ttle fellows could not do many tricks, but they did
very well, so all the grown folks said. They hung by their hands, and by
their legs, and Ned Johnson, who was quite strong for his age, "turned
himself inside out," as he called it, by pulling up his legs and putting
them over his head, and under the trapeze bar.

Suddenly Bunny Brown gave a call.

"All ready now for our big swing!"

"I'm ready!" answered Tom.

"So am I," added Ned.

The three boys swung back and forth. All at once Bunny cried:

"Let go!"

Away they sailed through the air.

"Oh, they'll be hurt! They'll fall and be hurt!" cried Grandma Brown.

"No, this is only part of the show," said Mother Brown.

And so it was. For Bunny, Ned and Tom landed safely on a big pile of
hay, having jumped into the mow when they let go of the trapeze bars.

"How was that?" cried Bunny, laughing while Bunker and Ben played the
music.

"Fine!" cried Daddy Brown.

"It's almost as good a show as the one I paid real money to see,"
laughed grandpa.

"What's next?" asked Jimmie Kenny's mother, who had come with her
neighbor, Mrs. Smith.

"It's your turn now, Sue," whispered Bunny to his sister. "Do your act."

So Sue, and her little girl chums, sang their doll song. It was very
much liked, too, and the people clapped so that the little girls had to
sing it over again.

The curtain was now pulled across the stage while Ned and Tom got ready
for one of the clown acts. They were dressed in queer, calico suits,
almost like those worn by real clowns in a circus, and the boys had
whitened their faces with chalk, and stuck on red rose leaves to make
red dots.

Ned came out in front, with Tom in a wheelbarrow, for they had decided
this between themselves. Ned wheeled Tom about, at the same time singing
a funny song, and then, out from behind a barrel, rushed Jimmie Kenny.
Jimmie had a pail, and he began crying:

"Fire! Fire! Fire!"

So loudly did he shout, and so much in earnest did he seem, that some of
the farmers began to look about as though they were afraid Grandpa
Brown's barn was on fire.

"Don't worry! It's only in fun," said grandpa.

Ned and Tom did not seem to know what to make of Jimmie's act. He was
not supposed to come out when they did.

"Now this is where I upset you, Tom," said Ned in a low voice.

"Well, as long as you turn me over on the soft hay I don't mind,"
answered the other boy, for they had made this up between them.

Over went