CHAPTER XII

THE CIRCUS BOY’S STORY

Snap was right; it was indeed the youthful circus performer.  He looked as thin as ever, but his face bore a far more healthy color than when the young hunters had seen him before.

“I say, what do you mean by running off with our boat?” repeated the doctor’s son wrathfully.

“Is this your boat?” asked the circus boy calmly.

“It is.”

“I didn’t run off with it.  I found it drifting along the shore, and I took off my shoes and socks and waded in after it.”

“You didn’t run off with it?” asked Snap.

“I give you my word of honor,” replied the boy quickly.  He ran the boat to shore and stepped out.  “If it’s your property, I’m glad to hand it over to you.  I—–­Say, didn’t I see you somewhere before?” he demanded excitedly.

I rather guess you did—–­at the circus, replied Shep.

“Oh!  You were the fellows who—–­who talked to Jones, the ringmaster.”

“Exactly.  And you’re the chap who ran away.”

“That’s true, I did run away.  Can you blame me?  They half starved me and beat me, and wanted me to go up on the trapeze after I had had a spell of sickness.”

“We saw you on a freight train leaving Rallings.”

“Oh, did you?  Yes, I left town on a freight.  It was the easiest way to go—–­and the cheapest.”  And the boy smiled quietly.

“Now give us the truth about our boat,” said Shep sternly.  “You ran off with it last night, didn’t you?”

“No, sir!” And the boy looked the doctor’s son squarely in the eyes.  “I never took any property that didn’t belong to me in my life.”

“And where did you find the boat?”

“About half a mile from here, along the shore.  I made up my mind it had broken loose somehow, and I thought if I found the owner he might---er---that is-----”

“Give you a reward?” suggested Snap.  Something about the lad’s manner pleased him.

“Well, he might give me something to eat.”

“Hungry?”

The boy nodded.

“Well, we’ll give you something to eat—–­all you want—–­if you are quite sure you didn’t take the boat,” answered the doctor’s son.

“I told you the truth.”

“Then get into the boat again, and we’ll row to our camp.”

The three got in, the strange boy sitting in the stern.  Shep and Snap took up the oars and soon the craft was heading for the cove where it had been tied up the night before.  A shot was fired to notify Giant and Whopper that the boat had been found.

“What’s your name?” asked Snap on the way.

“Tommy Cabot; but up to the show they called me Buzz.”

“Are your folks with the circus?”

“My folks are dead—–­that is, my father and mother are.  I’ve got a sister somewhere, older than myself, but I don’t know just where she is.”