“Then you don’t believe there is any danger?”

“Well, not enough to worry about.  Another thing is that usually circus lions are so tame, having been caged so long, that they are fairly gentle.”

“I read of one that bit his keeper,” said Mrs. Brown.

“Oh, of course there are some dangerous lions in circuses.  But we won’t believe this one that got away is that kind until we are sure.  There’s a man who seems tired of running.  I think he’s going to stop and I’ll ask him how it happened.”

One of the crowd of men and boys, racing past the “Ark,” had slowed his pace, being tired it seemed.  Mr. Brown leaned out of the back door and called to him: 

“What is the matter?  Did a lion really get loose from the circus?”

“That’s what really did happen, sir.  Are you one of the circus folks?”

“No, we are just travelers.  We are stopping here because one of the springs of our automobile is broken.”

“Oh, excuse me.  I thought this was one of the circus wagons.  Yes, as they were loading the lion’s cage on the train a few hours ago, it slipped, fell on its side and broke.  The biggest lion in the circus got away before they could catch him, and they say he headed down this way.  The circus men started after him with nets and ropes, and they offered a reward of twenty-five dollars to whoever caught him.  So a lot of us started out, but I guess I’ll go back.  I’m tired out.  I didn’t have an automobile like some.”

“Then the lion didn’t get loose while the circus performance was going on?” asked Mrs. Brown.

“Oh, no.  And it’s a good thing it didn’t, or there’d have been a terrible scare and maybe lots of folks hurt in the rush.  The show was over, and most of the animal tent stuff was loaded on the flat cars when the lion’s cage broke.”

“Aren’t you afraid to try to catch him?” asked Mrs. Brown.

“Well, I didn’t stop to think of that.  I don’t know though that I am.  I just started off with a rush—­the same as lots of others did who were watching the circus load—­when the lion got loose.  I thought maybe I could earn that twenty-five dollars.  You see that’s given to whoever finds where the lion is hiding.  The circus men just want to know that and then they’ll do the catching.  There really isn’t much danger.”

“Well, I shouldn’t like to try it,” murmured Mrs. Brown.

“I guess I’ll give up, too,” said the man.

He called a “good-night!” to Mr. and Mrs. Brown and went back along the road.  There were no more people to be seen, those who had gone lion-hunting being now out of sight.

“Well, I’m glad the children didn’t wake up,” said Mrs. Brown, for, strange as it may seem, Bunny and Sue had slept all through the noise.  But then they were tired because of having gone to the circus.  “Shall you tell them about the lion being loose?”

“Oh, yes, to-morrow, of course.  While I think there is little danger I would not want them to stray too far away, for the poor old lion may be hiding in the woods or among the rocks, and he might spring out on whoever passed his hiding place.”