"Maybe," hesitated Bunny. "Oh, I know what I'll do!" he exclaimed. "I'll get the clothes line for a la.s.so, and I'll pretend to be a Wild West cowboy. Then I can la.s.so the rooster and make an ostrich of him."

"Oh, fine!" cried Sue, clapping her hands. The rooster, who did not in the least guess what was going to happen to him, flapped his wings and crowed loudly.

CHAPTER XI

PRACTICE FOR THE CIRCUS

Bunny Brown took a piece of clothes line that hung down from one of the posts. He was sure his grandma or his mother would not want this end, so he could take it.

"Anyhow, it isn't wash-day," said Bunny to Sue, "and as soon as I la.s.so the rooster I can put the line back again. I can tie on what I cut off."

Bunny had an old knife Bunker Blue had given him. It was a knife Bunker had used to open clams and oysters, and was not very sharp. That was the reason Bunker gave it to Bunny. Bunker did not want the little boy to cut himself. With this old knife Bunny cut off a bit of clothes line. He had to saw and saw back and forth with the dull blade of the knife before he could cut the line.

But at last he had a long piece of rope.

"Now I'll make a la.s.so just like the cowboys have in the Wild West,"

said Bunny.

Bunny had once seen a show like that, so he knew something of what the cowboys did with their la.s.sos, which are long ropes, with a loop in one end. They throw this loop around the head, or leg, of a cow or a horse, and catch it this way, so as not to hurt it.

"Now see me catch the rooster, Sue!" called Bunny.

"I'll help you," offered the little girl. "You stand here by the rose bush, I'll shoo the rooster up to you, then you can la.s.so him."

"All right!" cried Bunny, swinging the piece of clothes line around his head as he had seen the cowboys do in the show.

"c.o.c.k-a-doodle-do!" crowed the rooster, and then he made a funny gurgling noise, as he saw Sue running toward him. The old rooster was not used to children, as, except when Bunny Brown and his sister Sue came to their grandpa's farm, there were no little ones about the place.

And when the old rooster saw Sue running toward him, he did not know what to make of the little girl.

"Shoo! Shoo!" cried Sue, waving her hands. "Shoo! Scat!"

"c.o.c.k-a-doodle-do!" crowed the rooster, and it sounded just as if he said, "I don't know what to do!"

"Shoo! Shoo!" cried the little girl, and she tried to drive the rooster over toward Bunny, so he could la.s.so the big crowing bird.

But the rooster was not going to be caught as easily as that. He ran to one side, around the rose bush and off toward the garden.

"Get him, Bunny! Get him!" cried Sue.

"I will!" shouted the little make-believe cowboy. After the rooster he ran, swinging his la.s.so. "Whoa there! Whoa!" called Bunny.

"Shoo! Shoo!" exclaimed Sue.

"No--no! Don't do that!" begged Bunny.

"Don't do what?" Sue asked.

"Don't shoo him that way. That makes him run. I want him to stand still so I can catch him."

"But you said cowboys catched things when they were running, like this rooster is," objected Sue.

"Yes," agreed Bunny, "but I haven't been a cowboy very long you see. I want the rooster to stand still so I can la.s.so him. So don't _shoo_ him--just whoa him!"

Then Bunny called:

"Whoa! Whoa there!"

"That's what you say to a horse--not to a rooster," said the little girl.

"I know," Bunny answered. "But I guess this rooster knows horse talk, 'cause there's horses around here. Whoa there!"

But even if the rooster did understand horse talk, he was not going to stop and let Bunny la.s.so him. That was sure. On and on the rooster ran, crowing and cackling. The hens and other roosters heard the noise, and crowed and cackled too, wondering what it was all about.

"Here he comes, Bunny! Here he comes!" cried Sue, as the big old rooster, having run toward a fence, until he could go no farther, had to turn around and run back again. "Get him, Bunny!"

"I will!" cried the little boy. "I'll get him this time."

But the rooster was running very fast now, for he was very much scared.

Back and forth he went, from one side to the other. He did come close to Bunny, but when the little boy threw his clothes line rope la.s.so it fell far away from the rooster.

"Oh, you missed him!" cried Sue, much disappointed.

"But I'll get him next time," said Bunny, as he picked up his la.s.so and ran after the rooster.

Back and forth around the garden, under the lilac and rose bushes, ran Bunny and Sue after the old rooster. The rooster was getting tired now, and could not go so fast. Neither could Bunny nor Sue, and Bunny's arm was so tired, from having thrown his la.s.so so much, that he wanted to stop and rest. But still he wanted to catch the rooster.

"Here he comes now--get him, Bunny!" cried Sue, as she went around one side of the currant bush, while Bunny came around the other side. The rooster was right between the two children, and as there was a fence on one side of him, and the bush on the other, it looked as if he would be caught this time.

"Oh, get him, Bunny!" Sue called. "Get him!"

"I--I will!" answered her brother. "I'll just grab him in my arms. I can put the la.s.so on him afterward."

The rooster was running away from Sue who was right behind him, and the rooster was heading straight for Bunny. The little boy put out his arms to grab the big fowl, when the rooster, with a loud crow and cackle, flew up over Bunny's head, over the fence and into the meadow beyond.

And Bunny was running so fast, and so was Sue, that, before they could stop themselves, down they both fell, in the soft gra.s.s. For a moment they sat there, looking at one another. Then Sue smiled. She was glad to sit down and rest, even if she had fallen. And so was Bunny.

"Well, we didn't get him," said Bunny slowly, as he looked at the rooster, now safe on the other side of the fence.

"No," said Sue. "But you can climb over the fence in the meadow."

"I--I guess I don't want to," said the little fellow.

"h.e.l.lo! What's going on here? Who's been chasing my old rooster?" asked Grandpa Brown, coming up just then, and looking at the two children.