



Produced by Annie R. McGuire








[Illustration: HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE]

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VOL. III.--NO. 127. PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK. PRICE FOUR
CENTS.

Tuesday, April 4, 1882. Copyright, 1882, by HARPER & BROTHERS. $1.50 per
Year, in Advance.

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[Illustration]

MR. STUBBS'S BROTHER

BY JAMES OTIS,

AUTHOR OF "TOBY TYLER," "TIM AND TIP," ETC.

CHAPTER I.

THE SCHEME.


"Why, we could start a circus jest as easy as a wink, Toby, 'cause you
know all about one; an' all you'd have to do would be to tell us fellers
what to do, an' we'd 'tend to the rest."

"Yes; but you see we hain't got a tent, or hosses, or wagons, or
nothin', an' I don't see how you could get a circus up that way;" and
the speaker hugged his knees as he rocked himself to and fro in a musing
way on the rather sharp point of a large rock, on which he had seated
himself in order to hear what his companion had to say that was so
important.

"Will you come down with me to Bob Atwood's, an' see what he says about
it?"

"Yes, I'll do that if you'll come out afterward for a game of I-spy
round the meetin'-house."

"All right; if we can find enough of the other fellers, I will."

Then the boys slipped down from the rocks, found the cows, and drove
them home as the preface to their visit to Bob Atwood's.

The boy who was so anxious to start a circus was a little fellow with
such a wonderful amount of remarkably red hair that he was seldom called
anything but Reddy, although his name was known--by his parents, at
least--to be Walter Grant. His companion was Toby Tyler, a boy who, a
year before, had thought it would be a very pleasant thing to run away
from his uncle Daniel and the town of Guilford in order to be with a
circus, and who, in ten weeks, was only too glad to run back home as
rapidly as possible.

During the first few months after his return many brilliant offers had
been made Toby by his companions to induce him to aid them in starting
an amateur circus; but he had refused to have anything to do with the
schemes, and for several reasons. During the ten weeks he had been away
he had seen quite as much of a circus life as he cared to see, without
even such a mild dose as this amateur show would be; and again, whenever
he thought of the matter, the remembrance of the death of his monkey,
Mr. Stubbs, would come upon him so vividly, and cause him so much
sorrow, that he resolutely put the matter from his mind.

Now, however, it had been a year since the monkey was killed; school had
closed during the summer season; and he was rather more disposed to
listen to the requests of his friends. On this particular night Reddy
Grant had offered to go with him for the cows--an act of generosity
which Toby accounted for only on the theory that Reddy wanted some of
the strawberries which grew so plentifully in Uncle Daniel's pasture.
But when they arrived there the strawberries were neglected for the
circus question; and Toby then showed he was at least willing to talk
about it.

There was no doubt that Bob Atwood knew Reddy was going to try to induce
Toby to help start a circus, and Bob knew also that Reddy and Toby would
visit him, although he appeared very much surprised when he saw them
coming up the hill toward his house. He was at home, evidently waiting
for something, at an hour when all the other boys were out playing; and
that in itself would have made Toby suspicious if he had paid much
attention to the matter.

Bob was perfectly willing to talk about a circus--so willing, that,
almost before Toby was aware of it, he was laying plans with the others
for such a show as could be given with the material at hand.

"You see, we'd have to get a tent the first thing," said Toby, as he
seated himself on the saw-horse as a sort of place of honor, and
proceeded to give his companions the benefit of his experience in the
circus line. "I s'pose we could get along without a fat woman or a
skeleton; but we'd have to have the tent anyway, so's folks couldn't
look right in an' see the show for nothin'."

Reddy had decided some time before how that trifling matter could be
arranged. In fact, he had spent several sleepless nights thinking it
over, and as he went industriously