Emperor, at this juncture, threw himself forward on his forelegs,
stretched out his trunk, encircling the performer's waist and
lifting her clear off the ground.
At that moment the supposed young woman stripped her blonde wig
from her head, revealing the fact that the supposed girl was no
girl at all. It was a boy, and that boy was Phil Forrest.
Emperor, holding his young friend at full length ahead of him,
started rapidly for his quarters, Phil lying half on his side,
appearing to be floating on the air, save for the black trunk
that held him securely in its grip.
At this the audience fairly howled in its surprise and delight,
but Phil never varied his pose by a hair's breadth until Emperor
finally set him down, flushed and triumphant, in the menagerie
tent.
At that moment Phil became conscious of a figure running toward
him.
He discovered at once that it was Mr. Sparling.
Grasping both the lad's hands, the showman wrung them until it
seemed to Phil as if his arms would be wrenched from their
sockets.
"Great, great, great!" cried the owner of the show.
"Did you like it?" questioned the blushing Phil.
"Like it? Like it? Boy, it's the greatest act I ever saw.
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