“Why not?” demanded a man who had bought one.

“Because they’re counterfeit,” was Joe’s answer.  “This man, Bill Carfax,” and he nodded toward the one first handcuffed, “used to work with the Sampson show.  He was discharged—­ask him to tell you why—­and soon after that we began to be cheated by the use of counterfeit tickets.  We have been trying ever since to find out who sold them, and now we have.”

“You think you have!” sneered the man who had been called “Inky Jed.”

“We know it,” said Joe decidedly.  “Ham Logan overheard your plans discussed, and he’s told everything.”

“Oh!” exclaimed Bill Carfax, and there was a world of meaning in that simple interjection.

“And who might you guys be?” asked one of the shipyard men.

“I’m one of the circus owners,” said Joe quietly, “and this is the ringmaster,” he went on, indicating Jim Tracy.  “These other two gentlemen are detectives who have been working on the case since we discovered the counterfeits.  We disguised ourselves in this way in order to trap these two,” and he pointed to the handcuffed men.

The ship workers nodded.  One of them asked: 

“And aren’t they with your show, and can’t they sell tickets at reduced prices?”

“Never!” exclaimed Joe.  “You might get in on the tickets you bought from them, but it would be illegally.  The counterfeits are clever ones,” he said, holding up four he had bought for evidence.  “But we can detect the difference by means of the serial numbers.  And now, if you men really want to see the show, go up to the lot and get your tickets from the wagon, or buy them at one of the authorized agencies.”

There were many questions fired at Joe and his friends by the shipyard men, but they had time to answer only a few.

“We’ve got to get back to the performance,” said Joe to the detectives.  “You can take them with you,” and he nodded toward Bill Carfax and his crony.  “Jim and I will see you later.”

“Oh, we’ll take them with us all right!” laughed one of the detectives.  “Move lively, boys!” he added to the two prisoners.  “The jig is up!”

And the two counterfeiters seemed to know it.

“What does it all mean?” asked Helen of Joe, when he got back a little before the time to go on with his acts.  He had washed his face and changed to his circus costume.  The two prisoners had been locked up.

“Well, it means we killed two birds with one stone,” said Joe.  “We got rid of the men who have been making us lose money my means of the counterfeit tickets, and we have also under lock and key Bill Carfax, who tried several times to injure me, or at least to spoil my act, by means of acid on the trapeze rope and by changing the fireproof mixture.”

“Oh, I’m so glad!” cried Helen.  “Then you were in danger?”

“I suppose so—­danger of injury, perhaps, but hardly death.  I think Carfax, desperate as he was, would stop at that.”