Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue Playing Circus | Page 9

but don't get into mischief."
"We won't!" promised Bunny Brown and his sister Sue. And they really meant what they said. But you just wait and see what happens.
The rest of that day Bunny and Sue talked about the circus they were going to have. Grandma Brown, as well as father and Mother Brown, said she did not mind if a circus was held in the barn, but she wanted Bunny to be careful about going on the trapeze.
"Oh, if I fall I'll fall in the hay," said the little fellow with a laugh.
"And what are you going to use to put stripes on your half of Splash?" asked his mother.
"Paint, I guess," said Bunny.
"Oh, no. Paint would spoil Splash's nice, fluffy hair. I'll mix you up some starch and water, with a little bluing in, that will easily wash off," promised Mother Brown.
"Blue stripes!" cried Bunny. "A tiger doesn't have blue stripes, and my half of Splash is going to be a tiger."
"You can pretend he is a new sort of tiger," said Grandma Brown, and Bunny was satisfied with that.
That afternoon Bunny and Sue went to the homes of the neighboring children to tell them about the circus. Nearly all the children said they would come, and take part in the show in the barn.
"Oh, we'll have a fine circus!" cried Bunny Brown that night when they were all sitting on the porch to cool off, for it was quite hot.
"Yes, I guess we'll all have to come and see you act," said Daddy Brown.
"Hark! What's that?" suddenly asked Grandma Brown. They all listened, and heard some one knocking at the back door.
"I'll go and look," said grandpa. "Maybe it's a tramp. There have been some around lately."
Bunny and Sue thought of the tramps who had taken the big cocoanut-custard cake, about which I told you in the book before this one. Perhaps those tramps had gotten out of jail and had come to get more cake. Bunny and Sue sat close to mother and father while grandpa went around the corner of the house to see who was knocking at the back door.
They all heard grandpa speaking to some one. And the answers came in a boy's voice.
"What do you want?" asked grandpa.
"If--if you please," said the strange boy's voice, "I--I'm very hungry. I haven't had any dinner or supper. I'm willing to do any work you want, for something to eat. I--I----"
And then it sounded as though the strange boy were crying.
"That isn't a tramp!" exclaimed Grandma Brown, getting up. "It's just a hungry boy. I'm going to feed him."
They all followed Grandma Brown around to the back stoop. There was a light in the kitchen, and by it Bunny and Sue could see a boy, not quite as big as Bunker Blue, standing beside grandpa. The boy had on clothes that were dusty, and somewhat torn. But the boy's face and hands were clean, and he had bright eyes that, just now, seemed filled with tears.
"What is it?" asked Grandma Brown.
"It's a hungry boy, Mother. A strange, hungry boy!" said grandpa. "I guess we'll have to feed him, and then we'll have him tell us his story."
CHAPTER V
SOMETHING QUEER
"Come right in and sit down!" was Grandma Brown's invitation. And she said it in such a kind, pleasant voice that the strange boy looked around as though she were speaking to some one who had come up behind him, that he could not see.
"Come right in, and get something to eat," went on the children's grandmother.
"Do you--do you mean _me_?" asked the strange boy.
"Why, yes. Who else do you s'pose she meant?" asked Grandpa Brown.
"I--I didn't know, sir. You see I--I'm not used to being invited into places that way. I thought maybe you didn't mean it."
"Mean it? Of course I mean it!" said Grandma Brown.
"You're hungry; aren't you?" asked Grandpa Brown.
"Hungry. Oh, sir--I--I haven't had anything since breakfast, and then it was only a green apple and some berries I picked."
"Land sakes!" cried Grandma Brown. "Why didn't you go up to the first house you came to and ask for a meal?"
"I--I didn't like to, ma'am. I thought maybe they'd set the dog on me, thinking I was a tramp."
By this time Splash, the big pet dog, had come around the path. The strange boy looked around as though getting ready to run.
"He won't hurt you," said Bunny quickly. "Splash is a good dog."
Splash went up to the strange boy, rubbed his cold, wet nose on the boy's legs, and then Splash began to wag his tail.
"See, he likes you," said Sue. "He's going to be in our show; Splash is. He's going to be half a blue-striped tiger when we have our circus."
"Circus!" cried the strange boy. "Is--is there a circus around here?" and he