“Bow-wow!”
“But that’s too long a jump for you.”
“Bow-wow-wow!”
“You think you can do it?”
“Very well! Then go ahead, but I’m afraid you can’t do it, and you may hurt yourself, too.”
Then I would go back to the furthest edge of the stage, and run as hard as I could across the stage and up the board, and just as I got to the edge I would stop short and stand there with all my feet together and not jump at all. Then I would look round at Mr. Bonelli and grin.
“There!” he would say. “I knew you couldn’t do it. Come down now and let Graceful jump.” But I wouldn’t come down.
“Come, come!” he would cry impatiently. “You’re keeping everybody waiting. Come down, I say.”
Still I wouldn’t move, and then Graceful would run up the board and jump right over me and far out over the chairs and tables, and land on the mattress so lightly you scarcely knew when he touched it. Even Punch was not able to make that last long jump, only Graceful. After that last jump I would come down from the board and go back to my chair again.