To and fro swung Bunny, but soon his arms began to get tired.

“I—­I want to get down!” he called.  “Stop the swing—­I mean the trapeze,” for the trapeze was very much like a swing, as I have told you, only, instead of a board, it had only a stick to which the little boy was holding by his hands.  “I want to get down,” Bunny called.  “Stop me, Bunker.”

“Let go and jump,” advised Ben.

“Oh, I—­I’m afraid,” said Bunny.

“You won’t get hurt!” exclaimed the older boy.  “You must learn to jump from the trapeze into the soft hay.  That’s what they do in a circus.  Jump while you’re swinging.  You won’t get hurt.”

“Are you sure, Ben?”

“Sure.  Give a jump now, and see what happens.”

Bunny wanted to do some of the things he had seen the circus men do, and one of them was jumping from the trapeze.  The little boy looked down at the pile of hay below him.  It seemed nice and soft, but it also looked to be a good distance off.

“Come on, Bunny, jump!” called Bunker.

“All right.  Here I come!”

Bunny let go of the trapeze bar.  He shot through the air, and, for a second or two, he was afraid he was going to be hurt.  But, the next thing he knew, he had landed feet first on a soft pile of hay and he wasn’t hurt a bit!

“Good!” cried Bunker Blue.

“You did that well!” said Ben Hall.

“Just like in a circus,” added Sue.

“Did I do it good?” asked Bunny Brown.

“You surely did.  For the first time it was very good for such a small boy,” answered Ben.  “Now try again.”

“Oh, I like it!” Bunny cried.  “I’m going to do it lots and lots of times, and then I’m going to turn somersaults.”

“Well, not right away,” advised Ben.  “Try the easy part for a while yet.”

Bunny swung on the trapeze some more, and dropped into the soft hay.  He was not at all afraid now, and each time he did it he liked it more and more.

Sue, also, wanted to try it, and so she hung by her little hands.  But Bunker Blue put his strong arms under her so, in case she slipped, she would be caught.  Sue did not swing on the trapeze, nor jump, as Bunny had done.

Bunker and Ben put up more trapezes in the barn—­big ones for themselves.  Ben could swing and turn somersaults and drop off into the hay from away up near the roof of the barn.  Bunker could not do quite as well as this, but, for all that, he was pretty good.

“Will you two act in our circus?” asked Bunny of Bunker and Ben.

“Why, yes, I guess I will, if your grandfather lets me stay here on this nice farm,” Ben answered.

“Oh, he’ll let you stay,” Bunny said.  “I’ll tell him we want you in our circus.”

“All right,” laughed Ben.  “Bunker and I will practise some trapeze acts for your show.”

For a little while longer Bunny and Sue played about in the barn.  Bunny found an old strawberry crate, with a cover on.