“Oh, you’re back again I see!” said the man.

Ben dropped his knife and fork on his plate, and looked around for a place to hide.  Everyone was silent, waiting for what would happen next.

CHAPTER XXV

BACK HOME AGAIN

“Now don’t be afraid, Ben,” said the man.  “I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Are you—­are you going to make me go back to the circus?” Ben asked slowly.

“Not unless you want to go, though we want you back with us very much, for we have missed you,” the man replied.

“I’ll not go back to be beaten the way I was!” cried Ben.  “I can’t stand that.  That’s why I ran away.”

“You can just stay with us; can’t he Mother?” pleaded Sue.  “He can work on grandpa’s farm with Bunker Blue.”

“What does all this mean?” asked Grandpa Brown of the strange man who had knocked at the door.  “Are you after Ben?”

“Yes, sir, I am after Ben,” was the answer, and the man smiled.  “I have been looking for him for a long time, and I am glad I have found him.  I will take him back with me if he will come, and I will make him a promise that he will no more be whipped.  I never knew anything about that until after he had run away from my circus.”

“Did you really do that, Ben?” asked Bunny.  “Run away?”

“Yes.  That was where I came from that night I begged a meal here—­a circus.  But I’ll go back, for I like being in a circus, if I’m not beaten.”

“Tell us all about it,” said grandpa.

“I will,” answered the man.  “My name is James Hooper.  I own a small circus, with some other men, and we travel about the country, giving performances in small towns and cities.  This boy, Ben Hall, has been in our show ever since he was a baby.  His father and mother were both circus people, but they died last year, and Ben, who had learned to do many tricks, and who knew something about animals, was such a bright chap that I kept him with us.  I was going to make a circus performer of him.”

“And I wanted very much to be one—­a clown,” said Ben.  “But the head clown was so mean to me, and whipped me so much, that I made up my mind to run away, and I did.”

“I don’t know that I blame you,” said Mr. Hooper.  “I never knew that you had such a hard time.  I supposed you ran away just for fun, and I tried to find you.  I asked about you in all the places where we stopped, but no one had seen you.”

“I have been here ever since I left your show,” explained Ben.  “I like it here, but I like the circus better.  How did you find me?”

“Well, our circus is showing in a town about three miles from here,” said Mr. Hooper.  “Over there, in that town, I heard about a little circus some boys and girls were getting up here, and—­”

“Bunny and I got up the circus first,” said Sue, “and then the big boys made one, but we acted in it.”