Chapter 4 Summary

After Jacob is released from guard duty outside the cooch tent, he finds a quiet place to sit and rest. Camel joins him, offering him a bottle of jake, a ginger extract. Jacob refuses. Camel asks Jacob about himself, especially curious about why a boy of Jacob's clear intelligence would want to join the circus. Jacob does not tell Camel about his parents or his past, only revealing that at the moment he has nowhere to go or to call home. Camel sees Uncle Al, the owner of the show, making his way across the grounds then and rushes after the man to speak to him about Jacob, but Uncle Al brushes him off. Camel goes looking for someone else to help. When Camel returns, he is drunk but has with him a man who will help Jacob.

Jacob goes off with the...