"Go on," he urged.

"My dear friends," she began tremblingly, "I want to thank you for all the nice things you have said about me, and I want to say that I'm glad--glad----" She paused and blushed again.

"Glad to be here," prompted Joe.

"Yes, that's it--glad to be here, and I--er--I---- Oh, you finish for me, Joe!" she begged, as she sat down amid laughter.

Then the supper went on, more merrily than before. But it had to come to an end at last, for the show people needed their rest if they were to perform well the next day. And most of them, especially those like Joe and the acrobats, who depended on their nerve as well as their strength, needed unbroken slumber.

As Joe walked back to the railroad, where their sleeping cars were standing on a siding, the young trapeze performer asked Helen about her business transaction with the law clerk. He had not had a chance to do this at the supper.

"Well," began the girl, "as you know, he brought me the cash, Joe. Oh, how nice those new bills did look. He had it all in new bills for me.

Mr. Pike told him to do that, he said, as they didn't know whether I could use a check, traveling about as I am. Anyhow he had the bills for me--about three thousand dollars it was. The rest of my little fortune, you know, is in stocks and bonds. I only get the interest, but this cash was from the sale of some of grandfather's property."

"Then you didn't keep the cash yourself?" Joe asked.

"No. Mr. Sanford said it wouldn't be safe for me to carry so much money around with me. Do you think it would?"

"Of course not," Joe agreed. "But you could have let our treasurer keep it for you. He could have banked it."

"Yes; Mr. Sanford thought of that, he said. But he also said if my money was in the bank I wouldn't get more than three per cent. on it.

I don't know exactly what he means--I never was any good at fractions, and I know nothing about business. But, anyhow, Mr. Sanford kindly explained that I would get more interest on my money if it was invested than if it was in a bank. And he offered to invest for me all I didn't need at once. Wasn't he kind?"

"Perhaps," admitted Joe, rather dubiously. "How is he going to invest it?"

"Oh, he knows lots of ways, he said, being in the law office. But he said he thought it would be best to buy oil stock with it. Oil stock was sure to go up in price, he said; and I would make money on that as well as interest, or dividends--or something like that. Wasn't he good?"

"To himself maybe, yes," answered Joe.

"What do you mean?" inquired Helen.

"Oh, well, maybe it's all right," Joe said. He did not want to alarm the girl unnecessarily, but he had a deeper suspicion than before of Sanford.

"I think it's just fine," Helen went on. "I have quite some cash with me--I'm going to let our treasurer keep that, and give me some when I need it. Then, from time to time, I'll get dividends on my oil stock."

"Maybe," said Joe, in a low voice.

"What?" asked Helen, quickly. "What do you mean?"

"Never mind," proceeded Joe. "Anyhow we had a good time to-night."

"Did you enjoy it?"

"I certainly did, Helen."

They parted near the train, Joe to go to his car and Helen to hers.

"Oh, by the way," Joe called after her. "Did Mr. Sanford say what oil company it was he was going to invest your money in?"

"Yes, he told me. It's the Circle City Oil Syndicate. He has some stock in it, he told me, and it's a fine concern. Oh, Joe, I'm so glad I have inherited a little fortune."

"So am I," Joe returned, wondering at the same time if he would ever hear anything encouraging of his mother's relatives in England.

"The Circle City Oil Syndicate," Joe murmured as he entered his car.

"I must look them up. This fellow, Sanford, may be all right, but he struck me as being a pretty slick individual, who would look out for himself first, and the firm's clients afterward. He'll bear investigating."

However, nothing could be done that night. The clerk had gone back with the larger part of Helen's money, and Joe did not want to cause her worry by speaking of his suspicions.

The circus did a good business the next day, drawing even larger throngs than to the previous performances. The story of Helen's good fortune was printed in the local paper, with an account of the celebration supper she gave, and when she rode into the ring on Rosebud the applause that greeted her was very p.r.o.nounced.

Joe repeated his "drop back to instep hang" that afternoon. It was rather a perilous feat and he was not so sure of it as he was of his other exercises. But it was a "thriller" and that was what the public seemed to want--something that made them gasp, sit up, and hold their breath while they waited to see if "anything would happen" to the reckless performer.

Joe climbed up to his small trapeze, swung on it and then fell backward for his first instep hang. He accomplished this successfully, and then came the thrilling slide down the longer ropes.

Down Joe shot, depending on stopping himself with his outstretched and down-hanging hands when he reached the second bar.

But the inevitable "something" happened. Joe's hands slipped from the bar, his head struck it a glancing blow, and the next instant he felt himself falling head first down toward the life net.

CHAPTER XXI

JOE HEARS SOMETHING

Women and children screamed, and there were hoa.r.s.e shouts from the men who witnessed Joe's fall. At first some thought it was only part of the acrobatic trick, but a single glance at the desperate struggles of the young trapeze performer dispelled this idea.

For Joe was struggling desperately in the air to prevent himself from falling head first into the life net.

It might be thought that one could fall into a loose, sagging net in any position and not be hurt. But this is not so. A fall into a net from a great height is often as dangerous as landing on the ground.

Circus folk must know how to fall properly.

If the person falling lands on his head he is likely to dislocate, if not to break, his neck, and falling on one's face may sometimes be dangerous. The best way, of course, is to land on one's feet, and this was what Joe was trying to bring about.

When he realized that he had missed grasping the bar of the second trapeze (though he could not understand his failure) he knew he must turn over, and that quickly, or he would strike on his head in the net.

He tried to turn a somersault, but he was at a disadvantage, not having prepared for that in advance.

"I've got to turn! I've got to turn!" he thought desperately, as he fell through s.p.a.ce.

He did manage to get partly over and when he landed in the net he took the force of the blow partly on his head and partly on his shoulder.

Everything seemed to get black around him, and there was a roaring in his ears. Then Joe Strong knew nothing. He had been knocked unconscious by the fall.

The circus audience--or that part of it immediately near Joe's trapezes--was at once aware that something unusual had occurred.

Some women arose, as though to rush out. Others screamed and one or two children began to cry. A slight panic was imminent, and Jim Tracy realized this.

From where she was putting her horse, Rosebud, through his paces Helen saw what happened to Joe. In an instant she jumped from the saddle, and ran across the ring toward the net in which he lay, an inert form.