He felt in his blouse pocket every now and then to make sure that he really had a dime and also that it had not grown wings and flown out of his pocket, or made a hole in it and dropped out.  It was always there and his feeling of exhilaration at his good fortune kept up, despite the hard work of carrying that pailful of water from the pump across the street to the back of the second biggest tent, where he and Chris emptied it into a kind of a tub.  There were half a dozen of the tubs to be filled, and before the third one was full Jerry’s arms and back ached, but he gritted his teeth and kept on.  He would show them that he wasn’t too little to carry water for the elephants.

Under the ache in his arms and back, his exhilaration at the possession of the dime and the prospect of a ticket to the circus wilted but did not die.  When the fourth tub was about full he sat down on the pump platform while Sam filled their pail with water.

“El’funts must drink a nawful lot of water,” he said.

“Gettin’ tired, ain’t you?” asked Sam.

“No, I could carry water all day, I guess.  It makes my back ache some because I ain’t used to it.”

“You kids have made more trips than the other boys,” said Sam, “and I ain’t going to fill your pail clear full any more.  Don’t try to go so fast with it.  There’s plenty of time.”

“We want to carry enough for two tickets,” said Jerry quickly.  “Chris wants to see the circus, too, don’t you, Chris?”

“You bet,” replied Chris.

“You’ll get a ticket apiece, all right, as long as I’m on the job,” said Sam, giving them the pail not much more than half full of water.

“That’s a whole lot easier to carry,” Jerry assured Sam, as they started for the tub.

It seemed to Jerry that he and Chris had been carrying water for hours by the time the last tub was full.  He felt almost starving.  The sun seemed to be ’way up and he was so tired and hot that he was about ready to drop; but he found that when the work was done and Sam gave each boy a ticket it wasn’t very late, after all.

“It’s just nine o’clock,” said Sam, “and you kids’d better scoot home and get some breakfast.  Just show your mothers them tickets if they scold you for stayin’ so long and I guess they’ll hush right up.  The matinee starts at 2:15, but if you want to see the menagerie, you’d better come about half-past one or right after the parade.”

Those magic pieces of paper, which Jerry and Chris held tightly in their hands for fear of losing them, made them forget their hunger and weariness and they set off for home at full speed.  They raced breathless into the house and found that Mrs. Mullarkey and Nora had finished washing the breakfast dishes.

“Look, mother!” cried Chris, panting for breath after almost every word, “we’ve got tickets for the circus for helpin’ carry water for the el’funts!”

“Oh, how nice!” said Mrs. Mullarkey.  “They will be tickets to paradise to you.  Now you’ll get to see the circus, after all.  But you must be about starved.”