are! Keep your seats! Don't rush!"

It is the panic and rush that circus men are afraid of--the pushing and
"milling" of the crowd and the trampling under foot of helpless women
and children.

There was some commotion near the junction of the animal tent and that
in which the main performance took place. What it was, Joe did not
concern himself about just then. He felt it to be his task to prevent a
panic. And to this he lent himself, aided by Helen, Jim Tracy, and
others who realized the danger.

And while this is going on and while the expert animal men are preparing
to get back into its cage the tiger which, it was learned afterward, had
got out through an imperfectly fastened door, time will be taken to tell
new readers something about Joe Strong and the series of books in which
he is the central character.

Joe Strong seemed destined for a circus life and for entertaining
audiences with sleight-of-hand and other mystery matters. His father,
Alexander Strong, known professionally as Professor Morretti, was a
stage magician of talents, and Joe's mother, who was born in England,
had been a rider of trick horses.

His parents died when Joe was young. He did not have a very happy
boyhood, and one day he ran away from the man with whom he was living
and joined a traveling magician, who called himself Professor Rosello.
With him Joe, who had a natural aptitude for the business, learned to
become a sleight-of-hand performer.