Part 19 (1/2)

”Oh! oh! oh!” came a chorus from the children, but before anybody in the circus had time to interfere off went Fluffy, as hard as she could run, over the lots, home.

The next minute Snoop was after her, and Harry stood alone in the ring bowing to the ”tremendous applause.”

When the laughing had ceased Bert made the next announcement.

”Ladies and gentlemen,” he said, ”we will now introduce our famous menagerie. First we have the singing mice.”

”They're mine!” called Freddie, but Nan insisted on him keeping quiet.

”Now you will hear the mice sing,” said Bert, and as he held up the cage of little mice somebody whistled a funny tune back of the scenes.

”Good! good!” called Mr. Bobbsey. ”We've got real talent here,” he added, for indeed the boys had put together a fine show.

”Now you see our aquarium,” went on Bert as Harry helped him bring forward the table that held the gla.s.s tank.

”Here we have a real sea serpent,” he said, pointing to a good fat chub that flopped around in the water.

”Let the little ones walk right up and see them,” Bert said. ”Form in line and pa.s.s in this way.”

Not only the children went up, but grown folks too, for they wanted a look into the tank.

”Now here are our alligators and crocodiles,” announced Bert, pointing his whip at the turtles.

”And these are sea-lions,” he said, pointing out Freddie's hop-toads.

At each announcement everybody laughed, but Bert went on as seriously as if he were deaf.

”In this separate tank,” he declared, ”we have our boa-constrictors, the largest and fiercest in the world. This is the first time one of this specimen has ever been captured alive. Note the dangerous stripe on his back!”

It was Jack's snakes that came in for this description, and the girls were quite afraid of them, although they were in a gla.s.s jar.

”Well, I declare!” said Mrs. Burns. ”If this isn't a sure-enough circus. I often paid a half-dollar when I went to see things no better than these!”

Everybody thought everything was splendid, and the boys were well paid for their efforts.

”Now,” said Bert, ”here are our crystal fish from the deep sea!” (These were Tom's goldfish.) ”You will notice how bespangled they are. They say this comes from the fish eating the diamonds lost in s.h.i.+pwrecks.”

”What a whopper!” called someone back of the scenes whose voice sounded like Tom Mason's.

Snap! went Bert's whip, and the boys did not interrupt him again.

”The last part of our menagerie is the cage of prize b.u.t.terflies,” said Bert. ”These b.u.t.terflies are rare and scarce and--”

”Hard to catch!” remarked someone not on the programme.

”Now there will be ten minutes' intermission,” the announcer said, ”so all may have time to see everything in the menagerie.

”After that we will give you the best number of the programme, our chariot race.”

”Oh, that's going to be Tom!” exclaimed Roy.