“Oh, Bunny, he’s doing a trick!” cried Sue. And, as it turned out, this is what Patter wanted to do. After he had stood up on his hind legs for a moment in front of the cat, whining softly as if he wanted to speak to her, the dog got down on all fours and turned his back toward Whitefeet. Then he stood as if waiting for something to happen.
The cat seemed surprised that she was not bitten or taken up in the dog’s mouth and shaken. It was something new for her, evidently, not to be badly treated by dogs. True, this dog had chased her, but that was all. He did not bite her.
Then the cat seemed to lose her fear. Her tail became smaller and the arch went down out of her back. She no longer hissed. But Patter was acting in a strange manner. He whined, he wagged his tail, and he kept looking around at Whitefeet.
“What does he want?” asked Mrs. Jones.
“I don’t know,” Bunny answered, as much puzzled as the rest. “He acts that way sometimes before I have him do a trick, but——”
Just then Mr. Brown pushed his way through the crowd that stood in front of Patter and Whitefeet in the corner. Mr. Brown had just arrived at the church fair.
“Patter wants the cat on his back, that’s what he wants,” said Bunny’s father. “It’s one of his tricks. He used to perform with a trained cat, and one trick was that a cat would sit on his back and Patter would march around that way. I got a letter from the Frenchman to-day. In it he told me this was one of the tricks he forgot to mention. Try it, Bunny. Put the cat on Patter’s back.”
“Oh, that would be a lovely trick—if they do it,” said Sue.
That was the point. Would Whitefeet allow herself to be put on Patter’s back? The trick dog seemed ready to do his part.
“Here, better let me do it,” said Mr. Brown. “The cat might scratch you, Bunny.”