CHAPTER XII
TRYING OUT A NEW ACT
"Well, Dimples, I hope you and I do not make sad exhibitions ofourselves this evening."
"I hope not, Phil. I am sure you will not, but I am not so sureof myself."
The afternoon performance had passed off without incident, savethat the performers had given a much better show than usual.Everyone felt fresh and strong after his Sunday rest.
It was now evening. The band was playing its loudest, the clownswere fast and furious in their fun, and the animals out in themenagerie tent were doing their part toward raising a din thatmight have been heard at least half a mile away.
Phil Forrest had already been in for his trapeze act, andafter changing his costume had come out again for thebareback riding number, to which he always looked forwardwith pleasurable anticipation.
At the same time Little Dimples, the star female bareback rider,had come up and joined him and the two fell to talking, as theyalways did whenever the opportunity presented itself.
Long ago the circus woman had constituted herself the "mother ofthe Circus Boys," as she expressed it. She always insisted ondoing their sewing for them, helped them to plan their costumesand gave them friendly advice on all occasions.
The act which they were entering the ring to perform on thisparticular evening was a new one. The two had been practicing itsince the beginning of the season--practicing in secret that theymight put it on as a surprise to Mr. Sparling.
This was what is known as a "brother and sister act." That is,the strong man and woman proposed to perform on the back of thesame horse, and at the same time.
The brother and sister act was not a new act by any means,but they had added ideas of their own to it until it hadbecome novel. They had essayed some daring and sensationalfeatures which were sure to create a sensation with anyaudience before which the act was performed.
"It is a small town," said Dimples. "We don't care if we do falloff, do we, Phil, my boy?"
"We most certainly do care. At least, _I_ do. Where's yourprofessional pride, Dimples?" demanded Phil, with anindulgent smile.
"In my feet, I guess," answered the woman, with a merry laugh."I am making my living with my feet. Were they not so sure,enabling me to stand on the slippery back of a ring horse,I should not be drawing the fine salary that I now have.Neither would you."
"Here we are at the ring," interrupted Phil. "The audience isapplauding us before we begin. They must be expecting somethingout of the ordinary."
As a matter of fact, the two riders made a very pleasingappearance as they entered the ring. Phil, slender, athletic,manly; Dimples exquisitely dainty, looking almost as fragileas a piece of Dresden china, they were a pair to attractattention anywhere.
The spectators did not even dream that Little Dimples was amarried woman, with a son almost as old as Phil Forrest himself.
They kicked off their slippers, chalked their feet, then Philassisted his companion to the back of the horse.
The band struck up a lively tune, the ringmaster crackedhis whip, and Phil leaped to the back of the ring horsebeside Dimples.
"We are off," smiled the lad.
"I hope not," laughed the woman happily.
Further conversation for the moment was interrupted, for thetime had arrived to begin their work in earnest. The two threwthemselves into a series of graceful positions, neither verydifficult nor very dangerous, but to Mr. Sparling, who waswatching their performance from a seat directly opposite to them,their work was more attractive than anything of the kind he everhad seen.
The next time they started in, after the brief intermission,Phil and Dimples varied their performance by leaping from thering horse, then, taking a running start, jumping to the backof the galloping animal. Only once did Phil miss, and Dimplesnot at all.
She greeted his failure with a merry laugh that goaded the lad torenewed efforts.
"Have you forgotten how to jump?" teased Dimples.
"I'll show you whether I have or not. Keep him up close to thering curb and stand back as far as you can."
"What are you going to do?" she questioned suspiciously.
"Going to prove to you that I have not forgotten how to jump,"answered Phil, with determination.
"Please don't do anything foolish," warned the dainty rider."It is too early in the season to break your neck. Just thinkwhat you would miss were you to do so this early--think what Ishould miss. Come up here and be sensible--that's a good boy."
The ringmaster paid no attention to their chatter, which was intones too low for the audience to catch.
Phil placed the little jumping board in place, upon whichthe riders step just as they are leaping to the back of thering horses. Then the lad backed up.
"Keep him up lively," he said to the ringmaster.
All at once the lad started on a brisk run across thesawdust arena.
"Yip!" encouraged Dimples.
"Yip! Yip!" answered Phil.
The lad leaped up into the air just as if he had been hurledthere on springs. As he leaped his legs were curled up underhim, and his working mate saw that he was not going to landon the back of the horse at all. Still she dared not speak tohim, now. She knew that to attract Phil's attention at thatmoment might mean a bad fall for him, for a performer must havehis mind on his work when attempting any dangerous feat.
To the surprise of everyone who witnessed the act, Phil Forrestcleared the back of the ring horse, fairly flying past theastonished eyes of Little Dimples.
He landed lightly well outside of the ring curbing, on thesoft turf.
The audience broke out into a roar of applause and aripple of hand clapping ran over the arena from theappreciative performers. They wholly forgot themselvesin their surprise and approval of the feat.
"Wonderful!" breathed Mr. James Sparling. "That boy isworth a thousand dollars a week to any show."
"Have I forgotten how to jump?" demanded the Circus Boyexultingly, as the ring horse slowed down to a walk, Philstepping along by the side of it looking up into the eyesof Little Dimples.
"Indeed you have not. It was wonderful. Don't you ever daretry it again, however. Why, suppose you had dropped on an irontent stake? You would have at least been disabled for life."
"I presume I should have been. I happened to know there wereno stakes where I landed. I made sure of that before I madethe leap."
"You are a wise boy, even if an imprudent one. We try theshoulder stand next, do we not?"
"Yes."
"I haven't the routine in my mind yet. Don't you dare letme fall."
"Supposing we save the shoulder stand until the last. Let's dothe somersault first," suggested Phil.
"Very well; I don't care."
The music started and the little couple began their work again.
Dimples sprang up to the hip of the Circus Boy, leaning far outto one side, holding to one of Phil's hands, a very pretty thoughnot perilous feat for a sure-footed ride.
This they varied by throwing themselves into severaldifferent poses.
"Now the turn," breathed Phil.
He deftly lifted the little woman down to the horse just in frontof himself. Having done so, Phil grasped Dimples firmly aboutthe waist with his strong, muscular young hands.
"If you drop me I'll never speak to you again."
"I shall not drop you. You know the cue?"
"Yes."
The lad nodded to the ringmaster, indicating that the latter wasto urge the horse on to a faster gallop.
"Now what are those two children going to do?" wondered the ownerof the show. "One is as daring as the other. It's a wonder theyhave gone along without knocking themselves out. I believe theyare going to do a turn."
That was exactly what they were preparing. "Now," saidPhil sharply.
The pair rose from the back of the ring horse as one person.They leaped gracefully and deliberately into the air, doubledtheir legs under them and performed one of the mos
t gracefulsomersaults that had ever been seen in the Sparling shows,landing lightly and surely on the resined back of the oldring horse.
Dimples sat down, and Phil, dropping lightly to the ground,threw a kiss to the audience.
The spectators, fully appreciating what had been done, wentfairly wild in their enthusiasm.
Mr. Sparling was no less so. In his excitement he forgot timeand place and ran into the ring, where he threw an arm aboutPhil Forrest, giving him a fatherly hug.
Dimples pouted prettily.
"That's what I call partiality," she complained.
Mr. Sparling promptly lifted her from the back of her horse,and stood the blushing little performer on the sawdust by theside of Phil.
How the spectators did applaud, many standing up in their seatswaving hats and handkerchiefs in their excitement and enthusiasm!
Mr. Sparling was always doing these little, intensely humanthings, not with any idea of winning applause, but out ofsheer big-heartedness. They did much toward spreading thereputation of the Sparling show and popularizing it as well.
"Ladies and gentlemen," announced the showman when quiet had oncemore been restored, "you will pardon me for interrupting theperformance, but as the owner of the show I want to say a fewwords on behalf of my star performers, Little Dimples and MasterPhil Forrest."
The audience interrupted him with a cheer.
"The act which you have just witnessed is as great a surpriseto me as it could possibly have been to you. It is the firsttime these two performers ever attempted it in public. I mightsay, also, that it is the first time to my own knowledge thatany performers in the world ever succeeded in getting away witha feat of that sort. I thank you for your approval.The performance will now proceed."
After the applause which this little speech elicited had diedaway the band once more began to play.
Phil and Dimples commenced a series of acts, jumping from and tothe back of the horse whose speed was increased for the purpose.
In the next rest Dimples called the attention of her associate tothe clown Diaz, who was not far from them at the moment.
Dimples had been in the show business so long that her intuitionhad become very keen. Nothing of consequence happened under thebig top, or beneath the low-roofed dressing tents, that she didnot know of, or at least surmise. Especially keen was she in allmatters relating to Phil Forrest and Teddy Tucker, and herinterest had in many instances served to save the lads fromunpleasant consequence.
"I don't like that fellow, Phil," Dimples remarked, referringto Diaz.
"Why not?"
"I think he is a bad man."
"I hope not. He is impulsive and--"
"Revengeful and ugly," finished Dimples.
"As I said, he is impulsive, like all of his race."
"What has been going on with you lately, Phil?"
"I don't understand what you mean?"
"Oh, yes, you do."
"You mean with regard to Diaz?"
"That's what I mean. Have you had any trouble?"
"We had a slight disagreement," admitted the lad.
"Tell me about it."
"Wait! There goes the music."
The ringmaster's whip cracked its warning and the gray horsestarted at a slow gallop. Phil was up beside his companion withagility and grace. The first round or two they stood poised onthe horse, while Phil related briefly what had taken placebetween himself and Diaz.
"Come, aren't you two going to get to work?" demandedthe ringmaster.
"You attend to your own work. We'll look out for ours,"snapped Dimples.
"Yes, and if you think you can do better just come up and try,"added Phil, with a good-natured laugh. "Up, Dimples!"
He threw her lightly to his shoulders, on which the woman stoodpoised, making as graceful and pretty a picture as had ever beenseen in a circus ring. Fragile as she was, it seemed as if Philwere all too slender to support her weight.
The act brought a whirlwind of applause.
"You look out for him, Phil. I--"
"Jump, Dimples!"
The ring horse had suddenly stumbled, its nose plowing up thesawdust in a cloud.
Phil, with rare presence of mind, lifted the feet from hisshoulders and hurled the girl far from him.
"Land on your feet!" he shouted, then Phil plunged off,head first.