“And with that I was swung into place. Next, Gray Ears wrapped the long, leaf-covered streamers around his neck and looped one of them well into his mouth quite as a horse wears a bridle and bit. Then he tossed me the ends which I wound around my wrists just as you have seen the driver of many horses do with the ends of his reins. Next I sprang upright on Gray Ears’ broad back. There I stood, feet apart, my head held erect, leaning backward and aslant, but kept well in place by the vine-reins that led from my ponderous mount’s mouth.
“‘Are you ready, Friend Dan?’ came the rumbling cry.
“Then, not answering in words but with a trumpeted note of much triumph, Gray Ears moved forward while I, my suit flapping in the breeze brought about by his speed, lay back on the reins much as the driver of a thundering chariot rests upon his, and wondered and waited and watched.”
CHAPTER XVI IN WHICH DAN JOINS THE VERY BIGGEST CIRCUS
“Never had Gray Ears taken such stupendous strides,” said Diggeldy Dan, as he once more went on with his story. “So fast did he move that in less than a minute we had reached the edge of the light that spread like a fan round the tents. And then we plunged into the midst of it to find ourselves in the very back yard of the circus.
“Through the maze of red wagons the two of us went, past little white tents that shimmered with light, and next—in much slower and more methodical fashion—picked our way through the groups of playful, plumed ponies, each decked with trappings that shone like the stars. Past these went the both of us—past these and strange men and strange women, too, all dressed in gay costumes of every color and hue. But at sight of the latter, Gray Ears warned me to drop down on his back and hide quickly away in the long, winding vines. And when I had done so—without once being seen—he headed straight for the rear of the greatest of tents, from whence came the sound of the circus.
“How it fell on the air and fell on the ear—a mingling of music and the hum of the crowd, blended with hoof-beats and laughter! Now naught save a curtain divided us from the all of it, and this Gray Ears thrust back with a swing of his trunk. And then, in the space of much less than a wink, what wonders came into view!