ME AND THE MAN ON THE MOON-EYED HORSE

The day the circus train comes through Furnace Flats, Arizona, starts out sour for Clint, who's too young to follow the circus to the performance in the next big town. But before the day's out Clint saves the train from derailment by notorious robber Step-and-a-half Jackson, and he calls back a decoyed posse by tying strips of red velvet curtains to the tumbleweed that is blowing fast in their direction. Clint ends up marching in a special parade for the 87 residents of Furnace Flats, and Fleischman adds enough peppy and preposterous incidentals (like Grandpa, a telegraph operator, clicking Morse code messages to Clint with his teeth) to keep fidgety readers in tow.