Nora was walking the rope slowly.  She was doing it very well as long as she kept one end of the balancing pole on the ground, but when she got halfway across the rope, the end of the pole was so far behind that she couldn’t steady herself with it.  She tried to drag it up even with her and in so doing lost her balance and had to jump to the ground.  As she straightened up, she saw Jerry’s face between the palings.

“There’s Jerry!” she called to Danny.

“Thought you would play, after all,” Danny remarked.

“I’m not,” said Jerry.

“He’s got his cap on!” laughed Celia Jane.  “What’ve you got your cap on for, Jerry?”

“And your overcoat?” said Nora.

“And your mittens?” chimed in Chris.  “You ain’t cold, are you?”

“I’m running away,” Jerry responded, addressing no one in particular.  He tried to say it indifferently as though it were a matter of everyday occurrence, this running away, but in spite of himself a note of pride crept into his voice.  None of them had ever run away.

“Running away!” gasped Celia Jane in an awed voice.

“Oh, Jerry, don’t!” pleaded Nora.

Danny stared at him in open-mouthed amazement.

“I’m running away,” Jerry repeated and sat down on the ground by the fence where he had an unobstructed view of the circus.

CHAPTER V

THE GREEN ELEPHANT BUYS AN AUDIENCE

The Mullarkey children regarded Jerry for a long time without a word.

Jerry, knowing that for once he had Danny at a disadvantage, wanted to prolong that pleasant sensation.

“I’m running away,” he repeated, without stirring from the fence.

“What’ll mother do?” Danny asked from underneath the elephant’s trunk and Jerry knew from the earnestness of his voice that Danny was scared.  “What do you want to run away for?”

“Because,” replied Jerry.

“That’s no reason,” Chris stated.

“What’ll become of you?” Danny asked, drawing closer to the fence, the elephant’s beaver-like blue tail dragging forlornly on the ground.

“I dunno,” Jerry replied carelessly.

“You won’t find many folks who’d bring you home like father did and keep you,” Danny pursued.

“I’m going to run away,” was all that Jerry replied.

“What’ll you do for something to eat?” demanded Chris, in a tone that showed admiration for a boy not afraid to run away, even if he wasn’t a Mullarkey.

“I dunno,” said Jerry, “but I’ll find a way.”

“Come on an’ play, Jerry,” coaxed Danny, “an’ you can be the el’funt the next time we play circus.”

“I want to be the el’funt this time,” said Jerry.

“You can’t be this time, because you’re too little for the costume to fit you,” Danny told him.  “It’ll have to be cut down an’ made over for you.  It’s a little too big for me an’ it’s awfully hard work actin’ as a el’funt would when your skin’s so loose it gets in the way of your feet when you walk.”