The Circus Comes to Town | Page 5

swift and so hard that Jerry was whirled clear around and
fell on his face, striking two small pieces of board lying near the
sidewalk and loosening a plank in the sidewalk itself.
"Oh!" gasped the man's voice.
Before Jerry could stir he heard a clink as of metal falling on board. He

half turned on his back and looked dazedly up at the man, who was
pressing both hands into the pit of his stomach. His face was very red.
He spoke to Jerry hesitatingly, as though he could not get his breath.
'Are you--hurt--much?"
"N-no, I guess not," Jerry replied, sitting up and feeling of a bruised
place on his arm.
"You just about knocked the breath out of me," said the man in a more
natural voice and one which Jerry now recognized as belonging to
Harry Barton, the clerk at the corner drug store.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Barton. If I'd of seen you--"
"You wouldn't have run into me," finished Mr. Barton. "Of course not.
There are a lot of things we wouldn't do if we could see what the results
were going to be. Why, bless me, it's Jerry Elbow! Well, I guess there
wasn't much harm done this time. You seemed to be in quite a hurry.
Have I delayed you?"
"Yes, sir, I was in a hurry," Jerry answered. "Danny was running to ask
Mother 'Larkey for fifty cents to see the circus."
"And what were you running for?"
Jerry started to get up as he replied.
"To see if she had fifty cents for Da--"
He stopped speaking and stopped getting up at the same time. A glint
of silver on the sidewalk back of Mr. Barton caught his eye. It was a
half-dollar! Jerry sank to a sitting posture and gazed in rapt wonder at
this answer to an unsaid prayer.
"You are hurt!" cried Mr. Barton solicitously and stooped to help Jerry
up. "Where does it pain you?"
"It's fifty cents!" cried Jerry, his lips unsealed at last, and he scrambled

eagerly for the coin.
"Well, there's nothing very painful in that, is there?" laughed Mr.
Barton.
Jerry rose, clutching the dirty half-dollar tightly, a light of joyful
anticipation in his eyes.
"There's not much need of asking what you will spend it for," observed
the drug clerk.
"For a ticket to the circus!" cried Jerry, his eyes sparkling at the thought
of future delights.
"I guessed it the first time," said Mr. Barton. "I thought I heard
something metallic fall on the sidewalk when you ran into me, but I had
such hard work getting my breath back that I forgot all about it."
Such a harrowing thought now popped into Jerry's mind that
unconsciously he closed his fingers entirely around the precious
half-dollar. What if it were Mr. Barton's! Perhaps he had knocked it out
of Mr. Barton's pocket when he ran into him. He had heard the clink of
its fall just after the collision, as he lay on the ground.
After a short but sharp struggle with himself, Jerry looked up and held
out the money to Mr. Barton. He tried to smile, but was conscious that
the twisting of his lips didn't look much like a smile.
"It's yours, I guess, Mr. Barton."
"Mine!" exclaimed the surprised drug clerk. "You saw it first."
"Yes, but I heard it fall just after I ran into you. I must of knocked it out
of your pocket. I didn't have no half-dollar."
"No more did I," replied Mr. Barton.
"You didn't!" exclaimed Jerry, and joy came unbidden back into his
eyes and there was a very different feel to his lips. He knew that it was

a real smile this time.
"Not this late in the week," Mr. Barton informed him. "It's too long
after pay day for me to have that much money. I've got just thirty-five
cents."
He drew some small coins out of his pocket.
"Yes, it's all here. The half-dollar must have been lying on one of the
boards that you struck in falling. Let's see it."
He took the money and examined it.
"It was almost covered with dirt," he said. "So was one end of both
boards. Hello! That's a funny black mark on the other side. Looks as
though somebody had smeared it with black paint."
"That doesn't hurt it any, does it?" asked Jerry in trepidation.
"Not a bit! It's good for a ticket to the circus."
"If I hadn't of run into you, I wouldn't get to go," observed Jerry.
"That's so," responded Mr. Barton. "I wouldn't let any one know you
found the money. Just sneak off to the circus when it comes and buy
your ticket. Danny would find some way to get it away from you if he
knew