The showman came hobbling out with a big white paper hoop, the kind trained dogs jump through in the circus.
He was waving the hoop as he came clattering down after the Spaniard.
The Spaniard cocked his pistol.
Tibul saw that he had better run for it.
The crowd let him through.
He was gone in a flash.
He bounded over a fence and found himself in a vegetable garden.
There he had a quick look through a crack in the fence and saw that the strong man, the Spaniard, and the owner of the booth were all running towards him.
They looked so funny that Tibul couldn't help laughing.
The strong man was like a raging elephant, the Spaniard like a rat hopping along on its hind legs, and the showman limped along like a lame crow.
"We'll catch you alive!" they shouted. "You'd better give yourself up!"
The Spaniard clicked the cock of his pistol and ground his teeth.
The showman waved the paper ring.
Tibul waited for them to attack.
He was standing on loose black earth.
All around him were vegetable beds.
There were cabbages, beets, green shoots, and broad leaves.
The wind made the leaves flutter.
The sky was clear and blue.
The battle began.
All three of the attackers came up to the fence.
"Are you there?" asked the strong man.
There was no answer.
Then the Spaniard said:
"You might as well give yourself up!
I have a pistol in each hand.
They're the best pistols money can buy, they're made by
'Burglar and Sons'.
And I'm the best shot in the country."
Tibul was no great pistol shot.
In fact, he had never even owned a pistol. But close at hand (or, rather, close at foot) there were very many heads of cabbage.
He bent down and broke off a round and heavy one and tossed it over the fence.
The cabbage hit the showman in the stomach.
It was followed by a second and then a third head of cabbage.
They exploded just like bombs.
The enemy was confused.
Tibul bent down to pull up another head of cabbage.
He grabbed it with both hands, pulled hard, but he couldn't get it loose.
And then, of all things, it began talking to him in a human voice!
"I'm not a head of cabbage! This is my head.
I sell balloons.
I escaped from the Palace of the Three Fat Men through a tunnel.
It begins in a pot and ends right here.
It's a very long, dark tunnel."
Tibul couldn't believe his eyes! A head of cabbage was talking!
Then he bent closer to get a better look at the wonder.
And he couldn't doubt what he saw, for the eyes of a person who can walk a rope don't lie.
True, the head didn't look the least bit like a head of cabbage.
It was the round face of the balloon man.
As always, it looked like a china teapot with painted daisies on it.