The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1912-10-12

| road, their sullen eyes set on the lights
ahead. Heavy feet, raging Ike hum
dredweights, carried them over the
last weary mile Into the outskirts OF
the little town they SUNK. 1'he streets
We're deserted, muddy and lighted but
meagerly from widely separated oil
lamps set at the tops OF as many un-
stable posts. The rollicking quickstep
OF circus band came dancing over
the night TO meet the footsore men,
Slowly they approached the vacant
lots beyond the business section.
known rs the show grounds. Now
they began 10 encounter struggling,
| envious atoms OF the populace, wan
derers who could not produce the adj
| mission fee and who were not permit
| ted by the rough canvasmen 70 ven
ture inside the charmed circle laid
down by the guy ropes. At the cor
ner Of the tented common stood the
ticket wagon, the muddy plaza in
front OF It torn by the footprints OF
many human beings and lighted by a
great gasoline lamp swung from n pole
hard by. Beyond was the main en-
trance Of the animal tent. presided
over by uniformed ticket takers.
Here and there in the gloomy back
| ground stood the canvas and pole wag-
ons. shining In their wetness against
the feeble light that oozed through
the opening between the side wall and
the edge Of the tapping main top, or
| glistening with sudden brightness in
/ ~ - l.,
| in the hand OF rubber coated minion
| who belonged to the circus. n vast
honor, no matter how lowly his posi-
ton may have been. Costume, and
baggage wsgons\ their white and gold
glory swallowed up In the maw of the
night stood backed UP against the
| dressing tent Oft TO the right. The
horse tent beyond was even now being
! lowered by shadowy. mystic figures
who swore and shouted to each other
across spaces wide and spaces small
| without regulating the voice to either
effort Horses with their clanking trace
chains. in twos and fours, slipped in
and out OF the shadows, rawinG great
vehicles which rumbled and Jared
with the noise peculiar 10 circus wag-
ons. Tired, underfed horses that paid
little heed to the curses or the blows
of the men who handled them. so ac-
customed were they to the proddings OF
life.
And inside the big tent the band
played as only circus band can play.
J tangling an accompaniment to the
| laughter and the shouts Of the de-
lighted multitude sitting in the blue
boarded tiers about the single ring
with its earthern circumference, its
sawdust carpet and its dripping lights.
The smell of the thing. Who has
ever forgotten it? The smell of the
sawdust the smell of the cleaning
/ lights, the smell of animals and the
smell Of the canvas top. The smell of
the damp handbills, the programs and
the bags of roasted peanuts.
Blake and his companion. standing
apart from the lank. wide eyed guide,
were conversing in low tones
Wed better make the circuit of the
tents" said Blake. evidently the leader.
you 90 to the right and I'll take the
other way round. Well meet here.
Keep your eve peeled. He may he
hiding under the wagons whore It's dry.
Then he turned 10 the guide.
I'VE won't need YOU any longer he
said This is as far as we so. Here's
your pay
"Yas, r." said the Smileless guide.
4 brief good night" to his employers
ana the lean mountGinecr purchased 4
ticket and hurried into the tont, We
do not soc him again. He has served
his purpose.
His late employers made off on thor
circuit of the tents, sharp eyed hut
casual, doing nothing that might lead
tho circus mon 10 suspect that they
were searching for one among them.
In the good old days Of the road circus
there were thieves rs we'll as giants
If man was not thief himself he at
least had friend who was. There
was honor among them.
A srant hour before the three men
came 70 the show grounds their quar-
nv arrived there. That Blake aud
his companion were man hunters goes
without saying. but that the person for
whom they searched should be a hun
gry wan faced. terrified boy of eigh-
teen seems hardly in keeping with the
relentless nature of the chase.
The ring performance in the main
tent had been in progress for fifteen
or twenty minutes when the fugitive,
exhausted. drenched and shlvering,
crept into the protected nook which
marks the junction of the circus and
dressing tops. Here 1t was comparu-
lively dry: the wind did not send it's
thin mist into this canvas Granny. Not
so dark as he may have desired. If one
were 10 Judge by the expression in his
feverish eyes as he peered back ut the
darkness out of which he had skunk.
but 30 cramped in shadow that only
the eye of ferret could have distin-