“Hullo!” cried Snap.  “Did you catch him?”

“I certainly did!” answered the circus boy.  “But I had the time of my life doing it.  He ran up a tree, and he wouldn’t come down until I offered him a handful of those nuts I found yesterday.  They were too much of a temptation, and while I fed him nuts with one hand I took the kettle chain and tied him up as you see.”

“Good for you!” said Whopper.  “He must have known you, or I guess he would have run away.”

“Yes, he started to run away, but I whistled like his keeper used to whistle, and that made him sit still.”

“You want to make sure of that chain,” said the doctor’s son.  “I see he has Snap’s belt on,” he added with a grin.

“I’ll tie him with a rope,” answered Tommy, and later the chimpanzee was firmly secured, so that escape was out of the question.  As the young hunters fed him well, he seemed quite content.

“Tommy, this is an important capture for you,” said Shep.  “It’s money in your pocket.  The circus proprietor has offered five hundred dollars reward for the capture of this chimpanzee.”

“Five hundred dollars!” gasped the little fellow.  “But they won’t pay it to me!” he added, as his face fell.

“We’ll make them pay—–­if they want the animal,” answered Snap.

“But I don’t want them to see me,” insisted Tommy.

“See here, Tommy, you leave this matter to us,” said the doctor’s son.  “I don’t think they can compel you to go with the circus.  We’ll take you to Fairview, and you can remain with us until we hear from your sister.”

“All right; but if they take me I’ll run away again,” answered the boy.

A little later the Spink crowd came into camp and were astonished to learn of the capture of the chimpanzee.  They were glad to get back the things that had been found, but declared that so many other articles had been ruined they would have to give up their outing.

“Let’s be generous to them,” whispered Shep to his chums.  “I don’t think we want to stay after the circus people come for the lion and the chimpanzee.”  And after some talking the young hunters offered the Spink crowd part of their food supplies and a few other things.  This surprised Ham, Carl and the rest.  They accepted the offer on the spot, and a better feeling prevailed between the boys than had for many months.

“It’s very nice of you to do this,” said Dick Bush.  “I shan’t forget it.”

“I’m sorry I accused you of ruining the camp,” came from Ham.

“So am I,” added Carl.  “But—–­well, you know how it was.”

“We’ll let bygones be bygones,” said the doctor’s son.  “It’s better to be friends than enemies.”

“I—–­I suppose so,” said Ham humbly, and then he and his cronies took their departure.

The young hunters watched out for the reappearance of Jed Sanborn, Snap and Shep going to Firefly Lake for that purpose.  Two days later they saw the old hunter coming to the shore with a big flat-bottomed boat, containing four men.  The men were from the circus and said they had come for the captured lion.