He began his antics. Selecting a portion of the large outer ring where there were no other clowns, Jack did a funny dance, interspersed with snatches of songs, though the band rather interfered with this. Then seeing a board and a saw-horse near him, he put them into place, so that he might jump from the end of the plank, in his pretended flying act. Flapping the big paper hoops, as a bird does its wings, Jack leaped from the end of the springboard. He tangled himself all up in the rings, one coming around his neck and the other encircling his legs. Then flapping his arms like the sails of an old-fashioned windmill, he trotted off amid the laughter and applause of the throng. He had been told by Sam Kyle that all the clowns repeated their acts four times, in different parts of the ring, so that the entire audience might see them. Bearing this in mind, Jack prepared to go through the same stunt a little farther along. He succeeded even better than at first, and his funny antics earned him loud applause. “Ha! hum! Not so bad,” murmured a voice near him, as he finished his second attempt. He looked up and saw Mr. Paine. “Keep it up, my boy,” said the manager. “I guess you’ll do.” Jack was grateful for the praise, and almost forgot the mean ringmaster, though his leg still smarted where the lash had struck him. But if Jack thought he was to have such an easy time winning success, he was mistaken. He was going through his turn for the fourth and last time when, just as he “flew” from the end of the board, Ted Chester came along, doing a stunt in a miniature automobile in which he sat, propelling it with his feet. Unfortunately, Jack landed right in front of the other clown, who ran into him, upsetting himself and overturning the auto. This time the crowd applauded more heartily than ever. They thought it was done purposely. Jack arose, trying to untangle himself from the paper hoops, in which he found himself fastened differently than at any time before. He was surprised to see Ted Chester glaring at him. “You did that on purpose!” exclaimed the older clown in a low voice. “You wanted to spoil my act.” “No, I didn’t. It was an accident,” replied Jack, rubbing his shin where he had struck it on the small auto. “I say you did! I’ll fix you! I’ll complain to Mr. Paine, that’s what I’ll do. I’m not going to the trouble of getting up a good act to have a green kid like you put it on the blink. Get out of my way or I’ll punch your head. I’ll get even with you for this,” and he shook his fist in Jack’s face. The audience took this for part of a pre-arranged act, and shouted their approval at the quarrel between the two clowns. This made Ted madder than ever.