“I’ll drive over with you,” said the farmer.  This they did, though it was late to drive to town, being after nine o’clock, stopping at the “Ark” on the way to tell what had taken place at the farmhouse.

“Poor fellow!” exclaimed Mrs. Brown.  “We must try to help him.”

“I’ll let him play with my Teddy bear when he gets well,” said Sue, and all the others laughed.

“The circus men will get after the lion in the morning,” said the farmer when he and Mr. Brown were back at the “Ark” on their return from town.

Though they were excited, and not a little afraid, Bunny and Sue were at last in bed, but only after Uncle Tad had promised to sit up all night, as he used to do when a sentry in the war, and, with his gun, watch for any sign of the lion.

“And if you have to shoot him, which I hope you don’t,” said Bunny, “call me first so I can look at him.  But I don’t want to see him shot.  Just make him go back to the circus.”

“I will,” promised Uncle Tad.

Bunny and Sue were up early the next morning, and even before breakfast they wanted their father to go up to the farmhouse to find out about the scratched boy, and also whether or not the lion had been caught.

“We’ll see about the boy first,” said Mr. Brown.  “I guess it won’t do any harm for me to take the children up,” he said to his wife.

“You will be careful, won’t you?” she begged.

“Indeed I will,” he promised.

So Bunny, with his sister and his father, walked up to Mr. Jason’s home.  Dix and Splash went along, of course, and stood expectant at the door as Mr. Brown rang.

“Oh, good morning!” cried Mrs. Jason as she answered the bell.  “Our scratched boy is much better this morning.  He is not as badly hurt as we feared.  Come in.”

Mr. Brown and the children entered, and of course the dogs followed.

“Go back, Dix and Splash,” ordered Mr. Brown.  Splash turned and went out on the stoop, but Dix kept on.  The dog was acting in a strange manner.  The door to a downstairs bedroom, where the wounded boy was lying, was open.  Dix ran in and the next moment he began to bark wildly, getting on the bed with his forefeet.

“Down, Dix!  Down!” cried Mr. Brown.  “What do you mean, sir?”

But Dix kept on barking and whining.  He tried to lick the hands of the scratched boy.

“Oh, drive him away!” cried Mrs. Jason.  “He’ll hurt the boy.”

But the boy, who seemed much better indeed, rose up in bed and cried: 

“Don’t send him away!  That’s Dix, my dog!  Oh, Dix, you found me, didn’t you?”

CHAPTER XXV

FOUND AT LAST

What with the barking of Dix, in which Splash, out on the porch, joined, the manner in which the scratched boy hugged the half-wild animal on his bed, the astonishment of Bunny Brown, his sister, his father and Mrs. Jason—­well, there was enough excitement for a few minutes to satisfy even the children.