Page:Dapples of the Circus (1943).pdf/162

 with him, and bits of glass were pelting his hands and face. Then something struck his head, and he felt a queer, faint, sinking sensation and all was dark.

Five minutes later several brawny soldiers had broken their way into the half-telescoped sleeper, where eight of the circus people were dead, and lifted poor Freckles from his splintered berth and tenderly placed him in an ambulance. Two of his best friends were in the ambulance ahead of him.

Big Bill, the head canvas-man, was suf fering from two broken legs, while Mr. Williams had luckily escaped with a dislocated shoulder and a sprained ankle, and several cuts from flying glass.

As the ambulance moved away, Big Bill lifted himself up on his elbow and looked outside.

"My God, Williams!" he said. "Look here, and tell me what you think of this. If it doesn't beat anything I ever came across in the ten wrecks I have been