going?' asked Jimmy.

'You'll see,' was the answer.

'But where is it?' asked Jimmy.

'Where I live,' said the clown.

'Oh, we're going to your house,' cried Jimmy, feeling pleased at the chance of entering a house again, for it seemed a very long time since he had left Aunt Selina's.

'Well,' said the clown, 'it's a sort of house. You might call it a house on wheels, and you wouldn't be far out.'

Suddenly Jimmy seized the clown's arm and gave a jump.

'What's that?' he exclaimed.

'Don't be frightened,' said the clown.

'Only what is it?' asked Jimmy, with a shaky voice.

'He won't hurt you,' was the answer. 'It's only old Billy, the lion.'

Jimmy heard him roar as if he were only a yard or two away, and he felt rather alarmed, until they had left his cage farther behind.

'Is that the lion who had your head in his mouth?' asked Jimmy.

'Well,' said the clown, 'it isn't in his mouth now, is it?'

'I didn't see the little clown,' exclaimed Jimmy, and the clown stared down at the ground.

'No,' he answered, as if he felt rather miserable, 'we shan't see him again ever.'

Then they stopped at the back of one of the vans, and Jimmy saw that there was a light inside it.

'Up you get,' said the clown, and Jimmy scrambled up a pair of wide steps which put him in mind of a bathing-machine.

The door seemed to be made in halves, and whilst the lower part was shut the upper part was open. Through this Jimmy could see inside the van, and it looked exactly like a small room, only rather dirty and untidy. As Jimmy stood on the steps staring into the van, with the clown close behind him, a girl came out from what seemed to be a second room behind the first. She had yellow hair, and her face looked very white; but although she must have changed her dress, Jimmy felt certain she was the same girl who had worn the green velvet riding-habit.

'Hullo!' she cried, seeing Jimmy, but not seeing her father. 'What do you want?'

'All right, Nan, all right,' said the clown, and he put an arm in front of Jimmy to push open the door. Whilst Jimmy felt glad to find shelter from the rain, the clown went to the back room, which must have been extremely small, and carried on a conversation with the girl whom he called Nan. Jimmy felt certain he was telling her all about himself.

Presently they both came out again, and Nan went to a shelf and brought some rather fat bacon and bread, and a knife and fork with black handles. There were two beds—one in the back part of the van and one in the front. Jimmy sat down on the one in the front to eat his supper, and before he had finished Nan gave him a mug of tea, which made him feel much warmer, although it did not taste very pleasant.

The clown had gone away again, and Jimmy wondered why there was such a noise outside the van.

'They're only putting the horses in,' said Nan, when he questioned her.

'I should have thought they would be taking them out at this time of night,' answered Jimmy.

'We always travel at night,' she explained, 'and then we're ready for the performance in the daytime.'

'But when do you go to sleep?' asked Jimmy.

'When we get a chance,' she said. 'But the best thing you can do's to go to sleep now. Suppose you lie down in there,' and she pointed to the room which was boarded off behind.

'Whose bed is it?' he asked.

'Father's, when he gets time to lie in it,' was the answer.

'But he can't if I'm there,' said Jimmy.

'He's got a lot to do before he thinks of bed,' exclaimed Nan. 'He's got to see to the horses. But I'll lie down as soon as we start, and presently father and I'll change places.'