lept rather late the next morning, but when they did
awaken they heard a queer rumbling on the road beside which their
automobile was drawn up.

"Is that thunder?" asked Bunny.

"It sounds like it," answered Sue, who showed no signs of having caught
cold from her bath in the lake.

The children peered from the little windows near their bunks. They saw
going along the road a number of gaily painted wagons--great big wagons,
drawn by eight or ten horses each, and with broad-tired wheels.

Together Bunny and Sue cried:

"It's a circus! It's a circus! Hurrah!"

CHAPTER XXII

A LION IS LOOSE

Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue lost no time in getting dressed that
morning, and hurrying out to the tiny dining room where their mother was
getting breakfast.

"Did you see it?" gasped Sue.

"Have the elephants gone past yet?" Bunny inquired, his eyes big with
excitement.

"Oh, you mean the circus," said Mrs. Brown. "No, I haven't seen any
elephants yet. The big wagons just started to go past."

"Then let's hurry up our breakfast and watch for the elephants and the
tigers," cried Bunny, greatly worried lest he miss any of the animals.

"You have plenty of time," said Uncle Tad, who was out near the back
steps of the automobile, sorting his fish lines and hooks. "The circus
has just started to go past. Those wagons have in them the tent poles,
the canvas for the tents, the things for the men to eat and the big
stoves. These are always unloaded first--in fact, they are sent on ahead
of the rest of the show.

"Not until later in the morning will the animals and the other wagons
come along. The circus must have unloaded over at Kirkwell," and he
pointed to a railroad station about a mile away. "The tents are going up
on the other side of this town, I heard some of the circus drivers say."

"Oh, won't we have fun watching them go past?" cried Sue. "I wonder if
they'll have a parade? If they do, and it goes past our house--I mean
our automobile--we can see it better than anybody, can't we?"

"Yes. But the parade won't come this far out into the country," said
Uncle Tad. "It will go through the streets of the town."

"Where are you going?" asked Bunny, suddenly looking at the old soldier.

"I thought I'd go fishing over to Blue Lake. Looked yesterday as if
there were plenty of fish there. Want to go with me, Bunny Brown?"

"Huh? An' the circus comin' to town?" asked Bunny, clipping the end off
his words. "Say,