“Ladies and gentlemen, as well as boys and girls,” went on Ben.  “We will now pass to the next cage.  This is a real wild animal.  He has sharp teeth, so do not go too close to his cage.  He is the wild chicken-eater of the woods!”

“Oh, I wonder what that can be?” whispered Sue.

“We’ll see in a minute,” Bunny answered.  The two children, as well as the other boys who were to take part in the show in the big tent later on, were now following the crowd around to see the animals.

“Behold the wild chicken-eater of the woods!” cried Ben, as he pulled aside a blanket from another wooden box-cage.

This time there was a sort of snarl and bark.  It was so real that everyone knew this was a real animal, and not a boy dressed up in a skin or fur rug.  Some of the little children tried to run out of the tent.

“Don’t be afraid!” called Ben.  “He can’t get loose.  There he is!”

He pulled the blanket aside and there everyone saw a small reddish animal, as big as a dog, with a large, bushy tail, a sharp pointed nose, and very bright eyes.

“What is it?” asked Sue.  “Oh! what is it?”

“It’s a fox,” answered her brother.  “I once saw one in the real circus where grandpa found his horses the Gypsies took.”

“Yes, it is a fox,” said Ben.  “And a fox just loves to eat chickens and live in the woods.”

“Where did you get him,” Bunny asked.

“Oh, one of the boys caught him in a trap, and saved him for the circus.  He is going to tame him, but the fox is quite wild yet.”

And indeed the fox was.  For he jumped about, and tried to bite and scratch his way out of the cage.  But the wooden bars were too strong for him.

The people who had come to the circus gotten up by the big boys, stood for some time looking at the fox, which was a real wild animal.  Some of the farmers, though they had lived in the country all their lives, had never seen a fox before.

“Now, if you will come down this way!” said Ben, as he started toward a place in the tent that had been curtained off, “I will show you our trained bear.”

“Oh, is it real?” asked Sue.

“You’ll see,” said Ben, who seemed to know how to talk and act, just like a real ring-master in the circus.

Ben stood in front of the little corner of the tent, that was curtained off, so no one could see what was behind it.

“Are you all ready in there?” Ben called, loudly.

“Yes, yes, all ready!” was the quick answer.  And the voice did not sound like that of any of the boys from the nearby farms.

“Oh, I didn’t know a bear could talk,” cried Sue, and everyone laughed, for the tent was very still and quiet just then, and Sue’s voice was heard all over.

“That wasn’t the bear talking,” said Ben.  “It was his trainer.  The man who makes the bear do tricks you know.”

“Oh, is it a trick bear?” Sue asked.