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From one resort to another he hurried, talking in the accepted style through one corner of his mouth to hard-visaged individuals behind dirty, reeking bars that were reared on equally dirty and foul-smelling sawdust-strewn floors; visiting dance halls, secretive back rooms, and certain Chinese pipe joints. But the Runt was decidedly elusive.
From the exhaust of the mill's engine a jet of white steam shot up sparkling. Close on its apparition sounded the exultant, high-keyed shriek of the saw. It ceased abruptly. Then Bob became conscious of a heavy rud, thud of mill machinery. All this time he and Fox were walking along a narrow board walk, elevated two or three feet above the sawdust-strewn street.
He must have known Sebastian's habits, for he went straight to that corner of the great room where the violin-player usually sat. The stout waitress a country girl of no intelligence, smiled broadly at the sight of such a ragged customer as she followed him down the length of the sawdust-strewn floor. Sebastian's face showed no surprise when he looked up and recognized the new-comer.
We are about to commence." Blake nodded in silent acquiescence; the knot of men bowed quickly and stiffly; and Max found himself being led across the bare, sawdust-strewn floor into an inner and larger room a holy of holies where the light was dimmer and the air more cool.
The stage-settings varied little; same oblong, painted rooms; same varnished bars down one side; same mirrors and bottles behind them; same sawdust-strewn floors; same pictures on the walls; same obscure, back rooms; same sleepy card games by the same burly but sodden type of men. This was the off season. Profits were now as slight as later they would be heavy.
The wagons moved to set places as if doing so automatically, discharged their cumbersome loads, and retired. First came the baggage train, then the stake and chain wagons, the side shows, paraphernalia, and the menagerie cages. The circus area proper had been all marked out, the ring graded, sawdust-strewn, and straw scattered to absorb dampness.
He saw a number of odd little creatures running about upon the sawdust-strewn floor of the tiny house, one or another of them giving a faint squeak now and then as if ordering the two unasked callers to move on. Whoever they were, they were a bright-eyed little family. But Grunty Pig thought, as he stared at them, that they had a most peculiar look. There seemed to be something missing about them.
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