“Neither one.  I’m down and out, that’s all—­and it’s enough, too.”

“Well, that’s enough, I should say,” commented the clown, as he took the bottle of stimulant Joe handed him.  “Last I heard of you you’d gone on a theater circuit.  That was just after you’d quit the Dobling show.”

“Yes, I did do a theater circuit,” admitted Ham Logan.  “But it didn’t last.  Or rather, I didn’t last.  I was just asking the young man here for a job.  I said you’d remember me.”

“Well, I certainly do,” returned the old clown, who was not to do his act until later in the day.

“And I’m sorry to see you in this state, Ham.  You did me a good turn once, and I haven’t forgotten.  Stick around a while, and I’ll see you as soon as I play first-aid.  Joe, if it isn’t asking too much, will you look after Ham for a while?  He used to be a good sort, and—­”

“Better say too much of a ‘good sport,’” paraphrased the man.

“I’ll take care of him,” promised Joe.  “Did you say you were hungry?” asked the young magician, as the old clown turned and hurried away with the ammonia.

“You said it!  But I’m not altogether a grafter.  I can work for what I eat.”  And again there was a flash of pride.

“We’ll talk of that later,” said Joe.  “Just now I want to get you something to eat.  Here, take that over to the dining tent,” and he scribbled a few words on one of his cards.  “After you’ve eaten all you want, and after the show this afternoon, look me up.”

“Do you think you can give me work?” asked the man eagerly.  “I don’t mean to act,” he hastened to say.  “I’m past that—­down and out.  But I’m strong.  I can pull on the ropes or drive stakes.”

“We’ll talk of that later,” replied Joe gently.  “Go and eat now.”

“Well, I sure can feed my face!” exclaimed the man.  “I—­I don’t know how to thank you.  Bill will tell you that I wasn’t a bad fellow in my day.  I just lost my nerve—­that’s all.  False friends and fire-water—­”

“See me later,” said Joe, with a friendly wave of his hand.  And the man hurried toward the dining tent, next to the cook wagons.  Already he seemed imbued with more hope and pride, something that filled Joe with pleasure.

Joe busied himself with mixing the chemicals in the pail.  As Ham Logan had guessed, the young fire-eater was mixing up a solution of tungstate of soda.  This chemical is a salt, made by roasting wolfram with soda ash, and wolfram is a native tungstate of iron and manganese.  This soda preparation is used commercially in making garments fire-proof, and Joe had learned this from Mr. Herbert Waldon, the chemist.  He had decided to use this instead of an alum solution, which is credited with great fire-resisting qualities.  It has them, too, to a certain extent, but by experimenting Joe had found the tungstate of soda best.

It was the evening of the circus in the city in which the show was to remain two days.  Ham Logan had returned to Joe after having eaten a good meal, and later Bill Watson formed the third member of a trio that talked for some time in a corner of Joe’s tent.