Thus sang Alf as, arm in arm with Tom, he swaggered across the bridge on the way to Greenburg and the circus. Behind walked Dan and Gerald and Paul Rand. Still further behind came more of Yardley, and further ahead were others. Yardley was turning out en masse for the circus. Cuts had been granted in all afternoon recitations and here was a half-holiday with nothing to do but have a good time! And every fellow was determined2 to have it.
“Next verse!” shouted Dan.
“No, chorus first! All together now!”
“I’d like to be a Monkey monk1 And live up in a tree; I’d like to be a big Baboon3, An Ape or Chimpanzee![218] I’d wear a monkey-jacket and Eat cocoanuts and candy; I’d wave the Stars and Stripes and be A Monkey Doodle Dandy!”
“Next verse!” commanded Dan again.
“Oh, behave,” ordered Tom. “Cut out the comedy.”
“He’s jealous of my beautiful voice,” said Alf. “Oh, look at the pretty pictures. I shan’t go another step until I’ve seen all the pretty pictures.”
So they stopped in front of a board fence which was gaudily4 adorned5 with circus posters while Alf feasted his eyes.
“It’s a good idea, you know,” he explained philosophically6, “to enjoy the pictures, because they’re fifty times better than the circus. Now, Gerald, there, in his innocence7, doubtless expects to see seven elephants doing a cake-walk and balancing themselves on red and blue seesaws8, like that. But the fact is that there’ll be just two elephants, one old, old elephant, moth-eaten and decrepit9, and one extremely young and frolicsome10 elephant about the size of a Shetland pony11. And the old elephant won’t do much because he’s too aged12, and the young elephant will just look on because he’s too young and tender for work. Lies, lies, beautiful lies!”
[219]
“Oh, come on,” laughed Dan. “We won’t get any seats if we don’t hustle13.”
“Wait, wait until I see the boa-constrictor and the be-oot-shus lady. She thinks he’s a new set of furs. See the way she’s wrapping him around her neck? Someone ought to tell her; it’s a shame. I’ll undeceive her when I arrive, all right, all right. And, oh, the cunning little zebras! Wouldn’t you love to have a cunning little zebra to ride on, Dan? My, oh my! I’d ride to Chapel14 on it every morning and hitch15 it to the statue of Apollo outside Room D. And, fellows, fellows! Observe, pray, the marvelous—”
But he was dragged resisting away.
“Say, didn’t you ever just cry to be in a circus, Tom?” he inquired as they took up their journey again. “I have. Why, I used to think that if I could wear pink tights and hang from a trapeze by my toes at the top of a circus tent I’d be happy for life! If I ever get very, very wealthy I shall have a circus of my own, Tom. And I’ll let Dan and Gerald come in free, but you will have to pay, Tom, because you’re so hard-hearted and wouldn’t let me see the pictures; you’ll have to pay all of seventeen nice bright pins!”
“Oh, shut up,” growled16 Tom. “Folks’ll think you’re dippy.”
[220]
“Great scheme!” Alf exclaimed radiantly. “When we get to the tent I’ll put my cap on inside out and make faces and jibber and be a Wild Man from Wissining! And you chaps can collect dimes17 from the audience and we’ll go up to Parker’s afterwards and buy ice-cream sodas18. Marvelous! Marvelous!”
The circus occupied a waste lot on the farther side of the town, and it was a good half-hour’s walk from Yardley. But they reached it in plenty of time to view the animals in the outer tent before it was time to repair to the circus proper. And Alf had a glorious time and kept the others in a continual howl of laughter. Several other Yardley fellows joined their party and listened convulsed while Alf addressed the rhinoceros19.
“Beautiful Beast!” declaimed Alf. “Child of the trackless jungle! Denizen20 of the African waste, we salute21 you! (Salute, you idiots!) Thou art indeed handsome! Thou art verily the Tom Dyer of the Animal Kingdom. Thou art even more so and then some, for Tom has no horn on his nose. Even thy beautiful feet resemble his and thou hastest the same simple grandeur22 of contour, whatever that is. And thou also hastest a noble grouchiness23 of expression which remindest us of our dear Tom. Hast a name, Little One? No? Sayest thou so? Alack and well-a-day![221] Thou shalt be named and right nobly, O Timorous24 Nightingale of the Dark Continent! Hereafter thou shalt be known as Tom. Arise, Tom, and chortle thy glee and dance flitsomely! See him dance flitsomely, fellows?”
The rhinoceros neither altered attitude nor expression, however, and Alf was dragged away to see the Royal Bengal Tiger, whom he addressed as “Kitty.”
“Say, Tom,” said Dan presently, when they had completed the circuit of the tent, “I’ll bet all Broadwood is here. I’ve seen dozens of fellows already.”
“Really?” asked Tom, with a grin. “Say, we’ll have some fun, then.” He acquainted the others with Dan’s news and a howl of glee arose.
“We’ll get our crowd all together,” said Alf, “and have a little cheering to waken things up a bit. Come on.”
So they made their way into the tent, which was already half filled, and chose seats in an unoccupied section. Then:
“Yardley, this way!” was the cry. “Yardley, this way!”
Yardley responded quickly and in two minutes that section of the stand was filled with some two hundred youths.
“Now, fellows,” announced Alf, who had constituted[222] himself Master of Ceremonies, “let’s give a cheer for the elephant!”
They gave it; and followed up with one for the tiger; and followed that up with one for the monkeys.
“And now, fellows,” Alf cried gleefully, “let’s have one for Broadwood!”
So they cheered Broadwood—after the monkeys—amidst much laughter from their own section and the adjoining ones. No laughter, however, came from the stand across the tent where Broadwood was concentrating her forces. A minute afterwards Broadwood accepted the challenge and began cheering, following the cheers with football songs. And in the midst of that there was a blare of music from the red-coated band and the grand procession appeared. Yardley applauded mightily25 and cheered everything and everybody that passed. And then comparative quiet returned and the exhibitions in the rings began.
It wasn’t a very large circus, but it was a good one, and the fellows enjoyed it all hugely. When the trick donkey appeared with the leading clown seated on his back belaboring26 him with a bladder on the end of a stick Paul Rand made the hit of the afternoon by bawling27 loudly;
“Whoa, Broadwood!”
Even Broadwood thought that rather funny and[223] laughed. But they tried for revenge later by dubbing28 the trick elephant “Yardley.” And when he finally managed to get all four feet onto a big red and yellow ball of wood they demanded; “Touchdown, Yardley, touchdown!”
And so the performance drew triumphantly29 to its close while attendants passed around selling tickets for the “Grand Concert and Minstrel Entertainment to begin immediately after the show.”
Gerald, who had had a wonderful time all afternoon, leaned forward and begged Dan to remain and see the minstrel show. But Alf, who overheard, said;
“It isn’t worth the price, Gerald. You stay with the crowd and you’ll have lots more fun.”
“Why?” Gerald asked curiously30. But Alf only shook his head and looked mysterious. Then the performance came to an end and the audience surged toward the single exit. This was not the way they had entered; instead of leading back to the smaller tent it deposited the throng31 out in the open air in front of the side-shows. This exit was a good twelve feet wide and was formed by an opening in the big tent and a canvas passageway some fifteen feet in length. The passageway was a smaller tent open at each end and supported by half a dozen light poles and as many guy-ropes. The inner walls were covered with[224] cordial and gaudy32 invitations to the side-shows, and a “barker,” armed with a small cane33 and a resonant34 voice, stood under the alluring35 placards and recited the attractions of “Fatima, the Turkish Fortune Teller” and “Mademoiselle Marcelle, the Most Marvelous Snake Charmer of the Century.”
“Hurry up,” whispered Alf as he seized Gerald’s arm and dragged him through the throng. The exit was close to the seats occupied by the Yardley contingent36 and so they were soon outside. There the Yardley fellows lined up about the entrance and began cheering. Gerald, craning his head over Alf’s shoulder, watched the exit in excited expectation. He didn’t know what was going to happen but he was certain something would. Broadwood, hearing the Yardley cheers, came to a similar conclusion and kept her forces well together as she made for the exit. For a minute or two the emerging stream was composed of townsfolk, and the Yardley cheers continued. Gerald looked about for Dan, but couldn’t see him. Alf, when questioned, replied enigmatically that Dan had been assigned to duty. Gerald’s further inquiries37 were interrupted.
“Here they come!” someone announced in a stage-whisper, and Gerald saw the fore-rank of Broadwood emerging from the big tent into the[225] passageway. Instantly Alf was leading a mighty38 cheer for “Broadwood! Broadwood! Broadwood!” Some of the oncoming army grinned approval at the compliment, but there were more who scowled39 suspiciously, pulled their caps firmer on their heads, and buttoned their jackets.
“Oh, oh!” murmured Alf delightedly. “Like sheep to the slaughter40! Good old Broadwood! A-ay, Broadwood! Broadwood!”
And then, just as the first of the Broadwood fellows had reached the outer end of the passageway, a voice shouted “Let her go!” Gerald found himself being pressed back. There were cries of delight all about him. The canvas passageway swayed, the roof and walls settled inward and the tent descended41 calmly, inexorably upon the struggling crowd beneath. There was a wild and prolonged howl of joy from Yardley, a smothered42 babel of alarm and consternation43 from under the heaving canvas, and then Gerald, with Alf dragging him along, found himself flying wildly from the scene, tripping over ropes, colliding with persons, and shouting triumphantly as he went.
A quarter of a mile away the flying hordes44 of Yardley drew pace and breath, cheered approvingly for themselves and tauntingly45 for Broadwood, and then, forming into lines eight abreast,[226] marched in triumph back to school singing their songs. When, breathless and exultant46, Tom, Alf, Dan, and Gerald found themselves in Number 7 Dudley, Gerald alone expressed a regret.
“Why didn’t you let me help cut the ropes?” he asked Alf.
“Cut the ropes?” asked Alf. “Why, child, how you do talk! Nobody didn’t cut no ropes!”
“Then how did they get the tent down?” persisted Gerald, looking from Alf to Dan and from Dan to Tom.
“Well,” said Alf, settling himself comfortably on the window-seat, “that’s what you might term a coincidence. Of course we don’t know anything for certain, but it does look as though the guy-ropes all got loosened at the same moment. Then the natural thing happened; the tent came down. It certainly was a surprise to me! Why, I no more looked for anything like that to happen than—than—”
“Well,” laughed Tom, “it means that there won’t be any circus for Yardley next Spring.”
“Which is a very good thing,” responded Alf virtuously47. “I am convinced that circuses are bad for us; they take our thoughts away from our studies, and—and lead us into temptation. No circus, no tent; no tent, no guy-ropes; no guy-ropes, no—ahem—coincidences!”
[227]
“Besides,” said Tom, “you and I will be too busy trying to pass final exams to have any time for circuses.”
“That’s all right for you fellows,” said Gerald mournfully, “but I like circuses, and I want to go next year.”
“Away with vain regrets,” cried Alf gayly. “Comfort yourself with the knowledge that you have witnessed the glorification48 of Yardley and the discomfiture49 of Broadwood. Recall, I pray, the lines of the poet:
“‘Something accomplished50, something done To earn a night’s repose51!’”
Of course the Faculty52 didn’t remain long in ignorance of the incident and the next morning Mr. Collins read the School a short but eloquent53 lecture on the subject of Behavior in Public. But the matter ended there. A Second Class boy named Farnham, seeking Mr. Collins’ room the evening before by appointment, had found the host and Mr. Austin, another of the instructors54, laughing loudly, and although they had sobered down instantly when they had heard his knock on the partly opened door, Farnham had overheard enough to convince him that the subject of their mirth had been the tent episode. When this had percolated55 through School, as it very shortly[228] did, all fear of punishment faded. Mr. Collins wasn’t formidable when he laughed.
A few days later Mr. Pennimore’s retinue56 of servants came down from the city and opened Sound View for the summer. Gerald spent an hour at the station that morning between recitations watching the stablemen unload the horses and traps and hobnobbing with Higgins, the chauffeur57, who, having driven his car down by road, was taking a hand in the unloading. In the afternoon Gerald went over home and patronized the housekeeper58 until the good soul was quite in awe59 of him. The house was all ready for Mr. Pennimore’s arrival, and that gentleman was expected in two or three days. Gerald spent a half hour in his own rooms going through his belongings60. Strange to say, many things which had been precious to him not much more than six months before to-day held no attractions. Very soon he had a pile of toys and playthings in the middle of the floor and was directing their removal and destruction. He got his stamp albums down and looked through them listlessly, replacing them with a frown.
“Any fellow can collect stamps,” he muttered. “I’m going to give those away to someone. Maybe Harry61 would like them.”
Then he climbed the stairs to the gymnasium[229] which his father had had arranged for him three years before and looked about it superciliously62. It wasn’t much like the gymnasium at school, he thought. He did the giant swing on the rings, pulled once or twice at the chest-weights and turned his back on the room.
“Good enough for a kid,” he muttered as he went downstairs, “but I won’t use it much, I guess.” He looked at his watch, found he had still time to reach the field before baseball practice ended, and took his departure.
Two days later, just at noon, as he was crossing from Oxford63 to Clarke the boom of a gun reached him. Hurrying to the edge of The Prospect64, he looked seaward. There, circling in toward Sound View, a little cloud of smoke still wreathing at her bow, was a great white steam yacht. It was the Princess! With beating heart Gerald watched. The big boat slowed down, an anchor splashed into the sea, and the jar and jangle of the chain running through the hawse-hole came to him. Amidship a boom swung outward, a little launch was lowered from deck to water, white-clad figures moved here and there, and then a form in dark clothes went down the steps, and—
But now Gerald was racing65 down the terrace, across the bridge and along the wood path to meet his father.
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1
monk
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| n.和尚，僧侣，修道士 | |
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2
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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3
baboon
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| n.狒狒 | |
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gaudily
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| adv.俗丽地 | |
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5
adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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philosophically
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| adv.哲学上；富有哲理性地；贤明地；冷静地 | |
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7
innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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8
seesaws
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| n.跷跷板，上下动( seesaw的名词复数 )v.使上下（来回）摇动( seesaw的第三人称单数 )；玩跷跷板，上下（来回）摇动 | |
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9
decrepit
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| adj.衰老的，破旧的 | |
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10
frolicsome
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| adj.嬉戏的，闹着玩的 | |
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11
pony
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| adj.小型的；n.小马 | |
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12
aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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13
hustle
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| v.推搡；竭力兜售或获取；催促；n.奔忙(碌) | |
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14
chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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15
hitch
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| v.免费搭(车旅行)；系住；急提；n.故障；急拉 | |
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16
growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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17
dimes
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| n.（美国、加拿大的）10分铸币( dime的名词复数 ) | |
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18
sodas
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| n.苏打( soda的名词复数 )；碱；苏打水；汽水 | |
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19
rhinoceros
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| n.犀牛 | |
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20
denizen
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| n.居民，外籍居民 | |
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21
salute
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| vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮 | |
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22
grandeur
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| n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华 | |
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23
grouchiness
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| n.grouchy（不高兴的，爱抱怨的）的变形 | |
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24
timorous
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| adj.胆怯的，胆小的 | |
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mightily
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| ad.强烈地；非常地 | |
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26
belaboring
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| v.毒打一顿( belabor的现在分词 )；责骂；就…作过度的说明；向…唠叨 | |
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27
bawling
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| v.大叫，大喊( bawl的现在分词 )；放声大哭；大声叫出；叫卖（货物） | |
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28
dubbing
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| n.配音v.给…起绰号( dub的现在分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制 | |
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29
triumphantly
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| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
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30
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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31
throng
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| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
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gaudy
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| adj.华而不实的；俗丽的 | |
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33
cane
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| n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的 | |
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34
resonant
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| adj.(声音)洪亮的，共鸣的 | |
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35
alluring
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| adj.吸引人的，迷人的 | |
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contingent
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| adj.视条件而定的；n.一组，代表团，分遣队 | |
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37
inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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38
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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39
scowled
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| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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40
slaughter
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| n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀 | |
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41
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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42
smothered
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| （使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制 | |
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43
consternation
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| n.大为吃惊，惊骇 | |
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44
hordes
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| n.移动着的一大群( horde的名词复数 )；部落 | |
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45
tauntingly
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| 嘲笑地，辱骂地； 嘲骂地 | |
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46
exultant
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| adj.欢腾的，狂欢的，大喜的 | |
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47
virtuously
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| 合乎道德地，善良地 | |
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48
glorification
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| n.赞颂 | |
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49
discomfiture
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| n.崩溃；大败；挫败；困惑 | |
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50
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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51
repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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52
faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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53
eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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54
instructors
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| 指导者，教师( instructor的名词复数 ) | |
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55
percolated
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| v.滤( percolate的过去式和过去分词 )；渗透；（思想等）渗透；渗入 | |
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56
retinue
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| n.侍从；随员 | |
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57
chauffeur
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| n.(受雇于私人或公司的)司机；v.为…开车 | |
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58
housekeeper
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| n.管理家务的主妇，女管家 | |
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59
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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60
belongings
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| n.私人物品，私人财物 | |
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61
harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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62
superciliously
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| adv.高傲地；傲慢地 | |
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63
Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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64
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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65
racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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