“Not at all,” said Dido. “Though, really, I have not much room in my cage. I do most of my dancing out in the circus ring. But while the wagons are waiting for the horses to rest I can dance a little for you.”
And Dido did. He had learned to dance when he was first caught in the woods, in the far-away country where he lived.
“How do you like that?” he asked the rabbit, as he sat down on the straw in his cage.
“Very nicely done, indeed!” answered Flop Ear. “I am very glad I met you. I have met many new friends since I began my adventures.”
“So you have had adventures too, have you?” asked Dido. “Tell me about them.” And Flop Ear did so.
“Ha! What is all this talk about?” asked a growling voice in the next cage. “You have awakened me. What is it all about?”
“Why, a friend of mine, a white rabbit, is out in the road, and I am talking to him,” answered Dido. “At least I call him a friend of mine, though I never met him before. But he knows Blackie, a cat whom I know, and as long as he is a friend of Blackie’s he is a friend of mine.”
“Ha! A white rabbit out in the road, eh?” went on the growling voice, and Flop Ear saw some glaring eyes looking at him from the wagon cage next to that of Dido, the dancing bear. “I used to eat white rabbits in my country in the jungle,” growled the voice. “I would eat you too, if I could get at you,” and a big paw, with sharp claws on it, was thrust out of the cage.
“Don’t mind him,” said Dido to Flop Ear, who was getting ready to hop away. “That’s Stripe, the tiger. He’s rather cross to-night, but really he wouldn’t hurt any one.”
“Yes, I would!” growled Stripe.