THE POOR OLD HEN
Sue looked at Bunny with widely-opened eyes. Then she clapped her hands.
Sue always did that when she felt happy, and she felt that way now.
"Oh, Bunny!" she cried. "A circus? A real circus?"
"Well, of course not a _real_, big one, with lions and tigers and all
that," said the little boy. "We couldn't get elephants and camels and
bears. But maybe grandpa would let us take his two horses, that he got
back from the Gypsies. They have lots of horses in the circus."
"I'd be afraid to ride on a horse," objected Sue, shaking her head.
"You wouldn't if Bunker Blue held you on; would you?"
"No, maybe not then."
"Well, we'll get Bunker Blue to hold us on the horse's back," said
Bunny.
Bunker Blue was a big, red-haired boy--almost a man--and he worked for
Mr. Brown. Bunker was very fond of Bunny and Sue. Bunker had steered the
big automobile in which the Brown family came to grandpa's farm, and he
was still staying in the country.
"Do you think we could really get up a circus?" asked Sue, after
thinking about what Bunny had said.
"Of course we can," answered the little boy. "Didn't we get up a Punch
and Judy show, when I found Aunt Lu's diamond ring?"
"Yes, but that wasn't as big as a circus."
"Well, we need only have a little circus show, Sue."
"Where could we have it, Bunny?"
The little boy thought for a moment.
"In grandpa's barn," he answered. "There's lots of room. It would be
just fine."
"Would you and me be all the circus, Bunny?"
"Oh, no. We'd get some of the other boys and girls. We could get Tom
White, Nellie Bruce, Jimmie Kenny, Sallie Smith and Ned Johnson. They'd
be glad to play circus."
"Yes, I guess they would," said Sue. "It will be lots of fun. But what
can we do, Bunny? You haven't any lobster claw to play Mr. Punch now,
'cause it's broke."
"No, we don't want to give a Punch and Judy show, Sue. We want to make
this just like a circus, with trapezes and wild animals and----"
"But you said we couldn't have any lions or tigers, Bunny. 'Sides, I'd
be afraid of them," and Sue looked over her shoulder as if, even then,
an elephant might be reaching out his trunk toward her for some peanuts.
"Oh, of course we couldn't have any real wild animals," said Bunny.
"What kind, then?" Sue wanted to know.
"Make believe kind. I could put some stripes on Splash, and make believe
our dog was a tiger, Sue."
"How could you put stripes on him, Bunny?"
"With paint."
"No!" cried Sue, shaking her head. "Splash is half my dog, and I don't
want him all painted up. You sha'n't do it, Bunny Brown!"
"All right, then. I'll only paint _my_ half of Splash," said the little
boy. "_My_ half can be a striped tiger, and _your_ half can be just a
plain dog."
"That would be a funny wild animal," Sue said. "A half tiger and half
dog."
"Lots of folks would like to see an animal like that," Bunny said. "I'll
just stripe my half of Splash, and leave your half plain, Sue."
"All right. But is you only going to have one wild make-believe animal,
Bunny?"
"No, Ned Johnson has a dog. We can make a lion out of him."
"But Ned's dog hasn't any tail," said Sue. "I mean he has only a little
baby tail, like a rabbit. Lions always have tails with tassels on the
end."
"Well," said Bunny, slowly. "We could make believe this lion had his
tail bit off by an elephant."
"Oh, yes," said Sue.
"Or else maybe I could tie a cloth tail on Ned's dog," went on Bunny.
"And lions have manes, too. That's a lot of hair on their neck, like a
horse," went on Sue.
"Well, we could take some carpenter shavings and tie them on Ned's dog's
neck," said Bunny. "We could make believe that was the lion's mane."
"Yes," agreed Sue, "we could do that. Oh, I think a circus is nice,
Bunny. But what else can we have besides the wild animals?"
"Oh, I can make a trapeze from the clothes-line and a broom handle. I
could hang by my feet from the trapeze."
"Oh, Bunny! Wouldn't you be afraid?"
"Pooh! No! Didn't I hang in the tree? And I was only a little scared
then. I'll get on the trapeze all right."
"And what can I do, Bunny?"
"Oh, you can ride a horse when Bunker Blue holds you on. We'll get
mother to make you a blue dress out of mosquito netting, and you can
have a ribbon in your hair, like a real circus lady."
"Oh, Bunny, do you s'pose mother will let us have the circus?"
"I guess so. We'll tell her about it, anyhow. But we'll have to get some
other boys and girls to help us. And we'll have to make a cage to keep
Splash in. He's going to be the wild tiger, you know."
"Oh, but I don't want Splash shut up in a cage!" cried Sue. "I sha'n't
let you put my half of him in a cage! And I do own half of him, right
down the middle; half his tail is mine, too. You can't put my half of
him in any old cage!"
Bunny did not know what to say. It was easy enough to put make-believe
tiger stripes on one side, or on half a dog, but it was very hard to put
half a dog in a cage, and leave the other half outside. Bunny did not
see how it could be done.
"Oh, it won't hurt Splash," said the little boy. "Come on, Sue. Please
let me put your half with my half of Splash in a cage."
"No, sir! Bunny Brown! I won't do it! You can't put my half of Splash in
a cage. He won't like it."
"But, Sue, it's only a make-believe cage, just as he's a make-believe
tiger."
"Oh, well, if it's only a make-believe cage, then, I don't care. But you
mustn't hurt him, and you can't put any paint stripes on my half."
"No, I won't, Sue. Now let's go out to the barn and look to see where we
can put up the trapezes and rings and things like that, and where I can
hang by my feet and by my hands."
"Oh, Bunny! Are you going to do that?"
"Sure!" cried the little boy, as though it was as easy as eating a piece
of strawberry shortcake. "You just watch me, Sue."
"Well, I don't want to do that," said Sue. "I'm just going to be a
pretty lady and ride a white horse."
"But grandpa hasn't any white horses, Sue. They're brown."
"Well, I can sprinkle some talcum powder on a brown horse and make him
white," said the little girl. "Can't I?"
"Oh, yes!" cried Bunny. "That will be fine! But it will take an awful
lot of talcum powder to make a big horse all white, Sue."
"Well, I'll just make him spotted white then. I've got some talcum
powder of my own, and it smells awful good. I guess a horse would like
it; don't you, Bunny?"
"I guess so, Sue. But come out to the barn."
Grandpa Brown had two barns on his farm. One was where the horses and
cows were kept, and the other held wagons, carriages and machinery. It
was in the horse-barn where the children went--the barn where there were
big piles of sweet-smelling hay.
"I can fall on the hay, 'stead of falling in a net, like the circus men
do," said Bunny.
"Anyhow, we haven't any circus net," suggested Sue.
"No," agreed Bunny. "But the hay is just as bouncy. I'm going to jump in
it!"
He climbed up on the edge of the hay-mow, or place where the hay is
kept, and jumped into the dried grass. For hay is just dried grass, you
know.
Down into the hay bounced Bunny, and Sue bounced after him. The children
jumped up and down in the hay, laughing and shouting. Then they played
around the barn, trying to pretend that they were already having the
circus in it.
"Oh, it will be such fun!" cried Sue.
"Jolly!" cried Bunny.
"Let's go and ask mother now," said Sue.
The children started for the house. On the way they had to pass a little
pond of water. On the edge of it stood a hen, clucking and making a
great fuss. She would run toward the water and then come back again,
without getting her feet wet.
"Oh, the poor old hen!" cried Sue. "What's the matter? Oh, see, Bunny!
All her little chickens are in the water. Oh, Bunny! We must get them
out for her. Oh, you poor old hen!"