carefully before ascending.

"I don't want to fall and be laid up in the middle of the circus
season," mused the young circus man, with a frown.

However, the ladder appeared to be perfectly secure, and as Joe went up,
finally reaching the high platform, he felt a sense of exhilaration.
Heights always affected him this way. He liked, more than anything else,
to soar aloft on his Wings of Steel. And he liked the sensation when he
leaped from one platform toward the swinging trapeze bar, aiming to
grasp it in his hands and swing in a great arc to the other little
elevated place, close under the top of the tent.

There was a thrill about it--a thrill not only to the performer but to
the audience as well--and Joe could hear the gasps that went up from
thousands of throats as he made his big swing.

But, for the time being, he gave his whole attention to the platform and
its fastenings. The platforms were not very likely to slip, being caught
on to the main tent poles, which themselves were well braced.

The real danger was in the long trapeze. Not only must the thin wire
ropes of this be strong enough to hold Joe's weight, but an added
pressure, caused by the momentum of his jump. And not only must the
cables be strong, but there must be no defect in the wooden bar and in
the place where the upper ends of the ropes were fastened to the top of
the tent.

"Well, this platform is all right," remarked Joe, as he looked it over.
"Now for the other and the trapeze."