Up and up went the bear, until he was half way to the top. The children looked on with delight and even the old folks said it was a good trick.
And then, all of a sudden, something happened. The big centre pole, half way up which was the bear, began to tip over. Some of the ropes that held it began to slip, because they were not tied tightly enough to hold the pole and the bear too.
"Look out!" called Daddy Brown. "The tent is going to fall! Run out everybody!"
"They haven't time!" said Grandpa Brown. "The tent will come down on our heads."
Bunny Brown stood right beside one of the ropes that held up the pole. Bunny saw the rope slipping, and he knew enough about ropes and sails to be sure that if the rope could be held the pole would not fall.
"I've got to hold that rope!" thought Bunny. Then, like the brave little fellow he was, he reached forward, and grasped the rope with both hands. He knew he could not hold it from slipping that way, however, so he wound the rope around his waist as he had seen his father's sailors do when pulling in a heavy boat. With the rope around his waist, brave Bunny found himself being pulled forward as the pole swayed over more and more, with the bear on it.
CHAPTER XXIII
BEN DOES A TRICK
"Look out!"