“If we only had a cave!” exclaimed Lucy Miles, who had hidden behind the kitchen door.

Tim and Tom Stubbs caught one of the tigers, just as Jedidiah appeared with his mother’s bandbox.  He had thrown his mother’s caps and her Sunday bonnet on the spare-room floor.  They shut the tiger up in the bandbox, then found one of the bears climbing up the pump after Noah.  Jedidiah brought a strong string, and tied him to a post.  All the rest of the boys ran away at first, but ventured to come back and join in the search for the rest of the beasts.

The hunt grew quite exciting.  One of the boys, who had read African travels, prepared a leash of twine, and made a lasso, and with this he succeeded in catching the two hyenas.  Then no one knew if all the beasts were caught or no.  The boy who had read the travels could tell a long list of wild animals that ought to be in the ark.  There was the rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, the jaguar; there was the leopard, the panther, the ocelot.  Mrs. Dyer put her hands up to her ears in dismay.  She could not bear to hear any more of their names; and to think she might meet them any day, coming in at the wood-house door, or running off with one of the chickens!

But the Stubbses thought very likely all these animals never were in this ark at all, though they might have been in the original Noah’s Ark.  This was only a play ark, after all, and you could not expect to find every animal in it.  The minister’s wife said she did not know what you should expect.  The ark was quite a different one from any she had seen.  She had bought them for her children, year in and year out, and she had never seen anything of the sort.  You might expect a hippopotamus, or any kind of beast.  Those she had bought were always of wood, and the legs broke off easily.  You could mend them with Spalding’s Glue; but even Spalding was not as good as it used to be, and you could not depend upon it.

Meanwhile the hunt went on.  The Spinville people began to be sorry they had ever bought a Noah’s Ark.  They had expected nothing of the sort.  At last the two leopards were found,—­beautiful creatures, who lashed their tails wildly; and before long, two hippopotami were discovered in the duck-pond, wallowing in their native element.  They were very fierce and wild, and were caught with great difficulty.  These were put in the bandbox with the others.  It was a strong, old-fashioned box; but it was feared it would not last long for the wild beasts.  Jedidiah tied it up with some twine, and it was put for the present in the spare-room closet.

Mrs. Dyer did not sleep well that night, though her doors had been shut all day.  She dreamed she heard lions all the night long, and was sure a rhinoceros could get in at the window.  Why had Mr. Dyer ever been so generous with his potatoes?  Why had he invited all the people to come?  Of what use had the Noah’s Ark been?  Jedidiah had got along without toys before; now his head was turned.  Better for him to amuse himself digging potatoes, or seeing to the squashes, than meddling with the beasts.