Laura Lee Hope

“ Bobbsey with a smile.
"And I'm going to take Snoop!" cried Freddie, hugging the big, black cat, which did not seem to mind being loved so hard.
"Well if Snoop goes, then we ought to take Snap, the dog, too," declared Bert. "Snap would be lonesome if he were left behind, wouldn't he?"
"Oh, may we take them both, mamma?" begged Nan.
"Well, I guess so," was the answer, as Mrs. Bobbsey looked at her husband.
"That will be all right," he nodded. "The country is just the place for dogs and cats—it's better for them than houseboats."
"Oh, what fun we'll have!" sang Flossie. "What lovely times!" ”

“ Jugglers they were, men with trained horses, trick ponies, trained dogs and trained elephants. Some elephants played a ball game, others turned somersaults. Clowns jumped over their backs, and through paper hoops.
"Look here!" Nan would exclaim.
"No, see over there!" Bert would cry.
"Oh, mamma, a man jumped from the top of the tent right into a big fish net!" exclaimed Freddie.
"Look at the monkey riding on the dog's back," Flossie shouted.
"And see that man jump off a horse and jump on him again backwards!" called Tom Mason.
"Oh, but look at the cute ponies," sighed Mabel Herold. ”

“ Oh!" cried Flossie. "Let me hide! Let me hide!"
"Pooh! I'm not afraid of a ram!" declared Freddie. "If I had my fire engine unpacked, I'd squirt water on him!"
"Better not try that, little fat fireman," said his father with a laugh. "Into the house with you, son. Your mother will look after you."
Nan had already started from the porch, leading Flossie, who kept looking back over her shoulder. From behind the hedge came a cry that sounded like:
"Baa! Baa! Baa!"
"There he comes!" exclaimed Nan. "Come on in, Bert and Harry," she begged the two boy cousins, who were peering eagerly down the road. ”

“ Bobbsey, pointing to the men with the cameras, for now three or four of them were at work, taking views of the "fight" from different places.
"Mercy! What a racket!" exclaimed Aunt Sarah.
"Oh, I don't like it!" cried Flossie, covering her ears with her chubby hands. "Take me away, mamma; I'm afraid of the guns!"
"Pooh! There's nothing to be scared of!" exclaimed Freddie. "I'm going to be a soldier when I grow up, and shoot a gun."
"You can't play with me if you do," declared Flossie, when the bang of the cannon stopped for a moment, leaving the air quiet. ”

“ Men rode on top of the elephants' heads.
"Don't be afraid! Don't be afraid, Dinah!" said Freddie over and over again.
Ponies, camels, donkeys, more horses, more elephants and other animals went past in the parade.
Then came the gilded wagons, filled with gaily dressed men and women who nodded, smiled and waved their hands at the crowds in the streets.
Bert looked up at the window where Mr. Weston was perched with his camera, and saw him taking moving pictures.
"Oh, look! There's a lion in a cage!" cried Freddie, suddenly. ”

“ On all sides men were falling down, pretending to be shot, for those who took the moving pictures wanted them to seem as nearly like real war as possible.
"Oh, here they are!" suddenly exclaimed a voice back of Mr. Bobbsey and the others.
Turning, Bert saw his mother, with Aunt Sarah, Flossie, Freddie and Nan. They had come up the hill to look down into the valley and see what all the excitement was about.
"Yes, here we are!" cried Mr. Bobbsey. "Isn't this great? It's a sham battle." ”

“ See it!" and Bert pointed to a barn.
"Oh, you mean the circus posters," went on Harry, for Bert had pointed to the bright-colored pictures advertising the performance. There were shown men jumping through paper hoops or hanging from dizzy heights on trapeze bars, ladies riding galloping horses, and all sorts of wild animals, from the long-necked giraffe to the hippopotamus, who appeared to have no neck at all, and from the big elephant to the little monkey.
"Oh, I do hope we can see it!" cried Bert, as he and his cousin stood before the gay pictures. ”

“ We're going to the circus!"
The children were delighted with the pleasure in store for them. They talked of little else, and when they found that Tom Mason and Mabel Herold were also going to the show, they were more than delighted.
"Oh, what fun we'll have!" cried Nan.
"I—I hope none of the wild animals get loose," said Flossie, with rather a serious face.
"Nonsense! Of course they won't!" cried Bert.
"If they do, I—I'll squirt my fire engine on them!" cried Freddie.
"Lions and tigers are afraid of water."
"But elephants aren't, are they, mamma?" asked Flossie. ”

“ The cats seemed to like one another and the strange one let the little twins pet it as it lapped some milk from Snoop's saucer.
A little later Dinah called Flossie and Freddie into the house to have a glass of milk and some bread and jam, for it was past lunch time. The small twins came willingly enough.
"What are we going to do the rest of the summer?" asked Nan, as she sat next to her mother at the table. "Are we going away again?"
"I hope so!" exclaimed Bert. "The houseboat suited me, but if we can have a trip to the seashore, or go to the country, so much the better." ”

“ Nan had gone over to the home of Mabel Herold, the country girl, and
Flossie and Freddie found many things to amuse them about the farm.
Later on they came out to the orchard, and picked up apples from the
ground.
"I'll help fill Bert's bag, and you can help Harry," said Freddie to
Flossie.
"No, little fat fireman," said Harry, using the pet name his uncle called Freddie. "The apples on the ground are called 'windfalls.' The wind blows them down, and they get crushed and bruised by falling on the hard dirt, or stones. It would not do to put them in with the good hand-picked apples." ”

“ I'm going to get my fire engine. It squirts water, and wild animals is afraid of water."
"Yes, we've heard that story before," said Bert, with a laugh. "But don't you go out hunting for wild animals with that toy engine of yours, Freddie!" his older brother advised.
"No, indeed," added Nan. "Oh, I think we ought to go home, Bert."
"I'm going home," said the boy on the wagon, "and if I meet any animals on the way; I'm going to throw stones at 'em."
"Pooh! They won't be afraid of stones," declared Freddie.
"Yes, they will, too!" declared Jim Bates. ”

“ Mayn't I be in it?"
"Shall we let her?" asked Bert of his country cousin.
"Sure," said Harry kindly. "We boys won't be enough. We'll have to have the girls."
"Where's it going to be?" asked Nan.
"Here in the barn," her brother said. "We're going to make a cage for
Snap—he's going to be the lion."
"Can Snoop be one of the animals, too?" she inquired.
"Yes, Snoop will be the black tiger," decided Harry. "I only hope he keeps awake, and growls now and then. That will make it seem real."
"Snoop sometimes growls when he gets a piece of meat," suggested Nan. ”

“ Bobbsey, "but I have to go. I'll come back, of course, but not in time to take you to the circus, I'm afraid."
"Mamma can take us," said Freddie.
"Hardly," said Mrs. Bobbsey with a smile. "I want papa along when I have four children to take to a circus."
"My father will take us," said Harry. "He always goes to a circus when one comes around here."
"Oh, fine!" cried Bert. "Uncle Daniel will take us! Uncle Daniel will take us!" and he caught Nan around the waist and went dancing over the lawn with her.
"Now may we go, papa?" asked Nan, when Bert let her go. ”

“ Elephants don't eat anything but hay," said Freddie, who, of course, did not mean to be impolite, speaking to his aunt that way. "Frank told me so," he went on, "and I saw them eat hay. They eat a awful lot, and one of them took all my peanuts."
"Well, I'll buy you some more," said Uncle Daniel with a laugh. "You deserve it after the trouble you have had—getting lost and all that."
"I—I wasn't losted!" declared Freddie again. "I knew—"
"Oh, look at the balloons!" cried Flossie, as she saw a man outside the circus grounds selling the red, green and yellow gas-bags. "I want one, mamma!" ”

“ Bobbsey, who was the farmer's brother.
"All ready, I think," answered Mrs. Bobbsey. And off they started for
Meadow Brook farm, the horses prancing through the village streets.
"We'll have a lot of fun," said Harry to Bert, the two boys sitting next each other. "Maybe not as much fun as we had on your houseboat, Bert, but some, anyhow."
"I'm sure we shall," Bert said. "I like a farm just as much as I do a houseboat," he added politely.
"Have you got any little calves, Uncle Daniel?" asked Freddie.
"Yes," answered the farmer.
"And are there any little lambs?" Flossie wanted to know. ”

“ Bobbsey.
"Something the matter, ma'am?" asked the ring-master, in his shiny tall hat, as he cracked his long whip. "Is someone lost?"
"Yes, my little boy Freddie, and we are so worried about him!"
"Well, don't worry," said the ring-master kindly. "Boys, and girls too, are lost every day at our circus performances, but they are always found all right. Don't worry. I'll have some of the men hunt for him. And you folks come with me. It's just possible he has been found and taken to the lost tent."
"The lost tent!" exclaimed Uncle Daniel. "Have you lost a tent, too?" ”

“ Freddie and Flossie were up bright and early next morning, out playing with their balloons before breakfast. They tied long threads to them, and let them float above the trees.
"When will we have the balloon race?" asked Freddie.
"Whenever you like," Bert answered. "Only to have a race you have to let your balloon sail off, without any string fast to it, and you will not get it back again."
At first Freddie would not hear of that, but finally he and Flossie became tired of the toy circus balloons, and came to Bert to beg him to make a race for them. ”

“ Mason, your guardian?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, for she had heard her husband tell of the time he, Bert and Freddie had seen the boy shaken before he ran away.
"Oh, no'm!" Frank exclaimed. "I'm never going back to that lumber office. Mr. Mason accused me of losing twenty dollars for him. Well perhaps I did, but it wasn't my fault that the man gave me bad money that looked like good. I'm never going back!"
"Well, I don't know as I blame you," said Uncle Daniel softly, "but a circus is no place for a young boy. It's a hard life."
"Are you going to stay with this show?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. ”

“ Freddie wanted to hold the reins, but his uncle said the animals were too frisky that morning for such little hands.
"When they come back they will be tired, and won't be so anxious to run away," the farmer said. "Then you may drive, Freddie."
All along the road were circus posters, and at each new one which they saw the children would shout and laugh in delight. They saw many other farm wagons going along, also filled with family parties, who, like themselves, were going to the circus.
"Hurrah for the big show!" Bert or Nan would call out. ”

“ Perhaps he wanted to join in the fun, for it was fun for the turkey gobbler, if it was not for poor Snoop.
"Look out the way! Clear the track! Toot! Toot!" came a sudden cry and little Freddie came running toward the gobbler and cat, dragging after him his much-prized toy fire engine.
"Get back out of the way, Freddie!" ordered Bert. "Snoop may scratch or bite you, or the gobbler may pick you. Get out of the way!"
"I'm a fireman!" cried the fat little fellow. "Firemans never get out of the way! Toot! Toot! Clear the track! ”

“ For Sam was so laden down with packages that he could not balance himself very well, and had almost toppled over.
"Here, Snap!" called Bert, who was laughing so hard that he could hardly stand up, for really it was a funny sight.
"Don't call him, Bert," advised Mrs. Bobbsey. "If you do he'll run out, and then Sam surely will be knocked over. And there are some fresh eggs in one of those packages he took from Dinah."
Snap himself did not seem to know what to do. There he was, tightly held fast, his fat sides between Sam's bow legs. Snap could go neither forward nor backward just then. ”

“ After breakfast next morning Nan, who did not get up very early, looked for Harry and her brother.
"Where are the boys?" she asked her mother.
"Out in the barn," was the answer. "They took some big sheets of paper with them."
"They must be going to make kites," Nan said.
But when she saw what Bert and Harry were doing, she knew it was not a kite game they were planning. For in letters, made with a black stick on the sheets of paper, Nan read the words:
FIVE-PIN SHOW COME ONE COME ALL "Oh, what is it?" she cried. "Please tell me, Bert!" ”

“ Elephants eat hay. Were they eating any hay when that boy saw 'em? I wish elephants would go past our house."
"Quiet, Freddie dear, please," said Nan. "We want to hear about the wild animals. Did they really get loose?" she asked, and she looked over her shoulder, as did Flossie and Mabel Herold.
"Well, that's what Bill Snowden said," replied Jim Bates. "Of course I didn't see 'em run away myself, but I'm all ready for 'em, if I meet any bears, or lions or tigers," he added.
"Ready for 'em—how do you mean?" asked Bert. ”

“ Weston, Miss Burns and the camera man went back to the village hotel where they were stopping.
"Wasn't it great, Bert!" exclaimed Harry, as he and his cousin strolled over the fields.
"It certainly was," agreed Bert.
"If we could only see the pictures when they are finished," suggested
Mabel Herold. "It must be queer to see yourself in the movies."
"I think so, too," said Nan. "I'm going to find out where this play will be shown, in some theatre, and maybe mamma will take us to it."
"I hope she does," Bert said. "It will be fun to see Freddie falling in." ”

“ But when Tom rolled into the hen's nest, and the others laughed so heartily at him, that awakened the sleeping "little fat fireman."
"My! But you gave us a fright!" said Nan. "But it's all right now, dear," and she helped Freddie pull the hay out of his hair.
"I guess we've had enough of this game," suggested Harry. "Let's do something else."
"I'm hungry," announced Freddie. "Can't we play an eating game?"
"I think so," said Bert. "Dinah and Martha were starting to bake cookies before we came out to the barn, and they ought to be done now. Let's go in." ”

“ The same thought came to both of them.
"Let's go!" exclaimed Harry, eagerly.
"If our folks will let us," added Bert.
"Oh, I guess mine will," spoke the country boy. "Circuses don't come around here very often, and when they do, we generally go. I do hope they'll let you come, Bert."
"It's going to be a large circus," said Mr. Weston. "They have a good collection of wild animals."
"I don't believe they can beat our combination of a wild cat, Snoop, and a crazy turkey gobbler," said Bert to Harry with a laugh, when the two boys were on their way back to the farmhouse. ”