Bert was very funny as a clown, and he turned somersaults in the hay. Once he landed on a hard place on the barn floor, and cried: "Ouch!" Everyone laughed at that, and they laughed harder when Bert made a funny face as he rubbed his sore elbow. Harry exhibited Snoop and Snap as the wild animals, but Snoop rather spoiled the performance by not growling as a black tiger should. "This tiger used to be very wild, ladies and gentlemen," said Harry, "and no keeper dared go in the cage with him. But he is a good tiger now, and loves his keeper," and Harry put his hand in, and stroked Snoop, who purred happily. "Oh, I think this is a lovely show!" exclaimed Nellie Johnson. "I'm coming every day." A little later, near the box which had been made into a cage for Snoop, there came a loud noise. Snoop meowed very hard, and hissed as he used to do when he saw a strange dog. At the same time something went: "Gobble-obblcobble!" Then came a great crash, more cries from Snoop and out into the middle of the barn floor dashed the black cat with a big, long-legged, feathered creature clinging to poor Snoop's tail. "Oh! Oh! Oh!" cried Flossie. "The wild animals are loose!" CHAPTER X A SHAM BATTLE For a few moments there was wild confusion in that part of the barn where the "show" was going on. Nan gave one look at the strange mixture of the howling Snoop and the gobbling bird in the centre of the floor, and then, catching Flossie up in her arms, Nan made a spring for the haymow. "Wait! Wait!" cried Flossie. "I'm losing all the pins! I've dropped the pin cushion!" That was her cash-box--the pins she had taken in as admission to the little play. "We can't stop for it now!" cried Nan. "We must get out of the way." "The cat has a fit!" cried Tom Mason. "Oh, poor Snoop!" wailed Flossie. "Grab him, somebody!" shouted Harry. "No, let Snoop alone!" advised Bert. "He might bite, if you touched him now, though he wouldn't mean to." "But what is it? What gave him the fit?" asked Mabel Herold. "Our old turkey gobbler," answered Harry. "The gobbler has caught Snoop by the tail. It's enough to give any cat a fit." "I should say so!" cried Bert. "Look out! They're coming over this way! Look out!" The children scrambled to one side, for Snoop and the big turkey gobbler were sliding, rolling and tumbling over the barn floor toward the board seats where the show audience, but a little while before, were enjoying the performance. The girls had followed Nan and Flossie up to a low part of the haymow, and were out of the way. But the boys wanted to be nearer where they could see what was going on. The noise and the excitement had roused Snap, the dog, who had curled up in his cage and was sleeping, after having been exhibited as a raging and roaring lion, and now Snap was barking and growling, trying to understand what was going on. Perhaps he wanted to join in the fun, for it was fun for the turkey gobbler, if it was not for poor Snoop.