Why, it was one of his own men! He had got up that joke all out of his own head, and never let on to nobody.
Well, I felt sheepish enough to be took in so, but I wouldn't a been in that ringmaster's place, not for a thousand dollars.

I don't know; there may be bullier circuses than what that one was, but I never struck them yet.

Anyways, it was plenty good enough for ME; and wherever I run across it, it can have all of MY custom every time.
Well, that night we had OUR show; but there warn't only about twelve people there--just enough to pay expenses.

And they laughed all the time, and that made the duke mad; and everybody left, anyway, before the show was over, but one boy which was asleep.

So the duke said these Arkansaw lunkheads couldn't come up to Shakespeare; what they wanted was low comedy--and maybe something ruther worse than low comedy, he reckoned.