Toby Tyler; Or, Ten Weeks with a CircusOtis, James
General
Toby Tyler; Or, Ten Weeks with a Circus
Otis, James
Circus -- Fiction; Runaways -- Fiction
When the doors of the big tent were opened, and the people began to
crowd in, just as Toby had seen them do at Guilford, Mr. Lord announced
to his young clerk that it was time for him to go into the tent to work.
Then it was that Toby learned for the first time that he had two masters
instead of one, and this knowledge caused him no little uneasiness. If
the other one was anything like Mr. Lord, his lot would be just twice as
bad, and he began to wonder whether he could even stand it one day
longer.
As the boy passed through the tent on his way to the candy stand, where
he was really to enter upon the duties for which he had run away from
home, he wanted to stop for a moment and speak with the old monkey who
he thought had taken such an interest in him. But when he reached the
cage in which his friend was confined, there was such a crowd around it
that it was impossible for him to get near enough to speak without being
overheard.
This was such a disappointment to the little fellow that the big tears
came into his eyes, and in another instant would have gone rolling down
his cheeks if his aged friend had not chanced to look toward him. Toby
fancied that the monkey looked at him in the most friendly way, and then
he was certain that he winked one eye. Toby felt that there was no
mistake about that wink, and it seemed as if it was intended to convey
comfort to him in his troubles. He winked back at the monkey in the most
emphatic and grave manner possible, and then went on his way, feeling
wonderfully comforted.
The work inside the tent was far different and much harder than it was
outside. He was obliged to carry around among the audience trays of
candy, nuts, and lemonade for sale, and he was also expected to cry
aloud the description of that which he offered. The partner of Mr. Lord,
who had charge of the stand inside the tent, showed himself to be
neither better nor worse than Mr. Lord himself. When Toby first
presented himself for work he handed him a tray filled with glasses of
lemonade, and told him to go among the audience, crying, "Here's your
nice cold lemonade, only five cents a glass!"
Toby started to do as he was bidden; but when he tried to repeat the
words in anything like a loud tone of voice they stuck in his throat,
and he found it next to impossible to utter a sound above a whisper. It
seemed to him that every one in the audience was looking only at him,
and the very sound of his own voice made him afraid.
He went entirely around the tent once without making a sale, and when he
returned to the stand he was at once convinced that one of his masters
was quite as bad as the other. This one--and he knew that his name was
Jacobs, for he heard some one call him so--very kindly told him that he
would break every bone in his body if he didn't sell something, and Toby
confidently believed that he would carry out his threat.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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