“No, I want to get back, too,” answered Snap.  “Sleeping out of doors is all well enough once in a while, but I prefer to be under some kind of a roof, even if it’s only canvas.”

The three boys moved forward once again, each with his gun ready for use, should anything worth shooting appear.  They came up to the cedars and were then able to look beyond, where the mountain side was full of rocks, with numerous holes between.

“Oh!” yelled Snap at the top of his lungs.  “Look!”

All gazed in the direction indicated, and for once they were fairly rooted to the spot.  Before them, on a flat rock, stood a large and magnificent lion, gazing boldly at them.

CHAPTER XX

ON THE MOUNTAIN SIDE

For fully ten seconds the lion did not move, and during that time the young hunters stood spellbound.  Then the foreign monarch of the forest turned and like a flash disappeared into a hole on the mountain side.

“Did—–­did—–­was it really a lion?” gasped Whopper when he could speak.

“It certainly was—–­and a big one, too,” answered the doctor’s son.

“But here?” began Snap.  “We don’t have lions in America.”

“It must be the one that got away from the circus!” cried Shep.

“To be sure!  Why didn’t I think of that?” came from Whopper.  “Sure as you’re a foot high that is the circus lion.  But how did he get away out here?”

“That’s easy to explain,” answered the doctor’s son.  “He left town and took to the woods, and his quest for food brought him here.”

“And it was the lion that scared the buck,” said Snap.

“More than likely.  And he scared us, too.  Why didn’t you shoot at him?”

“Why didn’t you?”

“I guess we were all about paralyzed; I know I was,” declared Whopper.  “I didn’t come out to hunt lions!  Ugh!  Maybe we had better get away from here.  You can’t kill a lion with a shotgun—–­you need a rifle, and a heavy one at that.”

“Three heavy charges of buckshot would discourage any lion, I think,” answered Shep.  “At the same time, we don’t want to run the risk of being torn to pieces by such a beast.”

“Boys, I’ve got an idea!” cried Snap suddenly.  “Maybe it won’t work out, but we might try it.”

“To kill the lion?”

“No, to capture him alive, and turn him over to the circus folks for that reward.”

“What is the idea?”

“Let us dig a big pit here among the rocks and bait it with the two dead wildcats.  We can drag the wildcats on the ground around here and to the pit, and maybe the lion will follow the trail up and fall into the pit.”

“He’ll be very obliging if he does that,” said Whopper with a laugh.  “I guess lions are as cautious as any wild beasts.”

“He’ll follow the trail if he gets hungry enough,” said the doctor’s son.  “I think the idea is a good one, and I vote we follow it out at once.