patter now seemed to have matters just as he wanted them. he had gotten his wish—that is if dogs ever wish—for he had the little black cat, with her four white feet, up on his back. and, once he had her there, he began marching around. later on bunny and sue learned that this is just what patter used to do in the show where the frenchman exhibited him.
down the long room, lined on either side with the church-fair tables, marched the dog with the cat on his back. patter seemed rather proud of what he was doing, and the cat appeared to like it—that is, as much as cats like anything of the sort. cats are not as fond of doing tricks as dogs are. they are, bunker blue used to say, “rather stuck-up.”
[131]but, though whitefeet might seem proud and “stuck-up,” she did not offer to jump off patter’s back. perhaps she had been taught to do this by some boy or girl where she formerly lived. as i have told you, the cat was a strange one in the neighborhood of the opera house. none of the boys or girls remembered to have seen her before.
perhaps the cat had been trained to sit on some boy’s or girl’s shoulder and be carried around the room this way, as i once had a cat do. and after finding out that patter was not going to harm her, this cat may have thought she was riding on the shoulder of some one.
at any rate, she did not offer to get off the dog’s back, and those at the church fair saw the novel sight of patter parading around with whitefeet.
“if we had known he was going to do a trick like that we could have advertised it,” said mrs. jones.
“well, maybe it’s a good thing we didn’t,” said mrs. nelson. “if we had, patter might not have done it or the cat might have scratched him.”
[132]“that’s so,” agreed mrs. jones. “anyhow, patter was very cute when he held the basket of tickets.”
“and i think we’d better have him do it again,” said mrs. nelson. “more people are coming to the fair, and we want them to see what we promised—a dog taking tickets at the door.”
“in that case, we’ll have to get the cat off his back,” remarked mrs. jones.
“and we’ll have to straighten up the cake and flower tables,” commented mrs. watson. “this place is a sight!”
indeed, the once orderly room where the church fair was being held was now in confusion, especially where the boys were trying to pick up the scattered cakes. the tossed-about paper flowers had been gathered up, not much the worse for the accident, except the wreath that had fallen about patter’s neck.
the dog still had this gay ornament on him, and was walking along with one end dragging on the floor while whitefeet still sat on his back. people crowded around to look at the odd sight.
[133]then whitefeet seemed to have done her trick long enough. for, with a gentle “meow” she leaped down to the floor, though she did not try to run away. patter turned, looked at her and barked a little as if inviting her to get on his back once more, but whitefeet would not do this.
“i’m going to take that kittie home!” declared sue, as she picked whitefeet up in her arms. the kitten did not seem to mind, and as no one else claimed the pet sue was allowed to keep her.
“we’ll have her ride around on patter’s back when we get up our show,” said bunny.
“that will be great!” exclaimed charlie star. “lots of people will come to see that.”
“bunny, do you think you could make your dog hold the ticket basket again?” asked mrs. jones.
“oh, yes’m!” said bunny. “i’ll take these flowers off and——”
“no, leave the wreath on him,” suggested mrs. jones. “it looks cute. that is, if he’ll let it stay.”
“oh, he doesn’t seem to mind it,” said[134] bunny. “come on, patter,” he called. “you have to be ticket-taker again.”
patter seemed to have had enough of riding whitefeet on his back, at least for a time, so the trick dog willingly went with bunny to the door and again sat up on his hind legs, the wreath of paper flowers around his neck, holding in his mouth the basket into which people dropped tickets.
the room, which had been upset by the dog and cat chase, was put in order, the flower table being prettily arranged again. as for the cakes—well, some of them were sadly broken.
“we picked up all we could find,” said george.
“and i stepped on one,” said harry. “i couldn’t help it, but i guess if you scrape off the top part it’ll be all right. maybe nobody will see it.”
“thank you, boys, for picking up the cakes,” said mrs. pallin, who had charge of that table. “but i don’t want them back. you may have them. i couldn’t sell cakes that had been on the floor.”
[135]“come on, then!” cried harry. “maybe we can find more.”
other boys began searching for the cakes, some of which had rolled into far corners. luckily most of the dainties had been in baskets, which had tipped over when the table had upset, and not all had spilled out. so there were still plenty that were clean and unbroken left to be sold. the accident was not so bad as had seemed at first.
order was now once more restored. patter was at his place, taking tickets at the door, and sue and some of her girl friends were petting whitefeet in one corner of the room. the church fair was well under way.
“we never had such a success, mrs. brown,” said mrs. jones to the mother of bunny and sue. “your children have been very helpful, and as for patter—he is invaluable!”
“even when he chased after the cat?” asked mr. brown with a laugh.
“yes, even then,” said mrs. jones. “for it made excitement, and a lot of people, who wouldn’t otherwise have come in, entered[136] from the street to see what it was all about. and now we have them here we’ll make them spend money for the church,” she added, with a laugh. “that’s what church fairs are for.”
“i suppose so,” agreed mr. brown.
after a while, when it was seen that few more were coming in with tickets, patter was allowed to give up his basket, for they did not want to tire him by making him sit up too long. but he had proved a great “attraction,” as a bellemere newspaper said the next day.
bunny and his chums, after eating the cleanest of the cakes that had been toppled to the floor, went off by themselves into a side room and began putting patter through some of his tricks.
“let’s get the cat again and see if he’ll let her get up on his back,” suggested charlie. “if he’s going to do it in our show we’d better have him practice.”
“that’s a good idea,” said bunny brown.
sue brought in whitefeet, and the dog and cat resumed friendship at once, the cat even rubbing up against patter.
[137]bunny put the cat on the dog’s back. she curled up there as if she liked the warm, shaggy coat of hair, and patter walked around again with whitefeet on his back.
“don’t make her do it too long or she’ll get tired and cross,” suggested sue. so they gave her back the little cat, and then the boys got patter to do some of the tricks he had often done for them as they romped through the fields.
as the boys were doing this mr. martin, one of the men who was helping with the fair, looked into the room and saw patter marching around like a soldier, with a stick over his shoulder.
“that’s pretty good,” said mr. martin. “will your dog do tricks before an audience, bunny?”
“i guess he will, yes, sir.”
“will you please bring him upstairs to the stage? i want him to do some tricks on the stage.”
“he hasn’t got his clown suit on,” bunny objected.
“no matter,” replied mr. martin. “he’ll[138] do as he is. that orange and black suit is fine! one of the performers who was going to sing is late, and i want to amuse the audience while there’s a wait. your dog will just do for that. bring him up on the stage.”
“he won’t do tricks unless i tell him to,” said bunny.
“that’s all right. you can go on the stage,” said the man.
“hurray! bunny’s going on the stage!” cried charlie.
“well, it isn’t the first time,” said george, for they all remembered the show bunny and sue had given.
up to the opera house proper went bunny and patter. mr. martin went out in front of the curtain and explained to the audience that while they were waiting for the singer, bunny brown and his trick dog would amuse them.
up went the curtain and out stepped bunny and patter. there was not a very large audience, for many persons were still in the lower room, buying things at the church fair. but there was enough of a crowd, and many it in[139] knew bunny brown. they clapped their hands when he made his bow, and when patter also bowed there was more clapping.
bunny put his dog through a few simple tricks, and these seemed to please the men and women. of course if bunny had practiced and had known he was going to give a performance with his dog, it would have been much better. but it was very well as it was, mr. martin said, and served to make the people laugh and the time pass until the belated singer appeared.
“thank you very much, bunny, for helping us,” said mr. martin, when the boy and dog went off the stage.
“oh, that’s all right,” said bunny, with a smile. “pretty soon i’m going to give a regular show—sue and some of the fellows and i. and patter is going to be in that.”
“then i’ll come to see it and bring as many friends as i can,” promised mr. martin.
as the church fair would last rather late and as mrs. brown did not want bunny and sue to lose too much sleep, she sent them home with bunker blue at about half past nine[140] o’clock. patter went with bunny, and sue insisted on carrying whitefeet to the automobile, in which the trip home was made.
“are you going to keep that cat?” asked bunker.
“course i am. she’s mine!” declared sue.
“i reckon she is until some one claims her,” said bunker.
“maybe nobody will,” suggested bunny.
and no one did. where the dear little black kitten, with her four white feet had come from, no one seemed to know. she had “just growed, like topsy in uncle tom’s cabin,” decided sue when several days had passed and no one came to take whitefeet away.
the church fair was a great success, and bunny brown and his sister sue, to say nothing of their pet dog, had a large share in it. the newspaper said so, and that ought to prove it if anything could.
it was several days after the fair that bunny and his boy chums were roaming over the fields with patter.
“let’s go up turtle river and catch some[141] crabs,” suggested george. “hard crabs are running fine now, and we can sell ’em and make some money.”
“all right,” agreed charlie. “but let’s go to my house and get the lines, some bait, and a net. can’t catch crabs without a net.”
“i guess not!” laughed bunny. “not if you don’t want to get pinched.”
the boys stopped at charlie’s house, got some strong lines and bits of old meat, which makes the best crab bait. they also got a long-handled net with which to lift the crabs from the water and a peach basket in which to keep the crabs if they caught any.
in fishing for crabs you don’t use a hook on your line. a piece of meat, dangling on a string, is all that is needed. the crab swims up to the meat, grasps it in strong claws and starts to eat. then if the line is lifted gently from the water the crab is lifted up with it. slip the net under him before he lets go, and you have caught mr. crab.
turtle river, into which the salt sea water from sandport bay flowed, was a fine place for crabs, and soon the boys had caught the[142] peach basket nearly full. the crabs clashed and clattered their hard shells in the basket, pinching one another and sticking their claws out through the cracks in the basket. patter sat on the bank near the basket, wisely watching bunny and his chums.
in lifting up one large crab in the net bunny’s hands slipped and, before he knew it, the crab had fallen out on the ground near the spot where patter sat. at once patter leaped up and began barking at the crab, and pawing at it.
“let that crab alone, patter!” cried bunny. “he’ll pinch you. let it alone!”
but the warning was too late! with a snap of its claws the crab fastened on patter’s paw, and the next moment patter gave forth a howl and began rushing around on three legs.
