This Etext was prepared for Project Gutenberg by Greg Berckes
The Circus Boys on the Plains
Or
The Young Advance Agents Ahead of the Show
By EDGAR B. P. DARLINGTON
The English Fat Girl gets mired on the lot. Teddy Tuckerthreatens to thrash the "Strongest Man on Earth." The hazards ofa circus life. Teddy would put the whole show out of business.Phil and his chum assigned to Advance Car Number Three.
"Boss Sparling seems in an awful hurry to get rid of us."
Circus Boys meet a cold reception. Phil is made a
"barn climber." Teddy threatens to wring the car manager's neck.
"Soak him, Phil!" yells the boy on the pile of railroad ties.
Phil gets into action. "I've had enough!" groans thecar manager. A telegram to the owner complains of theCircus Boys. "Either you get off this car or I do." The advancecar is a bedlam. More trouble for the Circus Boys is in sight.
Circus Boys meet "Rosie the Pig" and other notables. The portertells how Phil worsted Mr. Snowden. What a "contract hotel" is.Teddy decides to take bean soup. "Why didn't the contractingagent sign us up with a livery stable?"
How an advance car is operated. The "banner man" and his littlemagnetic hammer. "You're a bird on the trapeze." The boysexchange confidences on snoring. Circus Boys go to sleep onbeds of paper. Aroused by a great uproar.
"He's fallen into the paste can headfirst!" Teddy Tucker has
a narrow escape from death. The manager gives Phil a ducking.
"Rain-in-the-Face" sees a great light. An irate car manager.
How Teddy took his revenge on Mr. Snowden.
"He pulled me out of bed!" Great excitement on Car Three.Snowden hopes Phil will fall off and break his neck.Young Forrest pastes a poster on himself. "Young man,you have a cast-iron nerve!" The Circus Boy "squares"a hard-shell farmer.
Phil gets a silo, and a hog pen for good measure.Farmers witness a circus stunt not down on the bills.A narrow escape. Taking a desperate chance. Phil "the champeenof them all." Circus sheets that stood out like a fire onthe landscape.
Blue jeans replace pink tights. When it rained paste. "I didn'tknow you had your nose stuck in the paste pot when I turned onthe steam." Teddy sets himself the task of reforming a"crazy man." The trouble maker is named "Spotted Horse.""You're discharged!"
Billy Conley is up to tricks. Mr. Sparling takes a hand.The car manager gets his deserts. "You will hear greatthings of Phil Forrest one of these days." "I'm going tothrash a man within an inch of his life!" Phil hears anamazing thing.
Phil Forrest, Car Manager. Dazed by an unexpected promotion.
Teddy graduates from the paste pot. How circus money is spent.
The Circus Boys win new laurels. Teddy becomes a press agent.
Phil makes a speech and is welcomed as "The Boss."