“It was a merciful escape, and everybody said so except Sam Jones, and ’e asked so many questions that at last Henery Walker asked ’im outright if ’e disbelieved ’is word.

“‘It’s all right, Sam,’ ses Bob Pretty, as ’ad come in just after Henery Walker.  ’I see ’im with the tiger after ‘im.’

“‘Wot?’ ses Henery, staring at him.

“‘I see it all, Henery,’ ses Bob Pretty, ’and I see your pluck.  It was all you could do to make up your mind to run from it.  I believe if you’d ’ad a fork in your ’and you’d ’ave made a fight for it.”

“Everybody said ‘Bravo!’; but Henery Walker didn’t seem to like it at all.  He sat still, looking at Bob Pretty, and at last ’e ses, ’Where was you?’ ’e s,es.

“‘Up another tree, Henery, where you couldn’t see me,’ ses Bob Pretty, smiling at ’im.

“Henery Walker, wot was drinking some beer, choked a bit, and then ’e put the mug down and went straight off ’ome without saying a word to anybody.  I knew ’e didn’t like Bob Pretty, but I couldn’t see why ’e should be cross about ’is speaking up for ’im as ’e had done, but Bob said as it was ’is modesty, and ’e thought more of ’im for it.

“After that things got worse than ever; the wimmen and children stayed indoors and kept the doors shut, and the men never knew when they went out to work whether they’d come ’ome agin.  They used to kiss their children afore they went out of a morning, and their wives too, some of ’em; even men who’d been married for years did.  And several more of ’em see the tiger while they was at work, and came running ’ome to tell about it.

“The tiger ’ad been making free with Claybury pigs and such-like for pretty near a week, and nothing ’ad been done to try and catch it, and wot made Claybury men madder than anything else was folks at Wickham saying it was all a mistake, and the tiger ’adn’t escaped at all.  Even parson, who’d been away for a holiday, said so, and Henery Walker told ’is wife that if she ever set foot inside the church agin ’ed ask ’is old mother to come and live with ’em.

“It was all very well for parson to talk, but the very night he come back Henery Walker’s pig went, and at the same time George Kettle lost five or six ducks.

“He was a quiet man, was George, but when ’is temper was up ’e didn’t care for anything.  Afore he came to Claybury ’e ’ad been in the Militia, and that evening at the ‘Cauliflower’ ’e turned up with a gun over ’is shoulder and made a speech, and asked who was game to go with ’im and hunt the tiger.  Bill Chambers, who was still grieving after ’is pig, said ’e would, then another man offered, until at last there was seventeen of ’em.  Some of ’em ’ad scythes and some pitchforks, and one or two of ’em guns, and it was one o’ the finest sights I ever seed when George Kettle stood ’em in rows of four and marched ’em off.