Show ASP F 4 br a f copyright 1901 by dally story publishing oni pan the circus tent was patched and yellow barely big enough for one ring with a disreputable fly for the halt half dozen cages which made up the menagerie yet everybody felt the circus itself a providence dence comine as it did just the eek that the quarrel betwixt the beans bean and the hounsley Houn E got near the shooting pitch I 1 clingstone the social center of all brush creek lay where the big road crossed the tho river which was as navigable sik six months of the year other months brush reek depended upon he the mail rider for its news dinkl 1 upon I 1 j itself for its diversions diver blons naturally the diversions ran through a sliding scale from fighting to courting since the bean hounsley affair embraced both it divided blush creek folk into two wo opposing and well matched aff 71 wilam jump but dont holler when ou L hear the lion roar it ampa one said old squire jack Kou asley ought to get down on his aan 3 and give special thanks that a dirring aring fellow such as bud bean dean 8 well nell known to be wanted to take o 0 daughter bee off his hia hands add 8 ith something of asperity that rita its own part it know what ad beaw aaa in her he certainly would it 1 the borit ru of the I 1 argain to thill other retorted with equal rancor i that if bud was stirling all the beans since the tile ear one had been nobodies so it was pretty certain his industry last squire jack hounsley was as merely werely proving himself the wise and farsighted far sighted man they had always taken him to be in refusing to let bee choit for belinda even speak any more to bud that was ane talk understand in corn planting time by august ft th the circus season it was very much mu eli sharper shar P and more sulphurous kil alid d people after their habit had cairned things back and forth be between teen the high contending parties until squire jack was mas ready to foam at the mouth A r ou said sad bean in his hearing and bud i swallowed allowed sN haid and tool looted ed intently over our head if 5 ou so much as mentioned that squire jack had traded borses again the clicks camo came to clingstone Clings clin stona tono that meant the coming in of 4 embody else within a radius of twenty miles clingstone horsem ives began cooking the day after the bills were nere put up and when nhen the da itself came had their tables set at eleven squire arck J ck brought baroti lit in eveia soul on the place all packed in the two horse waon wagon along with a sack of meal and other sacks of cabbage potatoes and apples the sacks sachs were all for his sister jenny at whose ilose house he would leave his ills women folks to gossip and get dinner inner while he himself kept hept a sharp lookout for that pestilent bud bild bean ilean squire jack meant to get there so long ahead of bud that bud would have no chance to find out bees whereabouts it nettled him not a little that as ho he came to the ford the he ferryman ferrym rin said grinning my aly soul squire jack jach looks like your achas iu in bud bean hes jest about two tuo minutes ahead bee who was pale and pretty with dreamy meek blue eye smiled hope hopefully full it was a good omen buds getting thus ahead of pap he had sent her a message the night before mysterious as it was laconic liti jump but dont holler when you hear the lion roar it ran bee did not in the least understand it but then it vas was not for her to understand things she meant aiwas to 0 o leave that to bud still she could not help speculating on it when she was safe in her eat inide inside tte tent and had bad seen bud go twice or three times without so much mitch as looking her wa nna somehow he ile seemed to be chumming mightily with the circus folk he lie vent ment in and out at pleasure sat for brief whiles where he lie chose ami and gued the clown with a fatu familiar illar ease really astound ing bee sat dreaming all through thio ush the performance waiting for something she did not know whit her heart sank 11 as the family party filed out of the tent and still bhe blie had no sign from bud she thought her tier father was going home that nas as squire jacks intention la but he lie had traded horses three times that day getting boot and a better horse u every time so he lie was inas in ili the humor for any sort of pleasant extravagance when ho he heard the ringmaster shouting from front ills his perch on oil a gay wagon agon t that the night show shonn would be unlike and ever so much better than the day lay one he thrust a fistful of silver inside the ticket window loN sa a ing with nith a grim laugh im to pa mone nione jest to find out how slick ou feller can lie 13 bee e felt her tier ding doing hopa suddenly reprieved then but bhe she was as near coln crying when the night show ended and still bud had made no sign bee was as glad the auleb trotted their best and made the tile na waon on jounce and bounce u bo could be no talkie lize li ie pardue had come corne with nith them and she knew was nas fair aching to twit tier with A ith buds budi open falling away squire jack had distanced most of the other homing vehicles when lien all at once ore corner of the wagon sank down doan spilling pilling the occupants in a long row ron before the team could be checked A 1 anch pin had dropped out and let the hind wheel run off As squire jack was nas searching for it lantern in hand a man came galloping towards him shouting aloud run everybody for liva liv 4 the lions loose cage got turned over run hell lell kill hill vou run rahe I 1 he road ran through the woods from the depths of them behind the rider there came a succession of bloodcurdling blood curdling havu ho va 3 the squire rose Q to the emergency he lie had his horse the new horse in charge ot 0 tommy his ills elarst son he ile also had the two tino mules anil and nine to carry off on them in a wink ho lie had stripped the mules of gear set tomm m astride ore of thorn them with his ills wife alfe behind the lad iad and little sue his ills youngest daughter on before beck bech mule he lie knew would save them it anything could she was both sure footed and speedy he was nas not so certain about tige becks partner still there was aa nothing for it but to I 1 K c tj BUY 1 0 V im w willin illin to pay money jest to find out how slick you fellers can he ile back on her boy billy lize and brother johnny both of whom out yelled the lion that left bee and her aunt maria arla alip ali most fearful soul alive for riders behind upon the new horse the alquire mounted the beast clucked to him and got him near ano remaining hind wheel which aunt alaria had mounted and to which she clung despairingly aunt maria weighed two hundred and stood five foot two Is it any worker that when the squire cheal ed up tip at the end of two breathless miles bee pee who should have been pet ched behind aunt miria waa noN nowhere here vl ibl 11 or is it any marvel that some two no hours later a minister in the coli country town toti wae was reading the marriage service in behalf of a dl bride and an exultant grom when tho the knot anns vi as tied fled hard and fast as I 1 law aw and gospel could do it there was nas supper very late la and wid ver merr at the towns finest hotel the coctis proprietor gave gane it he lie vas tas it tinned out a running bean bud elder older brother who nho had run away any inan ears cars before in the wake of a chau i he ile had work od ed his NN wa n up and aud at last became so indispensable that when the proprietor died his last words nords to his ills weeping widow mere ere stick to tho tile country circuit and dont forget to marry bean bean a born showman did not in the ha least mind sinking his name out of hearing for the good of his son but some stirrings of either at affection or curiosity curi 10 had mado him arite to bud bad and find out how the land lay before tho the second greatest show came to cling clingstone 6 tone As for details thoy were never quite clear to apy anybody body lizo pardue maintains to this day lay that bee waa aas such a fool foot she simple foil fell oft off the horse and lay there uncertain as to whether hother she nna was to be eaten or mar ried the of course got into tho the papers and bellied tho the show to draw so well nell that at tho the end of the next season the proprietors sent to a very now and i co er pink bean a silver loving toying cup with roaring llona lions for handles stranger still squire jack hounsley drank egg bogs out of that same lovev cup and in drinking w washed down dovin the last ettace of enmity toward his ills son inlaw in law |