And so Sue began to sing, while Lucile pretended to be asleep. After Sue's song Mart was supposed to come along, being a boy who had run away from a circus, and he was to watch Bunny try to turn a handspring. Bunny was to make believe he couldn't turn a handspring very well, and Mart would then take the center of the stage.
"Here! Look at me do a flipflop!" cried Mart, and then he really did some very good tricks for a boy acrobat.
All this while Lucile was pretending to be asleep, and when Mart's tricks were over she was supposed to wake up suddenly. At this point Sue was to see the pretend tramp, who, of course, was only Mr. Treadwell dressed up in old clothes.
Everything went off very well. Along through the meadow walked the actor tramp, and then, when Sue and Bunny called for "Snap," out rushed Splash.
"Grab him!" cried Bunny, and has dog caught hold of the loose piece of cloth sewed to Mr. Treadwell's coat. Then began a funny scene, with the actor pulling one way and Splash pulling the other, until, with a rip, the cloth came loose and Splash began shaking it as he might a rat.
Well, you should have heard the people laugh and clap at that! They wanted that scene done over again, but of course this wasn't like a song, with two verses. Mr. Treadwell only had one patch sewed on his coat, and when that was torn off he didn't want Splash to pretend to bite him again.
Finally the dog act came to an end and the little play went on with George and Mary Watson, Harry Bentley, fat Bobbie Boomer, Sadie West, Charlie Star and Helen Newton, besides other boys and girls, taking part. They all did well, and the fathers and mothers and strangers, too, applauded very loudly.
Lucile's Uncle Bill could hear all that was said, though he could see nothing, and he seemed to enjoy it all very much. The first act came to an end with all the children joining in singing a chorus.
"And now for act two!" exclaimed Mr. Treadwell, as the curtain went down. "This is in the barnyard, you know."
"I hope Peter crows at the right time!" said George, for it had been decided to try the rooster in that act.