it was the day of the “great show!” the “ten dollar show,” as some of mr. brown’s business friends called it because of the mistake on the tickets. the barn had been fixed up with seats, and there was a stage over which had been erected the trapeze taken from the haymow.
in cages around the barn had been placed various animal pets of the boys and girls who were chummy with bunny brown and his sister sue. these were not all trick animals. there was a trained rooster though, about which i shall tell you. and there were quite a number of white mice and rats, as well as one alligator, brought by george.
but the main part of the show was to be the tricks done by patter, toby, and wango, the monkey.
at last all was in readiness, and after many[241] whisperings behind it the curtain was finally pulled aside. the curtain was made by some old feed bags sewed together, but it answered very well.
“ladies and gentlemen,” began george watson, who had been chosen for stage manager, “we will now start the great show with a parade, and after that bunny brown will do a lot of tricks.”
“and so will patter! he’ll do tricks!” cried the voice of sue from back of the end folds of the bag curtain. there was laughter in the audience at this.
“all ready now!” called george, and then out from the side, to the stage, which bunker blue had built, marched toby with patter on his back. and toby drew a little cart in which sat wango, dressed up in a red suit and a cap and a feather.
the people clapped at this, but there was more to come. bunny, dressed in a “tramp” suit, followed the monkey cart, and then came sue, dressed as a fairy princess. charlie star and harry bentley, who were to help with the tricks, came out dressed like twins, and[242] george followed, carrying whitefeet on a big sofa cushion. there was more applause at this sight.
after the procession the show proper began. bunny, dressed as a tramp, pretended he was going to take patter and toby away, but sue rushed out and waved her fairy wand. then the ragged clothes fell off bunny, for they had been put on loosely for this purpose, and he stood up in red tights, just like a real circus actor. mr. stern had suggested this to the children and they did this new trick almost at the last moment.
then bunny put patter, toby, and whitefeet through their tricks. i have told so much about the tricks all through this book that i will not take the time to go over them again, as there were no new ones.
but the people in the audience had not seen the tricks before and they were much pleased with them. after patter, wearing his different suits, had sat up and begged, had rolled over, had pretended he was a soldier, had said his prayers and walked on his front feet, the trapeze was swung into place.
[243]on the board fastened to the crossbar patter and wango swung to and fro while the audience laughed and clapped. next whitefeet was put on patter’s back, and the kitten remained there as contentedly as she had on the cushion when george carried her. then came the trick of patter taking caps from the tank of water.
the stage was now cleared so patter could do the trick of driving toby hitched to the pony cart. the dog sat up, his forepaws through the rope loops of the reins. and when bunny on one side called, patter guided toby that way. then when sue on the other side called, patter guided toby that way, much to the surprise of the audience who thought the horse and dog were very smart indeed.
in order not to have too many animal tricks, charlie and harry did what they called “acrobatic stunts.” they turned somersaults holding to each other’s wrists and ankles, they turned cartwheels, and did other things that brought them applause.
sue, too, was allowed to be on the stage[244] alone with patter, and she put the dog through some of his best tricks, all of which made a “hit,” as the paper said afterward.
the show was much enjoyed by all who saw it, and it had a funny, jolly ending. sam cooper tried to do a trick with what was supposed to be the trained rooster. only the rooster got wild, or frightened, or something, and flew off the stage, out into the audience, and lighted on the bald head of mr. gordon, the grocer.
perched on mr. gordon’s head, the rooster uttered a loud crow! and you should have heard the people laugh.
“but, anyhow, that was a good way to bring the show to an end,” said george, as he pulled the bag curtain over. “it made ’em all laugh.”
the show was a great success, and quite a large sum was taken in for the aid of the home for crippled children. bunny, sue and their boy and girl chums who had helped, were much pleased.
“bunny, you have a wonderful trick dog there,” said mr. gordon, as he went out, rubbing his bald head where the rooster had scratched him a little.
“indeed he is a valuable dog,” said mr. stern, who had witnessed the show. “if i had had tanza here——”
“oh, will you please tell us who tanza is?” begged bunny.
“is she a fairy?” sue wanted to know.
“no, she was one of some trick dogs i once owned,” said mr. stern, rather sadly. “i earned my living by exhibiting my trick dogs. tanza was the best, but she died, and so did all the others. then i had no way of making a living and i got hurt and became ill. i thought if i could find mr. denton he might give me a place in his show. but i can’t locate him, and i don’t know what i’m going to do.”
this talk took place after the show, when bunny and sue were helping to clear up the barn.
“i could make a place for you on my fish dock,” said mr. brown.
“thank you,” murmured the old man, “but i’m afraid i wouldn’t know how to do that[246] kind of work. if i only had a trick dog i could go around as i used to. but i suppose it’s of no use.”
a strange feeling came over bunny brown and his sister sue. they both had the same idea at the same time. they looked at one another and then at patter, who was letting whitefeet rub up against him.
bunny went over and whispered something to his father.
“what’s that?” exclaimed mr. brown. “you want to give up patter?”
“yes,” answered bunny. “we want to give our trick dog to mr. stern so he can go around and earn a living again. don’t we, sue?”
sue did not answer for a moment, and when she did there was just a little tear in each eye.
“don’t we now—don’t we want to give patter to mr. stern?” asked bunny again.
“ye—ye—yes!” burst out sue, and then, after hugging patter very hard, she ran out of the barn. i think you can guess why.
bunny said afterward that he “squeezed[247] back” his tears as he led patter up to mr. stern and said:
“now, patter, you belong to him and you can do your tricks for him and help him earn money.”
“oh, but i can’t take the children’s dog! i wouldn’t dream of it!” cried the ragged man.
but in the end he was made to do this, since it was the best way in which he could care for himself, now that he was well from the automobile accident. he was given some money by the man whose car had struck him, and with this mr. stern bought some new clothes and was able to fit himself out so he could travel around the country giving little shows with patter.
of course bunny and sue felt very sad at first, in giving up their trick dog, for they had grown to love him very much.
“but,” said bunny, “maybe we’ll see him again when mr. stern gives his show here.”
“and,” added sue, “we have to be good an’ make sackkelfices, like we learned in sunday school.”
[248]“sackkelfices!” cried bunny. “that’s what they do in baseball!”
“’tis not!” exclaimed sue. “a sackkelfice is what makes you feel good inside when you don’t want to do it.”
and perhaps that is what a sacrifice might be called.
at any rate, mr. stern took patter away, though i must admit that the parting with bunny and sue was a tearful one. but then the children had other pets to console them. and mr. stern was able to earn his living by showing off patter and his tricks.
and so we have come to the end of the story of the children and their trick dog, which came to them so strangely, was lost, found, and gone from them again. but this is not the end of the adventures of bunny brown and his sister sue, for they have many others in store.
the end
