“I see!” laughed Mr. Hooper.  “Well, I heard about your circus over here, so I came to ask if any of you had seen Ben.  I walked into the tent, and there I saw him doing the jump and somersaults he used to do in our tent.  I knew him right away, but before I could speak to him he ran away.

“I ran after him, hoping I could tell him how much we wanted him back, but I could not catch up to him.  So I went back to my circus, and made up my mind I’d come back here again to-day.  I’m glad I did, for now I’ve found you, Ben.”

Ben told Mr. Hooper, just as he had told Bunny and Sue, about sleeping all night out in the field, under a pile of hay, and then of creeping back to sleep in the tent.

“Well, do you want to come back with me, or stay here on the farm?” asked Mr. Hooper.  “I’ll promise that you’ll be well treated, Ben, and the head clown, who was so mean to you, isn’t with us any more.  You won’t be whipped again, and you’ll have a chance to become a head clown yourself.”

“Then I’ll come back with you,” said the circus boy.  “I’m very much obliged to you, for all you’ve done for me,” he said to Grandpa Brown and Grandma Brown, “and I hope you won’t be mad at me if I go away.”

“Not if you think it best to go,” said grandpa.  “You have been a good boy while here, and you have more than earned your board.  I don’t like to lose you, but if you want to be a clown, the circus is the best place for you.”

“All his folks were circus people,” said Mr. Hooper.  “And when that’s the case the young folks nearly always stay in the same business.  Ben will make a good clown when he grows up, and he will be a good jumper, too.”

“I’m going to be a circus man,” said Bunny.  “Can I be in your show, Mr. Hooper?”

“Well, we’ll see about that when you get a little older.  But you and your sister can come and see our circus, any time you wish, for nothing.  I watched you two do your scarecrow and pumpkin dance, and you did it very well.”

Bunny Brown and his sister Sue were pleased to hear this.

“Yes, it was a pretty good circus for young folks to get up all by themselves,” said Grandpa Brown.  “But how soon do you have to take Ben away with you, Mr. Hooper?”

“As soon as I can, Mr. Brown.  Our show is going to move on to-night, and I’d like to have Ben back in his old place if you can let him go.”

“Oh, yes,” said Grandpa Brown.  “He can go.  I hope you’ll be happy, Ben.”

“I’ll look well after him, and he shall have no more trouble,” said Mr. Hooper.  Then Ben told what a hard time he had after he ran away from the circus.  He had to sleep in old barns, and under hay-stacks, and he had very little to eat.  And when he came to grandpa’s house he did not tell that he had run away from the show, for fear some one would make him go back to the bad clown who beat him.

But everything came out all right, you see, and Ben was happy once more.  Of course, Bunny and Sue felt sorry to have their friend leave them, but it could not be helped.