His part taken in the impromptu arenic performance of the evening previous had become generally known.  Andy was pointed out to the watchmen and others, and no one hindered him going about as he chose.

Andy viewed another phase of show detail now.  It was the picturesque part, the family side of circus daily life.

He saw women busy at fancy work or sewing, their children playing with the ring ponies or petting the cake-walking horse.

Some of the men were mending their clothes, others were washing out collars and handkerchiefs.  What element of home life there was in the circus experience Andy witnessed in his brief stroll.

He was on time to the minute at the Empire Hotel.  A bell-boy showed him up to the ladies’ parlor on the second floor.

Miss Stella Starr was listening to some members of the circus minstrel show trying over some new airs on the piano.

The moment she saw him she came forward with hand extended and a welcome smile on her kindly face.

She made Andy feel at home at once.  She insisted on hearing all the details of his experience since the evening he had saved her from disaster during the wind storm.

“I think now just as I thought night before last, Andy,” she said finally.  “You do not owe much of duty to that aunt of yours.  I think I would fight pretty hard to get away, in your place, with the reform school staring me in the face.  Well, Andy, I have spoken to Mr. Harding.”

“Can—­can I join?” asked Andy, with a good deal of anxiety.

“Yes, Andy.  I had a long talk with him about you, and—­here he is now.”

A brisk-moving, keen-faced man of about fifty entered the parlor just then.

“Mr. Harding, this is the boy, Andy Wildwood, I told you about,” said Miss Starr.

“Oh, indeed?” observed the showman, looking Andy all over with one swift, comprehensive glance.  “They tell me you can do stunts, young man?”

“Oh, a little—­on the bar and tumbling,” said Andy.

“Well, I suppose you don’t expect to star it for awhile,” said Harding.  “You must begin at the bottom, you know.”

“I want to, sir.”

“Very good.  I will give you a card to the manager.  He will make you useful in a general way until we have our two days’ rest at Tipton, I’ll look you up then, and see if you’ve got any ring stuff in you.”

Andy took the card tendered by the showman after the latter had written a few words on it in pencil.

Andy made his best bow to Miss Starr.  He was delighted and fluttered.  He showed it so much that the showman was pleased out of the common.

“Come back a minute,” he called out.  “My boy,” he continued, placing a friendly hand on Andy’s shoulder, “you have made a good start with us in that Benares matter.  Keep on the right side always, and you will succeed.  Never swear, quarrel or gamble.  Assist our patrons, and be civil and obliging on all occasions.  The circus is a grand centre of fraternal good will, properly managed, and the right circus stands for health, happiness, virtue and vigor.  Its motto should be courage, ambition and energy, governed by honest purpose and tempered by humanity.  I don’t want to lecture, but I am giving you the benefit of what has cost me twenty years experience and a good many thousands of dollars.”