HOW JACK WENT TIGER-HUNTING.Jack was reading Du Chaillu. He spent a good deal more time that night over Du Chaillu than over his Latin.His mother and Bessy were seated by the fire, and presently he came over and turned his back to the grate, putting his hands behind him, with a swaggering way he had."I've got an idea, mother!" he said."I'm glad of that." said Bessy, under her breath. Mrs. Leigh shook her head at her."Well, my son?""Du Chaillu's in this country, you know?" Jack's face was red, and his voice like a trumpet, from excitement."I believe he is.""Oh, I know it, ma'am! I saw in the paper he was lecturing in New York. And he's going back to Africa next fall. And I--I've made up my mind to go with him!"Bessy stared."To Africa?" said Mrs. Leigh, folding her hem."Yes, mother." Jack was a little damped to find his views received so quietly."That is, with your permission. But you see all through this book he is inviting the boys to go. He was but a lad when he killed his first lion. He says nothing would delight him more than to take some fine courageous fellow into the jungle, and teach him how to trap elephants and hunt tigers. Oh, if I could wing a tiger with my gun!""Will you thread my needle, Bessy? I think if you wait, you will be a better shot in a year or two, probably, Jack.""You think I couldn't stand it," blustered Jack. "Why, I've got muscles on me like iron. I tell you, nothing would please me better than footing it through the jungle for months, eating leopard and monkey steaks, and fighting gorillas. Those negroes were poor stuff for hunters, I think! Used to give out in a week or two. So did Du Chaillu. Why, I could go on for months, and never complain.""Who was that whining over his grammar, awhile ago?" asked his sister."That's a very different matter," stammered Jack angrily. "What kind of sense is there inamaba--bis--bus! That's stuff! If I had a chance with my gun now, at a lion, say--"If you cannot conquer nouns and verbs, Jack," said Mrs. Leigh, "I am not afraid for the wild beasts.""As for Bess, she needn't laugh," growled Jack. "What does a girl know, with her curls, and paniers, and folderols? She never even read Du Chaillu;" and he stamped into the dining-room and began to kick off his boots."You should not tease your brother, Bessy."Bessy laughed. She was a fat, pretty, good-tempered girl, very fond of Jack and just as fond of squabbling with him."He is such a fellow to brag, mamma. Now I know he'll be at it again. There he comes."Jack came in and leaned with his elbows on the table, watching his mother and thinking."Now Du Chaillu and those fellows," he broke out, "had a way of skulking behind trees and shooting at animals from ambush. I don't approve of that. I would not do that. The way to meet a wild beast is to fix your eye on him boldly. Look him straight in the eye. What are you laughing at, Bess? I tell you scientific men say there's nothing like the power of the human eye. Then when I had him fixed, I'd take aim deliberately and fire. I'd have him at an advantage, you see. Mother, there's a fire! I hear the bells!""Yes.""Can I go? Just to see where it is? Only to the corner? I won't go a step beyond the corner, I promise you.""Very well, Jack, I trust you."Jack's word, when he gave it, was as good as his oath, and although the street was quite dark, yet as they lived in a quiet part of the city his mother saw him go without fear.There was a good deal of noise and confusion outside. An engine ran past and men shouting; but in half an hour Mrs. Leigh and Bessy heard Jack coming leisurely up the steps, whistling and talking."Here, sir! Wheet! wheet! This way. In with you. Gracious, mother, how dark this hall is! Why don't Ann? Wheet--wheet! There!" opening the back door, "stay there till morning." He shut and locked the door again and came into the parlor."'Twasn't much of a fire--near two miles off--somewhere about the Northern mills.""There was great confusion," said Mrs. Leigh."There always is. Now if I was the captain of a fire company, I'd manage differently. I'd say to this man, go here, and to that man, go there, and they should not dare to utter a word. Then the fires would be put out.""Who was that in the hall, Jack?" inquired Bessy."A big dog; a most tremendous fellow. He came running alongside of me on the street, and turned up the steps as I did. Somebody's lost him, I suppose. I put him in the yard till daylight, and then I can see him and look up his owner.""Was he a pretty dog?" said Bess eagerly."How could I tell? I told you I didn't see him. As he brushed by me, I felt that he was a strapping fellow. The hall's as dark as pitch.""You didn't fix him with your eye, then?"Jack said nothing, but lighted his candle and went to bed.The next morning he was awakened by a thumping at the door, and in rushed Bessy, wild with excitement, the morning newspaper in her hand."O, Jack, listen to this!" jumping on the bed and beginning to read breathlessly:"ESCAPE OF WILD ANIMALS.--The fire of last night communicated with the stables where the animals connected with Drivers' Menagerie were stored for the winter, and several of them escaped. They were promptly pursued and captured, with the exception of the Bengal tiger, that was last seen making its way toward the southern part of the city. At the hour of our going to press no traces have been found of the animal."Bessy laid down the paper. Her eyes were set deeper in her head than usual, and they burned like coals. "Jack!" she gasped, "what do you think?"Jack's face, and neck, and very ears were scarlet. He stammered, and did not seem nearly so tumultuous as usual."I think it's in our back yard," he said, at last. "I wish you'd get out of this, Bessy. I'll--I'll get up and call a policeman.""A policeman! What on earth can he do with a tiger?" cried Bessy, in discomfiture. "Why, I thought for sure, Jack, you'd fix him with your eye; or wing him. Sha'n't I bring you your gun to wing him?""Perhaps I will," said Jack loftily. "But I must be dressed first."Bessy went out, but stood just outside of the door, trembling and quaking, her hand on the knob. Her mother had gone out early. Usually she had very little dependence on Jack, or his bravery, but anything in the shape of man or boy is a comfort to a frightened woman, and all of Jack's boasting came back soothingly now to Bessy. In half a minute Jack had scrambled into his clothes and was out."Have you seen it? Where is it?""It's in the coal-shed; in the darkest end. Ann's got the back doors tight locked and bolted, and she's up in bed with the pillow over her head. There's your gun, Jack."Jack took the gun, and still in his stocking feet, went on tiptoe to reconnoiter. From the second-story window he saw that the yard was quite clear. Just by the house stood the coal-shed, dingy and dirty enough at ordinary times, but now covered with the mystery and horror of an African jungle."You think it's in there, do you?" he said, under his breath."Oh, Ann heard it! Such a horrible roar! Up in the very back part. How will you get at it to shoot it?""I'll call in the police as soon as I'm sure it's the tiger. If it was in the jungle I'd face it. But such animals are always doubly furious for being confined.""There's a knot hole in the shed. You can peep, Jack. He won't see you."But Jack was growing unaccountably pale, and his teeth were chattering. "I'd--I'd rather not open the door--on your account, Bess. He might run in.""Fire your gun and he'll dash out into the yard!" cried Bess, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, in her excitement. "Good gracious! what will the girls say at school when they hear we've had a real tiger in our shed. If you'd only shoot him, and we'd have him stuffed.""I mean to shoot when he comes out."But Jack's fingers shook so as he adjusted the trigger that one would have thought he had the palsy."I'll tell you what to do!" shouted Bessy, clapping her hands. "I'll go down to the kitchen window, and throw a bone out in front of the shed-door, and when he rushes out for it, you look if it's the tiger or not.""Very well.""Unless you'd rather throw the bone," hesitated Bessy, her heart giving way."There's not the least danger for you, Bessy. And I'm a better judge of tigers. I'm more familiar with their habits than you."Off went Bessy, and finding a half-eaten roast of beef in the pantry, she opened the kitchen window, her heart choking her as she did it, and flung it out with all her strength. There was a rush from the shed, but Bessy had closed the shutters and was flying up the stairs. Halfway up stood Jack, pale and breathless."Was it the tiger?""Yes.""Oh, Jack!" Bessy clasped her hands. "Is he--is he big?""Oh, he's a monster. His eyes are like coals of fire." Jack jerked out the words as he dashed down the stairs and out of the front door, shouting, "Police! police!"One can easily guess what followed then. When Mrs. Leigh came home from market, a dense crowd packed the street for half a square from her house, on the outskirts of which skirmished women, with babies in their arms, boys open-mouthed, and cart-men cracking their whips, whose horses stood waiting in a crowd at the corner. In front of the door stood one of the vans of the menagerie. Wild cries of "The tiger!" "The lion!" resounded from side to side, and every time the door opened the crowd fell back, expecting him to charge on them. Way was made for Mrs. Leigh. Everybody looked at her with respect."He's in your house, ma'am.""It was your son that discovered him."Mrs. Leigh hurried in, terrified at the thought of what might have befallen her children. The house was filled with men. Policemen were in full force to keep order. The keepers from the menagerie had a net suspended over the door of the shed, to catch the tiger when it should rush out. Half a dozen men stood with guns ready pointed, in case he should attack them."But don't fire, unless in case of absolute necessity," pleaded the keeper. "Consider the cost, gentlemen. That beast is worth, as he stands, two thousand dollars.""What's your two thousand dollars to us?" growled one of the men, cocking his gun. "Consider our lives."Nobody as yet had seen the tiger but Jack, who stood in an upper window, the observed of all observers.The keepers went on with their preparations. It was their plan to shoot into the shed, over the tiger's head, and when he charged on them, capture him in the net."Let every man take care of himself," said the keeper. "Fire if we do not secure him. Are you ready, men?"The men, with pale faces, lowered the net. "All right!""Look out, then. One, two, three!""Bang!" went the pistol over the beast's head. There was a moment's pause, and then a fierce dash and a shriek from the people, caught up and echoed by the crowd outside. The men tugged at their net and caught--"Brown's big yellow dog!" shouted the policemen."Where's that young coward that fooled us?" The keepers raged and the crowd cheered.But Jack had hidden away with his shame and could not be found. He never was known to brag again.*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOKBUDD BOYD'S TRIUMPH***
HOW JACK WENT TIGER-HUNTING.Jack was reading Du Chaillu. He spent a good deal more time that night over Du Chaillu than over his Latin.His mother and Bessy were seated by the fire, and presently he came over and turned his back to the grate, putting his hands behind him, with a swaggering way he had."I've got an idea, mother!" he said."I'm glad of that." said Bessy, under her breath. Mrs. Leigh shook her head at her."Well, my son?""Du Chaillu's in this country, you know?" Jack's face was red, and his voice like a trumpet, from excitement."I believe he is.""Oh, I know it, ma'am! I saw in the paper he was lecturing in New York. And he's going back to Africa next fall. And I--I've made up my mind to go with him!"Bessy stared."To Africa?" said Mrs. Leigh, folding her hem."Yes, mother." Jack was a little damped to find his views received so quietly."That is, with your permission. But you see all through this book he is inviting the boys to go. He was but a lad when he killed his first lion. He says nothing would delight him more than to take some fine courageous fellow into the jungle, and teach him how to trap elephants and hunt tigers. Oh, if I could wing a tiger with my gun!""Will you thread my needle, Bessy? I think if you wait, you will be a better shot in a year or two, probably, Jack.""You think I couldn't stand it," blustered Jack. "Why, I've got muscles on me like iron. I tell you, nothing would please me better than footing it through the jungle for months, eating leopard and monkey steaks, and fighting gorillas. Those negroes were poor stuff for hunters, I think! Used to give out in a week or two. So did Du Chaillu. Why, I could go on for months, and never complain.""Who was that whining over his grammar, awhile ago?" asked his sister."That's a very different matter," stammered Jack angrily. "What kind of sense is there inamaba--bis--bus! That's stuff! If I had a chance with my gun now, at a lion, say--"If you cannot conquer nouns and verbs, Jack," said Mrs. Leigh, "I am not afraid for the wild beasts.""As for Bess, she needn't laugh," growled Jack. "What does a girl know, with her curls, and paniers, and folderols? She never even read Du Chaillu;" and he stamped into the dining-room and began to kick off his boots."You should not tease your brother, Bessy."Bessy laughed. She was a fat, pretty, good-tempered girl, very fond of Jack and just as fond of squabbling with him."He is such a fellow to brag, mamma. Now I know he'll be at it again. There he comes."Jack came in and leaned with his elbows on the table, watching his mother and thinking."Now Du Chaillu and those fellows," he broke out, "had a way of skulking behind trees and shooting at animals from ambush. I don't approve of that. I would not do that. The way to meet a wild beast is to fix your eye on him boldly. Look him straight in the eye. What are you laughing at, Bess? I tell you scientific men say there's nothing like the power of the human eye. Then when I had him fixed, I'd take aim deliberately and fire. I'd have him at an advantage, you see. Mother, there's a fire! I hear the bells!""Yes.""Can I go? Just to see where it is? Only to the corner? I won't go a step beyond the corner, I promise you.""Very well, Jack, I trust you."Jack's word, when he gave it, was as good as his oath, and although the street was quite dark, yet as they lived in a quiet part of the city his mother saw him go without fear.There was a good deal of noise and confusion outside. An engine ran past and men shouting; but in half an hour Mrs. Leigh and Bessy heard Jack coming leisurely up the steps, whistling and talking."Here, sir! Wheet! wheet! This way. In with you. Gracious, mother, how dark this hall is! Why don't Ann? Wheet--wheet! There!" opening the back door, "stay there till morning." He shut and locked the door again and came into the parlor."'Twasn't much of a fire--near two miles off--somewhere about the Northern mills.""There was great confusion," said Mrs. Leigh."There always is. Now if I was the captain of a fire company, I'd manage differently. I'd say to this man, go here, and to that man, go there, and they should not dare to utter a word. Then the fires would be put out.""Who was that in the hall, Jack?" inquired Bessy."A big dog; a most tremendous fellow. He came running alongside of me on the street, and turned up the steps as I did. Somebody's lost him, I suppose. I put him in the yard till daylight, and then I can see him and look up his owner.""Was he a pretty dog?" said Bess eagerly."How could I tell? I told you I didn't see him. As he brushed by me, I felt that he was a strapping fellow. The hall's as dark as pitch.""You didn't fix him with your eye, then?"Jack said nothing, but lighted his candle and went to bed.The next morning he was awakened by a thumping at the door, and in rushed Bessy, wild with excitement, the morning newspaper in her hand."O, Jack, listen to this!" jumping on the bed and beginning to read breathlessly:"ESCAPE OF WILD ANIMALS.--The fire of last night communicated with the stables where the animals connected with Drivers' Menagerie were stored for the winter, and several of them escaped. They were promptly pursued and captured, with the exception of the Bengal tiger, that was last seen making its way toward the southern part of the city. At the hour of our going to press no traces have been found of the animal."Bessy laid down the paper. Her eyes were set deeper in her head than usual, and they burned like coals. "Jack!" she gasped, "what do you think?"Jack's face, and neck, and very ears were scarlet. He stammered, and did not seem nearly so tumultuous as usual."I think it's in our back yard," he said, at last. "I wish you'd get out of this, Bessy. I'll--I'll get up and call a policeman.""A policeman! What on earth can he do with a tiger?" cried Bessy, in discomfiture. "Why, I thought for sure, Jack, you'd fix him with your eye; or wing him. Sha'n't I bring you your gun to wing him?""Perhaps I will," said Jack loftily. "But I must be dressed first."Bessy went out, but stood just outside of the door, trembling and quaking, her hand on the knob. Her mother had gone out early. Usually she had very little dependence on Jack, or his bravery, but anything in the shape of man or boy is a comfort to a frightened woman, and all of Jack's boasting came back soothingly now to Bessy. In half a minute Jack had scrambled into his clothes and was out."Have you seen it? Where is it?""It's in the coal-shed; in the darkest end. Ann's got the back doors tight locked and bolted, and she's up in bed with the pillow over her head. There's your gun, Jack."Jack took the gun, and still in his stocking feet, went on tiptoe to reconnoiter. From the second-story window he saw that the yard was quite clear. Just by the house stood the coal-shed, dingy and dirty enough at ordinary times, but now covered with the mystery and horror of an African jungle."You think it's in there, do you?" he said, under his breath."Oh, Ann heard it! Such a horrible roar! Up in the very back part. How will you get at it to shoot it?""I'll call in the police as soon as I'm sure it's the tiger. If it was in the jungle I'd face it. But such animals are always doubly furious for being confined.""There's a knot hole in the shed. You can peep, Jack. He won't see you."But Jack was growing unaccountably pale, and his teeth were chattering. "I'd--I'd rather not open the door--on your account, Bess. He might run in.""Fire your gun and he'll dash out into the yard!" cried Bess, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, in her excitement. "Good gracious! what will the girls say at school when they hear we've had a real tiger in our shed. If you'd only shoot him, and we'd have him stuffed.""I mean to shoot when he comes out."But Jack's fingers shook so as he adjusted the trigger that one would have thought he had the palsy."I'll tell you what to do!" shouted Bessy, clapping her hands. "I'll go down to the kitchen window, and throw a bone out in front of the shed-door, and when he rushes out for it, you look if it's the tiger or not.""Very well.""Unless you'd rather throw the bone," hesitated Bessy, her heart giving way."There's not the least danger for you, Bessy. And I'm a better judge of tigers. I'm more familiar with their habits than you."Off went Bessy, and finding a half-eaten roast of beef in the pantry, she opened the kitchen window, her heart choking her as she did it, and flung it out with all her strength. There was a rush from the shed, but Bessy had closed the shutters and was flying up the stairs. Halfway up stood Jack, pale and breathless."Was it the tiger?""Yes.""Oh, Jack!" Bessy clasped her hands. "Is he--is he big?""Oh, he's a monster. His eyes are like coals of fire." Jack jerked out the words as he dashed down the stairs and out of the front door, shouting, "Police! police!"One can easily guess what followed then. When Mrs. Leigh came home from market, a dense crowd packed the street for half a square from her house, on the outskirts of which skirmished women, with babies in their arms, boys open-mouthed, and cart-men cracking their whips, whose horses stood waiting in a crowd at the corner. In front of the door stood one of the vans of the menagerie. Wild cries of "The tiger!" "The lion!" resounded from side to side, and every time the door opened the crowd fell back, expecting him to charge on them. Way was made for Mrs. Leigh. Everybody looked at her with respect."He's in your house, ma'am.""It was your son that discovered him."Mrs. Leigh hurried in, terrified at the thought of what might have befallen her children. The house was filled with men. Policemen were in full force to keep order. The keepers from the menagerie had a net suspended over the door of the shed, to catch the tiger when it should rush out. Half a dozen men stood with guns ready pointed, in case he should attack them."But don't fire, unless in case of absolute necessity," pleaded the keeper. "Consider the cost, gentlemen. That beast is worth, as he stands, two thousand dollars.""What's your two thousand dollars to us?" growled one of the men, cocking his gun. "Consider our lives."Nobody as yet had seen the tiger but Jack, who stood in an upper window, the observed of all observers.The keepers went on with their preparations. It was their plan to shoot into the shed, over the tiger's head, and when he charged on them, capture him in the net."Let every man take care of himself," said the keeper. "Fire if we do not secure him. Are you ready, men?"The men, with pale faces, lowered the net. "All right!""Look out, then. One, two, three!""Bang!" went the pistol over the beast's head. There was a moment's pause, and then a fierce dash and a shriek from the people, caught up and echoed by the crowd outside. The men tugged at their net and caught--"Brown's big yellow dog!" shouted the policemen."Where's that young coward that fooled us?" The keepers raged and the crowd cheered.But Jack had hidden away with his shame and could not be found. He never was known to brag again.*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOKBUDD BOYD'S TRIUMPH***
Jack was reading Du Chaillu. He spent a good deal more time that night over Du Chaillu than over his Latin.
His mother and Bessy were seated by the fire, and presently he came over and turned his back to the grate, putting his hands behind him, with a swaggering way he had.
"I've got an idea, mother!" he said.
"I'm glad of that." said Bessy, under her breath. Mrs. Leigh shook her head at her.
"Well, my son?"
"Du Chaillu's in this country, you know?" Jack's face was red, and his voice like a trumpet, from excitement.
"I believe he is."
"Oh, I know it, ma'am! I saw in the paper he was lecturing in New York. And he's going back to Africa next fall. And I--I've made up my mind to go with him!"
Bessy stared.
"To Africa?" said Mrs. Leigh, folding her hem.
"Yes, mother." Jack was a little damped to find his views received so quietly.
"That is, with your permission. But you see all through this book he is inviting the boys to go. He was but a lad when he killed his first lion. He says nothing would delight him more than to take some fine courageous fellow into the jungle, and teach him how to trap elephants and hunt tigers. Oh, if I could wing a tiger with my gun!"
"Will you thread my needle, Bessy? I think if you wait, you will be a better shot in a year or two, probably, Jack."
"You think I couldn't stand it," blustered Jack. "Why, I've got muscles on me like iron. I tell you, nothing would please me better than footing it through the jungle for months, eating leopard and monkey steaks, and fighting gorillas. Those negroes were poor stuff for hunters, I think! Used to give out in a week or two. So did Du Chaillu. Why, I could go on for months, and never complain."
"Who was that whining over his grammar, awhile ago?" asked his sister.
"That's a very different matter," stammered Jack angrily. "What kind of sense is there inamaba--bis--bus! That's stuff! If I had a chance with my gun now, at a lion, say--
"If you cannot conquer nouns and verbs, Jack," said Mrs. Leigh, "I am not afraid for the wild beasts."
"As for Bess, she needn't laugh," growled Jack. "What does a girl know, with her curls, and paniers, and folderols? She never even read Du Chaillu;" and he stamped into the dining-room and began to kick off his boots.
"You should not tease your brother, Bessy."
Bessy laughed. She was a fat, pretty, good-tempered girl, very fond of Jack and just as fond of squabbling with him.
"He is such a fellow to brag, mamma. Now I know he'll be at it again. There he comes."
Jack came in and leaned with his elbows on the table, watching his mother and thinking.
"Now Du Chaillu and those fellows," he broke out, "had a way of skulking behind trees and shooting at animals from ambush. I don't approve of that. I would not do that. The way to meet a wild beast is to fix your eye on him boldly. Look him straight in the eye. What are you laughing at, Bess? I tell you scientific men say there's nothing like the power of the human eye. Then when I had him fixed, I'd take aim deliberately and fire. I'd have him at an advantage, you see. Mother, there's a fire! I hear the bells!"
"Yes."
"Can I go? Just to see where it is? Only to the corner? I won't go a step beyond the corner, I promise you."
"Very well, Jack, I trust you."
Jack's word, when he gave it, was as good as his oath, and although the street was quite dark, yet as they lived in a quiet part of the city his mother saw him go without fear.
There was a good deal of noise and confusion outside. An engine ran past and men shouting; but in half an hour Mrs. Leigh and Bessy heard Jack coming leisurely up the steps, whistling and talking.
"Here, sir! Wheet! wheet! This way. In with you. Gracious, mother, how dark this hall is! Why don't Ann? Wheet--wheet! There!" opening the back door, "stay there till morning." He shut and locked the door again and came into the parlor.
"'Twasn't much of a fire--near two miles off--somewhere about the Northern mills."
"There was great confusion," said Mrs. Leigh.
"There always is. Now if I was the captain of a fire company, I'd manage differently. I'd say to this man, go here, and to that man, go there, and they should not dare to utter a word. Then the fires would be put out."
"Who was that in the hall, Jack?" inquired Bessy.
"A big dog; a most tremendous fellow. He came running alongside of me on the street, and turned up the steps as I did. Somebody's lost him, I suppose. I put him in the yard till daylight, and then I can see him and look up his owner."
"Was he a pretty dog?" said Bess eagerly.
"How could I tell? I told you I didn't see him. As he brushed by me, I felt that he was a strapping fellow. The hall's as dark as pitch."
"You didn't fix him with your eye, then?"
Jack said nothing, but lighted his candle and went to bed.
The next morning he was awakened by a thumping at the door, and in rushed Bessy, wild with excitement, the morning newspaper in her hand.
"O, Jack, listen to this!" jumping on the bed and beginning to read breathlessly:
"ESCAPE OF WILD ANIMALS.--The fire of last night communicated with the stables where the animals connected with Drivers' Menagerie were stored for the winter, and several of them escaped. They were promptly pursued and captured, with the exception of the Bengal tiger, that was last seen making its way toward the southern part of the city. At the hour of our going to press no traces have been found of the animal."
Bessy laid down the paper. Her eyes were set deeper in her head than usual, and they burned like coals. "Jack!" she gasped, "what do you think?"
Jack's face, and neck, and very ears were scarlet. He stammered, and did not seem nearly so tumultuous as usual.
"I think it's in our back yard," he said, at last. "I wish you'd get out of this, Bessy. I'll--I'll get up and call a policeman."
"A policeman! What on earth can he do with a tiger?" cried Bessy, in discomfiture. "Why, I thought for sure, Jack, you'd fix him with your eye; or wing him. Sha'n't I bring you your gun to wing him?"
"Perhaps I will," said Jack loftily. "But I must be dressed first."
Bessy went out, but stood just outside of the door, trembling and quaking, her hand on the knob. Her mother had gone out early. Usually she had very little dependence on Jack, or his bravery, but anything in the shape of man or boy is a comfort to a frightened woman, and all of Jack's boasting came back soothingly now to Bessy. In half a minute Jack had scrambled into his clothes and was out.
"Have you seen it? Where is it?"
"It's in the coal-shed; in the darkest end. Ann's got the back doors tight locked and bolted, and she's up in bed with the pillow over her head. There's your gun, Jack."
Jack took the gun, and still in his stocking feet, went on tiptoe to reconnoiter. From the second-story window he saw that the yard was quite clear. Just by the house stood the coal-shed, dingy and dirty enough at ordinary times, but now covered with the mystery and horror of an African jungle.
"You think it's in there, do you?" he said, under his breath.
"Oh, Ann heard it! Such a horrible roar! Up in the very back part. How will you get at it to shoot it?"
"I'll call in the police as soon as I'm sure it's the tiger. If it was in the jungle I'd face it. But such animals are always doubly furious for being confined."
"There's a knot hole in the shed. You can peep, Jack. He won't see you."
But Jack was growing unaccountably pale, and his teeth were chattering. "I'd--I'd rather not open the door--on your account, Bess. He might run in."
"Fire your gun and he'll dash out into the yard!" cried Bess, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, in her excitement. "Good gracious! what will the girls say at school when they hear we've had a real tiger in our shed. If you'd only shoot him, and we'd have him stuffed."
"I mean to shoot when he comes out."
But Jack's fingers shook so as he adjusted the trigger that one would have thought he had the palsy.
"I'll tell you what to do!" shouted Bessy, clapping her hands. "I'll go down to the kitchen window, and throw a bone out in front of the shed-door, and when he rushes out for it, you look if it's the tiger or not."
"Very well."
"Unless you'd rather throw the bone," hesitated Bessy, her heart giving way.
"There's not the least danger for you, Bessy. And I'm a better judge of tigers. I'm more familiar with their habits than you."
Off went Bessy, and finding a half-eaten roast of beef in the pantry, she opened the kitchen window, her heart choking her as she did it, and flung it out with all her strength. There was a rush from the shed, but Bessy had closed the shutters and was flying up the stairs. Halfway up stood Jack, pale and breathless.
"Was it the tiger?"
"Yes."
"Oh, Jack!" Bessy clasped her hands. "Is he--is he big?"
"Oh, he's a monster. His eyes are like coals of fire." Jack jerked out the words as he dashed down the stairs and out of the front door, shouting, "Police! police!"
One can easily guess what followed then. When Mrs. Leigh came home from market, a dense crowd packed the street for half a square from her house, on the outskirts of which skirmished women, with babies in their arms, boys open-mouthed, and cart-men cracking their whips, whose horses stood waiting in a crowd at the corner. In front of the door stood one of the vans of the menagerie. Wild cries of "The tiger!" "The lion!" resounded from side to side, and every time the door opened the crowd fell back, expecting him to charge on them. Way was made for Mrs. Leigh. Everybody looked at her with respect.
"He's in your house, ma'am."
"It was your son that discovered him."
Mrs. Leigh hurried in, terrified at the thought of what might have befallen her children. The house was filled with men. Policemen were in full force to keep order. The keepers from the menagerie had a net suspended over the door of the shed, to catch the tiger when it should rush out. Half a dozen men stood with guns ready pointed, in case he should attack them.
"But don't fire, unless in case of absolute necessity," pleaded the keeper. "Consider the cost, gentlemen. That beast is worth, as he stands, two thousand dollars."
"What's your two thousand dollars to us?" growled one of the men, cocking his gun. "Consider our lives."
Nobody as yet had seen the tiger but Jack, who stood in an upper window, the observed of all observers.
The keepers went on with their preparations. It was their plan to shoot into the shed, over the tiger's head, and when he charged on them, capture him in the net.
"Let every man take care of himself," said the keeper. "Fire if we do not secure him. Are you ready, men?"
The men, with pale faces, lowered the net. "All right!"
"Look out, then. One, two, three!"
"Bang!" went the pistol over the beast's head. There was a moment's pause, and then a fierce dash and a shriek from the people, caught up and echoed by the crowd outside. The men tugged at their net and caught--
"Brown's big yellow dog!" shouted the policemen.
"Where's that young coward that fooled us?" The keepers raged and the crowd cheered.
But Jack had hidden away with his shame and could not be found. He never was known to brag again.
*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOKBUDD BOYD'S TRIUMPH***