“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. Reserved—­not preserved 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 there?” asked Bunny.

“Yes, the white mice are in the tent,” said Bunker.

One of the country boys, who had a lot of white mice had promised to lend them to the circus.  He had taught them to do some little tricks, and this was to be a part of the show.

“Oh, I can hardly wait!” cried Sue.  “I want to see the circus.”

“Well you can now, in a day or so,” said Bunker.  “Hi there!  What have you?” he asked of a boy who came up to the tent with a box on a wheelbarrow.