Red did not delay a second. He scrambled out through the canvas
just as Phil pulled himself to his feet. The lad could see the
fellow's legs dangling through the canvas.
Phil uttered a yell, hurling himself wildly over the high-backed
seats in an effort to catch and hold the legs ere Red could
get out. But Larry heard him coming, and quickly clambered down
the back of the wagon to the deck of the flat car.
Phil once more grabbed up his own tent stake as he stumbled back
through the wagon.
"I've got you!" yelled the boy as he pulled himself up through
the opening, observing Red standing hesitatingly on the flat car
with a frightened look in his eyes.
"Hi! Hi!" cried Phil, turning and gesticulating wildly at the
men further up the train "I've got him! Hurry! I--"
Something sang by his head and dropped quivering in the canvas
beyond him. It was the discharged tentman's knife which he had
aimed at Phil, his aim having been destroyed by a lurch of the
car, thus saving the Circus Boy's life.
"Want to kill me, do you? I've got you now! The men are coming.
Don't you dare move or I'll drop this stake on you. I can't miss
you this time."
Red after one hesitating glance, faced the front and leaped from
the train down the long, sloping cinder-covered bank.
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