Sam and Bunker Blue had painted some signs which they tacked up on Grandpa Brown’s barn, as well as on the barns of some of the other farmers.  Everybody was invited to come to the circus, and those who wanted to could give a little money to help pay for the hire of the big tent.  Many of the farmers and their wives said they would do this.

One by one the animal cages, which were just wooden boxes with wooden slats nailed in front, were brought into the animal tent.  They were put around in a circle on the straw which covered the ground.

In the other tent the boys had made a little wooden platform, like a stage.  They had put up trapezes and bars, on which they could do all sorts of tricks, such as hanging by their hands, by their heels and even by their chins.

No one except themselves knew what Bunny and his sister Sue were going to do.  The children had kept their secret well.  They had asked their grandma for two old bed sheets, and she had let them take the white pieces of cloth.  Bunny and Sue were making something in the harness room of the barn, and they kept the door shut so no one could look in.

It was the night before the circus, and Bunny and Sue had gone to bed.  They were almost asleep when, in the next room, they heard their mother call: 

“Oh, Walter!” exclaimed Mrs. Brown to her husband.  “There’s something under my bed.  I’m sure it’s one of the animals from the boys’ circus!  Do look and see what it is!”

“Oh, it can’t be anything,” said Mr. Brown.  “All the animals are shut up in the tent.  Besides, they are only make-believe animals, anyhow.”

“Well, I’m sure something is under my bed!” said Mrs. Brown.  “I heard it move.  Please look!”

Mr. Brown looked.  Sue and Bunny wondered what it was their papa would find.  They heard him say: 

“Oh, it’s nothing but a piece of white paper.  You heard it rattle in the wind.  Come and see for yourself.”

Bunny and Sue heard their mother cross the room.  She stooped down to look under the bed.  Then she cried: 

“Oh, Walter!  It’s alive!  It isn’t paper at all.  It’s coming out!”

“Why, so it is!” said Mr. Brown.  “I wonder what—?”

Then Mrs. Brown screamed, and Mr. Brown laughed.

“Oh, it’s a mouse!  It’s a rat!  It’s a whole lot of mice!” said Bunny’s mother.

“Yes, it’s a whole lot of mice, and they’re white!” said Mr. Brown with a jolly laugh.  “Hurrah!  We’ve found the lost white mice from the boys’ circus!  You needn’t be afraid of them!”

Mrs. Brown did not scream any more.  She was not afraid of white mice.  Bunny and Sue ran into the room where their mother and father were.  There they saw their father picking up the white mice in his hands, and petting them.  The mice seemed to like it.

“Oh, where did you find them?” cried Bunny.

“Under our bed,” his mother said.