Everyone had a different idea as to how the tickets could best be sold, and when there are half a dozen or more boys all talking at once it is hard to get anything straight. Besides Bunny and his three particular chums—George, Harry1 and Charlie—a number of other lads had been asked to help with the performance. They had also tried to sell tickets, but no one had had much luck.
Mr. Boardman took the two he had promised to buy, but if the boys wanted to make money from the show—and of course they did—twenty cents was not much.
So, as I have mentioned, the boys talked the matter over, and each one had a different idea of how to bring success. They talked so much and said so many things that I have not room for a quarter of it.
[189]Finally George, being the oldest of the boys, seemed to hit on the right idea.
“I tell you what it is, fellows,” he said, “we’ll have to give this show for somebody.”
“What do you mean—give it for somebody?” asked Charlie. “Aren’t we giving it for ourselves—for the fun of it, and to show people what fine tricks Bunny’s dog and pony2 can do?”
“That’s just it,” went on George. “We must give the show for somebody else. You know, when they had the fair, it was for the church, and a lot of people came and spent money when they wouldn’t go to the moving pictures for fun. When Bunny and Sue3 gave a show once before it was for Red Cross, and lots of people came ’cause they knew their money would go to Red Cross. And now——”
“Oh, I see what you mean!” cried Bunny, so eager that he did not beg pardon of George for interrupting. “People think the money is for us kids and they think we don’t need it.”
“That’s my idea!” said George. “Now if we could say this show was for the benefit of[190] the Red Cross, or something like that, people would buy a lot of tickets.”
“Come into the house and talk to my mother,” suggested Bunny. “She knows a lot, my mother does.”
“That’s right!” cried the boys. I believe they felt this same way about their own mothers.
“My! what’s all this about? A raid4 on the pantry?” cried Mrs. Brown, smiling, when she saw Bunny leading his boy friends toward5 the house.
“We want some advice,” said George.
“But if you have any cookies I guess we’d like them, too,” said Bunny, with a laugh.
“All right,” agreed his mother. “Perhaps I can give you both. I am sure I can give you cookies,” she went on, as she asked Mary to bring out a large plate filled with sugar and molasses disks. “As for advice, what kind do you want?”
“It’s about the show,” explained Bunny. “The tickets aren’t selling, and we want to make money for some benefit.”
“I see,” remarked his mother. “Well, as[191] it happens, some ladies have just called on me to ask me to help in raising money for a Home for Crippled6 Children. We thought of giving a fair, but if you boys want to give your show for the benefit of the Home, I’m sure the ladies would be glad to do all they could to help you sell the tickets, since they would raise money that way.”
“Just what we want!” cried George.
“Hurray!” shouted Bunny. “I knew mother could think of something!” he added.
And so it was arranged. Mrs. Brown called on the telephone the ladies who had been to see her, and they were very glad to have the show of Bunny and Sue under their charge. They at once appointed a committee which would help sell the tickets.
“I guess maybe we’d better have new ones printed,” suggested Bunny, when told that the ladies would help. “That ten dollar mistake on ’em doesn’t look very nice.”
“No, leave the tickets just as they are,” said his father. “It’s a ‘kid’ show and people will only laugh at the mistake. Besides, some men I know will be glad to pay the price as it[192] stands on the ticket—I’ll make ’em,” he added, with a laugh.
“What!” cried Bunny. “Will somebody pay ten dollars for a ticket?”
“They will when they know it is to help the poor, crippled children,” answered his father.
And this proved to be true. More than one man, whom Mr. Brown knew and spoke7 to about the matter, gave a ten dollar bill gladly for the crudely8 printed ticket, and some took more than one, though they did not all intend to come to the show.
Now that the boys could say the barn9 performance was to be for the benefit of the Home for Crippled Children the tickets sold more quickly.
“Why didn’t you tell me that before?” asked one lady who at first had said she did not care for tickets. “If it’s for the Home, of course I’ll take one. Better give me three,” and so the sale was made.
Then Bunny discovered another way to make the tickets sell more quickly. He and Sue, or perhaps some of the boys, would go to a house and explain about the tickets. Nearly[193] always the person spoken to would agree to take at least one ticket.
“But where is it?” they would ask, when Bunny or Sue made no motion10 toward handing over the ticket.
“It will be here in just a minute,” Bunny would answer.
Then he would give a whistle and around the corner of the house would rush Patter with the ticket in his mouth. The dog would sit up on his hind11 legs in front of the one who wanted the ticket and hold it out to be taken.
“Oh, how cute!” was the general exclamation12. “I’ll take another ticket if your dog will bring it to me in that way!”
“Oh, he will!” Bunny would say.
Then Patter would go back around the corner of the house, and when Bunny whistled, Patter would come dashing back with another ticket in his mouth. So, often, two were sold where, had it not been for this trick, only one would have been taken.
Of course it was just another of Patter’s tricks. Some time before this Bunny and Sue[194] had discovered that if one of them kept Patter out of sight of the other, and gave him something to hold in his mouth, when a whistle was heard Patter would dash to find Sue or Bunny—whoever whistled.
The children used to take Patter around the corner of the barn. Bunny would hide himself, and Sue would hold Patter by the collar, after giving him something to hold in his mouth. Then, at Bunny’s call, the dog would rush away as soon as Sue let go his collar.
So when they wanted him to help sell admissions13 for the show, they just put a ticket in his mouth. They would do that before knocking on the door or ringing the bell, and then of course, when Bunny whistled, around the corner would come rushing Patter with the ticket.
“It’s one of the best things you ever thought of,” said George.
While the ticket-selling was going on the boys did not forget to make Patter, Wango, and Toby practice their tricks. The monkey seemed to like to swing on the trapeze with the dog, and Mr. Winkler was glad to have[195] his pet do something for the aid of the Home for Crippled Children.
As for Toby, he was always willing to do what Bunny and Sue got him to do. And no dog ever enjoyed tricks more than did Patter.
“Wouldn’t it be great if we could put Toby up on the trapeze and have Wango and Patter both on his back,” said George in the barn one day, after a practice.
“Why, Toby would break our trapeze! It isn’t strong enough to hold him,” objected Bunny.
“I know it isn’t now. But we could put on more ropes,” said George.
But when Mr. Brown heard about this talk he said:
“Nothing like that! It would be dangerous to get Toby up on a swing or a trapeze. It’s all right for the dog and the monkey, as they’re not so heavy—but not Toby.”
So, with a sigh, George gave up that plan.
At last all was in readiness for the show, which was but two days off now. Most of the tickets had been sold, the seats had been put in the barn, Bunny and Sue’s Uncle Tad, the old[196] soldier, helping14 all he could. Patter and Toby had been put through their tricks again and again until they were nearly perfect. A new clown suit and the silver and gold suit had been made for Patter, and Bunny had also sewed what he called the tramp15 suit. Certainly it was very ragged16.
“Where’s Patter?” he asked Sue.
“I don’t know,” she answered. “Isn’t he in his box?”
But there was no dog there, and the door had been locked when Bunny opened it.
“Oh, where can Patter be?” cried Bunny and Sue.
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1
harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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pony
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| adj.小型的；n.小马 | |
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sue
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| vt.控告，起诉；vi.请求，追求，起诉 | |
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raid
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| v.劫掠，攫取，袭击，突击搜捕；n.突然袭击 | |
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toward
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| prep.对于，关于，接近，将近，向，朝 | |
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crippled
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| adj.跛腿的，残废的 | |
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7
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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crudely
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| adv.照自然状态，不成熟地，粗杂地 | |
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barn
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| n.谷仓，饲料仓，牲口棚 | |
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10
motion
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| n.打手势，示意，移动，动作，提议，大便；v.运动，向...打手势，示意 | |
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11
hind
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| adj.后面的，后部的 | |
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exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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admissions
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| n.准许进入( admission的名词复数 )；入场费；入场券；承认 | |
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14
helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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tramp
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| n.流浪者，步行，跋涉；v.步行，跋涉 | |
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16
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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dreadful
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| adj.糟透了的，极端的，可怕的，令人畏惧的 | |
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18
shed
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| n.车棚，小屋，脱落之物，分水岭；vt.使流出，放射，脱落，散发，摆脱；vi. 流出 | |
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