y barred than
before the three inmates retired to their beds.

Tom Gordon, being a rugged, healthy boy, generally passed the night in
refreshing slumber. Not a trace of the ague which kept him from the circus
showed itself in his system when he went up-stairs to his room; but,
somehow or other, after he lay down he could not sleep.

No doubt the excitement through which he had gone so wrought upon his
nerves as to drive away all drowsiness; but the thought that was running
through his brain found expression in the words:--

"A hundred dollars! What a fortune that is! It would make us comfortable
for life. I wonder if there is any way of catching Tippo Sahib before the
men find him.

"I don't believe there's anything in what Jim said about looking the
creature in the eye. S'pose I should meet him in the woods, and fix him
that way, what good would it do? I'd have to stand there till the keepers
come along, and they might not do that for a week or two. By that time I'd
be starved to death, and so would the tiger, and they want him alive.

"Jim must be mistaken, too, 'bout shooting off his tail. Jim and me
haven't got any tails, and we don't have any trouble in walking. I can't
see how it would make any difference with the tiger, either. I wonder
where Jim got all them ideas,--I guess where he got the stories 'bout so
many people being chawed up."

The lad lay for a while on one side, and then flung himself on the other.
Several times he was on the point of dropping into an uneasy slumber, but
some slight noise always came at the critical moment to make him wider
awake than he was in the first instance.

What is more disturbing than the occasional rattle of a window sash when
we are trying to woo sleep? By and by Tom discovered it was that which had
played the mischief with his rest. He sprang impatiently out of bed, and
hurried to the window, with the intention of righting matters.

The bright moon shining from an unclouded sky made it almost as light as
day. He stood a minute, looking out upon the beautiful scene; for, young
as he was, he could not fail to be impressed by the striking loveliness of
everything out-doors.

"I wonder whether they've catched Tippo Sahib"--

The lad caught his breath, for just then he saw something moving in the
shadow of the woodshed. A second look showed it to be some sort of
quadruped, and the third--could he believe his eyes?--revealed the tiger
himself!

Yes, it was the terr