The Circus Comes to Town | Page 9

said Mrs. Mullarkey almost
fiercely. "Just let anybody try it!"
"Why didn't you tell us you had fifty cents?" asked Danny. "I bet you
was going to spend it all for yourself for a ticket to the circus."
"Mr. Barton told me not to tell," replied Jerry. "He said you'd get it
away from me if you knew I had found it and for me to go to the circus
all by myself."
"And you gave that up just for Kathleen?" queried Mrs. Mullarkey.
"I guess Kathleen's cough is much more important than any old circus,"
said Jerry.
Mother 'Larkey thereupon gathered Jerry up in her arms and kissed
him.

CHAPTER III
THE WIDTH OF AN ELEPHANT'S TAIL
Jerry tried all the next day and the next to think what it was that the
picture of the elephant jumping the fence almost made him remember,
but it just wouldn't come and finally he gave up trying. After playing
with Kathleen until Mother 'Larkey put her in the crib for her afternoon
nap, he wandered out towards the woodshed from behind which he
heard the voices of Danny and Celia Jane.
On the way an idea popped all of a sudden into his mind. The dazzling
splendor of it first brought him to a dead halt and then set him running
breathlessly to join the Mullarkey children. He found them all gathered
about Danny, hungrily watching him eat a green apple.
"Couldn't we play circus!" he exclaimed, in eager excitement at the
idea that had come to him.
"We could if we wanted to," replied Danny, in that superior,
ardor-dampening way of his.
Jerry felt his enthusiasm for the idea oozing out of his bare toes.
"I--Don't we want to, Danny?"
"Oh, yes, let's!" cried Nora eagerly. "I'm tired of ante-over and
run-sheep-run and pump-pump-pull-away--"
"And hidin'-go-seek and tree-tag," interrupted Celia Jane. She turned to
Jerry. "How do you play circus?"
"You just--just play it," he answered. "'Maginary you're an el'funt
jumpin' a fence and all."
"I'll be the el'funt!" cried Danny.
"I want to be the el'funt," objected Chris.

"The el'funt's mine," Jerry asserted and he closed his lips tightly. Danny
didn't have any right to that elephant. "I saw it first," he added.
"I said 'I'll be the el'funt' first, didn't I?" asked Danny.
"Jerry orter have first choice," said Nora, the conciliator, "seein' it was
him thought of playin' circus."
"I guess I can jump the highest, can't I?" Danny asked in a tone that
said as plain as day that that settled the matter.
"It's my el'funt!" insisted Jerry.
"You always take first choice," Chris complained.
"You could take turns about being el'funt," Nora suggested.
Jerry wanted with all his soul to play that sublime elephant jumping the
fence and he summoned up all his courage. "I won't play," cried he,
with a suspicious quiver of his lips. "I won't! I won't!"
"I'll let you be el'funt part of the time," Danny promised, "just to keep
you from cryin'."
"I ain't goin' to cry," returned Jerry hotly. "I ain't!"
"We can't have a circus with just a el'funt," said Celia Jane.
"Of course, we can't," said Danny decisively and turned to Jerry. "What
else'll we have?"
"Couldn't we have more'n one el'funt?" Jerry asked hopefully.
"What'd we want with more'n one el'funt?" Danny queried in scorn. "I
guess one el'funt's enough for one circus. Anyway, we want something
besides el'funts."
"What?" asked Jerry. "I ain't never seen a circus."

"No more have I," replied Danny.
"Can't you 'maginary something?" asked Celia Jane.
"We could ''maginary things'," interposed Nora, "but they might not be
in a circus."
"There's more'n one circus picture up," said Jerry. "Darn Darner said
there was one at Jenkins' corner and one on Jeffreys' barn. P'raps they'll
tell us what's in a circus."
"Of course," said Danny. "It's funny I didn't think of that. It's usually
me who thinks of everything. I'll be the first one at Jenkins' corner,"
and he was off at a run.
Thereupon they all followed at full speed. Any other rate of progress
was too slow for them. Jerry ran as hard as he could, leaving Celia Jane
behind and keeping right at Nora's side. It was more than a quarter of a
mile to Jenkins' corner and Jerry felt that his legs were ready to give out
and send him sprawling in the street before he got there, but he kept
running just the same. Celia Jane tagged along, far in the rear, and
called to Jerry to wait for her, but a boy couldn't stop and wait for a girl
without Danny's making fun of him, so, as much as Jerry would have
liked to rest, he kept pantingly on. He was glad to plump down flat on
the ground