Great circus posters had covered one side of Farmer Green's barn for weeks. Ever since some men came and pasted them on the barn Johnnie Green had studied them carefully. He had practiced bareback riding on his , Twinkleheels. He had tried a high dive into the mill pond from the top of the dam. And much to old dog Spot's disgust Johnnie had tried to make him jump through a covered with paper.  
Spot had refused flatly to do anything of the kind. If he had known that his young master had half a notion to teach him to jump through a hoop of fire Spot would have run away—at least until circus time had come and gone.
 
"What puts all these queer ideas into Johnnie's head?" the old dog asked his friend Ebenezer, the horse, one day.
 
"Don't you know?" said Ebenezer. "It's those circus pictures. Johnnie won't think of anything else until the twenty-third of August."
 
"What's going to happen then?" Spot inquired.
 
"That's the day when the circus comes to the village," the old horse explained. "The whole family's going to see it."
 
"Do you expect to take them?"
 
"No!" Ebenezer replied. "Farmer Green will the bays to the carryall. And to tell the truth, I'll be just as pleased to stay behind. It will be a great day to take naps here at home."
 
"It will be a lonesome day, with everybody away," said Spot. "I believe I'll go to the circus myself."
 
"Farmer Green may decide to leave you here," the old horse suggested.
 
"Then I'll surprise him," said Spot. "I'll hide behind a tree until Farmer Green has driven out of the yard. And t............