this time," said
Ben. "There'll be some surprises at our show."

"Oh, I wish it were time now!" cried Sue.

"We've got a surprise too; haven't we, Bunny?"

"Yep!" answered her brother. "Come on out to the barn, Sue and we'll
practise it again."

What it was Bunny and Sue were going to do, none of the big boys could
guess. And they did not try very hard, for they had too much to do
themselves, getting ready for the "big" circus as they called it, for
the first one, gotten up by Bunny and Sue, was only a little one.

So the smaller tent was made ready for the "wild" animals, though of
course there would really be no elephants, tigers or anything like that.
You couldn't have them in a boys' circus, and I guess the boys didn't
really want them. "Make-believe" was as much fun to them as it was to
Bunny and Sue.

There was nice, clear weather after the storm and flood, and soon the
circus tents were dried out again. The boards were once more put across
the boxes for seats.

One day Bunker and Ben went into the big tent. There they saw Bunny and
Sue tying some pieces of old carpet on to some of the planks down near
the front sawdust ring. For there was a real sawdust ring, the sawdust
having come from grandpa's ice-house.

"What are you putting carpet on the planks for?" asked Ben, of the two
children.

"To make preserved seats," answered Sue.

"Reserved seats, Sue. _Re_served--not _pre_served seats, Sue," corrected
Bunny.

"Well, it's just the same, 'most," said Sue, as she went on tying her
bit of carpet to a board. "We're making some nice, soft reserved seats
for grandpa and grandma, and mother and daddy."

"Oh, I see!" laughed Bunker. "That's a good idea. We can make soft seats
for the ladies, Ben. We'll get some more pieces of old carpet and have a
lot of reserved seats."

And this the big boys did. Bunny and Sue, little as they were, had given
them a good idea.

And now began the real work of getting ready for the circus. That is the
boys began taking into the smaller tent queer looking boxes and crates.
These boxes and crates were covered with cloth or paper, so no one
could see what was in them.

"What are they?" asked Sue, as she and Bunny stood outside the smaller
tent, for Bunker would not let them go inside.

"Oh, those are some of the wild animals," said the red-haired boy.

"Really?" asked Sue, her eyes opening wide.

"Well--really-make-believe," laughed Bunker.

"And are the white mice