“How can we be ladies when we haven’t got long hair?” asked Charlie Star, with a laugh.
“We haven’t got anything for tickets,” objected Harry.
“Use little stones for tickets,” suggested George. “And if any of you want long hair to make believe you’re ladies, put on some of those carpenter shavings for curls.”
He pointed to a corner where a carpenter had been doing some work at the Brown house and had left a pile of curled shavings. With whoops of delight the boys swooped down on these and fastened them up under their caps so that the “curls” hung down on either side of their faces.
“Now we’re ladies at the church fair, and we must each drop a ticket in the dog’s basket,” said George.
So the boys, with their false curls of shavings, marched in Indian file up to Patter, sitting on his hind legs holding the basket. And as the lads passed they each dropped a stone in as a ticket.
“He does it fine!” exclaimed George, when Patter never moved, but sat there like a stone statue of a dog. “He’s a fine fellow, Bunny.”
“Yes, I like my trick dog very much,” said Bunny.
After each boy had put his “stone ticket” into the basket, Patter was allowed to drop the basket and romp around a bit, so he would not get tired of standing in one position too long.
“Maybe we’d better practice him a bit on the trapeze,” said Bunny, after the ticket taking had been gone through with for the third time.