"I should like to give them something," said Marie, "but you know they are not allowed to beg while they are in the village, and we should not encourage them to break the law. I will go back, though, and ask aunty to give me some cakes for them," and the kind-hearted girl ran back to Madame Daboll's. Meanwhile Jean was wondering what was inside the wagons with CIRQUE painted in big black letters on their sides. Near a bright yellow van were tethered two goats which were carried for their milk. Goat's milk is much used in France among the poorer classes, especially in the southern part of the country, and the white goat's milk cheeses are rather good, when one gets used to the peculiar flavour. [Illustration: THE CIRCUS] Germaine was getting acquainted with a lot of dark-skinned little children, who looked chubby and well taken care of in their neat cotton dresses. Their mother was a gipsy-like woman who had fancy baskets for sale, and she told Germaine she had nine children, which set Germaine to wondering how they all stowed themselves away in the one wagon. It was a big one, to be sure, divided into two rooms, and wonderfully compact, and as they sat and eat out-of-doors on the ground or the steps of their wagons, they could easily get on without tables and chairs. Here Marie came running up with her cakes, which she divided among the little ones who gathered about her. By this time they had got the desired permission to open up the circus on the square, and that afternoon our three little friends had the pleasure of seeing the horse that could find a hidden handkerchief, the performing dogs, and all the other wonders of the show. The grand events of the fête were saved up for the last day. There were to be the sports in the afternoon, and a grand illumination and display of fireworks in the evening. The sports, in which the young boys were to take part, were held in the square. Jean was to participate in one of these, and was one of the first to be at the roped-in enclosure in the middle of which stood two high poles. Between these poles were hung a dozen or more tin buckets all filled with water, except the middle one. In this was a new five-franc piece. To each bucket was attached a string, and when a boy was blindfolded, and an enormous grotesque mask put over his head, it was a somewhat difficult task to walk up and to pull the string of the bucket which held the five-franc piece. Should he pull any of the others, down would tumble a pail full of water all over him, amid the laughter and jeers of the bystanders. Jean had talked for weeks beforehand how he would spend the five francs if he were fortunate enough to win it. He had in imagination bought most of the things in M. Carré's shop. Five francs, which is equal to one American dollar, was a big sum to a little French boy such as Jean.