By this time the Curlytop lad had leaped up and was running to get on the pony. What bothered him more than anything else was the fact that the camera men, laughing among themselves, were still grinding away at the cranks of their machines, taking moving pictures.
“Wait! Wait!” cried Ted. “Don’t take me now! Wait until I get on the pony!”
“That’s all right, Ted!” laughed Mr. Birch. “This is funnier and better than I thought it would be. Can you fall off again?” he asked, as the camera men stopped grinding, for Ted was now beside the pony which had come to a halt, with Janet and Trouble still on its back. “Can you fall off again, Ted?”
“Can I fall off again?” cried the boy, in surprise. “Do you mean you want me to fall off on purpose?”
“That’s just what I want,” replied Mr. Birch. “The cameras happened to snap you when you fell the first time. It made a good scene, and I’m going to change the story about to fit it in. But if you can do the same thing again, maybe in a little different way, it will be very funny. Want to try?”
“Sure I do!” declared Ted. “I’ll be just like one of the funny men in the pictures, won’t I?”
“Shouldn’t wonder,” agreed Mr. Birch, with a laugh. “Now get ready,” he went on. “Janet, you guide the pony along and Ted will run up and try to get on. When he does you make the pony go a little faster as if you were trying to get away. Then Ted will slip to the ground as he did before. You aren’t afraid, are you, little man?” he asked Trouble.
“No, I not ’fraid,” was the answer. “I like horsies an’ I like nellifunts. Once I roded on a nellifunt, I did.”
“Good! Then a pony oughtn’t to frighten you,” chuckled Mr. Birch. “Get ready now!”
Again the pony ambled forward, with Janet and Trouble on its back, and Ted ran forward to get on. Janet did just as the director told her to, and her brother slipped off in a funny fashion.