Page:Dapples of the Circus (1943).pdf/146

 He was a jolly, good-natured chap, always smiling. His greatest stunt was to jump over ten elephants standing side by side, and, as he jumped, he turned a double somersault. Like Freckles, he was an orphan.

He often confided to Freckles that it was his life's ambition to make the triple turn, but Freckles did not really appreciate the daring of the neck-breaking stunt. The management had always refused to let Flying Fred try it. They knew of too many good athletes that had died in the attempt. But Flying Fred bided his time and took no one into his confidence.

One morning, just after Freckles had been in the ring, putting Sir Wilton through some new tricks, to his surprise the ten huge elephants came marching in. This was unusual, so he stopped with Dapples beside the farther ring to see what was up.

The spring-board was in place, and Fly-