Bunny and his boy chums were so excited they hardly knew what to do. So many things had happened.
There was the trick Patter did of bringing the caps from the brook1. Then came the making of the trapeze, the finding of Sue2 and the monkey, after Sue had been thought to be lost, and lastly the idea of having the dog and the monkey at the church fair.
Mrs. Brown went to the house with Sue, to have Mary put a clean dress on the little girl while Mrs. Brown went in to see the ladies about the church fair. Bunny and the boys kept on making the platform for the swinging trapeze.
They tried several times before they could get the board to stay on the crossbar of the trapeze. But at last George managed to tie it on.
[100]“Now put Patter up on it and see if he’ll stay there and swing,” suggested Charlie.
They made a pile of boxes near the trapeze, and Bunny got his dog to get up on the boxes. Then, pointing to the trapeze, Bunny called:
“Jump up there, Patter.”
The dog jumped, but the board was smooth and his toenails, not being sharp, like those of a cat, just slid off, so that Patter fell down on a pile of hay on the other side of the trapeze. He did not hurt himself—in fact he thought it was fun—but the trick was spoiled.
“Try it again,” said George, while Wango, Mr. Winkler’s pet monkey, sat in the hay chewing a stem3 of dried grass and looking like a little old man who had come to see what was going on.
Again Patter jumped, and again he slid off the smooth board into the pile of hay. And then Bunny had an idea.
“If we put a piece of carpet on the board so it won’t be slippery, just as we put carpet on our sleds, Patter won’t slide off,” said Sue’s brother.
[101]“That’s a good idea!” cried Charlie. “Let’s do it.”
Bunny found a piece of carpet and the boys fastened it with ropes to the board that was tied to the trapeze bar. The next time Patter jumped from the pile of boxes to the board he did not slide off, but remained there, slowly swinging to and fro and looking at the boys as much as to say:
“Well, I did it all right that time. Why didn’t you think of the carpet in the first place?”
“Oh, he’s doing the trick! He’s doing the trick!” cried Bunny.
“He’s fine at it!” cried Charlie.
“The best dog I ever saw, even if he won’t bring sticks from the brook,” admitted George. “Now we’ll see if we can’t get Wango to sit in the trapeze with Patter.”
The monkey knew and liked the boys, who were kind to him, so he did not make a fuss4 when they lifted him up beside Patter. Then the monkey and dog swung to and fro on the same carpet-covered trapeze board.
“The next thing to do is to teach Wango to[102] jump up the way Patter does,” suggested George. “We’ll do this next.”
So they began on that part of the trick which Bunny and his chums hoped to produce later in some sort of show, or circus.
“I guess it would make a lot of money for ’em,” said George.
“People would pay more to see tricks like this than they would to hear a lot of girls singing,” said Harry. “I hate girls’ singing, anyhow.”
“So do I,” said Bunny.
“They sound like cats,” added Charlie.
It is a good thing Sue did not hear the boys talking like this, or she might have said something sharp. And I suppose she could have pointed6 out things that the boys did which she and the other girls did not like. She might not have liked to hear them sing, though they did not seem to think of this.
But Sue was not there and Bunny and his chums kept on teaching Wango to leap from the pile of boxes and sit beside Patter on the[103] trapeze. After a while the monkey did it fairly well.
“Well, I guess this is enough for the first day,” said Bunny, after a while. “If we make Patter do tricks too much he’ll get tired.”
“Who’s going to take Wango back?” asked Charlie. “Mr. Winkler will want him, even if his sister doesn’t.”
“I’ll take him,” offered George. “I’m going that way.”
Wango was willing to be led along by George, and the boy and the monkey, followed by Harry and Charlie, went their ways, while Bunny started for the house with Patter.
As Bunny walked up the front steps Mrs. Brown came out with the ladies. They had been talking over the church fair, and had made most of their plans.
“That’s our trick dog,” said Sue to the ladies, as Bunny came along with Patter. “He does lots of tricks.”
Just then one of the ladies dropped a basket she was carrying. As quick as a flash Patter[104] rushed forward, picked it up and then sat up, holding the basket in his mouth, as if he were waiting for something to be put into it.
“Oh, look at Patter!” cried Sue. “Look!”
“That’s a new trick!” exclaimed Bunny. “Oh, how many tricks our dog can do! But this is a new one!”
“Indeed it is,” said Mrs. Brown.
The ladies from the church looked at Patter sitting up with the basket in his mouth.
“How very cute,” said one.
“And it gives me an idea,” said another. “Bunny, how long do you think your dog could sit up that way holding the basket?”
“Oh, I guess he could sit up maybe an hour,” the little boy answered.
“Not an hour at a time,” replied Mrs. Brown. “But if he had a rest in between, he might do it. He has been trained to sit up that way,” she added. “But I never saw him hold a basket before.”
“Why did you want to know how long he could do that trick, Mrs. Jones?” inquired another lady.
[105]“I was thinking that we need something new and novel at our church fair,” answered Mrs. Jones. “Generally we have a man at the door taking tickets. But if we could have Bunny’s and Sue’s dog stand at the door, holding a basket for the people to drop tickets in, it would be something new and something amusing7.”
“And people would come to the fair to see the dog taking tickets,” added Mrs. Smith.
“That’s just my idea,” went on Mrs. Jones. “It will be a sort of advertisement for us. Bunny, do you think your dog would take tickets at the door for our fair?”
“I guess he would,” Bunny answered.
“But he might want Bunny or me there by his side to make him stay sitting up,” added Sue.
“Oh, I intended to have you two children,” said Mrs. Jones, with a laugh. “You and your dog will be the combined attraction. Did any of you ladies ever hear of a dog taking tickets in a basket at a church fair?” she asked.
“I didn’t,” answered Mrs. Smith.
[106]“Nor I,” added Mrs. Nelson, and the others said the same thing.
“Then we’ll try it at our fair,” went on Mrs. Jones. “I think Patter is the cutest and nicest dog I ever saw!”
Patter wagged8 his tail that was stretched out on the ground, and as he did so he brushed aside some sand and gravel9 from the walk.
“His tail is like a dusting brush, isn’t it?” said Sue.
“I wish I had him in my house,” remarked Mrs. Nelson, with a laugh. “He could dust my furniture. I’ve been so busy since I started working for the church fair that I haven’t had time to do much dusting.”
By this time Patter thought he had held the basket long enough. He dropped down to all four feet and walked over to Bunny with the basket in his mouth, as if asking what he should do with it.
“It’s my basket, if you please, Patter,” said Mrs. Jones. “I’ll take it now, but I’ll get you another in which to take tickets at the door when we have our fair. Give me the basket please.”
[107]As if he understood, Patter walked over and let Mrs. Jones take the basket from his mouth.
And then, while Bunny and Sue romped10 with their trick dog, the ladies talked to Mrs. Brown about having Patter take tickets at the fair
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1
brook
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| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
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2
sue
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| vt.控告，起诉；vi.请求，追求，起诉 | |
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3
stem
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| n.茎，干，船首，词干，血统；vt.堵住，阻止，抽去梗；vi.起源于，发生 | |
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4
fuss
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| n.过分关心，过分体贴，大惊小怪，小题大作 | |
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5
harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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6
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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7
amusing
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| adj.有有趣的，好玩的 | |
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8
wagged
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| v.（使）摇动，摇摆( wag的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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9
gravel
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| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
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10
romped
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| v.嬉笑玩闹( romp的过去式和过去分词 )；（尤指在赛跑或竞选等中）轻易获胜 | |
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