She listened with the closest attention, and when he told her that his little hoard had now reached the sum of seven dollars and ten cents--almost as much as he had before--she said, eagerly: “I've got three little gold dollars in my trunk, an' you shall have them all; they're my very own, for mamma gave them to me to do just what I wanted to with them. But I don't see how you can take Mr. Stubbs with you, for that would be stealing.” “No, it wouldn't, neither,” said Toby, stoutly. “Wasn't he give to me to do just as I wanted to with? An' didn't the boss say he was all mine?” “Oh, I'd forgotten that,” said Ella, thoughtfully. “I suppose you can take him; but he'll be awfully in the way, won't he?” “No,” said Toby, anxious to say a good word for his pet; “he always does just what I want him to, an' when I tell him what I'm tryin' to do he'll be as good as anything. But I can't take your dollars.” “Why not?” “'Cause that wouldn't be right for a boy to let a girl littler than himself help him: I'll wait till I get money enough of my own, an' then I'll go.” “But I want you to take my money, too; I want you to have it.” “No, I can't take it,” said Toby, shaking his head resolutely as he put the golden temptation from him; and then, as a happy thought occurred to him, he said, quickly: “I tell you what to do with your dollars: you keep them till you grow up to be a woman, an' when I'm a man I'll come, an' then we'll buy a circus of our own. I think perhaps I'd like to be with a circus if I owned one myself. We'll have lots of money then, an' can do just what we want to.” This idea seemed to please the little girl, and the two began to lay all sorts of plans for that time when they should be man and woman, have lots of money, and be able to do just what they wanted to. They had been sitting on the edge of the newly made ring while they were talking, and before they had half finished making plans for the future one of the attendants came in to put things to order, and they were obliged to leave their seats, she going to the hotel to get ready for the afternoon's performance, and Toby to try to do such work as Mr. Job had laid out for him. Just ten weeks from the time Toby had first joined the circus Mr. Castle informed him and Ella that they were to appear in public on the following day. They had been practicing daily, and Toby had become so skillful that both Mr. Castle and Mr. Lord saw that the time had come when he could be made to earn some money for them. XV. TOBY'S FRIENDS PRESENT HIM WITH A COSTUME During this time Toby's funds had accumulated rather slower than on the first few days he was in the business, but he had saved eleven dollars, and Mr. Lord had paid him five dollars of his salary, so that he had the to him enormous sum of sixteen dollars; and he had about made up his mind to make one effort for liberty when the news came that he was to ride in public.