Page:Dapples of the Circus (1943).pdf/74

 safe on the ground without so much as a scratch. Six heavy draft-horses were waiting for it. In no time they were hitched to the first wagon. The driver clambered to his seat, his whip cracked, and the first stake-and-chain wagon had started for the grounds.

"We'll see them drive those stakes and stretch the ropes when we get down to the lot," explained Pickles.

Then there were more stake-and-chain wagons, canvas wagons, centre-pole and side-pole wagons, water-tank wagons, and wagons containing all the thousand and one things that were needed at once on the grounds. No matter how fast old Whitey pulled the wagons off the train with his pulley, the team of horses which belonged to the wagons was always in waiting. The whole moved along like a great machine. Everything was in place. Nothing was missing. Each man and animal knew just what he was to do, and did it in the shortest possible time. "Gee," said Freckles,