“Don’t you remember when the bottle of acid was found?” asked the abashed youth.

“Yes!  Was that some of your doings too?” cried Joe hotly.

“No, I didn’t do it.  He did.  But I—­I looked the other way when he did it.  And then there was the time when the trapeze wire broke.  It was acid that did that.  He put it on.”

“Who is this mysterious person you call ‘he’ all the while?” asked Joe.  “I want to get after him.”

“I’ll tell you!” promised Harry.  “But you’ll protect me, won’t you, Mr. Strong?”

“As far as I can with decency, yes.  Now tell me!”

But there came another interruption.  A man thrust his head into the tent and exclaimed: 

“Mr. Tracy wants to know if you can advance the fire scenes about ten minutes, Mr. Strong.  One of the men acrobats has sprained his wrist and they’ve got to cut out his act.  Can you go on ten minutes sooner than usual?”

“Guess I’ll have to,” said Joe.  “Quick, Ted, make up some new solution.  I’ll help you.  As for you, Harry, you stay right here.  I’ll talk to you later.  Haven’t time now.  And I’m going to have some one stay with you, to make sure you don’t weaken and run away.  It is as much for your own sake as mine.  If you’ve decided to leave the man who got you to help in this work I’ll stand by you.  But I want to be sure your repentance is genuine.  So stay right here, and we’ll talk about this later.  Don’t say anything outside,” he cautioned Ted.

“I won’t,” was the answer.  “Say, I hope you don’t think I had any hand in this?”

“No,” Joe answered, “I don’t.  I’m trusting you—­that’s my best evidence.”

“Thank you,” said the young fellow, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

Quick work was needed on the part of Joe and his new helper to get ready for the act.  New chemicals had to be mixed, to render it safe to handle fire.  This was in the acts where Joe seemed to swallow flames and where he and the others “dined” on blazing food.

In the other acts, where Joe juggled on the slack wire with the flaming torches, where he slid down the wire through the blazing hoops, and where he jumped into the tank of water with his garments apparently in flames, no change was needed.  In these feats Joe’s costume was fireproofed, and, as they had been treated some time before, he knew there was only a remote possibility that they had been tampered with.

Still he was taking no chances, and while he was waiting for Ted to complete the mixing of the fire-resisting chemical mixture, Joe tested his garments with a blazing bit of paper.  They did not catch fire, which assured him of safety during his sensational acts.

“How about you, Joe?” asked Jim Tracy, thrusting his head into the tent a little later.  “Are you going to be able to make it?”

“Oh, sure.  I’ll be there!”

“Sorry to have to make the change,” went on the ringmaster.  “But Baraldi is hurt, and his act had to be cut out completely.  So I had to move you up.”