The mother mouse was not so easy to catch, however, and the boys had quite a chase after her. At last she ran into a tin box the boys had sunk in the ground when playing golf. Here Harry caught the frightened little creature.
“I’ve got an odd kind of a trap,” Harry said. “It’s just like a cage. We can put them in this until we build a larger one. We can make one out of a box with a wire door.”
The mice were the smallest, cutest things, not larger than Freddie’s thumb. They hardly looked like mice at all, but like some strange little bugs. They were put in the cage trap, mother and all, and then Bert got them a bit of cheese from the kitchen.
“What! Feed mice!” exclaimed Dinah “Sakes alive, chile! you go bringing dem mice in de house to eat all our cake and pie. You just better drown dem in de brook before dey bring a whole lot more mices around here.”
“We’ll keep them away from the house,” Bert told Dinah. “We’re going to have a circus, you know, and these will be our trained mice.”
Freddie, of course, was delighted with the little things, and wanted to dig for more.
“I tell you!” said Bert. “We might catch butterflies and have them under a big glass on the table with all the small animals.”
“That would be good,” Harry agreed. “We could catch some big brown ones and some little fancy ones. Then after dark we could get some big moths down by the postoffice electric light.”
The girls, too, went catching butterflies. Nan was able to secure four or five yellow ones in the flower garden near the porch, and Flossie got two of the small brown variety in the nasturtium bed. Harry and Bert searched in the close syringa bushes where the nests are usually found.
“Oh! look at this one!” called Freddie, coming up with a great green butterfly. “Is it bird?” he asked. “See how big it is!”
It really was very large, and had such beautiful wings it might easily be mistaken for some strange bird.
“We will try to keep them alive,” said Harry, “and perhaps we can get ma’s big glass globe to put them in. She has one she used to put wax flowers under.”
“And, oh say!” exclaimed Bert, “couldn’t we have an aquarium with snakes and turtles and toads in?”
“Fine!” declared Harry. “We’ve got a big glass tank I used to have gold fish in. We’ll get the other fellows to help catch some snakes, fish, and turtles and toads, and—and anything else that will stand water!”
Then what a time they had hunting for reptiles! It seemed each boy had a different variety on his premises. August Stout brought three turtles and Jack Hopkins caught two snakes under a big stone in his back yard. Tom Mason supplied four lovely gold fish, while Ned Prentice brought three bright green frogs.
“I can catch hop-toads,” declared Freddie, and sure enough the little fellow brought two big ones and a baby toad in his hat down to the boys, who had their collection in a glass tank in the barn.
“We can’t put the snakes in with the others or they’ll eat them up,” said Jack. “I’ll get a big glass jar for the snakes.”
“And say!” said Harry. “Will we charge admission to the show?”
“Sure—five cents each,” said Tom, “and give the money to the fresh-air camp over on the mountain.”
This was considered a good plan, and now it was only a few days more until Wednesday—the day of the circus!
CHAPTER XIV
The Circus
News of the circus had spread from one end of Meadow Brook to the other. Every boy and girl in the place expected to get in to see the sights, and even some grown folks had made up their minds, from what they heard, there would be something interesting for them to see, and so they decided to go too.
Mrs. Bobbsey, Aunt Sarah, Dinah, and Martha had bought tickets for reserved seats (these cost ten cents each). Then Mildred Manners was going to bring her mother and her big sister, and Mabel Herold expected to have her mother with her also. Mr. Bobbsey was coming up from Lakeport purposely to see the circus, and Uncle Daniel had helped the boys put up the seats and fix things generally. A big tent had been borrowed from the Herolds; they were only out at Meadow Brook for the summer, and this tent was erected in the open field between the Bobbsey and the Mason farms, alongside the track where Tom had tried Sable.
The tent had large flaps that opened up the entire front, so that all the exhibits could be shown nicely to the people on the seats out side.
The seats were made of boards set on most anything that would hold them, with a few garden benches for reserved seats at the front.
Everything was ready, and the circus day came at last.
“Lucky it isn’t raining,” the boys declared as they rushed around putting the final touches to everything.
August Stout was appointed to collect the tickets, and Ned Prentice was to show the people to their seats.
Two o’clock!
Only one hour more!
Lots of children came early to get good seats. Roy Mason sat right in the front row alongside of Freddie. Nettie Prentice was on the very first bench back of the reserved seats. The Herolds came next, and had Aunt Sarah’s front garden bench, the red one. Mildred Manners’ folks paid ten cents each too, and they had the big green bench from the side porch.
“Give Mrs. Burns a front seat,” Harry whispered to Ned, as the busy farmer’s wife actually stopped her work to see what all the excitement was about.
The Bobbseys had come—Mr. Bobbsey and all,—and Dinah wore her best black bonnet.
“When will it begin?” Flossie asked, just trembling with excitement.
“I saw Harry and Bert go in the tent some time ago,” whispered Nan; “and see, they are loosing the tent flap.”
There was a shout of applause when Harry appeared. He actually wore a swallowtail coat and had on a choker—a very high collar—and a bright green tie. He wore long trousers too, and looked so strange even Aunt Sarah had to laugh when she saw him.
“Oh!” exclaimed all the children when they looked inside the tent.
“Isn’t it grand!” whispered Flossie.
Then Bert stepped up on the soap box in the middle of the ring.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” he began, making a profound bow, “ladies and gentlemen.”
Then everybody roared laughing.
Bert had to wait until they got through laughing at his funny costume, which was a good deal like Harry’s, only the latter wore a red tie.
In a few moments Bert went on again.
“Ladies and gentlemen! Our first number is Frisky, the Sacred Calf of India!” he exclaimed, imitating that strange-voiced man called a “Barker” and used at circuses.
Snap! snap! went Bert’s whip, and out from a side place, back of a big screen, came Jack Hopkins dressed like a real clown, leading our old friend Frisky, the runaway calf.
How awfully funny it was!
The calf had over him a plush portiere that reached clear down to the ground, and over each ear was tied a long-handled feather duster!
Such laughing and clapping as greeted this “first number”!
Frisky just turned around square in front and looked the people straight in the face. This funny move made Mr. Bobbsey “die laughing,” as Flossie said, and Uncle Daniel too was hilarious.
“The sacred calf is too sacred to smile,” laughed Uncle Daniel, while Dinah and Martha just roared.
The children didn’t think they ought to laugh out loud and spoil the show; even Freddie raised his finger to Dinah.
Suddenly the clown jumped on the calf’s back. He tried to stand on his head. Then he turned a somersault on to the sawdust.
Everybody clapped hard now, and the children began to shout.
But Bert snapped his whip and the clown went down on his hands and knees to apologize. Of course clowns are not supposed to speak, so Jack did everything by pantomime.
Next he came around and kissed Frisky. This made everybody roar again, and no matter what the clown did it certainly looked very fun
ny.
Finally Bert snapped his whip three times, and the clown jumped on Frisky’s back, over the plush curtain and all, and rode off.
“Wasn’t that splendid!” everybody exclaimed.
“I really never enjoyed a big circus more than this!” remarked Mrs. Bobbsey to Mrs. Burns. The others all said nice things too; and then Bert announced the next turn.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” he began again, “our next number will introduce to you the famous wildcats, Snoop and Fluffy. Real wildcats from the jungle, and this is the first—time—they—have ever been exhibited in—this country!”
Snap went the whip, and out came Harry with our little kitten friends one on each arm.
He whistled, and Snoop climbed on his shoulder!
He whistled again, and Fluffy climbed on the other shoulder.
This “brought the house down,” as Uncle Daniel said, and there was so much noise the kittens looked frightened.
Next Harry stretched out both arms straight and the kittens carefully walked over into his hands.
“Well, I declare!” exclaimed Dinah. “Jest see dat Snoopy kitty-cat! If he can’t do real reg’lar circus tricks! And jest to think how he cut up on de cars! ’Pears like as if he was doin’ it fer jokes den too!”
“And look at Fluffy!” exclaimed Martha; “as white as Snoop is black!” Harry stooped down and let the kittens jump through his hands, which is an old but none the less a very pretty trick.
With the air of a real master, Bert snapped his whip and placed on the table a little piece of board. He rubbed something on each end (it was a bit of dried herring, but the people didn’t know that), then Harry put Snoop on one end and Fluffy on the other.
“Oh, a teeter-tauter!” called Freddie, unable to restrain his joy any longer. “I bet on Snoop. He’s the heaviest.”
At the sound of Freddie’s voice Snoop turned around and the move sent Fluffy up the air.
“Oh! oh! oh!” came a chorus from the children, but before anybody in the circus had time to interfere off went Fluffy, as hard as she could run, over the lots, home.
The next minute Snoop was after her, and Harry stood alone in the ring bowing to the “tremendous applause.”
When the laughing had ceased Bert made the next announcement.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” he said, “we will now introduce our famous menagerie. First we have the singing mice.”
“They’re mine!” called Freddie, but Nan insisted on him keeping quiet.
“Now you will hear the mice sing,” said Bert, and as he held up the cage of little mice somebody whistled a funny tune back of the scenes.
“Good! good!” called Mr. Bobbsey. “We’ve got real talent here,” he added, for indeed the boys had put together a fine show.
“Now you see our aquarium,” went on Bert as Harry helped him bring forward the table that held the glass tank.
“Here we have a real sea serpent,” he said, pointing to a good fat chub that flopped around in the water.
“Let the little ones walk right up and see them,” Bert said. “Form in line and pass in this way.”
Not only the children went up, but grown folks too, for they wanted a look into the tank.
“Now here are our alligators and crocodiles,” announced Bert, pointing his whip at the turtles.
“And these are sea-lions,” he said, pointing out Freddie’s hop-toads.
At each announcement everybody laughed, but Bert went on as seriously as if he were deaf.
“In this separate tank,” he declared, “we have our boa-constrictors, the largest and fiercest in the world. This is the first time one of this specimen has ever been captured alive. Note the dangerous stripe on his back!”
It was Jack’s snakes that came in for this description, and the girls were quite afraid of them, although they were in a glass jar.
“Well, I declare!” said Mrs. Burns. “If this isn’t a sure-enough circus. I often paid a half-dollar when I went to see things no better than these!”
Everybody thought everything was splendid, and the boys were well paid for their efforts.
“Now,” said Bert, “here are our crystal fish from the deep sea!” (These were Tom’s goldfish.) “You will notice how bespangled they are. They say this comes from the fish eating the diamonds lost in shipwrecks.”
“What a whopper!” called someone back of the scenes whose voice sounded like Tom Mason’s.
Snap! went Bert’s whip, and the boys did not interrupt him again.
“The last part of our menagerie is the cage of prize butterflies,” said Bert. “These butterflies are rare and scarce and—”
“Hard to catch!” remarked someone not on the programme.
“Now there will be ten minutes’ intermission,” the announcer said, “so all may have time to see everything in the menagerie.
“After that we will give you the best number of the programme, our chariot race.”
“Oh, that’s going to be Tom!” exclaimed Roy.
“No, it’s Bert,” said Flossie.
“Well, Jack has our goat-wagon,” said Mildred.
“I guess there’ll be a whole lot in the race,” said Freddie, “and maybe they’ll have firemen.”
During the intermission August sold a whole big basket of peanuts, and the people wanted more. They knew all the money was to go to the fresh-air camp, which was probably the reason they bought so generously.
“I don’t know when I have enjoyed myself so much,” declared Mrs. Manners, fanning herself. “I had no idea boys could be so clever.”
“That’s because you only have girls,” laughed Mrs. Bobbsey.
“Don’t you think we ought to give them a treat for working so hard?” whispered Mrs. Herold to Aunt Sarah. “I would be delighted to have them all to dinner,” she added, in her society way, for the Herolds were quite rich.
“That would be very nice, I’m sure,” Aunt Sarah replied; “boys always have good appetites after having a lot of fun.”
All this time there was plenty of noise back of the scenes, and it was evident something big was being prepared.
Presently Bert and Harry came out and lowered the tent flap, first making sure all the little sightseers were outside.
“They’re comin’!” exclaimed Freddie, clapping his fat hands.
“Oh, I’m just so nervous!” whispered Flossie! “I hope none of the animals will get loose.”
“Now, ladies and gentlemen,” called Tom Mason, appearing at the tent, “if you will just turn round the other way in your seats and face that ring we will give you an exhibition of cowboy life on the plains!”
CHAPTER XV
The Chariot Race
Tom’s costume was a splendid imitation of a cowboy. He wore tan-colored overalls and a jumper, the jumper being slashed up at the sides like an Indian’s coat. On his head was a very broad sombrero, this hat having really come from the plains, as it belonged to a Western farmer who had lately moved to Meadow Brook.
Presently Tom appeared again, this time riding the fiery Sable.
“Hurrah! hurrah!” shouted the boys, as Tom drove into the ring like a major.
Bert now stepped into the middle of the ring alongside of some soap boxes that were piled up there.
“Now you see ladies and gentlemen,” began Bert, laughing a little at the show in broad daylight, “you see this (the soap boxes) is a mail coach. Our cowboy will rob the mail coach from his horse just as they used to do in the mountains of Arizona.”
Snap went the whip, and away went Sable around the ring at a nice even canter. After a few turns around Tom urged his horse on a little until he was going on a steady run. Every one kept quiet, for most of Meadow Brook people had heard how Sable had run away some days before.
“There ought to be music,” whispered Jack to Harry, for indeed the circus was so real it only lacked a brass band.
Now Bert put on top of the soap boxes Harry’s canvas schoolbag stuffed full of papers.
Sable was going along splendidly by this time, and everybody said what a pretty little horse he was.
“He’s goin’ to steal the mail box now!” whispered Flossie to Freddie. “I hope Sable won’t fall or anything.”
Snap! snap! went the whip as the horse ran faster and faster.
All of a sudden Tom got a good tight hold on the reins, then he pulled up alongside of the mail coach, leaned over, grabbed the mail bag, and spurred his horse at full speed around the ring.
“Hurrah! hurrah!” shouted everybody.
“Well done!” called Uncle Daniel.
“Couldn’t be better!” exclaimed Mr. Bobbsey.
Tom waved his hat now and patted Sable affectionately, as all good riders do when their horses have done well in the ring.
The men admired the little horse so much they came up and asked the “cowboy” a lot of questions about him, how old he was and who broke him in.
“One more number,” called Bert. “The chariot race.”
At this all took their seats again, and out trotted two clowns, Jack and August, each riding in a little goat wagon.
The goats were decorated with the Fourth of July buntings and the wagons had the tailboards out and were tipped up like circus chariots.
The clowns pulled up in line.
“One, two, three!” called Bert, with a really big revolver up in the air.
“Ready! Set! Go!” Bang! went the revolver (a blank cartridge, of course) and away started the chariots.
Jack wore a broad green belt and August had yellow. Jack darted ahead!
“Go it, green!” shouted one group of boys.
“Pass him, orange!” called another crowd.
Now August passed Jack just as they crossed the line.
“One!” called Bert. “We will have ten rounds.”
In the next the wagons kept almost even until just within a few feet of the line, then Jack crossed first.
“Two!” called Bert, while all the boys shouted for their favorite.
In the next three or four turns the riders divided even. Finally the last round was reached and the boys had tied; that is, both were even when the round started. This of course made the race very interesting, as both had equal chances of winning.
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