Toby Tyler; Or, Ten Weeks with a CircusOtis, James
General
Toby Tyler; Or, Ten Weeks with a Circus
Otis, James
Circus -- Fiction; Runaways -- Fiction
Old Ben was asleep on his box, while the horses jogged along behind the
other teams, and Toby failed to see anything whatever which should have
caused his pet to become so excited.
“Lie down an' behave yourself,” said Toby, as sternly as possible, and
as he spoke he took his pet by the collar, to oblige him to obey his
command.
The moment that he did this he saw the monkey throw something out
into the road, and the next instant he also saw that he held something
tightly clutched in his other paw.
It required some little exertion and active movement on Toby's part to
enable him to get hold of that paw, in order to discover what it was
which Mr. Stubbs had captured; but the instant he did succeed, there
went up from his heart such a cry of sorrow as caused Old Ben to start
up in alarm and the monkey to cower and whimper like a whipped dog.
“What is it, Toby? What's the matter?” asked the old driver, as
he peered out into the darkness ahead, as if he feared some danger
threatened them from that quarter. “I don't see anything. What is it?”
“Mr. Stubbs has thrown all my money away,” cried Toby, holding up the
almost empty bag, which a short time previous had been so well filled
with silver.
“Stubbs--thrown--the--money--away?” repeated Ben, with a pause between
each word, as if he could not understand that which he himself was
saying.
“Yes,” sobbed Toby, as he shook out the remaining contents of the bag,
“there's only half a dollar, an' all the rest is gone.”
“The rest gone!” again repeated Ben. “But how come the monkey to have
the money?”
“He tried to get at it out in the woods, an' I s'pose the moment I got
asleep he felt for it in my pockets. This is all there is left, an' he
threw away some just as I woke up.”
Again Toby held the bag up where Ben could see it, and again his grief
broke out anew.
Ben could say nothing; he realized the whole situation--that the monkey
had got the moneybag while Toby was sleeping; that in his play he had
thrown it away piece by piece; and he knew that that small amount of
silver represented liberty in the boy's eyes. He felt that there was
nothing he could say which would assuage Toby's grief, and he remained
silent.
“Don't you s'pose we could go back an' get it?” asked the boy, after the
intensity of his grief had somewhat subsided.
“No, Toby, it's gone,” replied Ben, sorrowfully. “You couldn't find it
if it was daylight, an' you don't stand a ghost of a chance now in the
dark. Don't take on so, my boy. I'll see if we can't make it up to you
in some way.”
Toby gave no heed to this last remark of Ben's. He hugged the monkey
convulsively to his breast, as if he would seek consolation from the
very one who had wrought the ruin, and, rocking himself to and fro, he
said, in a voice full of tears and sorrow:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account