“I’m up now,” he said, that being the reporter’s expressive way of notifying the city editor or his assistant that he is ready for another assignment. “I want you to go up to Madison Square Garden,” said Mr. Emberg. “The circus has come to town, and I want a good descriptive story of how the animals got in, what the men are doing in the way of getting the Garden into shape, something about the freaks, and whatever else you see of interest. Make it a sort of special yarn, and do your best.” That was an assignment any reporter would have been pleased to get, for though some of the older men had done it for years, and there remained little or nothing that was new in it, still the spirit of the boy seemed to linger in them, and there were always plenty who were eager for the chance to “write up” the circus. Larry appreciated his chance, and determined to do his best. He soon arrived at the Garden, and found the place in great confusion. Hundreds of men were scattered about the huge place. Some were erecting the tiers of seats, others were constructing the rings or stages on which the performers would appear; while high in the air, near the roof of the immense amphitheater, men, looking like spiders, were in a web of ropes, adjusting the trapezes. In one corner was a group of tumblers and acrobats going through their “stunts,” to keep in practice, for the show was to open in two days. On some of the trapezes the men and women were swinging about, and in one section of the Garden a troupe of Japanese contortionists and balancers were doing seemingly impossible feats. As Larry watched he saw a man in pink tights come out of a dressing-room, followed by several of the circus helpers. The performer went to where a trapeze swung high in the air. From the cross-bar there dangled a rope, which the man in tights grasped. Larry was near enough to overhear what was being said. “I’m going to give ’em something new,” he remarked to a man with a long whip, who seemed to be a ringmaster. “What is it?” asked the man with the whip. “Watch me, and you’ll see.” Then the one in pink tights went up the rope hand over hand, with an ease that seemed surprising to Larry, who had often tried the thing at Campton, in his father’s barn, when, with other country boys, he had played circus. Reaching the trapeze, the man sat down on the bar, and began to swing to and fro. He seemed to be adjusting the ropes. Then he turned over backward, and swung by his knees, head downward. Working his body back and forth he caused the trapeze to sway rapidly to and fro, in a long swing. For several minutes this went on, until the trapeze was moving backward and forward, with its human burden, as far as possible.