Freddy and the Perilous Adventure by Walter R. Brooks Page B

uses on his moustache.”
    â€œWell, dye my face!” murmured Freddy unhappily.
    And so when the animals marched into the big tent to go through their drill and do all their tricks, it was Freddy, in robe and turban, and with a complexion as swarthy as a Moor’s, who sat cross-legged on the back of Hannibal’s neck and bowed graciously right and left to the thunder of applause. And it was Freddy who giggled so that he nearly fell off when, as he marched by one of the front benches, he saw Jinx and the four mice clapping their paws enthusiastically. “Wait until they know who they’ve been applauding!” he said to himself.
    â€¦ it was Freddy, in robe and turban.
    But his thoughts took a more solemn turn when a few minutes later he saw four state troopers walking down past the benches in different parts of the tent, and looking closely at the audience. As the elephants went through their routine, he kept his eye on the troopers. Here and there one of them would tap a man on the shoulder, and he and the man would exchange a few words, and then the trooper would go on. Gradually the audience became aware of this activity, and some were annoyed by it, and some were scared, and pretty soon everybody was watching the troopers and nobody was watching the elephants, or even the clowns.
    So then Mr. Boomschmidt stepped out into the middle of the ring and held up his hands. “La-dees and gentlemen,” he shouted; “it has perhaps not escaped your attention that for the past fifteen minutes two shows have been going on under this tent. There is the show provided at great expense for your amusement by Boomschmidt’s Colossal and Unparalleled Circus, and there is the show provided, as far as I can see to no purpose and at no expense at all, by the gentlemen of the police. Since Boomschmidt’s Colossal and Unparalleled Circus does not believe in arguing with the police, the animals and clowns of Boomschmidt’s Colossal and Unparalleled Circus will now withdraw, and permit the police to continue with their own performance uninterrupted.”
    â€œNo, no!” shouted the audience. “Goon with the show. Throw the police out.”
    â€œPerhaps, then,” said Mr. Boomschmidt, “the police will tell us what they are looking for, and we can help them find it, and go on with the show.”
    â€œWe’re looking for a pig who stole a balloon,” called Bill from the top row of seats. “We have information that he is in this tent.”
    At this news that they were suspected of being a pig, some of the people who had been questioned by the police began to talk angrily to their neighbors, and others turned and looked suspiciously at people beside them or behind them, and the ones looked at got mad and several fights started. Down in the front row an old gentleman who had on the only silk hat in the audience turned on the trooper who had been questioning him. “Look like a pig, do I? I’ll have you know I’m Henry P. Utterly, senior partner in the law firm of Utterly, Utterly, Wimpole and Winker, and I shall start suit against you at once for defamation of character, malfeasance in office, and skulduggery in the first degree, and your case will be tried before Judge Utterly, which is me, and how do you like that, young man?”
    â€œOh, gosh!” said the trooper unhappily.
    â€œLa-dees and gentlemen!” shouted Mr. Boomschmidt again. “The opinion expressed by the police that any one of this distinguished audience resembles a pig is one which you very naturally resent. Not that I have anything against pigs—my goodness, no. As a lifelong friend and companion of animals, I count among my most cherished friends members of the porcine race. And a pig— as pig—can be a very handsome animal. I should be the last to deny it.
    â€œOn the other hand, a pig looks like a pig, and a man looks like a man. No pig wants to look like a man,