“Keep your seats!  Don’t rush!” cried Joe, as he released Helen’s hand and hurried to the front of the platform.  “There is no danger!  The animal men will catch the tiger, if one is really loose.  Stay where you are!  Keep your seats!  Don’t rush!”

It is the panic and rush that circus men are afraid of—­the pushing and “milling” of the crowd and the trampling under foot of helpless women and children.

There was some commotion near the junction of the animal tent and that in which the main performance took place.  What it was, Joe did not concern himself about just then.  He felt it to be his task to prevent a panic.  And to this he lent himself, aided by Helen, Jim Tracy, and others who realized the danger.

And while this is going on and while the expert animal men are preparing to get back into its cage the tiger which, it was learned afterward, had got out through an imperfectly fastened door, time will be taken to tell new readers something about Joe Strong and the series of books in which he is the central character.

Joe Strong seemed destined for a circus life and for entertaining audiences with sleight-of-hand and other mystery matters.  His father, Alexander Strong, known professionally as Professor Morretti, was a stage magician of talents, and Joe’s mother, who was born in England, had been a rider of trick horses.

His parents died when Joe was young.  He did not have a very happy boyhood, and one day he ran away from the man with whom he was living and joined a traveling magician, who called himself Professor Rosello.  With him Joe, who had a natural aptitude for the business, learned to become a sleight-of-hand performer.

In the first book of the series, entitled “Joe Strong, the Boy Wizard; Or, the Mysteries of Magic Exposed,” is told how Joe got on in life after his first start.  Joe was not only a stage magician, but he had inherited strength, skill and daring, and he liked nothing better than climbing to great heights or walking in lofty and dizzy places where the footing was perilous.  So it was perhaps natural that he should join the Sampson Brothers’ Show.  And in the second book is related, under the title, “Joe Strong on the Trapeze; Or, the Daring Feats of a Young Circus Performer,” what happened to our hero under canvas.

Joe loved the circus life, even though he made some enemies.  But he had many friends.  There was Helen Morton.  Then there was Benny Turton, who did a “tank act,” and was billed as a “human fish.”  Jim Tracy, the ringmaster, Bill Watson, the veteran clown, and his wife, the circus “mother,” Tom Layton, the elephant man who taught the big creatures many tricks, were only a few of Joe’s friends.

Among others might be mentioned Senor Bogardi, the lion tamer, Mrs. Talfo, the professional “fat lady,” Senorita Tanzalo, the pretty snake charmer, and Tom Jefferson, the “strong man.”  Joe loved them all.  The circus was like one big family, with, as might be expected, a “black sheep” here and there.