“Hi! Stop the train! Stop the train!” howled Teddy, as he landed flat on his back on the hard ground.  
“Here, here! What are you fellows doing?” shouted Phil, scrambling¹ to his feet.
 
“I dreamed I was in a train of cars and they ran off the track,” said Teddy, struggling to his feet and rubbing his shins gingerly. “Did you do that?”
 
“You bet. Think I can wait for you kids to take your beauty sleep? Don’t you suppose this show’s got something else to do besides furnish sleeping accommodations for lazy kids? Take hold here, and help us get this canvas out if you want any breakfast.”
 
“Take it out yourself,” growled² Teddy, dodging³ the flat of the canvasman’s hand.
 
The lads had been hurled⁴ from their sleeping place by a rough tentman in a hurry to get at his work. The chill of the early dawn was in the air. The boys stood, with shoulders hunched⁵ forward, shivering, their teeth chattering⁶, not knowing where they were and caring still less. They knew only that they were most uncomfortable. The glamor⁷ was gone. They were face to face with the hardships of the calling they had chosen, though they did not know that it was only a beginning of those hardships.
 
“B-r-r-r!” shivered Teddy.
 
“T-h-h-h-at’s what I say,” chattered⁸ Phil.
 
“Say, are you kids going to get busy, or do you want me to help you to?”
 
Phil did not object to work, but he did not like the way the canvasman spoke⁹ to them.
 
“I guess you’ll have to do your own work. Come on, Teddy; let’s take a run and warm ourselves up.”
 
Hand in hand the lads started off across the field. The field was so dark that they could scarcely distinguish objects about them. Here and there they dodged¹⁰ wagons¹¹ and teams that stood like silent sentinels in the uncertain light.
 
“Turn a little, Teddy. We’ll be lost before we know it, if we don’t watch out—”
 
“Ouch! We’re lost already!”
 
The ground seemed suddenly to give way beneath them. Both lads were precipitated¹³ into a stream of water that stretched across one end of the circus lot.
 
Shouting and struggling about they finally floundered to the bank, drenched¹⁴ from head to foot. If they had been shivering before, they were suffering from violent attacks of ague now.
 
“Whew! I’m freezing to death!” cried Phil.
 
“I feel like the North Pole on Christmas morning,” added Teddy. “I wish I was home, so I could thaw¹⁵ out behind the kitchen stove.”
 
“Brace up, Teddy. This is only the beginning of the fun. We shall have worse experiences than this, late in the fall, when the weather gets cool; that is, if they do not get enough of us in the meantime and send us away.”
 
“I—I wish they would send us home now.”
 
“Come now; we’ve got to run again. We shall surely take our death of cold, if we stand here much longer.”
 
“Run? No, thank you. I’ve had one run.”
 
“And you don’t want another? Is that it?”
 
“Not I.”
 
“Don’t know as I blame you. Well, if you don’t want to run, just stand in one place and jump up and down. Whip your hands, and you’ll see how soon it will start your blood to circulating,” advised Phil, who immediately proceeded to put his own theory into execution. “That feel better?”
 
“Yes, some,” replied Teddy, rather doubtfully. “But I could be warmer. I wonder what time the cook tent will be up.”
 
“That’s an idea. Suppose we go over and find out?”
 
“Yes, but where is it?”
 
“I don’t know. But we won’t find it if we stand here.”
 
They started off again, this time exercising more caution as to where their feet touched. They had not gone far before they came upon some men who were driving small stakes in the ground, marking out the spot where one of the tents was to be pitched.
 
“Can you tell us where the cook tent is going up?” asked Phil politely.
 
“North side of the field,” grunted¹⁶ the man, not very good-naturedly.
 
“Which way is north?”
 
“Get a compass, get a compass,” was the discourteous¹⁷ answer.
 
“He’s a grouch¹⁸. Come along,” urged Teddy Tucker.
 
A few moments later, attracted by a light that looked like a fire, the lads hurried toward it.
 
“Where will we find the cook tent?” questioned Phil again.
 
“Right here,” was the surprising answer.
 
“What time will it be ready?”
 
“About seven o’clock. What’s the matter, hungry?”
 
“More cold than hungry,” replied Phil, his teeth chattering.
 
“Got to get used to that. Come here. I’ve got something that will doctor you up in no time,” announced the man in a cheerful voice, so different from the answers the lads had received to their questions that morning, that they were suddenly imbued¹⁹ with new courage.
 
“What is it?” asked Phil.
 
“Coffee, my lad. We always make coffee the first thing when we get in, these chilly²⁰ mornings. The men work much better after getting something warm inside them. Got a cup?”
 
They had not.
 
“Wait, I’ll get you one,” said the accommodating showman.
 
Never had anything tasted so good as did the coffee that morning. It was excellent coffee, too, and the boys drank two cups apiece.
 
“We mustn’t drink any more,” warned Phil.
 
“Why not?” wondered Teddy.
 
“Because we shall be so nervous that we shall not be able to work today. And, by the way, were I in your place, I should get busy here and help in the cook tent until you are told to do something else. I think it will make a good impression on Mr. Sparling.”
 
Teddy consented rather grudgingly²¹.
 
“I’ll turn in and do something at the same time. What can we do to help you, sir? That coffee was very good.”
 
“Might get busy and unpack²² some dishes from those barrels. Be careful that you don’t break any of them.”
 
“All right. Where shall we put them?”
 
“Pile them on the ground, all the dishes of the same size together. Be sure to set a lantern by them so nobody falls over them in the dark.”
 
The boys, glad of some task to perform, began their work with a will. With something to do it was surprising how quickly they forgot their misfortunes. In a short time they were laughing and joking with the good-natured cooktent man and making the dishes fairly fly out of the barrels.
 
“Guess I’ll have t............