Toby Tyler | Page 8

would fairly make Toby shiver with its mournfulness. Eighteen miles
was the distance from Guilford to the town where the next performance
of the circus was to be given, and as Toby thought of the ride before
them it seemed as if the time would be almost interminable. He curled
himself up on one corner of the seat, and tried very hard to go to sleep;
but just as his eyes began to grow heavy the wagon would jolt over
some rock or sink deep in some rut, till Toby, the breath very nearly
shaken out of his body, and his neck almost dislocated, would sit bolt
upright, clinging to the seat with both hands, as if he expected each
moment to be pitched out into the mud.
The driver watched him closely, and each time that he saw him shaken
up and awakened so thoroughly he would indulge in one of his silent

laughing spells, until Toby would wonder whether he would ever
recover from it. Several times had Toby been awakened, and each time
he had seen the amusement his sufferings caused, until he finally
resolved to put an end to the sport by keeping awake.
"What is your name?" he asked of the driver, thinking a conversation
would be the best way to rouse himself into wakefulness.
"Waal," said the driver, as he gathered the reins carefully in one hand,
and seemed to be debating in his mind how he should answer the
question, "I don't know as I know myself, it's been so long since I've
heard it."
Toby was wide enough awake now, as this rather singular problem was
forced upon his mind. He revolved the matter silently for some
moments, and at last he asked, "What do folks call you when they want
to speak to you?"
"They always call me Old Ben, an' I've got so used to the name that I
don't need any other."
Toby wanted very much to ask more questions, but he wisely
concluded that it would not be agreeable to his companion.
"I'll ask the old man about it," said Toby to himself, referring to the
aged monkey, whom he seemed to feel acquainted with; "he most likely
knows, if he'll say anything."
After this the conversation ceased, until Toby again ventured to suggest,
"It's a pretty long drive, hain't it?"
"You want to wait till you've been in this business a year or two," said
Ben, sagely, "an' then you won't think much of it. Why, I've known the
show towns to be thirty miles apart, an' them was the times when we
had lively work of it. Riding all night and working all day kind of
wears on a fellow."
"Yes, I s'pose so," said Toby, with a sigh, as he wondered whether he

had got to work as hard as that; "but I s'pose you get all you want to eat,
don't you?"
"Now you've struck it!" said Ben, with the air of one about to impart a
world of wisdom, as he crossed one leg over the other, that his position
might be as comfortable as possible while he was initiating his young
companion into the mysteries of the life. "I've had all the boys ride with
me since I've been with this show, an' I've tried to start them right; but
they didn't seem to profit by it, an' always got sick of the show an' run
away, just because they didn't look out for themselves as they ought to.
Now listen to me, Toby, an' remember what I say. You see they put us
all in a hotel together, an' some of these places where we go don't have
any too much stuff on the table. Whenever we strike a new town you
find out at the hotel what time they have the grub ready, an' you be on
hand, so's to get in with the first. Eat all you can, an' fill your pockets."
"If that's all a feller has to do to travel with a circus," said Toby, "I'm
just the one, 'cause I always used to do just that when I hadn't any idea
of bein' a circus man."
"Then you'll get along all right," said Ben, as he checked the speed of
his horses and, looking carefully ahead, said, as he guided his team to
one side of the road, "This is as far as we're going tonight."
Toby learned that they were within a couple of miles of the town, and
that the entire procession would remain by the roadside until time to
make the grand entree into the village, when every wagon, horse, and
man would be decked out in the most gorgeous array, as they had been
when they entered Guilford.
Under Ben's direction he wrapped himself