BUNNY DOES A TRICK
Nearer and nearer to the side of the deep gully, across the road that
was slippery with snow, slid Mr. Brown's automobile. Bunny and Sue's
father's hands held tightly to the steering wheel, and he pressed his
foot down hard on the brake pedal.
"Oh! Oh!" cried the children.
"Sit still! It will be all right!" exclaimed Mr. Brown. "We won't be
hurt!"
And so well did he steer the automobile that in a few seconds more it
was back in the middle of the road and going safely down the hill. The
dangerous gully was passed. It had all happened so quickly that Bunny
and Sue had had no chance to get really frightened. But they were so
sure their father could do everything all right that I hardly believe
they would have worried even if the auto had started to roll over
sideways. Bunny would probably have thought it only a trick, and he and
Sue were very fond of tricks.
"The man in the other automobile didn't give you enough room to pass,
did he, Mr. Brown?" asked the actor, when the danger was over.
"Not quite," was the answer. "We'll go home by another road that is
wider, but I took this one because it is the shortest way."
"I hope I didn't do wrong to cry out that way," Lucile said, when they
were on their way again.
"No, you didn't do any harm," said Mr. Brown. "I was a bit alarmed
myself at first. But we're all right now."
"We were in a railroad wreck once," went on Lucile.
"Did the trains all smash up?" asked Bunny, his eyes wide open.
"Yes, they were badly smashed," answered Lucile. "I don't like to think
about it. Mart was hurt, too!"
"Was you?" cried Bunny, forgetting, in his excitement, to speak
correctly. "Say, you've had lots of things happen to you, haven't you?"
"Quite a few," answered the boy actor. "I've traveled around a good bit.
But I think I like it here better than anywhere I've been."
"I do too," said Lucile. "Traveling everyday makes one tired."
A little later they reached Wayville, and Mr. Treadwell told Mr. Brown
where to go in the automobile to look at the scenery. It was stored
away, for the company that had "busted up," as Mart sometimes called it,
had no further use for it.
"Oh, look! Here's a little house!" cried Bunny, when with their father
and the others he and Sue had entered the big room where the scenery was
stored.
"It's got a door to it," said Sue, "but the window is only make
believe," and she found this out when she tried to stick her fat little
hand out of what looked like a window in the side of the small house.
"Most things on a stage in a theater are make believe," said the man who
pretended to be different persons. "You'll find the scenery isn't as
pretty when you get close to it as it is when you see it from the other
side of the footlights."
This the children noticed was true. The scenery was made of painted
canvas stretched over a framework of wood. And the colors were put on
with a coarse brush and was very thick, as Bunny and Sue saw when they
went up close.
"But it looked so pretty in the Opera House," complained Bunny.
"That's because you were farther off, and because the lights were made
to shine on it in a certain way," explained Mart. "It will look just as
pretty again when you use it in your show."
Bunny and Sue were not so sure of this, but they were willing to wait
and see. Mr. Brown and Mr. Treadwell looked over the scenery.
As the actor had said, there were three "sets" as they are called. One
was a scene painted to look like a meadow, with a big green field, a
stream of water and, in the distance, cows eating grass. Of course the
cows were only pictured ones as was the grass and stream.
The barnyard scene showed more cows and the end of a barn, and in this
barn there was a real door that opened and shut. Mr. Treadwell explained
that the boy and girl actors could go through this door to enter upon or
leave the stage during the play.
"There's a pump and a watering trough that goes with this scene," said
the actor. "In the play as we used to give it the trough was filled with
water and one of the actors had to fall into it."
"And does the pump pump real water?" cried Bunny.
"Yes, about a pail full," was the answer.
"Then we'll have it in our show!" cried the little boy. "I'll fall into
the trough and get all wet, Sue, and you can pump more water on me from
the pump."
"That'll be fun!" laughed Sue.
"We'll have to see about that act first," laughed Mr. Brown. "Now let's
find out what else we have for the great play 'Down on the Farm.'
Where's that orchard I heard you speak of, Mr. Treadwell?"
"I guess the orchard is behind the barn," laughed the old actor. And
when some of the men in the storage place had lifted away the painted
canvas that represented the barn, a pretty orchard scene was shown.
"There's the rest of the little house!" cried Bunny, for at first he had
only noticed one side of it.
"Yes, there is one end of a house shown in this scene, as one end of the
barn is shown in the other," explained the actor. "And there is a real
door, too, that opens and shuts. The orchard, as you see, is only
painted."
And so it was, but in such a way as to appear very pretty when set up
and lighted.
"Here's a real tree!" cried Bunny, who was rummaging about back of the
stacked-up scenery.
"Well, it's meant to look like a real tree," said Mr. Treadwell, "but it
isn't, really. It's a pretty good imitation of a peach tree, and I
suppose you could use it in your show, children."
"Peaches don't grow in the winter," objected Bunny, who had been on his
grandfather's farm often enough to know this.
"We could make believe our show was in summer," said Sue.
"Yes, or you could make believe your play took place down south, where
it's always warm," added Mart, "and you could have this for an orange
tree."
"Oh, no! That wouldn't do!" laughed Mr. Treadwell. "The leaves aren't
anything like those of an orange tree. I remember once when we gave an
act with this tree it was supposed to be on a tropic island, and one of
the actors fastened a cocoanut on it, to make the audience think it
really grew there."
"What happened?" asked Mr. Brown, as he saw the actor laugh.
"Well, the cocoanut wasn't fastened on very well," was the answer, "and
when the leading lady was standing under the tree, singing a sad song,
the cocoanut fell off and dropped on her foot. She stopped singing right
there, and the play was nearly spoiled. So don't have oranges grow on
peach trees," he advised.
"We could have peanuts," suggested Bunny. "They wouldn't hurt if they
fell on you."
Mr. Brown and Mr. Treadwell laughed at that, and Bunny wondered why they
did.
The children were delighted with the scenery, once they had got over
their surprise at how coarse the paint looked when they were close to
it. The barn and the house, with their real doors that opened and shut,
were quite wonderful to Bunny Brown and his sister Sue, and so was the
tree.
This was made of wood with what seemed to be real bark on it, and had
limbs, branches, and twigs that seemed very natural. But Mr. Treadwell
explained that it was all artificial, like the palms you see in some
hotels and moving picture theaters.
While Bunny and Sue waited, Mr. Brown talked with the man who had charge
of the scenery, and in a little while the children's father said he
would buy the set, which was offered at a low price.
"And can we give our show with it?" Bunny wanted to know when told what
his father had done.
"Yes," said Mr. Brown. "It will be delivered in Bellemere day after
to-morrow, and stored away in our garage until you decide when and where
you are going to give your show. There is a lot to be done before your
first performance, children. I guess you know that, from the work you
had getting up your circus."
"We'll have a lot of fun!" declared Bunny, not thinking of the hard
work. "When we get back home I'll tell the boys and girls about the
scenery and they can come over to see it. Then we'll begin to practice
for the show play."
"You'll have to have a play written for you, bringing in all the scenery
I've bought," said Mr. Brown.
"I guess I can manage that part for them," suggested Mr. Treadwell. "I
have written two or three little plays, and I guess I can do one more.
I'll write out a little sketch and have parts to fit as many boys and
girls as Bunny and Sue can get to act."
"Oh, I can get a lot of 'em!" cried Bunny. "And will you make it so Sue
can pump water and I can fall in the trough and get all wet?"
"It's pretty cold to fall into the water," said the actor. "But we'll
talk of that later."
You can imagine how excited the little friends of Bunny Brown and his
sister Sue were when they heard that Mr. Brown had bought some real
scenery for the children's play. As soon as the house, the barn, the
meadow, the barnyard, and the orchard had been brought to the garage a
crowd of boys and girls was on hand to look at them.
Sue led a number of her girl friends up in the loft to look over the
painted canvas, and Bunny took charge of a throng of boys. Sue was
explaining about the make-believe tree, that once had had a cocoanut on
it, when suddenly there came a cry of pain from behind the painted
canvas barn.
"Oh! Oh!" exclaimed a voice. "I'm stuck fast!"
"That's Bunny!" shouted Sue. "What's the matter?" she asked.
"Bunny tried to do a trick and he's caught!" answered Charlie Star.
"You'd better go and get your father or mother!"