The Flight of Pony Baker / A Boy's Town Story

ening; it was so hot nobody could stay in the house, and just as they were coming to the front steps Pony stole up behind them and tossed a snowball which he had got out of the garden at his mother

as a bat!" she said, and she broke out crying and ran into the house, and woul

rk and expecting that she would come to him, as she always did, to have him say that he was sorry when he had been wicked, or to tell him that she was sorry, when she thought she had not been quite fair with him.

ce to touch me again!" For he had made up his mind to r

is bed a moment, went away without saying anything but, "Don't forget

ther and mother and sisters in one of the lower seats. They would not know him, but he would know them, and he would send for them to come to the dressing-room, and would be very good to

breakfast with unsalted butter, and tried to pet him up. That whole day she kept trying to do things for him, but he would scarce

being cold

he very ne

twitched away from where she was sitting

st night, Pony?"

disgusted with her for her being such a hypocrite, but he had t

your snowball hit me, I felt sure it was a bat, and I'm so afraid of bats, you know. I

came back with the circus. But still he meant to run off with the circus. He did not see how he could do anything else, for he had told all the boys that day that he was going to do it; and when they just laughed

as the greatest thing of all. It was a chariot drawn by twelve Shetland ponies, and it was shaped like a big shell, and around in the bottom of the shell there were little circus actors, boys and girls, dressed in their circus clothes, and they all looked exactly like fairies. They scarce seemed to see the fellows,

lows did not believe it, and wanted to know how he knew it; and he said he read it in a paper; after that nobody could deny it. But he said that if you went with the circus men of

s came. He asked Jim Leonard whether the circus men made all the children drink burnt brandy; and Archy Hawkins and Hen Billard heard him ask, and began to mock him. They took him up between them, one by his arms and the other by the legs, a

let him alone, unless you were going to whip him, and the fellows only wanted to have a little fun wit

him in, anyway; but Jim Leonard said it was the only way to get acquainted with the circus men. Still Pony was afraid to speak to them, and he would not have said a word t

id to Pony. "If you ever fell int

s; and all the fellows said he was the one who guarded the outside of the te

but Jim Leonard was just behind him with another bucket of wa

them. "Wants to go with the circus, heigh? Let's have a look at you." He took Pony by the shoulders an

odded; perhaps he did not know what to say, eith

man looked at Pony, and Pon

at you could scarcely hear

e want to have his parents living, so that we

g way that Pony took courage to ask him whet

at

ep me

into the top of his hat before he put it on again. "No, I don't know as we will. We're rather short of giant

d then the circus man said perhaps he would rather go for an India-ru

ould make you do if you'd let us take you apart with a screw-driver and limber up the pieces with rattlesnake oil. Wouldn't like it,

going to leave us, and we want a new one right away. Now, there's more than one way of joining a circus, but the best way is to wait on your front

s did when he was ashamed, but he made out to

us man. "We'll be along," and he was going away

ked him wherea

ut looking around, "Oh, that's all right.

Leonard whispered to Po