The Fiery Ring (25 page)

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“I’m Not a Little Girl!”

Spring had spread over the land, bringing forth tender green shoots, carpeting the fields and softly rolling hills surrounding the circus in lush emerald. Travis Winslow, after pulling the carburetor off of a greasy engine, stopped long enough to rest his eyes on the scene. He’d had no trouble getting a job with the circus, for Colonel House was always happy to find cheap help. Despite the low wages, Travis was happy just to be out of prison. He knew deep in his heart that someday he would be in Bible school, and after that he’d be serving Jesus Christ somewhere in the world. It was enough for now that he was free. Being able to breathe the fresh air was intoxicating, and the work wasn’t difficult. He had always liked tinkering with engines, and the trucks that hauled the circus from town to town were as temperamental as any he had ever seen.

“How’s it going, Travis?”

Travis turned to find Chase Hardin approaching with a big smile.

“It’s going better than snuff,” he said, grinning.

“I don’t see how you keep these engines running. Some of them are as old as Methuselah.” He smiled at Winslow and added, “You sure made a place for yourself here.”

“Just for now.” Travis nodded. “It’s so good to be out of that cell. I just thank God that I’m here.”

“I guess you were surprised at Joy.”

“You mean that she’s grown up? Sure was. She’s always been a pretty girl, but when I first saw her I couldn’t believe
it was her. She’s just radiant. I don’t know about getting in with that tiger, though. That seems dangerous to me.”

“It is dangerous, Travis, and I wish you could talk her out of it.”

“No use.” A grimace twisted Travis’s mouth slightly to one side. “She’s got a stubborn streak in her—as you’ve probably discovered.”

“Yes, I have, but she’s had a rough time of it, so it’s understandable. I’m sure glad you’re here now.”

A sudden shout caught the attention of both men, and Travis shook his head. “What’s that? Sounds like trouble.”

“It may be. Let’s go take a look.”

The two men hurried quickly into the main tent and saw a crowd gathering. Travis said, “I hope it’s not Joy.”

They ran across the sawdust, and Chase saw Gypsy Dan lying on his back, his face twisted in pain.

“What happened?” Chase asked.

“I was . . . helping with the rigging, and I fell. If I’d hit the sawdust, I’da been all right, but I hit this ring instead.”

He referred to the ring that marked the limits for the acts. It was made into sections that could be easily disassembled. Joy had explained it to Travis. He had learned that every circus ring is the same size, forty-two feet across.

Colonel House suddenly appeared, his face worn and pale. “Dan, this doesn’t look good.” He bent down, and when he touched Dan’s leg, the prone man cried out. “We’ll have to get you to a doctor.”

“Doak, you get some men and carry him to the truck. I’ll join you in a minute.”

Despite the severe pain, Dan kept from crying out as Doak and several of the other men picked him up carefully and carried him toward the opening.

“Well,” House said gloomily, “there goes our elephant act.”

Joy had heard the commotion too, and now, without thinking, she spoke up. “I can take Dan’s place until he gets better.”

Every eye turned toward Joy, and she flushed but lifted her
head. “I can do it. Not as good as Dan, but at least we won’t have to cancel it.”

Colonel House brightened up. “Well, by George, I believe you can, Joy. Dan was telling me just yesterday how well you’ve done. So that’s your new job.”

House ran his hand over his thinning white hair and shook his head. “We’ll have to take the human cannonball act out. Hate to do that. People want to see everything that’s advertised.”

“I can do that act, Colonel.”

Colonel House blinked with surprise, for it was Travis who had spoken. All the colonel knew about this young man was that he was a magician at getting stubborn ancient engines to run. “You’re not a performer,” he said.

“No, but I talked to Dan a lot about that act,” Travis said. “He always said it was the easiest act in the circus.”

“I don’t agree with that,” House said. “It’s dangerous.”

“You can’t do it, Travis. You’ve never done anything like that!” Joy exclaimed.

“I’ve never done that, but you know what a good diver I’ve always been.”

“This is different from diving.”

“I don’t see why. If I can do a full gainer with a double twist, I can make one simple turn in the air. That’s all it is, isn’t it? You go up in the air, you keep your body straight, and before you hit, you do one turn. Why, I can do it.”

Juan Martino, the trapeze artist, shook his head. “You can break your neck if you miss.”

“How can I miss? If the cannon’s aimed right and the net’s in the right place, I’ll have to fall into it, won’t I?”

Chase shook his head. “I wouldn’t want to tackle that myself. People have been hurt doing that act. Dan’s been lucky.”

Stella had appeared from somewhere, and now she interrupted their conversation. “I say we give him a chance, Maurice. Juan, why don’t you let him take a few falls into your safety net? That’s similar, isn’t it?”

“Sure, Stella,” Juan said eagerly. “Come along, Travis, we’ll give you a try.”

The net for the trapeze act was already set up, and Travis did not even change clothes. Joy stood beside Chase, watching her brother as he climbed up the ladder to the perch where the flyers did their act. They heard Juan speaking clearly, and everybody, it seemed, had gathered to watch, except for Colonel House, who had gone to the hospital to stay with Dan. Everyone was fascinated with the idea of a man just out of prison volunteering to be the human cannonball. Word of Travis’s prison experience had gotten around, but it troubled no one.

“All you do is just fall forward and make a slow turn,” Juan explained. “You want to land on your back in the middle of that net.”

“Sounds easy enough,” Travis said.

“Hitting the net’s not hard. The hard part is what happens afterward.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean you’re going to bounce up. Most people get hurt on the rebound. The net throws them up into the air, and they come down on the edge or miss it altogether. So always keep your mind on hitting squarely and not being thrown sideways. Here, let me show you.”

The Martinos had been ready to practice their act when the accident had happened. Now all four of them—Juan, Maria, Mateo, and Lucia—gave a quick demonstration.

Joy watched all of this, then cried out to Chase when she saw her brother standing on the edge of the high platform ready to jump. “I’m afraid for him, Chase!”

“He’ll be all right. He was a good diver, wasn’t he?”

“He was great, but this is different.”

Joy and the others watched as Travis launched himself out, made a slow turn in midair, and landed on his back in the net. He rebounded and then came to his feet and let himself down off the net. “No problem,” he said.

Stella nodded. “You try that a dozen times, and then if you’ve got the grit for it, we’ll try the real thing. Doak, set up the net for the cannonball act and bring the cannon out.”

All too soon, it seemed, the practice was over, and Joy watched with apprehension as Travis approached her. “Well, wish me luck.” He grinned recklessly and said, “You’re not worried, are you, sis?”

“Yes, I am. I don’t care what you say, Travis, this is dangerous.”

“I don’t think so. It’s something I can do without any circus background, and if I make it, I’ll ask for a raise.”

Reluctantly, Joy assumed her usual position at the back of the cannon. There was silence in the tent as Travis lowered himself into the mouth of the cannon. He stopped just before he went down and said, “Praise the Lord! Hallelujah, I’m going to fly with Jesus!”

He disappeared then, and his muffled voice came from the interior, saying, “All right, Joy, I’m ready. Let her go!”

Joy reluctantly put her hand on the lever that released the coiled spring. Even though she felt too far away from God to do such a thing, she prayed. “Oh, God,” she murmured, “take care of Travis.”

She pulled the lever, but there was no explosion this time, for without an audience, there was no need for the illusion. The truck shook slightly, and she saw Travis shoot from the mouth of the cannon. His experience as a diver led him to make all the right moves, and now his hands were held forward, his body perfectly straight. He sailed through the air like an arrow, and as he approached the net, he began a slow turn. He hit the net dead center and rebounded perfectly. The tent exploded with the cheers of the watching performers.

Joy ran toward Travis, whose hand was being shaken and his shoulders thumped with hearty congratulations, and threw her arms around him. “You did it!”

“It was fun,” Travis said, smiling from ear to ear.

“All right,” Stella said, “you’re it.”

“Well, Mrs. House, it seems I’m moving into a new position—from lowly mechanic to star of the circus. ‘Captain Travis Winslow, the human cannonball.’ Maybe we could talk terms.”

Stella laughed. “I’m surprised you haven’t got an agent. Come on, Winslow. I’ll see what we can do.”

****

Ever since Karl Ritter had gotten Joy drunk and tried to seduce her after their date at the Peabody Hotel, Joy had been standoffish with him. One day he came to her, however, and said with a troubled expression, “I’ve been thinking about what happened in Memphis, Joy, and I want to tell you that I was wrong.”

Joy was taken off guard. She searched Karl’s face, looking for any insincerity, but he seemed utterly truthful. More than that, he seemed embarrassed, and she relaxed enough to say, “It was a bad night, Karl. I never want anything like that to happen again.”

“Oh, it won’t, Joy,” he promised. “You can bet on it.” He stuck out his hand, tilted his head to one side, and smiled winningly. “Let’s start all over again and put that behind us. All right?”

“All right, Karl.” Joy managed a conciliatory smile.

“Good!” Karl shook her hand firmly and then changed the subject. “Stella and I have been talking about your act with Mabel, and we think it’s time you did your act in the show.”

Joy was surprised. “How would that work?”

“I think we’ll let you come on first. It’ll be a treat for the folks to see a beautiful woman alone with a vicious five-hundred-pound tiger.”

Joy laughed. “She’s about as vicious as a kitten.”

“Well, the audience doesn’t know that. Then after you’ve made Mabel do all her tricks, why don’t you ride her around the ring once? It’ll make a great ending.”

“Sure, I’ve done that in our practices.” Joy felt a rush of excitement. “It’ll be fun, Karl.”

“It’ll help the act too. We’ll bill you as ‘Beauty and the Beast.’ Stella said to go with it whenever we’re ready, so I say let’s start tonight.”

****

When Mamie heard that Joy was going to be featured in the ring with the tiger, she insisted on updating Joy’s hairdo. She cut several inches off Joy’s long hair, then curled it up into a curly bob. “There,” she said, “now you look like a real star!”

“Thank you, Mamie!” Joy exclaimed. “I don’t know if you should call me a star, but I do feel rather glamorous with this hairdo.”

“You go on out there tonight and show them your stuff.”

That night Mabel performed perfectly for Joy’s premier performance under the big top. The tiger ran through her tricks without hesitation and acted believably vicious. She even walked backward without stepping on her tail. Joy was elated as she rode the big animal around the ring, then hopped off before Mabel ran into the tunnel back to her cage. The crowd roared with pleasure as Joy ran out of the big cage and took her bows. Colonel House announced, “Let’s hear a great round of applause for the daring Miss Joy Winslow, the most beautiful and talented woman under the big top!”

Joy smiled, thinking,
The real performers won’t agree with that, but they’ll understand.

She stepped outside and took her place as an animal watcher while Karl did his act. One of the things she had discovered about being a watcher was that the job was critical, yet could be very boring. After so many successful and safe performances, there was a tendency to become lackadaisical about the danger, which was still present all the time. She glanced over and saw that Chase was extremely attentive, watching every move of the cats, and more than once he
would call out to Karl, “Watch out for Sultan—Mazie’s getting upset—watch her.”

Joy was amazed that Chase seemed to be able to read the mind of every cat. She glanced over and saw Doak in position with a rifle. It chilled her to think that one day he might have to shoot one of the animals, but that was always possible.

She watched as Karl moved around the ring, always challenging the cats. He had learned how to make them move toward him, slashing at the chair and growling, and he had a genius for making them look vicious. From time to time he would appear to be almost overwhelmed and would pull out his pistol and fire a blank. She remembered then that Chase did not like this treatment of the animals, and she had heard from Oz and others that his own act had been far different. His technique had been to gain the cats’ confidence, never carrying anything but a small stick to tap their heads with or a whip—only to make noise, not to strike them with.

When the cats left the cage, Joy joined Karl when he came out to take his bows. He held her hand, and the two of them bowed together. Then he reached over and pulled her close, his arm around her. “Smile—they love us.”

Joy felt the pressure of his arm, but since his apology, she had felt safe enough with him.

They left the arena and went to the menagerie, where Chase already had all the animals safely in their cages. “Look, Joy,” Karl said, excited, “I’ve got an idea. Why don’t you try your act with
four
tigers?”

Joy stared at him. “But I wouldn’t know how. I’ve only worked with Mabel.”

“It’s no harder than with one. With only four cats, you’ll never have to turn your back on them. And I’ve got three other cats that are as docile as Mabel. I wouldn’t want you in the ring with Sultan or Rajah, but we could put you with Mazie, Sammy, and Lucy.” Karl was excited. “It’ll be great, and the audience will love it.”