rying circumstances," he said. "You do not meet
a lion every day."

After what had happened, Willis and I felt much interest the following
week in seeing the show that had discomfited us. It had established
itself at the county fair in its big tent and apparently was doing a
rushing business. Buying admission tickets, Willis and I went in and
approached the lion's cage for a nearer view of the king of beasts. We
hoped he would spring up and roar as he had done in the woods below the
Shaker village; but he kept quiet. After all, he did not look very
formidable, and he seemed sadly oppressed and bored.

I think the proprietor of the show recognized us, for we saw him
regarding us suspiciously; and we moved on to the cage in which the Wild
Man sat, with a big brass chain attached to his leg--ostensibly to
prevent him from running amuck among the spectators. Two of his keepers
were guarding him, with axes in their hands. He was loosely arrayed in a
tiger's skin, and his limbs appeared to be very hairy. His skin was dark
brown and rough with warts. His hair, which was really a wig, hung in
tangled snarls over his eyes. He gnashed his teeth, clenched his fists,
and every few moments he uttered a terrific yell at which timid patrons
of the show promptly retired to the far side of the tent.

When Willis and I approached the cage, a smile suddenly broke across the
Wild Man's face, and he nodded to us. "You were the fellows with the
hogs, weren't you?" he said in very good English. I can hardly describe
what a shock that gave us.

"Why, why--aren't you from the wilds of Borneo?" Willis asked him in low
tones.

"Thunder, no!" the Wild Man replied confidentially. "I don't even know
where it is. I'm from over in Vermont--Bellows Falls."

"But--but--you do look pretty savage!" stammered Willis in much
astonishment.

"You bet!" said the Wild Man. "Ain't this a dandy rig? It gets 'em, too.
But don't give me away; I get a good living out of this."

Just then a group of spectators came crowding forward, and the Wild Man
let out a howl that brought them to an appalled halt. The keepers
brandished their axes.

"Well, did you ever?" Willis muttered as we moved on. "Doesn't that beat
everything?"

The Fat Lady was ponderously unwinding the coils of the boa constrictor
from round her neck as we paused in front of her cage, but presently she
recognized us and smiled. We asked her whether she wasn't afraid to let
the snake coil its