"h.e.l.lo!" he cried. "I wonder if that's my town." It was, as he learned by consulting the press agent.

"Are you glad?" asked Helen.

"Well, rather, I guess!" Joe said.

And one morning Joe awakened in his berth, and looked out to see the familiar scenes of the town where he had lived so long.

"Bedford!" exclaimed Joe. "Well, I'm coming back in a very different way from the one I left it," and he chuckled as he thought of the "side-door Pullman," and the pursuing constables.

CHAPTER XVIII

HELEN'S MONEY

After breakfast Joe, who did not take part in the parade, set out to see the sights of his "home town," or, rather, he hoped to meet some of his former friends, for there were not many sights to see.

"The place hasn't changed much," Joe reflected as he pa.s.sed along the familiar streets. "It seems only like yesterday that I went away.

Well, Timothy Donnelly has painted his house at last, I see, and they have a new front on the drug store. Otherwise things are about the same. I wonder if I'd better go to call on the deacon. I guess I will--I don't have any hard feelings toward him. Yes, I'll go to see him and----"

Joe's thoughts were interrupted by a voice that exclaimed:

"Say! Look! There goes Joe Strong who used to live here!"

The young circus performer turned and saw Willie Norman, a small boy who lived on the street where Joe formerly dwelt.

"h.e.l.lo, Willie," called Joe in greeting.

"h.e.l.lo," was the answer. "Say, is it true you're with the circus?

Harry Martin said you were."

"That's right--I am," Joe admitted. He had kept up a fitful correspondence with Harry and some of the other chums, and in one of his letters Joe had spoken of his change of work.

"In a circus!" exclaimed Willie admiringly. "Do they let you feed the elephant?" he asked with awe.

"No, I haven't gotten quite that far," laughed Joe. "I'm only a trapeze performer."

"Say, I'd like to see you act," Willie went on, "but I ain't got a quarter."

"Here's a free ticket," Joe said, giving his little admirer one. In antic.i.p.ation of meeting some of his friends in Bedford that day, Joe had gotten a number of free admission tickets from the press agent, who was always well supplied with them. Willie's eyes glistened as he took the slip of pasteboard.

"Geewillikens!" he exclaimed. "Say, you're all right, Joe! I'm going to the circus! I wish I could run away and join one."

"Don't you dare try it!" Joe warned him. "You're too small."

He went on, meeting many former acquaintances, who turned to stare at the boy whose story had created such a stir in the town. Joe was looked upon by some as a hero, and by others as a "lost sheep." It is needless to say that Deacon Blackford was one who held the latter opinion.

Joe called on his former foster-father, but did not find him at the house. Mrs. Blackford was in, however, and was greatly surprised to see Joe. She welcomed and kissed him, and there were traces of tears in her eyes.

"Oh, Joe!" she exclaimed. "I am so sorry you left us, but perhaps it was all for the best, for you must live your own life, I suppose. I never really believed you took the money," she added, referring to an incident which was related in the book previous to this.

"I'm glad to hear that," Joe said. "I want to thank you for all your care of me. I didn't like to run away, but it seemed the only thing to do. And, as you say, I think it has turned out for the best. The circus life appeals to me, and I'm getting on in the business."

Mrs. Blackford was really glad to see Joe. She had a real liking for him, in spite of the fact that she had a poor opinion of circus folk and magicians, and she did not believe all the deacon believed of Joe.

She could not forget the days when, while he was a little lad, she had often sung him to sleep. But these days were over now.

Joe found the deacon at the feed store. The lad's former foster-father was not very cordial in his greeting, and, in fact, seemed rather embarra.s.sed than otherwise. Perhaps he regretted his accusation against our hero.

"Would you like to see the circus?" Joe inquired, as he was leaving the office. "I have some free tickets and----"

"What! Me go to a circus?" cried the deacon, with upraised hands.

"Never! Never! Circuses and theatres are the invention of the Evil One. I am surprised at your asking me!"

Joe did it for a joke, more than for anything else, as he knew the deacon would not take a ticket. Bidding him good-bye, Joe went out to find his former chums.

They, as may well be supposed, were very glad to see him. And that they envied Joe's position goes without saying.

"Well, well! You certainly put one over on us!" exclaimed Charlie Ford admiringly. "How did you do it, Joe?"

"Oh, it just happened, I guess. More luck than anything else."

"When you got Professor Rosello out of the fire you did a good thing,"

commented Tom Simpson.

"Yes, I guess I did--in more ways than one," admitted Joe.

"And are you really doing trapeze acts?" inquired Henry Blake.

"Come and watch me," was Joe's invitation. "Here is a reserved seat ticket for each of you."

"Whew!" whistled Harry Martin. "Talk about the return of the prodigal!

You'll make the folks here open their eyes, Joe. It isn't everybody who runs away from home who comes back as you do."

Joe told his chums some of his experiences, and they went with him out to the circus grounds, where he took them about, as only a privileged character can, showing them how the show was "put together."

"It sure is _great_!" exclaimed Charlie, ruffling up his red hair.

Joe fairly outdid himself in the performances that day. He went through his best feats, alone and with the Lascalla Brothers, with a snap and a swing that made the veteran performers look well to their own laurels. Joe did some wonderful leaping and turning of somersaults in the air, one difficult backward triple turn evoking a thundering round of applause.

And none applauded any more fervently than little Willie Norman.

"I know him!" the little lad confided to a group about him. "That's Joe Strong. He gave me a ticket to the show for nothing, mind you! I know him all right!"

"Oh, you do not!" chaffed another boy.

"I do so, and I'm going to speak to him after the show!"

This Willie proudly did, thereby refuting the skepticism of his neighbor. For the word soon pa.s.sed among the town-folk that Joe Strong, who used to live with Deacon Blackford, was with the circus, and after the show he held an informal little reception in the dressing tent which a number of men and boys, and not a few women, attended.