Dapples of the Circus

Introduction The Home of the Shetland Pony THE home of the Shetland pony is the Shetland Islands, a group of about a hundred sea-girt, wind swept islands, situated in the North Sea about fifty miles northeast of the north of Scotland. These lonely islands together with the Orkneys, which are much ne

Dapples of the Circus Chapter I The Rivals AT the time of our story there dwelt in the northern part of the Island of Shetland a Norwegian named Hans Pederson. He and his good wife and their two children, Hans, aged ten, and Olga, aged eight, comprised the family. By that I mean the human family; bu

Chapter II The Battle BECAUSE of the jealousy between Blackie and the newcomer, Blackie was seen less and less around the farm buildings, and Dapple Dandy was very loath to leave and go with the rest of the colts to the hills for feed. But it must be understood that most of the jealousy and hatred w

Chapter III Farewell to Little Dapples TWO or three days after the battle, as Sir Wilton did not put in an appearance at the farm buildings, where he was in the habit of coming often, Mr. Pederson went to look for him. He first discovered Black Fury limping about on three legs with a strained should

Chapter IV The Circus Comes to Town THREE small boys called Freckles, Pickles, and Beany sat on the top of the high board fence that surrounded the railroad switch-yards, waiting for the first section of Bingham and Daily's Great American Circus, which was to show in town that day. Of course the thr

Chapter V Freckles and Dapples AFTER the ringmaster's statement that Freckles "was on" had been fully comprehended, the three chums went to a lumber pile at the edge of the circus lot to talk it over. Freckles himself was the most dazed and thunderstruck of the three. To his friends he had suddenly

Chapter VI Over the Ringing Rails FRECKLES soon discovered in his new life that, although they did the same things each day, yet no two days were alike. Each morning in the early dawn, if they were lucky, they rolled into a new town. They unloaded the three sections in the same manner, yet the task

Chapter VII The Circus Wreck at Cedar Bend ONE of the ever-present bugbears of the circus management is railroad wrecks. An assistant manager for Barnum and Bailey tells that he was in thirteen wrecks in twelve years, and he thought himself lucky to escape with his life. This is not strange, for the

Chapter VIII The Land of Sunshine TO a simple country boy like Freckles, who had scarcely been outside his own town before he joined the circus, the trip across the great western plains to California was a revelation. If he was amazed at the endless stretches of western prairie land, he was still mo

Chapter IX Shipwrecked on the Spanish Main IN the very early spring the circus people were astir. They had been idle too long. The expenses for the winter months were enormous, so the great machine must be set to work repairing the losses. Once again the three gaudy, gilded sections were loaded.

Chapter X The Rescue TO poor Freckles, sitting upon the sand of the beach, on the edge of a vast, dark, tropical forest, with the Southern Cross and the countless stars above him, and wild, weird sounds on every hand, this night was a night of terrors. Mr. Williams had told him to find the others wh

Chapter XI Northward Bound THE good ship Rio de Janeiro was ploughing her way vigorously through the blue Caribbean. A brisk wind on her stern was making the swell in her wake even more pronounced. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining gloriously, and a myriad of sparkling diamonds and rainbow