He motioned to us to get up in our chairs and we did, and then I heard him speaking and a big noise as though a lot of people were clapping their hands. It made me feel so queer inside I wanted to turn round and bark and bark.
Then we began acting just as we did at home, and every now and then there would be the same sound of clapping hands. There were crowds and crowds of people out in front of the stage. Sometimes when I did my tricks they laughed and clapped, and then I wagged my tail and grinned. I wanted to do them over again but Mr. Bonelli wouldn’t let me.
Sometimes there was music. It was bigger than when Mrs. Bonelli played the piano. When we rolled the barrels and when we turned somersaults there was music. And when the dogs jumped off the board the big drum went “Bumb!” And there was music when Graceful and Ruby danced.
After a while it was all over, and we had to go off the stage. I didn’t want to go off one bit, but we had to. When the music began again I barked and ran out on the stage again, but a man ran after me and caught hold of me and pulled me back, and everybody laughed.
Then the collars were fastened around our necks, and the men came and took hold of the straps and we went home again.
That was our first night of acting. But there were many more after that. We acted for a long time at that same theatre. Night after night we acted there, and sometimes in the afternoons, too. I got so used to it that I didn’t think any more about it.
VIII
ONE day Mr. Bonelli and Mrs. Bonelli took us out along the street to a house where we had never been before. We went upstairs to a big light room with a window at the top, and there was a man there with a big box that stood up high on legs.