Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue Playing Circus Part 19

"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 was very 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. "Senorita Mozara will show you the blue striped tiger that does tricks. Senorita 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 Sue tried, 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.

CHAPTER XIV

BUNNY AND SUE GO SAILING

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 la.s.so!"

"I'll catch him! I'll get him!" cried Bunny. "I had a la.s.so that I was trying to catch the old rooster with. I'll la.s.so 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 in the 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.