"Oh! How glad the old hen is to see them safe on sh.o.r.e again!" cried Sue.

And, indeed, the mother hen did seem glad to have her family with her once more. She clucked over them, and tried to hover them under her warm wings, thinking, maybe, that she would dry them after their bath.

But ducks' feathers do not get wet in the water the way the feathers of chickens do, for ducks feathers have a sort of oil in them. So the little ducks did not need to get dry. They ran about in the sun, quacking in their baby voices, and the mother hen followed them about, clucking and scratching in the gravel to dig up things for them to eat.

"They'll be all right now," said Grandpa Brown. "The next time the little ducks go into the water the old hen mother won't be at all frightened, for she will know it is all right. This always happens when we let a chicken hatch out ducks' eggs."

"And I thought the little chickens were drowning!" laughed Sue, as she put on her shoes again.

"Well, that's just what the mother hen thought," said Grandpa Brown.

"But what have you children been doing?"

"Getting ready for a circus," answered Bunny Brown.

"A circus!" exclaimed grandpa, in surprise.

"Yes," explained Sue. "Bunny is going to get a trapeze, and fall down in the hay, where it doesn't hurt. And he's going to paint his half of our dog Splash, so Splash will look like a tiger, and we're going to have a horse, and Bunker Blue is going to hold me on so I can ride and--and----"

But that was all Sue could think of just then.

Grandpa Brown looked surprised and, taking off his straw hat, scratched his head, as he always did when thinking.

"Going to have a circus; eh? Well, where abouts?"

"In your barn," said Bunny. "That is, if you'll let us."

Grandpa Brown thought for a little while.

"Well," he said slowly, "I guess I don't mind. I s'pose it's only a make-believe circus; isn't it?"

"Yes," answered Bunny. "Just pretend."

"Oh, well, go ahead. Have all the fun you like, but don't get hurt. Are you two going to be the whole circus?"

"Oh, no!" exclaimed Bunny. "We're going to have Tom White and Ned Johnson----"

"And Nellie Bruce and Sallie Smith," added Sue.

"All the children around here; eh?" asked grandpa. "Well, have a good time. I used to have a trained dog once. He would do finely for your circus."

"What could he do?" Bunny wanted to know.

"Oh, he could pretend to say his prayers, make believe he was dead, he could turn somersaults and climb a ladder."

"Oh, if we only had him for our circus!" cried Bunny.

"Where is that dog now, Grandpa?" asked Sue.

"Oh, he died a good many years ago. But I guess you can get your dog Splash to do some tricks. Have a good time, but don't get into mischief."

"We won't!" promised Bunny Brown and his sister Sue. And they really meant what they said. But you just wait and see what happens.

The rest of that day Bunny and Sue talked about the circus they were going to have. Grandma Brown, as well as father and Mother Brown, said she did not mind if a circus was held in the barn, but she wanted Bunny to be careful about going on the trapeze.

"Oh, if I fall I'll fall in the hay," said the little fellow with a laugh.

"And what are you going to use to put stripes on your half of Splash?"

asked his mother.

"Paint, I guess," said Bunny.

"Oh, no. Paint would spoil Splash's nice, fluffy hair. I'll mix you up some starch and water, with a little bluing in, that will easily wash off," promised Mother Brown.

"Blue stripes!" cried Bunny. "A tiger doesn't have blue stripes, and my half of Splash is going to be a tiger."

"You can pretend he is a new sort of tiger," said Grandma Brown, and Bunny was satisfied with that.

That afternoon Bunny and Sue went to the homes of the neighboring children to tell them about the circus. Nearly all the children said they would come, and take part in the show in the barn.

"Oh, we'll have a fine circus!" cried Bunny Brown that night when they were all sitting on the porch to cool off, for it was quite hot.

"Yes, I guess we'll all have to come and see you act," said Daddy Brown.

"Hark! What's that?" suddenly asked Grandma Brown. They all listened, and heard some one knocking at the back door.

"I'll go and look," said grandpa. "Maybe it's a tramp. There have been some around lately."

Bunny and Sue thought of the tramps who had taken the big cocoanut-custard cake, about which I told you in the book before this one. Perhaps those tramps had gotten out of jail and had come to get more cake. Bunny and Sue sat close to mother and father while grandpa went around the corner of the house to see who was knocking at the back door.

They all heard grandpa speaking to some one. And the answers came in a boy's voice.

"What do you want?" asked grandpa.

"If--if you please," said the strange boy's voice, "I--I'm very hungry.

I haven't had any dinner or supper. I'm willing to do any work you want, for something to eat. I--I----"

And then it sounded as though the strange boy were crying.

"That isn't a tramp!" exclaimed Grandma Brown, getting up. "It's just a hungry boy. I'm going to feed him."

They all followed Grandma Brown around to the back stoop. There was a light in the kitchen, and by it Bunny and Sue could see a boy, not quite as big as Bunker Blue, standing beside grandpa. The boy had on clothes that were dusty, and somewhat torn. But the boy's face and hands were clean, and he had bright eyes that, just now, seemed filled with tears.

"What is it?" asked Grandma Brown.

"It's a hungry boy, Mother. A strange, hungry boy!" said grandpa. "I guess we'll have to feed him, and then we'll have him tell us his story."