The men looked at Tom Gordon as if doubting his words.
"Are you in earnest?" asked one of them.
"Look for yourselves."
The horseman was out of the saddle in a twinkling, and walked quickly to
the woodshed, whose cracks were so numerous that it was easy to see every
part of the interior. Placing his eyes at one of these openings, he peered
through.
"By George, boys!" he exclaimed, turning about, "the youngster's right;
Tippo is in there."
The others hastily dismounted, tied their horses, and joined him. All took
a look before they were satisfied no mistake had been made.
The tiger was stretched out in one corner, and had been asleep, when he
was awakened by the noise. He raised his head, opened his eyes and
growled, but showed no special anger at being disturbed.
While the men were debating as to the best means of securing him, Jack
Durrick, who had done most of the talking, explained to the ladies and Tom
what must have puzzled them concerning the action of the beast.
Durrick, it should be stated, figured on the stupendous posters as
"Professor De La Cordova, Successor of the Renowned Van Amberg, and Fully
his Equal in his Amazing Power and Control over the Wild Beasts of the
Forest and Jungle." In this case, it must be added, the professor
possessed fair claim to this distinction. He displayed great skill in the
management of wild animals. No one could handle Tippo Sahib as did he. Had
he been near the cage when Sam Harper angered him, he never would have
permitted the beast to escape.
He said Tippo was frightened and nervous through his suddenly acquired
freedom. He suffered pain from the jab in his eye, and was made more
restless and fidgety by the excitement and his strange surroundings. The
slight wound received by him renewed his anger; but, when he withdrew from
the immediate vicinity, he undoubtedly made a raid on some farmer's
live-stock, and had devoured a calf, pig, or sheep. He had eaten his fill,
and thereupon became so docile as to be comparatively harmless, provided
he was treated with consideration.
His return to the scene of his most stirring experience was one of those
whims which his species sometimes show. Tired from his flight and filled
to satiety, he had lain down to rest in the woodshed, so satisfied with
his quarters that he offered no objection when Tom Gordon slipped up and
fastened the door. So powerful and active an animal, had he chosen, could
have broken out of the place in a twinkling; but he was content to stay
where he was until fully rested.
"I assure you," added the professor, "you wouldn't have kept him much
longer; when he awoke, hungry and thirsty, he would have placed himself on
the outside before you could say Jack Robinson, and _then_ there would
have been trouble."
The actions of the professor proved his faith in his own words. He coolly
unhooked the door, gently pushed it back, and stepped within the
structure. Tippo Sahib uttered a growl, and Tom and his friends shrank
farther away. The men, however, one of whom carried a coil of rope, held
their places.
Professor De La Cordova displayed admirable coolness and tact. He was not
rough in manner, but acted like one who felt himself master of the
situation. His course, indeed, suggested to Tom that there was much truth
in Jim Travers's declaration about the power of the human eye over the
denizens of the jungle. Standing erect, the man remained motionless for a
full minute, during which he kept his gaze fixed on the tiger, staring
into those orbs as if he would "look him through."
Tippo Sahib was uneasy for a brief while, and then succumbed to that
mysterious hypnotic influence which, in some cases, is equally potent
with persons. He became humble, meek, and, if the term can be allowed,
penitent.
Fully understanding his condition, the professor reached his hand behind
him, without removing his gaze from the beast.
"The rope!" he said in a low voice.
The next moment, to the amazement of Tom and his relatives, he stepped
gently forward, and fastened the rope around the unresisting neck of Tippo
Sahib, who was led outside like a thoroughly subdued dog. Tom gave him
plenty of room, and closely watched proceedings. While doing so, he
observed a slight scratch on the hip of the beast, barely sufficient to
break the skin; that was the path of the bullet fired by the lad the day
previous.
Other ropes were fastened about the tiger, who took it all as a matter of
course, and calmly followed when his guards moved in the direction of the
horses. These resented the approach of the huge cat, so the professor and
one of his men walked some distance behind the others, who took care of
the animals.
Before their departure, Professor De La Cordova told Tom to call at the
hotel between six and seven that evening, and he would be paid the hundred
dollars with the thanks of Mr. Jones and all connected with the menagerie
and circus.
"I wonder if they mean to cheat me out of it?" said the boy that
afternoon, when he looked at the clock and saw it was nearly time to
start.
"I hardly think so," replied his mother.
"Why didn't they give the money before they took the tiger away?"
"Probably they hadn't so much with them," suggested Aunt Cynthia, who
plainly felt some misgiving over matters; "most likely the money has to be
paid by some officer connected with the show."
"And he may say he never gave his men the right to make such an offer,"
remarked Tom.
"That may be," said the mother, thinking it wise to prepare her son for a
probable disappointment; "the circus is to exhibit at Boorman's to-night.
That is twenty miles off, and all may have gone thither. If those men
choose to disregard their word, I see no help for it."
"It will be awful mean in them," declared the boy, who had become quite
nervous; "I'll never catch any more tigers for them."
Tom loitered on his way to Briggsville, striving not to reach there before
the time named; but despite the effort, he was in town fully a quarter of
an hour too early.
A surprise awaited him. The news of the recapture of the runaway tiger had
preceded him; and, as was natural, the story was exaggerated to an absurd
degree. Jim Travers had told the wondering people that he saw Tom capture
Sipo Tahib, as he called him, by jumping on his back and bending his
forepaws over his neck. (Peter Parley's History, which Jim read at school,
contained a picture of the naturalist Chatterton thus navigating an
alligator, and Jim couldn't see why a tiger should not be handled the same
way. He preferred, however, that some other boy should be the one to make
the experiment.)
So it was that Tom found himself the hero of the hour. The boys and all
his acquaintances gathered round him, and he had to tell the story over
and over, until he became tired. When Jim Travers was reminded that Tom's
modest account did not agree with his flamboyant yarn, he said he feared
he had got things a little mixed, but that was the way he or Tom would
have conducted the recapture had the chance been given them.
"Are you the young man that caught the runaway tiger?" asked a pleasant
looking gentleman, somewhat loudly dressed, as he laid his hand on the
shoulder of Tom Gordon, while he was standing among a group of his friends
on the porch of the hotel.
"I didn't exactly capture him," replied the blushing lad; "but I shut the
door of the woodhouse, and he stayed there till the owners came and took
him away."
"It's all the same; you deserve as much credit as if you had brought him
here without help. I believe they promised you a hundred dollars reward,
didn't they?"
"Yes, sir; one of the men said if I would call here between six and seven
he would give me the money; but I don't see anything of him," added Tom,
looking around, in the hope of catching a glimpse of Professor De La
Cordova. "Has he gone away"
"Yes; he is to appear in the show to-night at Boorman's, and could not
wait. But I am Mr. Jones, the proprietor, and if you will step inside with
me, it won't take us long to fix it. I was only waiting to make sure you
were the right lad."
Tom delightedly followed the gentleman into an inner room, where the door
was closed and the transaction quickly completed.
Mr. Jones made some sympathetic inquiries of the youth, and when he
learned of his mother's moderate circumstances, expressed great pleasure
that the reward had fallen to him. Then he handed him ten bright, crisp
ten-dollar bills.
"That is quite a sum of money for a lad like you to have about him," added
Mr. Jones. "You must be careful not to lose it."
"I am very thankful to you, and shall take good care of it," replied Tom.
"Where are you going to carry it?"
"In my inside coat pocket; then I will button my coat over it."
"That's right; and don't unbutton the coat till you reach your own home."
The money was put away as Tom indicated, and, thanking his kind friend
again, Tom bade him good-by and withdrew.