"Oh, mother, I'm to be married To Mr. Punchinello; To Mr. Pun, to Mr. Chin, to Mr. Nel, to Mr. Lo, Mr. Pun, Mr. Chin, Mr. Nel, Mr. Lo, To Mr. Punchinello."

As the last words died away a clown came from behind a circus-wagon.

"Nello, Nello!" he called.

"What is it, Punch?" inquired the owner of the pretty voice, appearing in the doorway of her tent. But before he could answer she exclaimed: "Oh, look! See the cat with red-topped boots!"

The clown turned and gazed at Puss, Jr., who came forward and put out his paw.

"Won't you join our circus?" said the clown, with an engaging smile.

Puss did not reply for a moment. He was thinking it over quite seriously. Whether or not it would interfere with his finding his father was the question. While he stood debating as to what was the thing to do, the circus-lady came out of her tent and cried:

"Oh, _do_ join our circus, Sir Puss! I am sure you would be a great attraction. Every child in town would want to see a cat who wore boots!"

At this Puss, Jr.'s, face was all smiles. In fact, his whiskers curled up in a most laughable way, making his little face quite irresistible.

"Thank you both very much," he replied, "but before I answer I must tell you that I am in search of my ill.u.s.trious parent, the famous Puss in Boots. If I join your circus how am I to find my dear father?"

"Easy as not," answered the clown, quickly. "We are always on the move.

A new town 'most every day. We never linger long in any one spot."

"No, indeed, we don't!" cried the circus-lady. "We give a performance this afternoon and to-night, and then we pack up and are off again."

"You can have one of the circus-horses to ride," suggested the clown, by way of encouragement; "you need not travel on foot if you join us."

"That's a big inducement," admitted Puss, Jr.

"It's a merry life," added the circus-lady, "and when all the little children clap their hands and cry 'Bravo!' it's very exciting."

"I'll join," said Puss; "here's my paw!"

"And here's my hand," said the clown.

"And here's mine," cried the circus-lady.

"Come with me," said the clown, "and I'll put your name on the program and you shall be a regular circus performer from now on."

And that is how Puss, Jr., joined the circus.

PUSS, JR., PROVES TO BE A WONDERFUL CIRCUS PERFORMER

It was about eight-thirty o'clock in the evening. The big tent was all aglow with lights. A long line of people reached from the dusty roadway to the ticket-office. Flaring torches threw strange streaks of light over the field, lighting up the circus-wagons with their gleaming red bodies and yellow wheels.

Now and then the roars of the lions and the trumpetings of the elephants could be heard, then the music of the band, a bugle-call, a shrill voice, a snap of whips--all the familiar sounds of a traveling circus, as the evening breeze ruffled the many flags that decked the great white tent. Puss, Jr., stood by the side of the clown in the tan-bark ring and looked about him. On all sides were eager faces. Hundreds of children screamed and yelled as the clown came forward and motioned for silence.

When the sounds had died away he spoke, loud and clear:

"Ladies and gentlemen and little children, we have with us to-night the son of the famous Puss in Boots, the well-known nursery character, dearly loved by old and young. Puss, Junior, is in search of his father, but in the meantime has consented to join our circus. I venture to say that no other circus in the world has so wonderful a cat among its performers. You will all be charmed to see him act. His first performance will be to ride around the ring on our beautiful Arabian horse, White Marvel!" As the clown finished Puss jumped nimbly to the horse's back and commenced riding around the ring as if he had been accustomed to this sort of thing all his life.

The children clapped their hands, and the grown-ups smiled and nodded approvingly. The white horse broke into a gallop, but Puss stood first on one leg and then on the other, bowing gracefully here and there. Not once did he lose his balance, although he wore his red-topped boots, and to stand on the bare back of a horse under such conditions is not the easiest thing in the world.

When the clown brought out a wooden ring covered with tissue-paper the crowd held its breath. Would Puss, Jr., dare jump through it? Around galloped the big white horse in a swift canter, Puss balancing himself on one leg. As he neared the clown, who stood on a big blue barrel close to the ringside, Puss gathered himself together for the jump. Through the tissue-paper he went like a bird on the wing, and landed safely on the horse's back.

A wild round of applause greeted his daring deed. The children clapped their hands and screamed, forgetting in their excitement to eat their peanuts and candy popcorn. The man who carried the pink lemonade in funny little gla.s.ses all set in rows in a tin tray stood still to watch.

He forgot to cry, "Anybody want some delicious, pink lemonade?" because he was so excited over the success of the new member of the circus family.

Then all the rest of the actor folk did their stunts; the monkeys played baseball, and the elephants had a boxing-match, and when all was over the clown and the circus-lady ran up to Puss, Jr., and said, "You were the star performer of the whole show!" which, of course, pleased Puss immensely.

A TERRIBLE FIGHT STOPPED BY USING PLUM-CAKE

As the circus entered a town one bright, sunny morning, the lion and the unicorn escaped from their cages. Great was the excitement! All the circus people started after them with long ropes, hoping to be able to la.s.so them.

At first the townsfolk were greatly frightened, but gradually, as they found out that the lion and the unicorn paid little attention to them, their fear gave way to interest. It seems that the lion was an enemy of the unicorn, and as soon as they were free they began to fight.

The Lion and the Unicorn were fighting for the crown, The Lion beat the Unicorn all around the town.

Some gave them white bread, and some gave them brown, Some gave them plum-cake and sent them out of town.

If it had not been for the plum-cake I verily believe they would have been fighting still. But as soon as the unicorn saw the plum-cake he said to the lion:

"What's the use of fighting, Leon? Let's have a truce. In fact, I'm hungry."

"So am I," replied the lion. "I haven't had a sweet thing since I joined the circus. And you know how hard it is to see all the little boys and girls eating candy and popcorn and not be able to get even one little piece."

"That's quite true," replied the unicorn. "People seem to think all I require is hay. And as for you, they think raw meat is enough."

With these friendly words they stopped fighting and began to eat the plum-cake. All the townsfolk stood by watching them. When the circus-men arrived on the scene they were too surprised for the moment to do a thing. They just stood still and watched the two animals eat the cake, even waiting until the lion had picked up the last crumb and the unicorn the last raisin. Then they came forward very quietly and threw a rope first over the lion's head and then over the unicorn's, and led them back to their cages. Puss, Jr., who had by this time arrived on the scene, turned to the people and said:

"Ladies and gentlemen, it was very kind of you to give plum-cake to our animals. It only goes to show what kindness will do. I hope you will appreciate how much we thank you for what you have done, and also that you will come to our show to-night. I can a.s.sure you we will give you a double bill to show you how much we appreciate what you have done for us."

"Hurrah!" cried the crowd. "Three cheers for Sir Cat!"

That night there was a tremendous attendance. The tent was crowded.

Everybody was in a jolly frame of mind. All the circus people did their best. Puss, Jr., jumped through three hoops without touching the back of the big white horse, and the clown was funnier than he had ever been in all his life. The circus-lady never looked so pretty, nor did she ever ride so well before. And it took the ticket-seller all night to count the money.

PUSS, JR., MEETS ANOTHER CAT AND MORALIZES ON CONTENTMENT