ndering what he would ever do if he tumbled down
so far.

Bunker and Ben climbed the ladder to the beam far above the hay pile,
and soon they had fastened up the ropes of the trapeze. They pulled hard
on them to make sure they were strong enough, so Bunny would not have a
fall.

Then the piece of broom handle was tied on the two lower ends of the
ropes, and the trapeze was finished.

"Now you can try it, Bunny," said Bunker, after he had swung on the
trapeze for a few times to make sure it was safe.

Bunny walked across the barn floor where some hay had been spread to
make a sort of cushion.

"We'll use hay, instead of a net as they do in a circus," Bunny said.

"Anyhow we haven't got any net," put in Sue.

"We can make believe the hay is a new kind," said her brother.

Bunny hung by his hands from the wooden bar of the trapeze, just as he
had seen the men do in the circus. Then he began to swing slowly back
and forth.

"Oh, Bunny!" cried Sue. "That's fine. Now turn yourself inside out, like
the circus man did."

"No, Bunny can't do that yet," said Ben. "He must first do easy things
on the trapeze. Turning yourself inside out is too hard. Bunny is not
strong enough for those tricks."

To and fro swung Bunny, but soon his arms began to get tired.

"I--I want to get down!" he called. "Stop the swing--I mean the
trapeze," for the trapeze was very much like a swing, as I have told
you, only, instead of a board, it had only a stick to which the little
boy was holding by his hands. "I want to get down," Bunny called. "Stop
me, Bunker."

"Let go and jump," advised Ben.

"Oh, I--I'm afraid," said Bunny.

"You won't get hurt!" exclaimed the older boy. "You must learn to jump
from the trapeze into the soft hay. That's what they do in a circus.
Jump while you're swinging. You won't get hurt."

"Are you sure, Ben?"

"Sure. Give a jump now, and see what happens."

Bunny wanted to do some of the things he had seen the circus men do, and
one of them was jumping from the trapeze. The little boy looked down at
the pile of hay below him. It seemed nice and soft, but it also looked
to be a good distance off.

"Come on, Bunny, jump!" called Bunker.

"All right. Here I come!"

Bunny let go of the trapeze bar. He shot through the air, and, for a
second or two, he was afraid he was going to be hurt. But, the next
thing he knew, he had landed feet first on a soft pile of hay and he
wasn't hurt a bit!

"Good!" cri