Laura Lee Hope

“ Bunny Brown and his sister Sue continued to have a lot of fun with the trick dog and their pony. One day some of his boy chums came over to see Bunny.
“Say,” asked Charlie Star, “when are we going to have that show you were talking of, Bunny?”
“That’s right,” added Harry Bentley. “We want to get up a show with your trick dog and your pony. We can get some other animals, too.”
“All right,” agreed Bunny. “Let’s go out to our barn now and talk about it. If we have the show it will be in our barn.” ”

“ Look!” cried Sue. “There’s a black kitten with white feet.”
“It doesn’t make much difference what kind of feet she has,” said Bunny quickly. “But if that’s a kitten she’d better not let Patter see her. He doesn’t like cats.”
As Bunny spoke this word “cats,” Patter pricked up his ears as if he knew what was said. Then he looked around and saw the pussy on the window sill, inside the church-fair hall. In another moment Patter dropped the basket of tickets, which scattered all about, and the dog, with a loud bark, raced across the room to get the kitten. ”

“ I’ll make it of silver and gold—like a fairy suit.”
“That will do for one suit, besides the Hallowe’en and his clown dress,” observed Bunny. “But I think it would look different if he had a tramp suit.”
“What you mean?” asked Sue.
[151] “I mean—I mean—well, in a circus or a show lots of times a man comes all dressed up like a ragged tramp, but he can do good tricks. Maybe we could have one act where Patter wore a ragged and torn suit like a tramp dog, and people would be surprised.”
“Oh, that will be fun!” agreed Sue. “I’ll make a tramp suit, too, Bunny.” ”

“ Now, it is a strange thing about the bark of a dog. It can be heard farther than most other sounds. Balloonists, carried high into the air, say that the bark of a dog is the last sound they can hear from the earth they are leaving.
And so, as it happened, Patter’s barking was heard when the calls of Bunny and Sue had not been. Besides, Patter was on shore and nearer the dock than the drifting boat.
Bunker Blue heard the dog’s barking cries. ”

“ Again Bunny and Sue looked worriedly at each other. In spite of what Daddy Brown said, this might, after all, be the Frenchman coming back after his trick dog. Certainly Patter was a dog that any one would want, he was so cute and wise.
“A stranger?” said Mr. Brown, and he seemed very thoughtful. “I can’t imagine who it can be. But I’ll see him.”
“Oh, I wonder——” began Mrs. Brown, and then she stopped. She was thinking perhaps it might be the old man who, earlier in the evening, had stopped to inquire about a Mr. Denton who was in the circus business. ”

“ BLACK BOBBY
Luckily the stairs in the old factory were in good shape. If they had been broken or so shaky that they would not have held up Bunny and Sue, the children might have fallen and been hurt.
But, as it was, Bunny and Sue reached the top and found themselves in a hallway. As there was no door leading from this, as far as Bunny and Sue could see, they kept on walking along the corridor. They made a turn and found themselves in a small room which had in it only one window.
“What we going to do now, Bunny?” asked Sue. ”

“ Then Patter sat up on his hind legs, as if “begging.”
[110] “Who taught him that trick?” asked Charlie Star.
“I don’t know,” Bunny answered. “But I guess it must have been that Frenchman who gave the dog to my father. He must have taught Patter a lot of tricks we don’t know anything about.”
“Well, as long as he holds up the basket, let’s pretend we’re ladies at the church fair, and we’ll make believe put tickets in the basket,” suggested George. “This will get Patter used to doing it.”
“How can we be ladies when we haven’t got long hair?” asked Charlie Star, with a laugh. ”

“ Out from under the upset table of cakes crawled Patter, to keep on after Whitefeet. Some of the ladies hurried to right the fallen table, and others began to pick up the scattered cakes.
“We could help do that,” said George to Harry. “Maybe if we picked up all the cakes they’d give us some to eat for nothing. There’s no use chasing that cat and dog any longer.” ”

“ Later on Bunny and Sue learned that this is just what Patter used to do in the show where the Frenchman exhibited him.
Down the long room, lined on either side with the church-fair tables, marched the dog with the cat on his back. Patter seemed rather proud of what he was doing, and the cat appeared to like it—that is, as much as cats like anything of the sort. Cats are not as fond of doing tricks as dogs are. They are, Bunker Blue used to say, “rather stuck-up.” ”

“ Men and women, boys and girls rushed here [120] and there after the dog and the kitten, calling to them, screaming and shouting.
“Patter! Patter! Come here! Stop it!” cried Bunny. He had picked up the basket his trick dog had been holding in his mouth to collect the tickets those coming to the fair had dropped into it. As for the tickets, they were scattered all over the room. “Patter, stop it! Come here!” cried Bunny again and again.
But though the dog generally minded very well, this time he did not mind. He paid no attention to Bunny Brown or to Sue. For Sue also called to her pet. ”

“ But before Bunny could answer Sue broke in to ask:
“Where is the Frenchman now, Daddy?”
“He has gone away,” Mr. Brown replied. “Why do you ask, Sue?”
“’Cause I thought maybe he might come back and take our trick dog away.”
“Oh, no, he wouldn’t do that,” said Mr. Brown. “This Frenchman is honest. After he gave me the dog to pay his debt he would not take the animal back. Now I must show you what tricks the dog can do and you can practice putting him through them.”
Once again the dog marched around and danced. Then Mr. Brown gave him a stick which the dog carried like a gun, playing soldier. ”

“ I [68] guess not!” cried Bunny. “Sure, he’s a trick dog! He’s a cap dog but not a stick dog!”
“That’s ’cause you didn’t tell him to go in after it,” said George. “If you tell him to go get the stick he will. He won’t mind me, that’s all,” for George had told Patter to get the stick when it was first thrown in, but the dog would not. “Lots of dogs won’t mind any but the fellow that owns them,” explained George. “Course that makes ’em all the better dog. But if you tell Patter to bring out my stick, Bunny, he’ll do it same as he would your cap.”
“All right, I’ll tell him,” said Sue’s brother. ”

“ The platform was made of strips of iron.
“We can just go down this even if the door is locked,” said Bunny. “Come on, Sue.”
“Are there any stairs?” she asked.
“There’s a ladder,” said Bunny. “Fire escapes don’t have stairs; they have ladders.”
“All right,” said Sue. “I can go up and down a ladder. I go up and down the one in our barn.” She had done this many times when playing with Bunny and his chums or her own girl friends.
Bunny stepped carefully out on the fire escape. He had seen that the factory was old and he thought perhaps the iron fire escape might be so rusted as to fall with him. ”

“ This is the first time the dog had to show us that he could do it, and he jumped up as soon as Toby stood still.”
“He didn’t jump up on Toby’s back when he first saw our pony,” remarked Sue.
“No, I suppose Patter wanted to see what Toby was like before he tried the trick,” suggested Mrs. Brown. “But now you know [46] your pony and your new dog are good friends.”
“Just as good as Splash and Toby were,” said Sue.
“I wish we had Splash back,” sighed Bunny. “Then we’d have two dogs and a pony.”
“I think one dog and a pony is quite enough,” laughed his mother. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Brown and the children were soon at the hospital, going in an automobile with Patter riding on the back seat as naturally as if he belonged there.
“We’d like to see Mr. Stern,” said Daddy Brown, when they entered the office of the hospital.
“May I take my dog up and make him do tricks?” asked Bunny.
“He means to make the dog do tricks,” said Sue, as if afraid the nurse in the office might think Mr. Stern had to do tricks.
[164] “Yes, since Mr. Stern is now in the sun parlor, and not in any of the wards or rooms, it will be all right to take your dog up,” said the nurse, with a smile. ”

“ Brown. “As long as you have the pony cart out and while Toby seems so fresh and strong, I’m sure it will do no harm if I ride with you to the hospital in the cart. It isn’t far and it’s a level road the whole way.”
“Oh, we’ll all go to the hospital!” cried Sue, clapping her hands in joy. Of course, for a well person to go to the hospital is not as bad as when a sick person has to go. I think if Sue had been ill or hurt and had to go to the hospital she might not have been so jolly. “We’ll all go!” she said. “Bunny and Daddy and I and Patter!” ”

“ I don’t suppose much can be done for the old man. He doesn’t seem to have any friends.”
“What hospital did they take him to?” asked Mr. Brown, for there were two not far from Bellemere. “I might go to see him, poor chap!”
Mr. Merton told what hospital it was and then left, for there was nothing more he could do, though he said he would inquire around and see if he could locate “Jim Denton,” or any one else who knew the old man.
“Poor fellow,” said Mrs. Brown, when her husband came back into the dining room, where Bunny and Sue were patting their new trick dog. ”

“ The boy lifted the crab from under his shoe and tossed the squirming creature into the basket with the other crabs.
“Can you get the claw off Patter’s leg?” asked George of Bunny.
[147] “Yes, I got it off,” was the answer. “But it was stuck pretty tight.”
Even after a crab’s claw is torn from its body the claw will still cling, for it has sharp points that lock like a spring trap.
Patter stopped howling and began to lick his slightly injured paw. Bunny watched his pet trick dog anxiously.
“I hope he won’t be lame,” he said. “If he’s lame he can’t do his tricks so well.” ”

“ We’ll put a tank of water in the show, which we can have here in our barn, I guess. Then the clown, who’ll be one of you boys, can come out and throw a stick into the tank of water. He’ll want Patter to go in and bring out the stick, but Patter won’t, just as he wouldn’t to-day.”
“Well, what’s the trick in that?” George wanted to know.
“Wait,” went on Bunny. “I’ll come along dressed up like a tramp, and when I see that Patter won’t bring out the stick for the clown, I’ll laugh and say I can make him bring it out.” ”

“ Brown, and Bunny was sure he could hear his father laughing back there in the office on the boat and fish dock. “Now don’t forget! Don’t go out after supper. And don’t go out until I come home. Tell mother I’ll be there soon.”
“But what for, Daddy?” asked Bunny. “Why don’t you want us to go out?”
“Are you going to take us to the movies?” [5] asked Sue. For sometimes Daddy Brown did this when there was a children’s play early in the evening.
“Well, we may go to the movies,” said Mr. Brown. “But perhaps you won’t care to go after you see what you’re going to see.” ”

“ There was a regular race to catch Patter and Whitefeet, though by this time it was mostly the boys who were running around—Bunny and his chums Charlie, George, and Harry, with a few others. Most of the women were laughing so hard they could not do much chasing, and the men were also chuckling at the sides of the room. The girls, too, except Sue, had given up trying to catch either the dog or the cat, but Sue ran around with Bunny, for she wanted to help him. ”

“ I might explain that a soft crab is one that has just shed its hard shell. Soft crabs are delicious fried in butter and put on a piece of toast. The only way to cook hard crabs is to boil them alive and pick out the meat, which is quite a lot of work. But, as Bunny had said, soft crabs were scarce. They are also much harder to catch than hard crabs.
When a hard crab grows, it finds its shell too small for it. ”