TOD SLOAN 



surprise— to slip his boy out of the balloon. He 

 sprung it on me one morning. 



My first ascent was to be at Boonesville Fair, ihe 

 Professor had promised the people who ran the show 

 a surprise. As a matter of fact he had contracted 

 for an extra twenty-five dollars to " slip his boy 

 out of the balloon in a parachute ! He sprung it on 

 me one morning. 



I asked: " Who's the boy ? " 



He said : " You are ' the boy ' ! " 



I answered : " Oh, am I ! " 



But he saw my face. 



" You don't seem to like it, Tod," he said. 



" It's all right," I answered. " But what sort of 

 thing is the parachute, the umbrella thing I am to 

 come down in ? Shall I be heavy enough to make it 



open out ? " , ^ n • 4. 



" Oh you'll be all right," said the Professor, just 

 as if he' were saying " Pass the butter," but I began 

 thinking it over, and the more I looked up at the sky 

 and began to think of having to slip down from the 

 clouds the less I liked it. I began to think how 1 

 could dodge it. My brother " Cash " had left home 

 some time before, after a scrap with father. Cash ran 

 down the railway track faster than the old man, and 

 when he stopped it was with a stable of horses. 



I had heard from Cash that he was overseer and head 

 iockey of a stable, and he said that if I wanted to join 

 him and become a rider I was to leave Washington, 



Indiana, at once. i . t 



Well I had to cough a bit and think over what 1 

 should say before I told the Professor, but he was very 

 sporting about it; and, as it meant only twenty-five 

 dollars' difference in the pay for the show, he said : 

 " Perhaps you're right ; go and join your brother. 



i6 



