SPLASH HANGS ON
For a while there was a good deal of excitement and wild scampering
about. Mice ran here and mice ran there. Children scrambled after them
or scrambled to get out of their way. There were cries and shrieks and
laughter.
One little white mouse, frightened and not knowing where to go, ran up
the dress skirt and into the lap of the mother of Bunny Brown and his
sister Sue.
"Come here, Will, and come quick," called Mrs. Brown to the owner of the
white mice. "I do not like your sort of pet, come and take it away--and
come quick, I say!"
"All right, I'll come," answered Will.
"Don't be frightened," called out Mr. Treadwell. "I'm sure Will's white
mice are too well-trained to harm any one."
"Oh, we're not afraid!"
"They won't hurt anybody," said the boy who owned the white pets, and
who was going to have them do little tricks during the show. "Why,
they're so tame they'll crawl all over you and go to sleep in your
pocket!"
"Oh, take 'em away! Take 'em away!" cried one girl. "I wouldn't have
come if I had known there were to be any mice!"
"But they're white mice," said Will, "and I didn't know they were out of
the cage. Somebody must have opened the door."
"I'll help you hunt for the white mice," offered Bunny Brown. "I'm not
afraid of 'em!"
"I aren't, either," added Sue.
"I'm not zactly 'fraid of 'em," said Helen Newton, "but they make you
feel so _ticklish_ when they crawl on you!"
"They're nice," said Bunny Brown, as he crawled under a chair to coax a
white mouse that was trying to hide behind a paper bag. "And they'll do
some nice tricks in our show."
It took some little time to catch all the white mice. Will made sure, by
counting twice, that he had every one of his pets back in their wire
cage.
Then Mr. Treadwell told the mothers of the little girls what sort of
costumes the young actresses and actors must have for the different
parts in the play. Everything was very simple, and no costly costumes
need be bought.
"You see we want to make all the money we can for the Home for the
Blind," explained Bunny.
"That's a good idea," said Mrs. West. "I think the children are just
perfectly fine to do things like this. It teaches them to be kind."
After the talk about the dresses and suits, Mr. Treadwell went on with,
the rehearsal, or practice. I have told you something of what the play
was to be about, but changes were made in it from time to time, during
practice, just as changes are made in real plays. It was found that one
boy could speak a piece better than another boy, so he was allowed to do
this, while the first boy, perhaps, was given a funny dance to do. The
same with the girls--some could sing better than others. Most of the
solo singing in the play was to be done by Lucile Clayton. She had a
very sweet, clear voice, and of course she had had more practice than
any of the others.
Of course all the boys wished they could do some of the acrobatic work
that Mart was to do on the stage. But though some of the lads of
Bellemere, like Bunny Brown, were pretty good at turning somersaults or
flipflops, none of them was equal to Mart, who had been on the stage for
several years. But he was training Bunny, Harry Bentley, Charlie Star
and George Watson to do a leap-frog dance which Mr. Treadwell said would
be very funny.
Mr. Treadwell was not only the author of the little play, but he was
also the stage director; that is, he told the boys and girls what to do
and when to do it. In this he was helped by Lucile and Mart. These three
performers, who had been in such bad luck when the vaudeville troupe
broke up, were now quite happy again. Mr. Treadwell and Mart were
working for Mr. Brown, and though they did not make as much money as
when they had been acting in theaters, still they had an easier time.
Lucile, too, liked it at Mrs. Brown's.
Of course the two "waifs" as they were sometimes called, wished they
could find out where there uncle and aunt were. They also wanted to find
their blind uncle. But, so far, no trace of any of them was to be had,
though many letters were written by Mr. Brown and Mr. Treadwell.
Mr. Treadwell was a very busy man. After he finished work at Mr. Brown's
office he would help the children rehearse for the farm play. In the
play Mr. Treadwell was to take several parts. In one act he was a tramp,
and in another a farmer. Then, too, he took the character of a man from
the city, and later he did a number of impersonations, using the
costumes he had made use of in the various theaters.
"Don't you think we could have our dog Splash in the play?" asked Bunny
of Mr. Treadwell one afternoon when the rehearsal was finished.
"Why, yes, I think so," was the answer. "I'll be thinking up a part for
him. Has he good, strong teeth?"
"Oh, yes!" exclaimed Sue, who was standing beside Bunny. "He has
terrible strong teeth! You ought to see him bite a bone!"
"Well, I don't know that I want him to bite a bone on the stage," said
Mr. Treadwell, with a laugh. "But we'll see about it."
Some days after that, during which time Mr. Treadwell spent many hours
with Splash alone in the stable, Bunny and Sue were quite surprised on
coming from school to hear loud barking in their yard.
"Maybe Splash is chasing a cat!" exclaimed Bunny.
"It must be a strange cat," said Sue; "'cause he likes all the other
cats around here."
The children ran around the corner of the house and there saw a strange
sight. Mr. Treadwell was running about the yard. After him ran Splash,
and the dog was holding tightly to Mr. Treadwell's coat, shaking the
tails as if trying to tear it off the actor.
"Oh! Oh!" screamed Sue. "Our Splash is mad at Mr. Treadwell!"