.
"The tent won't hold many more, and we want to start."

"All right," agreed Teddy. It had been decided that he was to make a
little speech of welcome. Soon he was out in front, bowing as he did when
he "spoke a piece" in school.

"Ladies and gentlemen," began Teddy, "and boys and girls. We're glad you
came to our circus, and we hope you will like our pets and what they do.
And my little brother, Trouble, is going to do an act by himself. He----"

"Here I is!" suddenly cried Trouble, coming out behind Teddy. "I do my
act now!"

"No! No!" said Teddy, while the audience laughed. For Trouble was only
half dressed, having rushed out of the room back of the stage when he
heard his name mentioned.

"Here, William! Come back and let me finish!" said his mother, and she
reached out her hand and pulled Trouble back to her.

"Now the show will start," Teddy finished, amid laughter.

The first act was a tableau with Ted, Janet and their boy and girl
helpers, not forgetting Trouble, of course, posing on the stage with
their pets. Gathered about the children were the dogs, the cats, Mr. Nip,
the parrot, Jack the monkey, the white mice and the white rats in cages,
and Slider, the pet alligator. Down in the audience Harry Weldon played
the mouth organ. He was the "orchestra."

No sooner had Harry started to play than Tip, Top and Skyrocket barked,
the cats mewed, the monkey chattered and Mr. Nip cried:

"I'm a crack-crack-cracker!"

You should have heard the audience clap then!

One after another the animals did their tricks, Ted, Janet and the other
boys and girls helping. Mr. Nip, the parrot, after he had been quieted
down, walked up and down a little ladder, that was balanced like a
see-saw over a tiny board. Mr. Nip would walk to one end of the ladder,
and it would go down with him. Then he would walk to the other end, which
would then sway downward. And when he had finished this trick Mr. Nip
cried:

"Help! Fire! Police!" and flew over on Janet's shoulder.

"He's as good as a watch dog, that parrot is," said Policeman Cassidy,
who had come to the show, as had also the kind trolley car conductor.
"He's a regular burglar alarm, he is!"

Snuff and Turnover did their tricks, some separately and some together.
One of the tricks they did together was to run and jump through a paper
hoop, and when Turnover had landed on the other side, through the hoop,
he lay down and rolled over and over--one of the first tricks the