Page:Dapples of the Circus (1943).pdf/221

 ent they were rather still, but at certain times of day, especially at morning and evening, their bellowing came up to the hurricane deck in an almost constant sound.

The fresh wind kept the smell of bilgewater away from the upper decks. Although the ship was a cattle boat, yet she carried about fifty passengers. She was equipped with a generous set of well-appointed cabins and a dining-saloon and all the other comforts. This was to accommodate South American merchants, who wished to make trips to the United States between the sailing times of the regular passenger boats.

Freckles looked very happy as he sat on the deck reading his book, but his mind did not seem to be wholly on what he was reading, for he occasionally smiled and looked as though he was journeying in dreamland, as indeed he was.

He was going back home, and without the rest of the circus, all of which had