THEY WERE BUSY TURNING A CALF INTO A CIRCUS ZEBRA.
THEY WERE BUSY TURNING A CALF INTO A CIRCUS ZEBRA.Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue Playing Circus.(P.84).
Bunny had put a number of green stripes on one side of the calf, and now he was ready to put some on the other. But the calf did not stand as still with Bunny inside the stall with her, as when he had been outside. The calf seemed frightened.
"Baa-a-a-a-a!" it cried. "Baa-a-a-a-a! Baa-a-a-a-a!"
And the old mother cow cried:
"Moo! Moo! Moo!"
She did not like to see Bunny so close to her baby calf, I guess. But the old cow did not try to hook Bunny with her horns. She only looked at him with her big, brown eyes, and tried to reach her tongue over and "kiss" the calf, as Sue called it.
"Stand still!" Bunny said to the calf, but the little animal did not want to. Perhaps it thought it had had enough of the green paint. It moved about, from one side of the box to the other, and Bunny had hard work to put on any more stripes.
"Isn't that enough?" asked Sue, after a bit. "It looks real nice Bunny. You had better save some green paint for the other calf."
"Yes, but I'm only going to stripe one," answered Bunny. "It's too hard. One zebra is enough for our circus. We'll make the other calf into a lion. A lion doesn't have any stripes."
"All right," agreed Sue. "Then come on out, Bunny, 'cause I'm tired of holding this paint for you."
"In a minute, Sue. I'll be right out. I just want to put some stripes on the calf's legs. They have to be striped same as the sides and back."
And that was where Bunny Brown made one of his mistakes. He should have let the calf's legs alone. For, no sooner did the little animal feel the tickling of the paint brush on its legs than it gave a loud cry, and began to kick.
Out with its hind legs it kicked, and, as Bunny happened to be stooping down, just then, near the calf's feet, the little boy was kicked over. Right over he went, spilling some of the paint on himself, but the most of it, I am glad to say, went on the straw in the calf's box-stall.
"Oh, Bunny!" cried Sue. "Oh, Bunny Brown!"
Her brother did not answer. He had fallen down on his face, and his mouth was full of straw. And when he did get up he saw that the calf had kicked open the gate of its stall, and was running around the barnyard, all green striped and spotted.
"Moo! Moo!" cried the mother cow, when she saw her little one break out. Then the old cow pushed very hard on the gate that shut her in. Open went the gate, and out ran the cow to be with her little calf.
"Oh, Bunny! Look!" cried Sue. "Our circus zebra-cow will run away!"
Bunny jumped to his feet, and, leaving the overturned pot of paint behind him, out he ran into the barnyard.
"Whoa! Whoa there, bossy-calf!" he cried.
"You don't say whoa to cows, you say that to horses!" called Sue to her brother.
"What do you say to cows?" Bunny wanted to know.
"You call 'Co boss! Co boss! Co boss'!" answered Sue. "I know 'cause I heard grandma call them to be milked. Call 'Co boss!' Bunny."
The little boy did, but there was no need to, for the little calf, once it found that the mother cow was with it, did not run any farther. The mother cow put out her red tongue and "kissed" her little calf some more. She did not seem to mind the green paint, though perhaps if she had gotten some in her mouth she might not have liked it.
"Well, anyhow," said Bunny Brown, "we have a striped zebra for our circus. And when I get some blue paint I'll paint our dog Splash, and make a tiger of him, Sue."
"Did the calf-zebra hurt you when she kicked you over, Bunny?" Sue wanted to know.
"No, hardly any. Her feet are soft, and I fell on the straw. But all the paint is spilled."
"Maybe there's a little left so Henry can finish the wheelbarrow," suggested Sue.
"I'll go and look," offered Bunny. But he did not get the chance. For just then Henry came into the barnyard.
"Have you seen my pot of green paint," he asked. "I left it—"
Then he saw the green striped calf. At first he laughed and then he said:
"Oh, this is too bad! That's one of your grandpa's best calves, and he won't like it a bit, painting him that way."
"He's a zebra," said Bunny.
"No matter what he is," and Henry shook his head, "it's too bad. I shouldn't have left the paint where you could get it. I'll have to tell Mr. Brown."
Bunny and Sue felt bad at this. They had not thought they were doing anything wrong, but now it seemed that they were.
"Will—will grandpa be very sorry?" asked Sue.
"Yes, he'll be very sorry and angry," answered the hired man, "he'll not like it to see his calf all streaked with green paint."
But Grandpa Brown was not as angry at Bunny and Sue as he might have been. Of course he said they had done wrong, and he felt bad. But no one could be angry for very long at Bunny Brown and his sister Sue. They were so jolly, never meaning to be bad. They just didn't think.
But of course you know that not thinking what you are doing often makes as much trouble as though you did a thing on purpose.
"Well, I guess I'll have to forgive you youngsters this time," said Grandpa Brown. "But don't paint any more of my farm animals without asking me. Now I'll see if we can get the green paint off the calf."
"Oh, can't you leave it on, Grandpa?" asked Bunny. "It was awful hard to make him striped like a zebra, and we want him in our circus to be one of the wild animals. Let the stripes stay on."
And grandpa had to, whether he wanted to or not, for they would not come off. The hired man tried soap and water. But the calf would not stand still long enough to let him scrub her.
"I guess we'll just have to let the green paint wear off," said Grandpa Brown. "But never do such a thing again, Bunny."
"I won't," promised the little boy.
The calf and the mother cow were put back in their stalls. Bunny and Sue were cleaned of the green paint that had splattered on them,and Henry found enough paint left in the can to finish the wheelbarrow.
"Well, we've got a start for our circus, anyhow," said Bunny to Sue a few days after he had painted the calf. The green stripes had dried now, and made the calf look very funny indeed. Some of the other cows and calves seemed frightened at the strange, striped one, but the mother cow was just as fond of her little one as before.
"You'll need other animals besides a striped calf, and your dog Splash, in the circus," said Bunker Blue to Bunny one day.
"Yes, I guess we will. I'll go and ask Sue about it."
Bunny always liked to talk matters over with his sister. He found her on the side porch, making a doll's dress.
"Sue," said Bunny, "we have to have more make-believe wild animals for our show."
"Yes?" asked Sue. "What kind?"
"Well, maybe we ought to have a camel."
"Camels is too hard to make," said Sue. "Their humps might fall off. Why don't you make a ockstritch, Bunny? An ockstritchwhat lays big eggs, and has tail feathers for ladies' hats. Make a ockstritch."
"How?" asked Bunny.
Sue thought for a minute. Just then the old big rooster strutted past the porch.
"He would make a good ockstritch, Bunny," said Sue. "He has nice long tail feathers. Can you catch him?"
"Maybe," hesitated Bunny. "Oh, I know what I'll do!" he exclaimed. "I'll get the clothes line for a lasso, and I'll pretend to be a Wild West cowboy. Then I can lasso the rooster and make an ostrich of him."
"Oh, fine!" cried Sue, clapping her hands. The rooster, who did not in the least guess what was going to happen to him, flapped his wings and crowed loudly.
Bunny Brown took a piece of clothes line that hung down from one of the posts. He was sure his grandma or his mother would not want this end, so he could take it.
"Anyhow, it isn't wash-day," said Bunny to Sue, "and as soon as I lasso the rooster I can put the line back again. I can tie on what I cut off."
Bunny had an old knife Bunker Blue had given him. It was a knife Bunker had used to open clams and oysters, and was not very sharp. That was the reason Bunker gave it to Bunny. Bunker did not want the little boy to cut himself. With this old knife Bunny cut off a bit of clothes line. He had to saw and saw back and forth with the dull blade of the knife before he could cut the line.
But at last he had a long piece of rope.
"Now I'll make a lasso just like the cowboys have in the Wild West," said Bunny.
Bunny had once seen a show like that, so he knew something of what the cowboys did with their lassos, which are long ropes, with a loop in one end. They throw this loop around the head, or leg, of a cow or a horse, and catch it this way, so as not to hurt it.
"Now see me catch the rooster, Sue!" called Bunny.
"I'll help you," offered the little girl. "You stand here by the rose bush, I'll shoo the rooster up to you, then you can lasso him."
"All right!" cried Bunny, swinging the piece of clothes line around his head as he had seen the cowboys do in the show.
"Cock-a-doodle-do!" crowed the rooster, and then he made a funny gurgling noise, as he saw Sue running toward him. The old rooster was not used to children, as, except when Bunny Brown and his sister Sue came to their grandpa's farm, there were no little ones about the place. And when the old rooster saw Sue running toward him, he did not know what to make of the little girl.
"Shoo! Shoo!" cried Sue, waving her hands. "Shoo! Scat!"
"Cock-a-doodle-do!" crowed the rooster, and it sounded just as if he said, "I don't know what to do!"
"Shoo! Shoo!" cried the little girl, and she tried to drive the rooster over toward Bunny, so he could lasso the big crowing bird.
But the rooster was not going to be caught as easily as that. He ran to one side, around the rose bush and off toward the garden.
"Get him, Bunny! Get him!" cried Sue.
"I will!" shouted the little make-believe cowboy. After the rooster he ran, swinging his lasso. "Whoa there! Whoa!" called Bunny.
"Shoo! Shoo!" exclaimed Sue.
"No—no! Don't do that!" begged Bunny.
"Don't do what?" Sue asked.
"Don't shoo him that way. That makes him run. I want him to stand still so I can catch him."
"But you said cowboys catched things when they were running, like this rooster is," objected Sue.
"Yes," agreed Bunny, "but I haven't been a cowboy very long you see. I want the rooster to stand still so I can lasso him. So don'tshoohim—just whoa him!"
Then Bunny called:
"Whoa! Whoa there!"
"That's what you say to a horse—not to a rooster," said the little girl.
"I know," Bunny answered. "But I guess this rooster knows horse talk, 'cause there's horses around here. Whoa there!"
But even if the rooster did understand horse talk, he was not going to stop and let Bunny lasso him. That was sure. On and on the rooster ran, crowing and cackling. The hens and other roosters heard the noise, and crowed and cackled too, wondering what it was all about.
"Here he comes, Bunny! Here he comes!" cried Sue, as the big old rooster, having run toward a fence, until he could go no farther, had to turn around and run back again. "Get him, Bunny!"
"I will!" cried the little boy. "I'll get him this time."
But the rooster was running very fast now, for he was very much scared. Back and forth he went, from one side to the other. He did come close to Bunny, but when the little boy threw his clothes line rope lasso it fell far away from the rooster.
"Oh, you missed him!" cried Sue, much disappointed.
"But I'll get him next time," said Bunny, as he picked up his lasso and ran after the rooster.
Back and forth around the garden, under the lilac and rose bushes, ran Bunny and Sue after the old rooster. The rooster was getting tired now, and could not go so fast. Neither could Bunny nor Sue, and Bunny's arm was so tired, from having thrown his lasso so much, that he wanted to stop and rest. But still he wanted to catch the rooster.
"Here he comes now—get him, Bunny!" cried Sue, as she went around one side of the currant bush, while Bunny came around the other side. The rooster was right between the two children, and as there was a fence on one side of him, and the bush on the other, itlooked as if he would be caught this time.
"Oh, get him, Bunny!" Sue called. "Get him!"
"I—I will!" answered her brother. "I'll just grab him in my arms. I can put the lasso on him afterward."
The rooster was running away from Sue who was right behind him, and the rooster was heading straight for Bunny. The little boy put out his arms to grab the big fowl, when the rooster, with a loud crow and cackle, flew up over Bunny's head, over the fence and into the meadow beyond.
And Bunny was running so fast, and so was Sue, that, before they could stop themselves, down they both fell, in the soft grass. For a moment they sat there, looking at one another. Then Sue smiled. She was glad to sit down and rest, even if she had fallen. And so was Bunny.
"Well, we didn't get him," said Bunny slowly, as he looked at the rooster, now safe on the other side of the fence.
"No," said Sue. "But you can climb over the fence in the meadow."
"I—I guess I don't want to," said the little fellow.
"Hello! What's going on here? Who's been chasing my old rooster?" asked Grandpa Brown, coming up just then, and looking at the two children.
"We—we were chasing him Grandpa," said Bunny, who always told the truth.
"We was goin' to make a ockstritch of him," Sue explained. "A ockstritch for our circus in the barn."
"Oh, an ostrich!" laughed Grandpa Brown. "Well, I'd rather you wouldn't take my best big rooster. I have some smaller, and tamer ones, you may take for your circus."
"Really?" asked Bunny. "And can we pretend they are ostriches?"
"Yes, you can put them in wooden cages and make believe they are anything you like," said Grandpa Brown. "Only, of course, you must be kind to them."
"Sure!" said Bunny Brown. "We won't hurt the roosters."
"When are you going to have your show?" asked Grandpa Brown.
"Oh, next week," Bunny answered. "Some of the boys and girls are coming over to-day, and we're going to practise in the barn."
"Well, be careful you don't get hurt," said their grandpa.
"And can we have the green-striped calf for a zebra?" Bunny wanted to know.
"Oh, I guess so; yes. The stripes haven't worn off him yet, and they won't for some time. So you might as well play with him."
"We don't want to play with him," Bunny explained. "He—he jumps about too much. We just want to put him in a cage and make believe he is a wild animal."
"Like a ockstritch," added Sue. The ostrich seemed to be her favorite.
"An ostrich isn't an animal," carefully explained Bunny. "It's a big bird, and it hides its head in the sand, and they pull out its tail feathers for ladies' hats."
"Well, it's wild, anyhow," said Sue.
"Yes, it's wild," admitted Bunny.
Grandpa Brown showed the children two tame roosters, that would let Bunny and Sue stroke their glossy feathers.
"You may put them in a box, and make believe they are any sort of wild bird or animal you like," said the farmer.
The children promised to be kind to the roosters. They did not put them in cages that day, as it was too soon.
That afternoon Tom White, Nellie Bruce, Jimmie Kenny, Sallie Smith and Ned Johnson came over to see Bunny and Sue. They all went out to the barn, and there they got ready for the circus. Bunny and Sue, as well as the other children, were to be dressed up in funny clothes, which their mothers said they would make for them.
Bunny was to do some "acts" on the trapeze, and fall down in the hay. Then he and Sue were to do part of a little Punch and Judy show they had once given, though Bunny, this time, had no big lobster claw to put on his nose.
"All ready now!" called Bunny, when his friends were in the barn. "All ready to practise for the circus!"
"Bunny! Bunny Brown! What am I going to be in the circus? I want to be a clown!"
"Yes, I want to be a clown, too, and throw water over another clown, like I saw in a circus once!"
"Well, you're not going to throw any water on me!"
"Yes I can if Bunny Brown says so! It'shiscircus!"
Tom White, Jimmie Kenny and Ned Johnson were talking together in one corner of the barn. Ned wanted to be a clown, and throw water on some one else. Jimmie did not want to be the one to get wet, nor did Tom White.
"Bunny, can't I be a clown?" asked Ned.
"I'm going to be a wild animal trainer—make-believe!" exclaimed Sue, "and I'm going to be near the cage where the blue-striped tiger is. I'm going to make him roar."
Sallie Smith looked a bit scared.
"Oh, it's only make-believe," Sue explained.
"Yes, I know," said Sallie. "But—Oh, dear! a blue-striped tiger!"
"Oh, it's only our big dog Splash," went on Sue. "First I was only going to let Bunny stripe his half of Splash. But a half a blue-striped tiger would look funny, so I said he could make my half of Splash striped too. It will wash off, for it's only bluing, like mother puts on the clothes."
"And we're going to have a striped zebra, too," said Bunny.
"Oh, let's see it!" begged the three boys.
"It's only one of grandpa's calves," cried Sue, "but it really has green stripes on it. Bunny put them on, and they're green paint, and they won't come off 'till they wear off, grandpa says, and the calf ran away, and kicked Bunny over and——"
"Oh, Sue, don't tell everything!" cried Bunny. "You'll spoil the show."
"Let's see the striped calf!" begged the three boys.
"No, we've got to practise for the circus," Bunny insisted. "Now I'll do my trapeze act," and he climbed up to the bar that hung by the long ropes from the beam in the barn.
"I want to do a trapeze act, too!" cried Tom White.
"Say, we can't all do the same thing!" Bunny said. "That isn't like a real circus. It's got to be different acts."
"Oh, say!" cried Ned Johnson. "I know what I can do! I can ride you in a wheelbarrow, Tom, and upset you. That will make 'em all laugh."
"It won't make me laugh, if you upset me too hard!" declared Tom.
"I'll spread some hay on the floor, like the time I did when Bunny fell," said Sue. "Then you won't be hurt. It doesn't hurt to fall on hay; does it, Bunny?"
"Nope."
"All right. Ned can upset me out of the wheelbarrow if he does it on the hay," agreed Tom.
So those two boys began to practise this part of the circus, while Bunny swung from the trapeze. Jimmie Kenny said he would climb up as high as he could and slide down a rope, like a sailor.
"I'll have some hay under me, too, so if I slip I won't be hurt," he said.
Indeed, if it had not been for the big piles of soft hay in grandpa's barn I don't know what the little circus performers would have done.
While the boys were practising the things they were going to do, Sue and her little girl friends made up a little act of their own.
Each one had a doll, and they practised a little song which they had sung in school. It was about putting the dollies to sleep in a cat's cradle, and a little mouse came in and awakened them, and then they went out to gather flowers for the honey bees.
Just a simple little song, but Sue and her friends sung it very nicely.
"And I know something else you can do, Sue, besides being a keeper of wild animals," said Bunny.
"What?" asked his sister.
"You can ride in the wheelbarrow and drive Ned and Tom for your horses—make-believe, you know."
"But I don't want to be upset, even on the hay!" Sue said.
"No, we won't upset you," promised Ned.
Then they practised that little act with Sue.
"When we give our real circus," said Bunny, "we can cover the wheelbarrow with flowers, and nobody will know what it is you're riding in, Sue."
"That will be nice!"
As the days went on, Bunny and Sue found they would have to have more children in their little circus, so others were invited. One boy brought an old rocking horse, and another had one almost like it, so they gave a "pretend" horse race around the barn floor.
Bunker Blue made a big sea-saw for the children, and every one who came to the show was to have a free ride on this.
"We ought to have a merry-go-'round," said Bunny one day.
"I'll make you one," offered Ben Hall, thestrange boy, who was still working on grandpa's farm.
"Oh, will you! How?" asked Bunny.
Ben took some planks and nailed them together, criss-cross, like an X. Then he put them on a box, and on the ends of the planks that stuck out he fastened some wagon wheels. When four children sat down on the planks, and some one pushed them, they went around and around as nicely as you please, getting a fine ride around the middle of the barn floor.
"But we ought to have music," said Sue.
"I'll play my mouth organ," offered Bunker Blue.
At last the day of the little circus came. Bunny and Sue had decided that it was to be free, as they did not want pins, and none of the country children had any money to spend. So the circus was free to old folks and young folks alike.
"You'll come;won'tyou, Mother?" asked Bunny the morning of the circus.
"Oh, yes, of course."
"And will you, Daddy?" Sue wanted to know.
"Yes, little girl. I want to see you ride in your chariot, as you call it." For Bunny had named the wheelbarrow that was to be covered with flowers, a chariot, which is what they use to race with in a real circus.
Splash had been most beautifully striped with blue, and, though he did not like being shut up in a box, with slats nailed in front to serve as iron bars, still the big dog knew it was all in fun, so he stayed quietly where Bunny put him.
The striped calf was in another cage, and he was given a nice pail full of milk to keep him quiet, so he would not kick his way out. Calves like milk, you know.
The two roosters, which Sue said were the wild "ockstritches," behaved very nicely, picking up the corn in their cage as though they had been in a circus many times before. Grandpa also let the children take the old turkey gobbler and put him in a box.
"What shall we call him?" asked Sue, just before the show was about to begin.
"Oh, he'll be the elephant," said Bunny. "See, he's got something hanging down infront like an elephant's trunk. And we didn't get time to dress the pig up like an elephant."
"But a elephant has four legs, Bunny, and the turkey has only two."
"Oh, well, we can pretend he was in a railroad wreck, and lost two of his legs. Circuses do get wrecked sometimes."
"All right, Bunny."
All the children who were to take part in Bunny's and Sue's show were in the barn, waiting for the curtain to be pulled back. For grandmother and Mother Brown had made a calico curtain for the children. Bunker Blue and Ben said they would stand, one on either side, to pull the curtain back when the show started.
Bunker was going to play his mouth organ, while Ben said he would make what music he could by whistling and blowing on a piece of paper folded over a comb. You can make pretty good music that way, only, as Ben said, it tickles your lips, and you have to stop every once in a while.
Many children from nearby farms came to the little circus in the barn, and some of theirfathers and mothers also came. It was a fine day for the show.
"Are you all ready, Bunny?" asked Bunker, who, with Ben, stood behind the curtain.
"All ready," answered the little boy.
"Here we go!" cried Bunker. Then he played on his mouth organ, Ben tooted on the comb and the curtain slid back on the wires by which it was stretched across the stage, or platform, in the barn.
"Welcome to our show!" cried Bunny Brown, making a bow to the audience which was seated on boxes and boards out in front. "We will now begin!" he went on. "And after the show you are all invited to stay and see the wild animals. We have a blue-striped tiger, a wild zebra and an——"
"An elephant, only he lost two legs in a accident," said Sue in a shrill whisper, fearing Bunny was going to forget about the turkey.
Everyone laughed when Sue said that, and Sue herself blushed as red as the ribbon on her hair, and the sash her mother had pinned around her waist.
"Does your elephant eat peanuts?" asked Daddy Brown, smiling.
"No, I don't guess so," answered Sue. "He likes corn better."
"Now the show's going to begin!" cried Bunny Brown. "Get ready everybody. The first will be a grand trapeze act! Come on, boys! Play some music, please, Bunker!"
Bunker played a new tune on his mouth organ. Then Bunny, Ned Johnson and Tom White got on the trapezes, for Bunny had decided that his one act, like this, was not enough. It would look more like a real circus with three performers.
Back and forth on the flying trapezes swung Bunny and his two friends. Of course such little fellows could not do many tricks, but they did very well, so all the grown folks said. They hung by their hands, and by their legs, and Ned Johnson, who was quite strong for his age, "turned himself inside out," as he called it, by pulling up his legs and putting them over his head, and under the trapeze bar.
Suddenly Bunny Brown gave a call.
"All ready now for our big swing!"
"I'm ready!" answered Tom.
"So am I," added Ned.
The three boys swung back and forth. All at once Bunny cried:
"Let go!"
Away they sailed through the air.
"Oh, they'll be hurt! They'll fall and be hurt!" cried Grandma Brown.
"No, this is only part of the show," said Mother Brown.
And so it was. For Bunny, Ned and Tom landed safely on a big pile of hay, having jumped into the mow when they let go of the trapeze bars.
"How was that?" cried Bunny, laughing while Bunker and Ben played the music.
"Fine!" cried Daddy Brown.
"It's almost as good a show as the one I paid real money to see," laughed grandpa.
"What's next?" asked Jimmie Kenny's mother, who had come with her neighbor, Mrs. Smith.
"It's your turn now, Sue," whispered Bunny to his sister. "Do your act."
So Sue, and her little girl chums, sang their doll song. It was very much liked, too, and the people clapped so that the little girls had to sing it over again.
The curtain was now pulled across the stage while Ned and Tom got ready for one of the clown acts. They were dressed in queer, calico suits, almost like those worn by real clowns in a circus, and the boys had whitened their faces with chalk, and stuck on red rose leaves to make red dots.
Ned came out in front, with Tom in a wheelbarrow, for they had decided this between themselves. Ned wheeled Tom about, at the same time singing a funny song, andthen, out from behind a barrel, rushed Jimmie Kenny. Jimmie had a pail, and he began crying:
"Fire! Fire! Fire!"
So loudly did he shout, and so much in earnest did he seem, that some of the farmers began to look about as though they were afraid Grandpa Brown's barn was on fire.
"Don't worry! It's only in fun," said grandpa.
Ned and Tom did not seem to know what to make of Jimmie's act. He was not supposed to come out when they did.
"Now this is where I upset you, Tom," said Ned in a low voice.
"Well, as long as you turn me over on the soft hay I don't mind," answered the other boy, for they had made this up between them.
Over went the wheelbarrow, and Tom was spilled out.
"Fire! Fire! Fire!" cried Jimmie again, and then dashed a pail of water over Tom and Ned.
"Waugh! Ouch! Stop that!" spluttered Ned. "Stop it!"
"That—that wasn't in the show!" stammered Tom, for some of the water went in his mouth.
"I know it wasn't in it," laughed Jimmie, "but I thought I'd put it in!"
At first Tom and Ned were a little angry, but when each looked at the other, and saw how funny he was, with half the white and red spots washed off his face, each one had to laugh.
The audience laughed, too. The water did no harm, for it was a hot day, and the boys had on old clothes. So they did not mind. But Tom and Ned decided to play a little trick on Jimmie. So, while he was laughing at what he had done to them, they suddenly ran at him, caught him, and put him in the wheelbarrow. Before he could get out they began wheeling him around the barn floor.
"Now dump him!" suddenly cried Tom, and out shot Jimmie on a pile of hay. Before he could get up Tom had dashed some water on him.
"Now we're even!" cried Ned. "You're wet, too!"
It was all in fun, and no one minded getting wet. Then the circus went on. Sue was ridden in the flower-covered wheelbarrow, driving Ned and Tom. The boys acted like very nice horses indeed, and went slowly or fast, just as Sue called to them. She had a wreath of daisies on her hair, and looked like a little flower queen.
After that Bunker Blue and Ben Hall played some music on the mouth organ and comb, while Bunny and Sue were getting ready to give their little Punch and Judy show, which they had played once before, back home.
"Why don't you do some of your tricks, Ben?" asked Bunker of the new boy, when Bunny and Sue were almost ready.
"Oh, I can't do any tricks," said Ben, turning away.
"Yes you can! I guess you know more about a circus than you are willing to tell; don't you?"
But Ben did not answer, and then the curtain had to be pulled back to let Bunny and Sue be seen.
I will not tell you about the Punch and Judy show here, as I have written about it in the first book. Besides, it was not as well done by Bunny and Sue as was the first one.
Bunny forgot some of the things he should have said, and so did Sue. Besides, Bunny had no big, red, hollow lobster claw to put over his nose, to make himself look like Mr. Punch. But, for all that, the show was very much enjoyed by all, especially the children.
The race on the two rocking horses was lots of fun, and toward the end one of the boys rocked his horse so much that he fell over, but there was some straw for him to fall on, so he was not hurt. Up he jumped, on to the back of his horse again, and away he rode. But the other boy won the race.
Then Bunny and Sue jumped from some carpenter horses, through hoops that were covered with paper pasted over them, just like in a real circus.
"Crack!" went the paper as Bunny and Sue jumped through.
"Oh, it's just like real; isn't it, Mother?" called a little girl in the audience. It wasvery still when she said this, and everyone laughed so loudly that Bunny Brown looked around. And, as he did not look where he was jumping, he tumbled and fell off the saw-horse.
But Bunny fell in a soft place, and as a saw-horse is only made of wood, like a rocking horse, it did not kick, or step on, the little boy. So everything was all right.
The performing part of the circus came to an end with a "grand concert." Bunny, Sue and all the others stood in line and sang a song, while Bunker Blue played on the mouth organ, and Ben on the paper-covered comb.
"And now you are all invited to come and see the wild animals!" called Bunny. "Señorita Mozara will show you the blue striped tiger that does tricks. Señorita Mozara is my sister Sue," he explained, "but wild animal trainers all have fancy names, so I made that one up for her."
Everyone laughed at that.
"Right this way, ladies and gentlemen, to see the wild animals!" cried Sue. Ben Hall had told her what the circus men said, and Suetried, in her childish voice, to do it as nearly like them as possible. "Right this way!" she cried. "You will see the blue-striped tiger—of course it's only our dog Splash, and he won't hurt you," said Sue quickly, as she saw some of the little children hanging back.
"He will eat meat from my hand, and stand up on his hind legs. He will lie down and roll over. This way, everybody!"
Splash did look funny, all striped with bluing as he was. But he did the tricks for Sue, and everyone thought it was a very nice part of the circus.
"Over this way is the striped zebra," went on Sue, as she led the way to where the green-painted calf was shut in a little pen. The men, women and children were laughing at the queer animal, when something happened.
Splash got out of his cage. Either some one opened the door, or Splash pushed it open. And as Splash bounded out he knocked over the cage where the turkey gobbler "elephant" was kept.
"Gobble-obble-obble!" went the turkey, as it flew across the barn. Children screamed,and some of them backed up against the cage of roosters, so it broke open and the crowing roosters were loose.
"Baaa-a-a-a!" went the green striped calf, and giving a big jump, out of the box it came, and began running around, upsetting both Bunny and Sue.
"Oh, the wild animals are loose! The wild animals are loose!" cried a little girl, while the big folks laughed so hard that they had to sit down on boxes, wheelbarrows, boards or whatever they could find. It was very funny.
Certainly all the animals in the circus which Bunny and Sue had gotten up, were loose, though of course they were not exactly "wild" animals. The green-striped calf was wild enough when it came to running around and kicking up its heels, but then calves do that anyhow, whether they are striped like a zebra or not, so that doesn't count.
"Look out! Look out, everybody!" cried Bunny Brown. For, just then, the calf, having run to one end of the barn and finding the doors there closed, had run back again, and was heading straight for the place where they were all standing.
"Somebody catch him!" cried Ben Hall.
"It would take a cowboy to do that," spoke up Bunker Blue. "A cowboy with a lasso!"
"I'll catch him! I'll get him!" cried Bunny."I had a lasso that I was trying to catch the old rooster with. I'll lasso the calf!"
"No, little man. You'll not do anything of the sort!" exclaimed Mr. Brown, catching his son up in his arms. "You'd better stay away from that calf. It would not mean to hurt you, perhaps, but it might knock you down and step on you."
The calf was now running back and forth, bleating and looking for some place where it could get out of the barn. For it did not like being in a circus, though, at first, it had been quiet enough.
Splash thought it was great fun. He ran here and there, barking loudly, and racing after the calf. The two roosters were crowing as loudly as they could, fluttering here, there, everywhere. One nearly perched on top of Grandma Brown's head.
The horses could be heard neighing and stamping about in their stalls. Perhaps they, too, wanted to join in the fun.
"Oh, dear!" cried Sue. "I don't like this. Let's go out, Bunny."
But with the calf running back and forth inthe barn, crossing this way and that, it was not easy for Bunny, Sue and the others to keep out of its way.
"I guess I'll have to take a hand in this," said Grandpa Brown. He knew how to handle cows, horses and calves you see. But there was no need for him to do anything.
Just then the hired man, who had been milking some of the cows, opened the barn door to see what all the noise meant. He had a pail of milk in his hand, and, no sooner had the calf seen this, than the striped creature made a rush for the hired man.
"Look out!" cried Grandpa Brown.
"Come back here!" cried Sue, to the calf.
Perhaps she thought the calf would mind her, since Sue had been the make-believe wild animal trainer in the circus. But all the green-striped calf thought of just then was the pail of milk it saw.
Right at the hired man it rushed, almost knocking him down.
"Here! Here! Look out! Stop it! That milk isn't for you!" cried the hired man, trying to push the calf to one side.
But the calf was hungry, and it had made up its little mind that it was going to have that milk. And it did. Before the hired man could stop it, the calf had its nose down in the pail of nice, warm, fresh milk.
"Let him have it," said Grandpa Brown, with a laugh. "The milk will keep him quiet, and we folks can get out. The circus is over; isn't it, Bunny?"
"Oh, yes, Grandpa. But we didn't think the wild animals were going to get loose. How did you like it?"
"Do you mean how did I like the wild animals getting loose?" asked Grandpa Brown, with a laugh.
"No, the circus," answered Bunny. "Was it good?"
"It certainly was!" cried his grandfather. "I liked it very much!"
"And so did I," said grandma. "But I was afraid you would be hurt when you jumped that time, Bunny."
"Oh, that's just a circus trick," Bunny said. "You ought to see Ben jump. Go on, Ben, show 'em how you can turn over in the air."
"Not now, Bunny. I haven't time. I'm going to help Bunker clean up the barn."
There were many things to be put away after the circus, for Grandpa Brown had said if the children used his barn they must leave it neat and clean when they finished.
By this time the grown people who had come to the circus, and the boys and girls, too, began to leave. The calf was now standing still, drinking the milk from the pail. Splash had stopped barking. The two roosters had gotten out of the barn, and everything was quiet once more.
The circus was over, and everyone said he had had a good time. Some of the little folks wanted to see it all over again, but Bunny said that could not be done. The grown folks said Bunny Brown and his sister Sue were very clever to get up such a nice little show.
"But of course we didn't do it all," explained Bunny, who like to have others share in the praise. "We never could have done it if grandpa hadn't let us take his barn, or if Bunker and Ben hadn't helped us. It was as much their show as it was ours."
"Yes, Bunker and Ben were very good to help you," said Bunny's mother. "And now I think it is time for you and Sue to wash and get ready for supper."
"I'd like to have a bigger show, in a tent Some day," said Bunny.
"Yes, that would be nice," agreed Sue.
"Well, if I'd known you wanted a tent instead of my barn, I could have given you one," said Grandpa Brown.
"Oh, have you really a tent?" asked Bunny, eagerly.
"Yes, it's an old army tent. Not very big, though. When I used to go camping with some old soldier friends of mine we took it with us. It's up in the attic now, I guess. But your circus is over, so you won't want a tent now."
"Maybe we'll have another circus some day," suggested Bunny. "Then could we take your army tent?"
"Oh, I guess so."
And when Bunny, Sue and the children and the grown folks had left the barn, Bunker Blue said to Ben Hall:
"Say, it wouldn't be such a bad idea to get up a circus among us big boys; would it?"
"Yes, it might be fun."
"If Mr. Brown has a tent we could use that, and we might borrow another. Would you like to do that, Ben?"
"I might."
"Say, look here!" exclaimed Bunker, "why don't you tell us more about yourself? You know something about a real circus."
"What makes you think so?" Ben asked.
"Oh, because I do. Were you ever in one?"
Instead of answering Ben cried:
"Look out! That plank is going to fall on your foot!"
Ben and Bunker were putting away the boxes and boards that had been used for seats in the circus. And, as Ben spoke, one of the boards slipped off a box. Bunker pulled his foot away, but not in time to prevent being struck by the board.
"Ouch!" he cried, and then he forgot that he had asked Ben about that boy's having been in a circus. Ben was glad he did not have to answer that question.
When Bunker and Ben had made the barn look as neat as it was before the little circus was held, and when the blue stripes had been washed off Splash, the two big boys sat and talked until supper was ready.
"What do you think about getting up a larger circus?" asked Bunker.
"Why, I guess we could do it," said Ben.
"Are there some big boys around here?"
"Lots of 'em. I've met some since I came here with Bunny, Sue and their family. We could get the big fellows together, and give a real show, in a tent."
"Would we have any little folks in it?"
"Well, we'd have Bunny and Sue, of course, because they started this circus idea. They're real cute; don't you think?"
"They certainly are," agreed Ben. "I like 'em very much. Well, we'll think about another circus. We'll need a larger tent than the one Mr. Brown has. Can we get one?"
"I think so. The folks around here used to have a county fair in a tent, and we might get that. We could charge money, too, if we gave a good show."
"That would be nice," said Ben, with a laugh. "I'd like to earn some money."
That night after supper, when Bunny and Sue were getting ready for bed, after having talked the circus all over again, they heard their grandfather saying to Daddy Brown:
"I can't make out what sort of boy that Ben Hall is."
"Why, isn't he a good boy?" asked Bunny's father.
"Oh, yes, he's a very good boy. I wouldn't ask a better. He does his work on the farm here very well. But there is something strange about him. He has some secret, and I can't find out what it is."
That was all Bunny heard. Sue did not stop to listen to that much. But Bunny wondered, as he was falling asleep, what Ben's secret was. It was some time before he found out.
"What are we going to do to-day, Bunny?" asked Sue, as she and her brother went outdoors, after breakfast next morning.
Bunny did not answer at first. He walked slowly down to the edge of the little pondwhere the ducks swam, and there he saw an old barn door that had been laid down so Grandma Brown would not have to step in a wet and muddy place when it rained.
"What can we do to have some fun, Bunny?"
Still Bunny did not answer. He went closer to the old door, and then he suddenly said:
"Sue, we're going sailing!"
"Going sailing?"
"Yep. This will be our ship. All we'll have to do will be to put a sail on it and we'll sail across the duck pond. Come on."
Bunny found an old bag that had held corn for the chickens. He nailed this bag to a stick, and fastened the stick up straight in a crack in the barn door, which lay down flat on the ground. Then he and Sue managed to get the door in the duck pond, on the edge of which it had been placed over a mud puddle.
"There!" cried Bunny. "Get on the boat, Sue."
Bunny and Sue, who had taken off their shoes and stockings, stood up on the big door. It floated nicely with them. A little wind blew out the bag sail, and away they went.
"Bunny! Oh, Bunny! We're sailing! We're sailing!" joyfully cried Sue, as she felt the barn-door raft moving through the water.
"Of course we're sailing," Bunny answered, as he stood up near the mast, which is what the stick that holds the sail is called. The mast Bunny had made was only a piece of a lima bean pole, and the sail was only an old bag. But the children had just as much fun as though they were in one of their father's big sail boats.
The duck pond was not very wide, but it was quite long, and when Bunny and Sue had sailed across it to the other side, they turned around to go to the upper end.
Bunny had found a piece of board, which he had nailed to another short length of bean pole, and this made a sort of oar. This he putin the water at the back of the raft to steer with.
Bunny Brown knew something about steering a boat, for he had often been out with his father or Bunker Blue. And Bunny was quick to learn, though he was not much more than six years old.
Harder blew the wind on the bag-sail, and faster and faster went Bunny and Sue to the upper end of the pond. There were many ducks swimming on the water, or putting their heads down below, into the mud, to get the weeds that grew there. Sometimes they found snails, which some ducks like very much.
But when the ducks saw the barn-door raft sailing among them, they were afraid, and, quacking loudly, they paddled out of the way.
"Oh, Bunny!" cried Sue, as they sailed along, "there's the little ducks that were hatched out by the hen mother."
"So they are!" exclaimed the little boy. The little ducks were swimming in the water, and the hen mother was clucking along shore. She would not go in the water herself, but stayed as near to it as she dared, on shore.Perhaps she wanted to make sure the little ducks would not drown. Of course they would not, unless a big fish pulled them under water, for ducks are made on purpose to swim. And there were no big fish in the pond, only little minnows, about half as big as a lollypop stick.
"Oh, Bunny!" cried Sue, as she saw the hen mother watching the little ducks paddle about, "Oh, Bunny, I know what we can do."
"What?"
"We can give the hen mamma a ride on our boat. Poor thing! She never can go paddling or swimming with her family. Let's take her on our boat, and she can sail with her little ducks then, and not get wet."
"That's what we'll do!" Bunny cried. "I'm glad you thought of it, Sue. We'll give the old hen a sail, and the ducks can paddle around with us."
Bunny steered the raft over to the shore where the hen was clucking away, calling to her ducklings to come to dry land. Perhaps she thought they had been in bathing long enough.
"Can we catch her?" asked Sue. "You know it's hard work to catch a chicken. You couldn't catch the old rooster."
"Oh, this is easier," Bunny said. "The hen mother won't run away from her little ducks."
And, for a wonder, Bunny was right. But then, as Grandma Brown told him afterward, the old hen was a very tame one, and was used to being picked up and petted.
So when Bunny and Sue reached the shore the hen did not run away. She let Bunny pick her up, and she only clucked a little when he set her down in a dry place on the door raft.
"Now we'll go sailing again," Bunny said, as he pushed off from the shore.
The old hen clucked and fluttered her wings. She was calling to her little ducks. And they came right up on to the raft, too. Perhaps they wanted to see what sailing was like, and then, too, they may have had enough of swimming and paddling for a time. At any rate, there the old mother hen and her little ducks were on the raft, with the two children.
"Now we'll give them a fine ride!" cried Sue. "Aren't they cute, Bunny?"
"Yes," said Bunny. He steered the raft, while Sue picked up one of the little ducks and petted it in her hand.
"Oh, you dear, cute, sweet little thing!" murmured Sue. "I wish I had you for a doll!"
On and on sailed Bunny and Sue, and I think it was the first time the old hen mother ever went sailing with her family of ducks. She seemed to like it, too, Bunny and Sue thought.
Finally, when the raft was in the middle of the pond, the little ducks gave some quacks, a sort of whistle and into the water they fluttered one after the other.
"Cluck! Cluck! Cluck!" went the hen mamma, fluttering her wings. "Cluckity-cluck-cluck!"
I suppose that meant, in hen talk:
"Come back! Come back! Stay on the boat and have a nice ride!"
But the little ducks wanted to swim in the water. And they did.
"Never mind," said Sue. "We'll keep on sailing, Bunny, and we'll sail right after the little ducks, so the hen mamma can watch them."
And this the children did. The little ducks paddled around in the water at the edge of the raft, and on the middle of it, in a dry place, perched the hen mother. It was great fun, and Bunny and Sue liked it very much.
"She is just like a trained hen," said Bunny. "If we have another and bigger circus, Sue, we can have this hen in it."
"Are we going to have another circus?"
"Maybe—a big one, in two tents. Bunker Blue and Ben are talking about it."
"Oh, that would be fun!" cried Sue, clapping her hands.
And then, all at once, as soon as Sue did this, the little ducks took fright, and hurried toward the shore. Perhaps they thought Sue was shooing them away, as her grandmother sometimes shooed the hens out of the garden.
Anyhow, the little ducks, half swimming and half flying, rushed for the shore, and no sooner had the hen mother seen them go, than with a loud cluck she raised herself up in the air, and flew to shore also. She had had enough of sailing, and she wanted to be with her little duck family.
"Oh, I didn't mean to scare them," said Sue.
"Never mind," Bunny comforted her. "I guess they had ride enough. Now we'll sail down to the other end of the pond."
But the wind was quite strong now. It blew very hard on the bag-sail, and the raft went swiftly through the water.
All at once there was a cracking sound, and the raft turned to one side.
"Oh, dear!" cried Sue. "What's the matter?"
Something flew down over her head, covering her eyes, and she could see nothing.
"Stop! Stop!" cried the little girl. "Is that you, Bunny?"
But Bunny did not answer. Sue pulled the thing off her head. When she could see she noticed that it was the bag sail. The beanpole mast had broken off close to where it was stuck in a crack in the barn door, and the sail had fallen on Sue.
But where was Bunny Brown?
Sue looked all around and then saw her brother, off the raft, standing up in the water behind her.
"What—what's the matter, Bunny?" asked Sue. "Don't you want to sail any more? What makes you be in the water? Oh, you're all wet!" she cried, as she saw that he had fallen in, right over his head.
"I—I couldn't help it," said Bunny. "I slipped in when the wind broke the sail. I—I fell on my back, and a lot of water got in my nose and mouth, but—but I got on my feet, and I'm all right now, Sue."
Bunny's father had taught him a little about swimming, and Bunny knew that the first thing to do, when you fall in water, is to hold your breath. Then, when your head bobs up, as it surely will, you can take a breath, and stand up, if the water isn't too deep.
So Bunny stood up, with the muddy water dripping from him, looking at Sue who was still on the raft, all alone.
"Oh, Bunny!" cried the little girl. "What shall I do? I—I'm afraid!"
"You're all right," Bunny answered bravely. "I'll come and push you to shore. I'm all wet so I might as well stay wading now."
The duck pond was not very deep, andBunny was soon wading behind the raft, pushing it, with Sue on it, toward shore. So his sister did not get more than her feet wet, and, as she had on no shoes or stockings, that did not matter.
"Oh, Bunny! What happened?" asked his mother, when she saw how wet he was, as, a little later, the two children came to the farmhouse. "What happened, Bunny?"
"Oh, Mamma. We gave the old hen a ride, so she could be with her little ducks," said Sue, "and the wind broke our sail, and it fell on me, and the ducks flew away and so did the hen mother, and Bunny fell in. That's what happened!"
"Mercy me, sakes alive! I should think that was enough!" cried Grandma Brown.
"Yes, perhaps you had better keep away from the duck pond after this," said Mother Brown. "Now I'll have to change all your clothes, Bunny."
Bunny was sorry his mother had so much work to do for him, but, as he said, he could not help it.
Washed and clean, Bunny and Sue, a littlelater, went down the road to the house of Nellie Bruce.
"We'll take Splash with us," said Bunny. "Where is he? Here, Splash! Splash!" he called.
"I didn't see him all to-day," said Sue. "Maybe he didn't like being a blue-striped tiger in a circus, and he's gone back to our home by the ocean."
"He wouldn't go that far," said Bunny. "Besides, he liked being in the circus. He wagged his tail 'most all the while, and when he does that he's happy. Here, Splash!" he called again.
But Splash did not come, even when Sue called, and the two children went off to play without him. For a time they did not think about their dog, as they had such fun at the home of Nellie Bruce. They played tag, and hide-and-go-seek, as well as teeter-tauter, and bean-bag.
Then Mrs. Bruce gave them some cookies and milk, and they had a little play-party. But, when it came time for Bunny and Sue to go home, they thought of Splash again.
"I wonder if he'll be there waiting for us," said Sue, as they came within sight of their Grandpa Brown's house.
"I hope so," said Bunny.
But no Splash was there, and he had not been seen since early morning, before Bunny and Sue went sailing on the duck pond.
"Oh, dear!" sighed Sue. "Splash has run away. He's lost!"
"Dogs can't get lost!" Bunny declared.
"Yes, he is too lost," and tears came into Sue's eyes.