“I guess he will be punished enough when he pays for the glass and the dog,” said the small youth, and smiled in spite of his wounds.

Getting a ladder, the boys fixed up the brokendown honeysuckle vine, and then bid good-by to Mrs. Carson.  She was still a bit timid about letting them go.

“You keep your eyes open for that lion,” she said.  “And if you see him, run into the first house or store that’s handy.  Don’t think you can shoo him off again with a stone, because it isn’t likely you’ll be able to.”

“We’ll be on our guard, aunty,” answered Shep.

The circus had left town, as it was billed to perform in another city forty miles away.  But several employees had been left behind, and these men, aided by a number of others, went on a long hunt for the lion and the chimpanzee.  The lion had been seen making for the woods, but what had become of the chimpanzee nobody knew.

“The loss of that chimpanzee is a big one for the circus,” said Snap, while on the way home.  “Just see how they feature him on the bills.  They have other lions, but Abe was their only man-monkey.”

What the youth said about the chimpanzee was true.  Abe, as he had been named, was a wonderful drawing-card.  At first a reward of fifty dollars was offered for his return, and later this sum was increased.  It may be as well to state here that the owner of the circus suspected that the men who had been discharged by him had the chimpanzee and would have it returned to him when the reward was large enough.  What had become of the men nobody knew, and the boy acrobat had likewise disappeared.

“That boy interested me,” said Snap.  “I’d like to meet him again and have a talk with him.”

“Maybe we will meet him again some time,” answered the doctor’s son.

“Oh, it’s not likely.  There won’t be anything to keep him in these parts.  If he is a regular acrobat, more than likely he’ll join some other circus or some vaudeville show.”

“He didn’t look as if he liked the life,” said Whopper.

“That’s the way it struck me,” came from Giant.

When the boys got home they had quite a story to tell.  Mrs. Caslette was much alarmed over the injuries her son had received and insisted upon it that Giant let Dr. Reed attend him, which the physician did willingly.

“Not much damaged,” said the doctor.  “But he had what folks call a close shave.”

The boys told the doctor about what they had learned from Mr. Jally, and in turn he gave them instructions concerning the photographs he desired them to obtain during their outing in the Windy Mountains.  As there might be a little delay in getting the new cameras and in getting some other supplies the start of the trip was postponed until Tuesday.

“And how do you propose to go?” asked Snap of the doctor’s son.

“Father thinks it would be wise for us to row to Firefly Lake.  Then we can hide our boat and tote our supplies over to the mountains.”