BEN HALL HELPS
Early the next morning Bunny and Sue jumped out of bed, and ran down
stairs in their bath robes. Out into the kitchen they hurried, where
they could hear their grandmother singing.
"Where is he?" asked Bunny, eagerly.
"Did he have his breakfast?" Sue wanted to know.
"Who?" asked Grandma Brown. "What are you children talking about? And
why aren't you dressed?"
"We just got up," Bunny explained, "and we came down stairs right away.
Where is Ben Hall?"
"Did he go away?" asked Sue, and she looked all around the kitchen.
"Bless your hearts!" exclaimed Grandma Brown. "You mean the strange,
hungry boy, who came last night? Oh, he's up long ago!"
"Did he go away?" asked Sue.
"I hope he didn't," cried Bunny. "I like him, and I hope he'll stay here
and play with us. He could help us with the circus."
"Did he go away?" asked Sue again, anxiously.
"Oh, no," Grandma Brown answered. "He went out to help Bunker Blue feed
the chickens and the cows and horses. He is very willing to work, Ben
is."
"Is grandpa going to keep him?" Bunny asked.
"For a while, yes," said his grandmother. "The poor boy has no home, and
no place to go. Where he ran away from he won't tell, but he seems badly
frightened. So we are going to take care of him for a little while, and
he is going to help around the farm. There are many errands and chores
to do, and a good boy is always useful."
"I'm glad he's going to stay," said Bunny.
"So'm I," added Sue. "Maybe he can make boats, Bunny, and a water wheel
that we can fix to turn around at a waterfall."
"Maybe," agreed Bunny. "Where is Ben, Grandma?"
"Oh, now he's out in the barn, somewhere, I expect. But you two tots
must get dressed and have your breakfast. Then you can go out and play."
"We'll find Ben," said Bunny.
"Yes," agreed Sue. "We'll have two boys to play with now--Ben and Bunker
Blue."
"Oh, you two children mustn't expect the big boys to play with you all
the while," said Grandma Brown. "They have to work."
"But they can play with us sometimes; can't they, Grandma?" asked Bunny.
"Oh, yes, sometimes."
A little later the two children, having had their breakfast, ran to the
barn, to look for Ben and Bunker. They found them leading the horses out
to the big drinking trough in front. The trough was filled from a
spring, back of the barn, the water running through a pipe.
"Oh, Bunker, give me a ride on Major's back!" cried Sue, as she saw her
father's red-haired helper leading the old brown horse.
"Put me on his back, Bunker!"
"All right, Sue! Come along. Whoa, there, Major!"
Major stood still, for he was very gentle. Bunker lifted Sue up on the
animal's broad back, and held her there while he led the horse to the
drinking trough.
"Do you want a ride, too?" asked Ben Hall of Bunny.
"Yes," answered the little boy.
"Here you go then. We'll both ride this horse to water."
Ben Hall did a strange thing. All at once he jumped up in the air, and
before Bunny or Sue knew what he was doing the strange boy was sitting
on the back of Prince, the other horse. He had jumped up as easily as a
bouncing, rubber ball.
"Now then, come over here, and I'll lift you up in front of me!" called
Ben to Bunny, and soon the little fellow was sitting on the back of
Prince, while Ben guided him to the drinking trough.
"Say, that's a good way to get up on a horse's back, Ben!" called Bunker
Blue, who had seen what Ben had done. "Where did you learn that trick
of jumping up?"
"Oh, I--I just sort of learned it--that's all. It's easy when you
practise it."
"Well, I'm going to practise then," said Bunker. "I'd like to learn to
jump on a horse's back the way you did."
When the horses had had their water Bunker lifted Sue down from the back
of Major.
"But I want to ride back to the barn," the little girl said.
"And in a minute so you shall," promised Bunker. "Only, just now, I want
to see if I can jump up the way Ben did."
Bunker tried it, but he nearly fell.
"I can't do it," he said. "It looks easy, but it's hard. You must have
had to practise a good while, Ben."
"Yes, I did."
"How long?"
"Oh, about five years!"
Bunker Blue whistled in surprise.
"Five years!" he cried. "I'll never be able to do that. Let me see once
more how you do it."
Ben lifted Bunny down, and once more the strange boy leaped with one
jump upon the back of the horse.
"Why, he does it just like the men in the circus!" exclaimed Sue. "Oh,
Bunny, Ben will make a good jumper in our circus."
"Yes," agreed the little boy. "Do you think, Ben, you could show me how
to get on a horse's back that way?" Bunny asked.
"Well, I'm afraid not--not such a little boy as you," answered Ben, as
he lifted Bunny up on Prince's back once more for the ride to the barn.
The horses were tied in their stalls again, after Bunny and Sue had been
lifted from the backs of the animals. Then Bunny said:
"You are going to stay here and help work on the farm, Ben. My
grandmother said so. And, if you are, will you come out and look at the
barn where we are going to have our circus? Maybe you and Bunker can
help us put up the trapeze."
"Not now, Bunny boy," said Bunker. "We have to go and pull weeds out of
the garden. We'll look at the barn right after dinner."
And this Ben and Bunker did. Bunny and Sue showed Ben the mow, and the
pile of hay, into which the trapeze performers were to fall, instead of
into nets.
"So they won't get hurt," Bunny explained. "We haven't any nets,
anyhow."
"Do you think we could have a circus here?" Sue wanted to know.
"Why, I should think so," Ben answered, looking up toward the roof of
the barn. "Yes, you could have a good make-believe circus here."
"Will you help?" asked Bunny eagerly.
Ben Hall laughed, and looked at Bunny and Sue in a queer sort of way.
"What makes you think I can help you make a play-circus?" he asked.
"Oh, I guess you can, all right," spoke up Bunker Blue. "I guess you
know more about a circus than you let us think. Don't you now?"
"Oh, well, I've seen 'em," said Ben, slowly.
"And the way you jumped on the horse--why, you must have been watching
pretty hard to see just how to do that," Bunker went on. "I've seen
lots of circuses, but I can't jump up the way you can, Ben."
"Then he can ride a horse in our circus," said Sue.
"Can you hang on a trapeze?" asked Bunny.
"Well, maybe," the new boy answered. "But you haven't any trapeze here,
have you?"
"We can make one, out of a broom stick and some clothes line," said
Bunny. "I've got 'em all ready," and he showed where he had put, in a
hole in the hay, the rope and stick.
"Good! That's the idea!" exclaimed Ben Hall. "Now I'll just climb up to
the roof beams, and fasten the rope of the trapeze."
Up climbed Ben, and he was making fast the ropes, when, all at once
Bunny, Sue and Bunker Blue, who were watching the strange boy, saw him
suddenly slip off the beam on which he was standing.
"Oh, poor Ben!" sighed Sue. "He's going to get an awful hard bump, so he
is!"