And this Ben and Bunker did.  Bunny and Sue showed Ben the mow, and the pile of hay, into which the trapeze performers were to fall, instead of into nets.

“So they won’t get hurt,” Bunny explained.  “We haven’t any nets, anyhow.”

“Do you think we could have a circus here?” Sue wanted to know.

“Why, I should think so,” Ben answered, looking up toward the roof of the barn.  “Yes, you could have a good make-believe circus here.”

“Will you help?” asked Bunny eagerly.

Ben Hall laughed, and looked at Bunny and Sue in a queer sort of way.

“What makes you think I can help you make a play-circus?” he asked.

“Oh, I guess you can, all right,” spoke up Bunker Blue.  “I guess you know more about a circus than you let us think.  Don’t you now?”

“Oh, well, I’ve seen ’em,” said Ben, slowly.

“And the way you jumped on the horse—­why, you must have been watching pretty hard to see just how to do that,” Bunker went on.  “I’ve seen lots of circuses, but I can’t jump up the way you can, Ben.”

“Then he can ride a horse in our circus,” said Sue.

“Can you hang on a trapeze?” asked Bunny.

“Well, maybe,” the new boy answered.  “But you haven’t any trapeze here, have you?”

“We can make one, out of a broom stick and some clothes line,” said Bunny.  “I’ve got ’em all ready,” and he showed where he had put, in a hole in the hay, the rope and stick.

“Good!  That’s the idea!” exclaimed Ben Hall.  “Now I’ll just climb up to the roof beams, and fasten the rope of the trapeze.”

Up climbed Ben, and he was making fast the ropes, when, all at once Bunny, Sue and Bunker Blue, who were watching the strange boy, saw him suddenly slip off the beam on which he was standing.

“Oh, poor Ben!” sighed Sue.  “He’s going to get an awful hard bump, so he is!”

CHAPTER VII

BUNNY HAS A FALL

Down and down, from the big beam near the top of the barn, fell Ben Hall.  And, as Bunny Brown and his sister Sue watched the new, strange boy, something queer happened.

For, instead of falling straight down, head first or feet first as you would think any one ought to fall, Ben began turning over and over.  Over and over he turned, first his feet and then his head and then his back being pointed toward the pile of hay on the bottom of the barn floor.

“Oh, look! look!” cried Sue.

“What—­what makes him do that?” asked Bunny Brown.

“I guess he wants to,” answered Bunker Blue.  Bunny and his sister thought they were going to be frightened when they saw Ben slip and fall.  But when the children saw Bunker Blue laughing they smiled too.

It was queer to see Ben turning over and over in that funny way.

“I guess he likes to do it,” said Bunker.

“Whoop-la!” yelled Ben as he came somersaulting down, for that is what he was doing; turning one somersault after another, over and over in the air as he fell.