y it all very much. The first act came to
an end with all the children joining in singing a chorus.

"And now for act two!" exclaimed Mr. Treadwell, as the curtain went
down. "This is in the barnyard, you know."

"I hope Peter crows at the right time!" said George, for it had been
decided to try the rooster in that act.

While the audience sat in front of the lowered curtain, waiting for it
to go up again, the children behind the curtain were very busy. Most of
them had to dress in different clothes, or "costumes," as they are
called, for the next act. And, for a time, there was much hurrying to
and fro, much hunting here and there for things that had been mislaid.

"Where's my red hat?" called Charlie Star as he looked back of a piece
of scenery that had a little brook painted on it. "Has anybody got my
red hat?"

"Is it a fireman's hat, Charlie?" asked Sue, who was looking for some
one to help her pin her dress in the back.

"No, it was a soldier's hat, but I'm going to make believe I'm a
fireman, so I guess you could call it a fireman's hat," explained
Charlie. "Has anybody seen my red hat?"

"Hush! Not so loud!" called Mr. Treadwell to Charlie. "The audience out
in front will hear you, and they'll all be laughing at us."

"Oh!" said Charlie more quietly. "But I've got to have my hat, or I
can't be in the next act."

"I'll help you hunt for it," said Bunny Brown. "I know where all my
things are for the next act and I have time to help you, Charlie, 'cause
you helped me a lot by printing the tickets for our show."

The two little boys began to hunt behind the scene, on the stage, for
the missing red hat. They searched all around for it, but it seemed to
have disappeared. Even Mr. Treadwell helped look, for he knew the play
would not go right unless Charlie was dressed as had been planned for
him.

"Did anybody see Charlie's red hat?" finally the impersonator called,
when he managed to stop all the others from talking for a moment.
"Please think, and see if you can remember seeing a red hat."

Then the buzz of talk broke out again, while the men who had been hired
to do it kept on setting up the scenes for the second act. But all the
children who had time to _do_ so helped Bunny look for the red hat.

"Maybe Splash took it," suggested Sue, when she had finally gotten her
dress pinned to suit her. "I saw him dragging something off to one
corner a while ago."

"Was it a bone?" asked Bunny.

"I couldn't