Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1909-02-04
JlM'S
HOT FINISH.
By COLIN S. COLLINS.


half of the Altdlf BrOt9CfS, emerged
from the red ticket wagon, where Rich.
ard Clute was counting up" the after
noon receipts.
Worst sort OK luck was the reply.
II thought If I tackled the old man
after a good matinee | could catch him
| In d fine humor, but It seems that the
| sheriff held him up just before | got
| there. One of the grafters he pinched
| told that the old man got rakeof,
| and the sheriff came around to get his
and got mine. The old mans going
to send Daisy to boarding school, and
he mentioned n place l might 90 to-
| but it's nowhere near Daisy's school.
| You can bet on that"
Cant you two hook itT' suggested
| Ben Its pretty close to the end Of
| the season. If we lose a couple OF
weeks. can stand my share Of the
loss If | don't get a chance to work
| single act at some of the late fairs.
See what the kid thinks"
II don't have to see" was the gloomy
! response Il know now what her an
swcr would be, she won't beat it.
| Shes going TO have a regular wedding,
with the old man giving her away or
! there won't be Il wedding. She's told
me that dozen times, and she means
| 1t when she says It."
| Strome nodded Ever since they had
| joined the Clute show in midseason
| Petite had been making violent love TO
| Daisy Clute. the owners daughter. Ii
was not large circus-a one ring af-
! fair-though they travelled by railroad
instead of by wagon.
The performers all lived in single
car and in theory formed one large
| family. Daisy and her father had a
car to themselves, but she was much
around the tents, and her preference
for the clean limbed young gymnast
had soon become matter for COM
ment
BY supper time the fact that the old
man had refused his consent Go their
marriage was all over the dressing
tent, and you'd not need Daisy's red
trimmed eyes and pettie's frown to CON
| firm the report
| bdlNN WIS SldllNllIlS llt3lI the ell
trance when Petite came out for the
double act He did a turn on the fly
ing rings earlier on the bill. while
! Strome did a strong man act In the
ring. Their double act In the air was
| the ring feature Of the show-"the hot
test act in the business" they claimed
and Daisy always tried to be near
IN case of a cident. though she could
not bear TO watch them.
Strome did the bearing" catching
Jim as he leaped from his own trapeZe
to Strome's hands. He was reliable
worker, but Daisy always feared that
| some night those steady nerves would
fail and that Jims body would go hurl-
Ing through the air until It struck the
ring bank OF the seats, q limp and
| lifelcSs mass she had seen one acci-
dent, and II had remained vivid In her
memory.
Presently Strome joined the pair as
they stood talking, and an instant later
the four horses used in the double
riding act dashed into the tent. followed
by Paul and Lefty Murphy. who boast
ed very different names on the bill
The band struck up their music and
| the two men ran into the ring II was
the work of a moment to climb to their
perches. The apparatus consisted Of
two trapeze swings, one long one
used by Petite for the leaps and the
shorter one from which Strome hung
when he made the catches On Petties
end there was a platform from which
he leaped to gain momentum, and this
was but n few feet from the center
pole which held up the tent.
The first two swings were made
without trouble, and then Strome did
some single work to give Petite an
opportunity to rest Jim leaned against
the ropes to steady himself and glanced
below at the wen filed tent. 4 son
or faces, white in the fare of the
lamps, gazed intcntly upward rs
Strome hung by his toes from the
short swing.
An odd roar caught Pettie's atten-
ton. and he glanced at the lamps 4
cluster Of gasoline flares hung from the
center pole ANA supplied light for the
tent
Two huge reservoirs were fastened
together TO form a ring about the pole
and from these radiated the burners.
| Clute was old fashioned in many If
MS IDEAS. and his fondncss for the old
fashioned light amounted 10 a hobby
Jim could see that one of the tanks
had sprung q Leak and in some way
me escaping gas had caught Ere from
the flames below The heat was va
porIzlng the inhammablc liouid more
rapidly than usual. ana il was only 4
matter Of minutes before the heat
would cause an explosion that wonld
send the blazing fluid fving over the
'roWd below ans the tinderllke tent
There had heon no rain for several
uaFs and, ON the other hand. tFrr bl9z-
ing sun had been pouring it's ravs on
me tent since early morning The
names would run to the guy ropes. and
When these gave way the crowd below
would be enveloped in a mass of flame
There was no time to signal below
,o lower the lights. 1t was too far 10
jump to the pole. Strome was Just