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 Freckles also took this time to write long letters to Pickles and Beany.

He painted the circus life in gay colors, but always wound up with the earnest assurance that they were much better off at home.

The circus wreck made thrilling reading for the two chums, and they showed Freckles's letters to all the other boys in the town.

Finally, on a chilly day in late November, both Sir Wilton and his driver started on the long trip to California, where the circus was to go into winter quarters. But they could not go together, much as Freckles wished they might, for Sir Wilton had to travel in a freight car, while his driver went on a passenger train.

Freckles knew that he would arrive in California several days ahead of his small companion, but he tried to be patient, for they would be together again for the winter, with leisure for long drives in the land of sunshine.