Accordingly the two lads drew in toward the group that stood in front of the placard tacked to the tree, where it could be easily seen from the road. Just as both of them had guessed, it was one of the posters gotten up by the wide-awake committee of arrangements, telling in glowing language of the splendid program that had been made up for the coming Wednesday afternoon. Of course the boys had read it many times before. Indeed, they knew about the whole thing from beginning to end. And yet, as both their names occurred among the numerous entries for the prizes about to be competed for, it was only natural that they should be pleased to stand there, and listen to the various comments. Some of the gypsy men were curious about the nature of the affair. Evidently they had never been given the privilege of witnessing such a tournament; and feeling a certain amount of interest in things that pertained to manly sports, they were even then trying to get additional information by “pumping” an old farmer, who, with his wife and three small children, happened to be sitting in a wagon near by. As he turned out to be almost as unfamiliar with the nature of the meet as the road-roamers themselves, their success was not very flattering. A couple of very small town boys who had wandered out that way endeavored to supply the lack of knowledge, but did not seem to be making much progress when Frank and Lanky came along. Some of the gypsy men turned to the new arrivals with a list of questions, and Lanky was only too willing to answer to the best of his ability. “Greatest thing that you ever saw, or will see, if you live a thousand years,” he went on, in a way that made Frank smile, thinking that his chum might get an engagement as a “barker” for some side show to a circus. “Yes, sir, there will be the greatest crowd in and around Columbia that was ever known. You’ll be mighty sorry to miss it, I tell you. And the farmers who want to trade horses, they always just flock to these athletic meets. I reckon anybody could do more business in that line in two days, than a week at other times.” Frank saw some of the gypsies look at each other and nod, as though they rather fancied the idea. Business with them was already the first consideration. They may have thought that they had about exhausted the horse trade around the immediate vicinity of Columbia; but if farmers for a radius of twenty miles and more would be in town with their vehicles on that wonderful occasion, well, that certainly put another face on the matter. “It’s working, Lanky,” Frank managed to say in a low tone to his chum. “Keep it up, and you’ll get the whole lot to see things your way.” “Huh! takes your Uncle Lanky to do the grand chinning act,” muttered the tall boy, proudly. “I can soft-soap to beat the band, when I want to. Got ’em started on the right track; and now I’ll just say a few more words to clinch things.”