Word: tented
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...justice to Attila, he honestly did want to make the world safe for Huns . . . When I found out what a weak, pitiable man he really was, I felt it my duty. . . to stay around the White Tent and keep things from getting completely out of control. For I was the only moderating influence. . . I kept saying: 'All right. Kill the women, Attila. But why can't we spare children under four?' " You get the idea...
...circus that did not migrate would not be much of a show to Vargas-he crosses the country four times annually, visiting 100 cities and logging 35,000 miles a year. To Vargas, a circus that had no tent would be no circus at all. He spurns the indoor variety as "air-conditioned and sterile. The animals' smell is clouded with disinfectant, and there isn't even sawdust. It's like watching a movie...
From the moment he saw his first big top as a boy, Vargas' obsession was to have one of his own. After marking time as a Fuller Brush salesman and working for the Chicago zoo, in 1972 he bought a small circus that had no tent -a failing he corrected a year later. Says he: "I was starting from virtually nothing, but I knew what I wanted...
...came close to despair," says Vargas, who refuses to give his age because he feels it would bring bad luck. "The worst was in 1974, just outside of New Orleans. It rained for five days and we were floating in an ocean of mud. The high winds collapsed the tent, and it took three days for the elephants to pull out the stakes. Three elephants escaped into a swamp, and most of the trucks broke down. We faced the prospect of being beached forever. I hocked my diamond ring and got enough to get us rolling again. We got back...
When the show began, the Great Vashek did dizzying spins on a high wire near the tent's apex. Doris Naughtin smoothly handled the family's motorcycling bears-one of whom had broken her husband's leg just three days before. Pat Anthony turned his eight lions and four tigers into tabbies. The aerial artists performed miracles with no safety net below. When 45 tons of elephants came thundering through the sawdust for the grand finale, the kids could almost reach out and touch their quivering flanks. The pachyderms reared up on their hind legs, unrolled their...