Erg, my mistake, I remembered mauve as a type of potion, but being a less than common word, I'd never had to look up the real meaning, 'purple'. xP
But then it raises the question; did he just buy a bag of bottles without looking at what he bought, or did they change color to mauve later on... o-o
phew....so many questions larger than life itself...
Before leaving the circus whoever or whatever it was must have fiddled with Quayle's saddlebag without him noticing. He didn't check the saddlebag before leaving the circus, why would he? He already knew what was in there and didn't have any suspicions that anybody was about to play him a trick.