Mr Galliano's Circus Read online

  “Hey, Jimmy, you come and do a few somersaults,” said Stanley the clown. Lotta stopped the horses to give them a rest, and watched Sticky Stanley teaching poor Jimmy.

  Jimmy could do one head-over heels quite well, but he couldn’t possibly do about twelve, one after another, as Stanley could. It made him giddy to do even three.

  “Jimmy, you said you couldn’t ride,” said Lotta. “Come along up on my horse and see if you can.”

  “But I’d fall off!” said Jimmy, in horror. “Your horse hasn’t any saddle or stirrups.”

  “You must learn to ride bareback or you’ll be no use on a horse,” laughed Lotta. “Come on, up you get!”

  And up Jimmy had to get. He held on to the reins for dear life, and thought that a horse was about the most slippery creature to sit on that he had ever met. He slithered first one way and then another, and at last he slid off altogether and landed with a bump on the ground.

  Sticky Stanley and Lotta held on to one another and laughed till the tears ran down their faces. They thought it was the funniest sight in the world to see poor Jimmy slipping about on the solemn, cantering horse.

  “Oh, Stanley, if you could only do that at the circus tomorrow night, the people would laugh till they cried,” said Lotta.

  “That’s an idea, Lotta!” said the clown. He looked at Jimmy. “Get up on the horse’s back and do that again, old chap,” he said. “If I see it once more I’ll be able to do it myself.”

  “No, thank you,” said Jimmy firmly, rubbing himself hard where he had been bumped.

  “Go on, Jimmy, be a sport,” said Lotta.

  So Jimmy changed his mind and got on Lotta’s horse again. But it was just as bad as before, Jimmy simply could not stay on that horse. It bumped him up into the air, and then when he came down again the horse was just bumping up, and knocked his breath out of him, and he began to slide about, first this way and then the other, being bumped all the time. At last he slid right off the back of the horse over the tail, and came down with such a bump that he couldn’t breathe for a minute.

  Stanley and Lotta sat down on the ground and laughed again till their sides ached. “I must do that, I simply must,” said the clown. He got up and went to Lotta’s horse which galloped solemnly round and round the ring the whole time. Of course Stanley could ride very well indeed—but this time he pretended he was Jimmy, and slithered about and gave great groans and grunts, and at last fell right underneath the horse and got all tangled up with his own legs.

  “Well, if I was as funny as that, no wonder you laughed at me,” said Jimmy, who had laughed so much that he couldn’t stand up. “Do that tomorrow night, Stanley.”

  “Right!” said Stanley. I will! I’ll have your horse for that, Lotta. She’s careful with her feet.”

  “It will be fun when the show opens again tomorrow!” said Jimmy. “I am looking forward to it!”

  A GOOD TIME FOR THE CIRCUS

  By the next night the circus was all ready. Everyone had worked hard all Wednesday and Thursday, and now, by six o’clock, everything was spick and span.

  Lotta came to Jimmy’s caravan and begged Mrs. Brown to iron out her fluffy skirt. “Lal, my mother, is so busy,” she said. “Her frock has got torn and she is mending it.”

  So, Mrs. Brown heated her iron over the stove and ironed Lotta’s pretty frock. It took a long time, and whilst it was being done, Lotta washed her hair and dried it.

  “Can you do that jumping trick all right now, Lotta?” asked Jimmy anxiously.

  “Of course!” said Lotta. “It’s easy! You watch me tonight, Jimmy. I’ll get more claps than anyone.”

  When the frock was finished, the little girl ran off happily. She loved the times when the show was on. She loved the glare of lights in the big tent, the smell of the warm horses, and the shouts and whip-cracks of Mr. Galliano when he went into the ring.

  One by one the circus-folk slipped from their caravans and ran across to the big tent to get their animals or to find their things. Oona the acrobat placed his ladder ready and his tight-rope. Sticky Stanley blew up some big balloons he was going to be silly with that night. Lilliput took his monkeys with him, and Jimmy saw that Jemima had on a new pink skirt and little bonnet.

  The townspeople streamed in at the gate. A man stood there blowing a trumpet—tan-tan-tara! It sounded exciting. “Come to the circus, tan-tan-tara! Come to the circus, tan-tan-tara!”

  Jimmy too had been busy. Every one of the dogs had been well brushed twice that day. They were all eager to get into the ring and do their tricks. They pawed at their cage-door and yapped to be out. They had been for a good long walk that day with Jimmy and Lotta, but they wanted to stretch their legs again. Jumbo the elephant napped his big ears to and fro and trumpeted to the people round him. He too wanted to get into the lighted ring and show what he could do!

  The circus began. Jimmy stood outside the entrance that the performers used, and got things ready for them. He held the horses until it was time for them to go into the ring. He handed Oona the acrobat his ladder, and got his tight-rope ready for him. He gave Lilliput the little table and chairs that his monkeys used when they had their tea-party in the middle of the ring. He was very useful indeed.

  When Jumbo the elephant was plodding into the ring to play cricket with his keeper, Mr. Tonks, Jimmy saw Mr. Tonks making anxious signs to him.

  “The ball—the ball, Jimmy!” said Mr. Tonks. He had put it down somewhere and couldn’t find it. Jimmy guessed that Jemima the monkey had gone off with it, and he raced off to his own caravan. Underneath it was a box, and he knew that he had an old red ball of his own there. He found it, tore back to the tent and sent it rolling into the ring just in time. Mr. Tonks was pleased. Jimmy was really a most useful little boy!

  After Jumbo had played cricket and had heaps of clapping and cheering, the three white horses went in, and Laddo, Lal, and Lotta rode them cleverly, standing on them, swinging from one to another and never falling once.

  Jimmy watched for Lotta to do her new trick. She stood up on her own horse, a lovely little figure in a fairy-like frock, with long silver wings spreading behind her. She really did act like a fairy too, for she seemed to fly from one horse’s back to another, she was so light.

  Jimmy need not have worried about Lotta falling, for the little girl was as sure-footed as a goat. She jumped to and fro, always on the right spot, whilst the horses went solemnly galloping round and round the ring. People stood up in their seats and shouted loudly, for they thought Lotta was wonderful. Jimmy clapped too, from where he stood, peeping in at the entrance to the ring. How he wished he could do things like Lotta! But maybe he would be able to some day, if he practised hard.

  Then in went Sticky Stanley the clown again to do his new funny trick on the horse. Jimmy watched him—he ran into the ring and jumped on to the back of Lotta’s horse, which was still going round and round. The other two horses were led out by Lotta.

  “Yoicks!” shouted the clown, pretending to gallop the horse—and then he began to slip off, just as Jimmy had done. First he went this way and got right again, and then he slid the other way, being bumped, bumped, bumped by the horse all the time! Oh dear, how everyone laughed! Then the clown hung round the horse’s neck—then he slid back again—and at last slithered right off over the horse’s tail, and landed with a bump on the ground, just as Jimmy did the day before!

  Everyone laughed and shouted, and Sticky Stanley got even more clapping than he usually did. He was pleased when he ran out of the ring, doing somersaults every now and again.

  He saw Jimmy standing by the ring-entrance and he grinned at him. “Hallo, youngster!” he said. “Your trick went well—didn’t it?—but my word, I shall have a big bruise tonight. Here’s something for you—catch!”

  He threw something round and shining to Jimmy. The little boy caught it. It was a two-shilling piece. Jimmy stared in delight. He had never had so much money in his life before!

  The show went off ver
y well indeed. Mr. Galliano was pleased. He wore his hat well over his right ear the next day, and Mrs. Galliano bought tins of fruit-salad for everyone and the biggest jug of cream that Jimmy had ever seen. It was fun eating fruit-salad and cream in the field for dinner next day. You never knew what was going to happen in a circus!

  Jimmy was busy all that week. He helped with the dogs, and soon Lal and Laddo left them entirely to the two children, for they loved the dogs and could be trusted to look after them well. Jimmy helped Mr. Tonks with the elephant too, and learnt how to rub down the horses with George, one of the grooms. All the animals were good with Jimmy. It was really marvellous to see what he could do with them. When Darky got a bone in his throat and was in such pain that not even Mr. Galliano liked to go near him, Jimmy didn’t mind.

  He went up to poor Darky, who was almost choking, and put his hand right down Darky’s throat. He felt the bone there, gave it a sharp twist, and up it came! Darky was so grateful that he licked Jimmy’s shoes till they shone.

  “Good boy, Jimmy, good boy—yes?” said Mr. Galliano. “You were not afraid of being bitten—no?”

  “No, sir,” said Jimmy. “Darky wouldn’t bite me.”

  The circus-show went on until Saturday and began again on Monday. It did very well indeed, and Mr. Galliano always wore his hat well on one side. He gave Mr. Brown, Jimmy’s father, an extra sum of money because he worked so hard and was so useful. Mr. Brown ran back to his caravan with it.

  “Look!” he said to Jimmy and Jimmy’s mother. “Two pounds! What about doing up the old caravan and making it look nice?” Jimmy wanted to start painting at once.

  So off went Jimmy and his father that afternoon to buy a tin of green paint and a tin of yellow paint. They meant to make their caravan really nice now. Jimmy’s father mended one of the wheels which was really almost falling off, and he put the chimney on properly so that the smoke would not pour into the caravan but go streaming away outside.

  In their spare time the two of them cleaned and painted the old caravan. You should have seen it! Jimmy’s mother was really pleased. “I do hope you will have some paint left over for the inside,” she said. “It is so dark here—I can often hardly see what I’m doing. For one thing the glass in the windows is bad glass, and for another the smoke from the stove has made the walls very sooty.”

  “Soon after all that,” said Mr. Brown. “You just wait, Mary!”

  By the end of the second week you wouldn’t have known Jimmy’s caravan. It was painted a nice bright green outside, and the wheels were green too, but the spokes were yellow. The window-sills were yellow and so was the chimney. Jimmy’s father had enough money left to buy some cream-coloured paint for the inside of the caravan.

  He painted it carefully, first putting all the furniture outside on the grass. “You’ll have to finish before night, Dad,” said Jimmy, “or we’ll all have to sleep in the open air.”

  The inside of the caravan was very different when it was finished—so light and airy, and it looked twice as big! Jimmy’s father put new glass into the windows too, and Jimmy slipped off to the town and bought some green and yellow fabric for curtains. He spent the money that the clown had given him.

  “Lotta, will you make me these curtains for Mother?” he asked the little girl, giving her the parcel, as she sat eating a cake on the steps of her caravan.

  “Make curtains!” said Lotta in surprise, and she laughed loudly. “You must be mad, Jimmy! I can’t sew.”

  “Can’t you really sew?” said Jimmy. “I thought all girls could. You aren’t very clever at some things, Lotta. You can’t write, you can’t read properly, and you can’t sew!”

  “And you can’t fall off caravan steps without getting bumped!” cried Lotta crossly, and she pushed Jimmy off so quickly that he slipped to the ground with a bang.

  Jimmy marched off without a word. He went to his mother and gave her the parcel. “Mother, here’s a present for you,” he said. “I wanted Lotta to make the fabric into curtains for the caravan, but she can’t sew.”

  His mother opened the parcel and cried out in delight. “Oh, Jimmy! How pretty it is—just the right colours to match the new paint on the caravan! You are a very kind little boy! Never mind about Lotta not being able to make them. I shall soon be able to make them—they won’t take me more than an hour or two. And as for Lotta, I think she ought to learn a few things. I am going to teach her to read and write and sew—and in return perhaps Lal and Laddo will teach you to ride properly.”

  “Oh, Mother! That’s a splendid idea!” said Jimmy, pleased. “I’ll go and tell Lotta. Shall I do lessons with you too?”

  “Of course,” said his mother. “I’m not going to let you forget all you’ve learnt, Jimmy—and I can teach you a great deal that you ought to know.”

  “I’ll go and find Lotta,” said Jimmy, and off he went. But Lotta wasn’t at all pleased.

  “What? Do lessons!” she said, making a face. “I’ve never done any and I’m not going to begin now.”

  “But my mother wants to teach you, Lotta,” said Jimmy. “I shall have to do some too.”

  “You can do them by yourself,” said Lotta. “I won’t come!”

  “Oh yes, you will, Lotta!” said a voice behind her, and Laddo popped his head out of the caravan door. “It’s quite time you learnt about a few things besides horses and dogs. I’ll teach Jimmy all I know about horses and riding, and Jimmy’s mother can teach you sewing and reading and sums and things that a little girl ought to know.”

  Lotta made a face and slipped down the steps. What a naughty little girl she could be when she wanted to! “Can’t catch me, can’t catch me!” she yelled to Jimmy—and off she flew over the field in a trice. It wasn’t a bit of good going after her—Jimmy could never catch her!

  POOR OLD PUNCH

  The circus-show went on, night after night. Jumbo played cricket and got clapped and cheered. Jemima the monkey played her tricks in the ring, and the other monkeys sat down at their little table and had their meal, with hundreds of people watching them each night. The ten little terrier dogs, neat, smart, and happy, ran round the ring merrily, and Judy jumped through her hoops without once making a mistake. The circus-folk were happy.

  Jimmy was happy too. He was busy all day long, for there was always something to do, and the little boy was willing to give a hand to everyone. Sometimes he was with Oona the acrobat and sometimes with Lilliput, watching him pet his monkeys. Every day he had a chat with old Jumbo the elephant, and, next to Mr. Tonks his keeper, Jumbo loved Jimmy, who often brought him tit-bits.

  Oona gave Jimmy a pair of his old soft shoes, and taught him to walk the tight-rope. Once Jimmy had learnt to balance himself, he found this was quite easy.

  Oona fastened the tight-rope only about a foot above the ground for Jimmy, so that he would not be frightened of falling. He gave the little boy a long pole to hold in his hands, for he said that would help him to get his balance well. Jimmy stepped on the rope—and at once fell off the other side.

  Lotta came to watch. She laughed loudly, and Jimmy poked her with his pole.

  “Go away!” he said. “I shall never learn anything if you watch me and laugh.”

  “Don’t take any notice of Lotta,” said Oona. “She needs a good spanking sometimes. You needn’t laugh at Jimmy, Lotta—I’ve tried to teach you to walk the tightrope before now, and you’ve fallen off each time. If you stand there laughing any more I’ll put you on the rope and let Jimmy see you fall off. Then he can laugh at you.”

  Oona could be quite cross at times, so Lotta stopped giggling and watched Jimmy. She was rather surprised that the little boy learnt so quickly, for she had found it too difficult herself. Before the end of the morning Jimmy could walk the whole length of the tight-rope without falling off—though he wobbled like a jelly, Oona said.

  “We’ll call you the Tight-rope Jelly-walker,” Oona said, with a grin. “Hundreds of people will come to see you.”

  Jimmy
jumped off the rope and put on his own boots. “Thanks very much, Oona,” he said. “I liked that. I’m learning to ride too. Stanley the clown thought I was so funny the first time I tried to ride, that he copied me in his turn at night, and that’s why he got so much clapping this week.”

  “I know,” said Oona, turning himself upside down and running about lightly on his two strong hands. “Come on, Jimmy—what about doing a little of this?”

  “I want Jimmy now,” said Lotta. “We’ve got to take the dogs out.”

  They went to the big cage. The dogs were lying quietly, some of them with their tongues out, for the weather was warm. One of them, Punch, did not get up and wag his tail when he saw Jimmy coming, as he usually did. Jimmy noticed it at once.

  “Hallo! What’s the matter with Punch?” he said. “He doesn’t seem well.”

  He went into the cage and lifted up the dog’s head. Punch wagged his tail feebly. His eyes were not bright, like the others, and he looked very miserable.

  “Punch is ill,” said Jimmy in alarm. “Oh, Lotta—what can be the matter with him?”

  “I don’t know,” said Lotta. “Let’s tell Lal.”

  They ran off to tell Lotta’s mother, and she came running to see Punch. She was alarmed, for she thought perhaps all the dogs might catch the illness and then they would not be able to perform at night.

  “I’ll fetch Mr. Galliano,” she said to Jimmy. “He knows more about animals than anyone in the world.”

  Very soon Mr. Galliano came along, his top-hat standing straight up on his head, for he was upset at the thought of one of the circus-animals being ill.

  “Get Punch out of the big cage,” he said to Jimmy. “He must be kept away from the other dogs.”

  Jimmy lifted Punch out of the cage. The dog licked the little boy’s hand feebly.

  Mr. Galliano took him gently on his knee and ran his hand over him. He looked at his eyes and his tongue and then he shook his head.

  “Poor little dog—he’ll be very ill,” he said. “He’s got an illness that will turn him yellow and make him very sick.”