"Of course. I want a job where there is something to do." "Well, you've got it with me," said Mr. Wattles, evidently gratified. "But he might have given you a check." "Maybe he did," said Al, reminded of the envelope that the mayor had handed him just before he left the office. He took it from his pocket, tore it open and drew from it a long, narrow strip of paper. The manager, who was looking over the boy's shoulder, exclaimed: "Well, he has done the handsome thing, and no mistake." The check was for five thousand dollars. "I won't take it!" cried Al. "Yes, you will take it!" said Mr. Wattles, very emphatically. "To return it would be to offend him very deeply." "But----" "But you must be starting for the train. Come, I'll walk to the depot with you. I have a number of points to give you." When they parted, the manager was better pleased than ever with Al. His "points" did not seem to be needed by the boy; a knowledge of and adaptability to the business seemed to have been born in him. "You're all right," said Mr. Wattles, slapping his new advance agent on the shoulder just before they parted. "I consider a big house in Rockton a dead-sure thing." Al was not quite so confident, however. In Boomville circumstances had favored him, but he could not hope for the same luck in Rockton; there he would have to prove his fitness to be the advance agent of the New York Comedy Company by tact and hard work. In conversation with a gentleman on the train, he learned a fact of which Mr. Wattles had not informed him--that Barnum's circus was at Rockton. "There won't be a corporal's guard at your show," said his informant, unsympathetically. "Everybody for miles around has been saving up to go to the circus. Other shows will be simply not in it." As if to add to Al's annoyance, the circus parade was going on when he reached Rockton; at any other time he would have stopped and looked at it, but he was not in the mood now. The sidewalks near the depot were crowded with eager sightseers. Al forced his way through their ranks, and attempted to cross the street, heedless of the warning cries of those who saw him. He had reached the middle of the street when he attracted the attention of one of the elephants, an animal with a national reputation for viciousness. The beast quickened its pace, reached the boy, seized him in its trunk and raised him high in the air, with the evident intention of dashing him to the pavement. A cry of horror rose from the crowd. Apparently Al was doomed to a frightful death. CHAPTER XII. INTERVIEWED. The elephant that had seized Al was, as we have said, well known for his viciousness. He had killed two keepers and injured half a score of persons. One of his escapades had occurred quite recently, and was fresh in the minds of most of the witnesses of his attack on the boy.