Page:Dapples of the Circus (1943).pdf/91

 "Haven't I told you again and again that you mustn't whip him? He's too high-strung. You'll spoil him."

"As long as I drive him I will whip him whenever I think best," returned Tony defiantly. He was Italian, and his blood was hot. But the ringmaster had a temper also.

"You defy me, do you, you young cub. Well, I'll teach you." He lifted the boy by his collar from the ground and shook him as a cat would a mouse. The greatest boy equestrian kicked at him savagely and then began to cry.

"You let me go, you fool. If you don't, you will wish you had. If you don't, I'll—I'll poison Sir Wilton. That's what I'll do."

"You will, will you? I am glad to know what evil you have in your dirty heart. You are fired. Go to the paymaster and get your wages this minute, and you leave the circus within the hour or I will have you arrested. I will