Part 29 (1/2)
”I made a pun.”
”Tell it to me.”
Teddy in short, jerky sentences, related what had been done and said. Phil leaned against the rail and shouted.
”I--I don't blame them,” he gasped between laughs. ”It is a wonder they did not throw you overboard.”
”They had better not try it.”
”But what about the pilot--what happened to him?”
”May--maybe they have put him out, too.”
”You have a way of getting into trouble, Teddy. Mr. c.u.mmings will love you for what you have done to him, I can well imagine.”
”About as much as I love him, I guess. He got too bold, Phil.
He had to have a lesson and Teddy Tucker was the boy who had to teach it to him. Say, go in and gather me a sandwich out of the wreck, will you?”
”Not I. Go and get your own sandwich. I'm going to see Mr. Sparling in his cabin. He has sent for me.”
Teddy sat out on deck while the others were picking up the table, the dishes and the ruined food. It would not do for Mr. Sparling to come in and see how they had wasted the food he had had prepared for them. The probabilities were that they would get no more, were he to do so. Teddy watched the proceedings narrowly from the safe vantage point of the deck.
In the meantime Phil had gone to Mr. Sparling's cabin, where the showman was checking up the day's receipts.
”A pretty good day, Phil,” smiled Mr. Sparling.
”I am glad to hear that, sir.”
”Two thousand dollars in the clear, as the result of our two performances today. Do you know of any other business that would pay as much for the amount invested, eh, Phil?”
”I do not, sir.”
”You see, it is a pretty good business to be in after all, provided it is run on business principles, at the same time treating one's employees like human beings.”
”Yes, sir.”
”How would you like to have an interest in a show?”
”I am going to, someday. It may be a long time yet before I have earned money enough, but I shall if I live,” said the Circus Boy quietly but with determination.
”So you shall. I intend to have a talk with you on this subject, one of these days. What I wanted to talk with you about is Jim's loss. I am glad it wasn't your ring horse, Phil. Have you anything to say about the animal breaking his leg?”
”I have.”
”Out with it.”
”Somebody is to blame for that accident.”
”How?”