THE SCRATCHED BOY
"What's that? What's the matter?" asked Mrs. Brown. In the darkness she
had slipped to her husband's side. She, too, looked out on the crowd of
men and boys rushing past in the moonlight. "What has happened?" she
asked again, as Mr. Brown did not appear to have heard what she said.
"As nearly as I could understand," he said slowly, speaking in a low
voice, "one of the men who ran past said a lion had broken loose from
the circus."
"Oh, how dreadful!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown. "What shall we do? Did Uncle
Tad bring his gun with him?"
"Hush! Don't wake the children," said Mr. Brown. "They might be
frightened if they heard that a lion was loose."
"Frightened? I should think any one would be frightened!" exclaimed
Mrs. Brown. "A savage lion raging around at night, trying to get
something to eat----"
"Now please don't get excited," begged Mr. Brown. "There is no
danger--at least I believe there isn't."
"No danger? And with a lion loose--a hungry lion!"
"That's where I think you're wrong," said her husband. "The circus
people usually keep their lions and other wild animals well fed. They
know the danger a hungry beast might be if he should get loose. And I
dare say they often do get loose, for all sorts of things may happen
when the cages are taken to so many different places.
"But though this lion has broken loose, I don't believe it would bite
even a rooster if it crowed at him. I mean he won't be hungry, because
he'll have been well fed before the circus started away."
"Then you don't believe there is any danger?"
"Well, not enough to worry about. Another thing is that usually circus
lions are so tame, having been caged so long, that they are fairly
gentle."
"I read of one that bit his keeper," said Mrs. Brown.
"Oh, of course there are _some_ dangerous lions in circuses. But we
won't believe this one that got away is that kind until we are sure.
There's a man who seems tired of running. I think he's going to stop and
I'll ask him how it happened."
One of the crowd of men and boys, racing past the "Ark," had slowed his
pace, being tired it seemed. Mr. Brown leaned out of the back door and
called to him:
"What is the matter? Did a lion really get loose from the circus?"
"That's what really did happen, sir. Are you one of the circus folks?"
"No, we are just travelers. We are stopping here because one of the
springs of our automobile is broken."
"Oh, excuse me. I thought this was one of the circus wagons. Yes, as
they were loading the lion's cage on the train a few hours ago, it
slipped, fell on its side and broke. The biggest lion in the circus got
away before they could catch him, and they say he headed down this way.
The circus men started after him with nets and ropes, and they offered a
reward of twenty-five dollars to whoever caught him. So a lot of us
started out, but I guess I'll go back. I'm tired out. I didn't have an
automobile like some."
"Then the lion didn't get loose while the circus performance was going
on?" asked Mrs. Brown.
"Oh, no. And it's a good thing it didn't, or there'd have been a
terrible scare and maybe lots of folks hurt in the rush. The show was
over, and most of the animal tent stuff was loaded on the flat cars when
the lion's cage broke."
"Aren't you afraid to try to catch him?" asked Mrs. Brown.
"Well, I didn't stop to think of that. I don't know though that I am. I
just started off with a rush--the same as lots of others did who were
watching the circus load--when the lion got loose. I thought maybe I
could earn that twenty-five dollars. You see that's given to whoever
finds where the lion is hiding. The circus men just want to know that
and then they'll do the catching. There really isn't much danger."
"Well, I shouldn't like to try it," murmured Mrs. Brown.
"I guess I'll give up, too," said the man.
He called a "good-night!" to Mr. and Mrs. Brown and went back along the
road. There were no more people to be seen, those who had gone
lion-hunting being now out of sight.
"Well, I'm glad the children didn't wake up," said Mrs. Brown, for,
strange as it may seem, Bunny and Sue had slept all through the noise.
But then they were tired because of having gone to the circus. "Shall
you tell them about the lion being loose?"
"Oh, yes, to-morrow, of course. While I think there is little danger I
would not want them to stray too far away, for the poor old lion may be
hiding in the woods or among the rocks, and he might spring out on
whoever passed his hiding place."
"Why do you call him a 'poor old lion'? I think he must be a _very_
savage fellow."
"Oh, I think he'll turn out to be a gentle one," said her husband with a
laugh.
Then Mr. and Mrs. Brown went to bed, after Uncle Tad had heard the
story, and the rest of the night passed quietly. At the breakfast table
Bunny and Sue were told of what had happened.
Bunny wanted to go right out with Uncle Tad, who was to take his gun.
"We'll hunt him and get the twenty-five dollars," said the little
fellow.
"No. You'd better play around here for a while," ordered his father. "It
will be safer."
"I wouldn't let him out of my sight for a million dollars!" cried Mrs.
Brown.
"But we could take the two dogs, Dix and Splash, with us, and they could
bite the lion if he chased us," said Bunny.
His mother shook her head, and Bunny knew there was no use teasing any
more.
"I wouldn't go after any lion!" declared Sue. "And I want to find a good
place to hide Sallie Malinda."
"What for?" asked Bunny.
"So the lion can't find her," said the little girl. "Lions don't like
bears and this one might bite Sallie Malinda. Then maybe she couldn't
flash her eyes any more." The Teddy bear had dried out after the fall
into the lake, and was as good as ever.
So Bunny and Sue had to stay and play around the automobile, not going
far away. Though at first they missed the long tramps in the fields and
through the woods, they were good children and did as they were bid.
Besides, deep down in his heart, Bunny was just a _little bit_ afraid of
the lion, even though he had said he wanted to go hunting for him with
Uncle Tad.
Two days passed, and the lion had not been found. The circus had gone
on, leaving two men in the town near which the automobile was stranded.
These men, with a spare cage which had been left with them, were ready
to go out with nets and ropes and capture the lion as soon as any one
should bring in word as to where it was hiding.
The countrymen and the boys, who had no other work to do, still kept up
the lion hunt, some with dogs, but the big circus animal was well
hidden.
"If he was playing hide-and-go-seek," said Bunny, "I'd holler 'Givie-up!
Givie-up! Come on in free!' For I never could find him, he has hidden
himself so good."
"Well, I wish he would go and hide himself far, far away," almost
snapped Sue. "Then we could go around like we used to, and go on the
lake."
"I wish so too," agreed Bunny.
It was getting rather tiresome for the children to stay so close to
"home," as they called the automobile, but Mr. Brown said the new spring
would arrive in a few days, and then they would travel on again, far
from where the lion was hiding.
"And we can keep on looking for Fred Ward," said Bunny. In the
excitement over the circus the runaway boy had been almost forgotten.
It was three days after the lion had broken loose, and evening was
approaching, when Mrs. Jason, wife of the farmer who had been so kind to
the Browns, came hurrying down to the automobile beside the road. She
was out of breath and seemed much excited.
"Oh, Mr. Brown!" she exclaimed. "Do you know anything about doctoring?"
"About doctoring! Why? Is Mr. Jason ill?"
"No, but I've got a badly hurt boy up at my house. He's all scratched
up."
"Has he been picking berries?" asked Bunny.
"No. They're worse scratches than that. Big, deep ones on his face,
hands and shoulders. I've bandaged him as best I could, and sent Mr.
Jason for the doctor; but I was wondering if you could do anything until
Dr. Fandon came."
"A scratched boy?" repeated Mr. Brown slowly. "What scratched him?"
"A great big lion, he says!" exclaimed Mrs. Jason. "I declare I'm so
excited I don't know what to do!" and she sat down on a stool Mrs. Brown
placed for her near the back steps of the automobile.