As he went out of the tent he stopped to speak with his friend the old monkey, and his troubles seemed to have increased when he stood in front of the cage calling, “Mr. Stubbs! Mr. Stubbs!” and the old fellow would not even come down from off the lofty perch where he was engaged in monkey gymnastics with several younger companions. It seemed to him, as he afterward told Ben, “as if Mr. Stubbs had gone back on him because he knew that he was in trouble.” When he went toward the booth Mr. Lord looked at him around the corner of the canvas--for it seemed to Toby that his employer could look around a square corner with much greater ease than he could straight ahead--with a disagreeable leer in his eye, as though he enjoyed the misery which he knew his little clerk had just undergone. “Can you ride yet?” he asked, mockingly, as Toby stepped behind the counter to attend to his regular line of business. Toby made no reply, for he knew that the question was only asked sarcastically and not through any desire for information. In a few moments Mr. Lord left him to attend to the booth alone and went into the tent, where Toby rightly conjectured he had gone to question Mr. Castle upon the result of the lesson just given. That night Old Ben asked him how he had got on while under the teaching of Mr. Castle; and Toby, knowing that the question was asked because of the real interest which Ben had in his welfare, replied: “If I was tryin' to learn how to swing round the ring, strapped to a rope, I should say that I got along first rate; but I don't know much about the horse, for I was only on his back a little while at a time.” “You'll get over that soon,” said Old Ben, patronizingly, as he patted him on the back. “You remember my words, now: I say that you've got it in you, an' if you've a mind to take hold an' try to learn you'll come out on the top of the heap yet, an' be one of the smartest riders they've got in this show.” “I don't want to be a rider,” said Toby, sadly; “I only want to get back home once more, an' then you'll see how much it 'll take to get me away again.” “Well,” said Ben, quietly, “be that as it may, while you're here the best thing you can do is to take hold an' get ahead just as fast as you can; it 'll make it a mighty sight easier for you while you're with the show, an' it won't spoil any of your chances for runnin' away whenever the time comes.” Toby fully appreciated the truth of this remark, and he assured Ben that he should do all in his power to profit by the instruction given, and to please this new master who had been placed over him. And with this promise he lay back on the seat and went to sleep, not to awaken until the preparations were being made for the entree into the next town, and Mr. Lord's harsh voice had cried out his name, with no gentle tone, several times.