st going to call my
husband or one of the men, when I heard crying, and then I saw it was
only a boy, and that he was bleeding."

"How long ago was it that you found the scratched boy?" asked Mr. Brown.

"Nearly an hour now. As soon as I saw what the matter was I hurried him
into the house and got him on a couch. Mr. Jason and I did what
bandaging we could, and then I made him go for the doctor."

"Did you know the boy, and did he say where the lion attacked him?"
asked Mr. Brown.

"I never saw him before, that I know of. But he just managed to say the
beast jumped out of the bushes at him when he was coming through our
rocky glen, then all of a sudden he fainted."

"Where is this rocky glen of yours where you say the lion jumped out at
the boy?"

"About two miles from here, back in the hills. Waste land, mostly. You
aren't thinking of going there, are you?"

"Not now, though I think I'd better send word to the circus people that
their lion is around here."

"Yes, it would be a good thing."

By this time Mr. Brown and Mrs. Jason were at the house.

"I'll take a look at him," said Mr. Brown.

He saw, lying on a couch, a tall lad, whose face and hands were covered
with bandages. The youth was tossing to and fro and murmuring, but what
he said could not well be understood, except that now and then he spoke
of a lion.

"I didn't dare take his coat off to get at the scratches on his
shoulders," said Mrs. Jason. "I thought I'd let the doctor do that."

"Yes, I guess it will be best. But if you have any sweet spirits of
nitre in the house I'll give him that to quiet him and keep down the
fever."

"Oh, we always keep nitre on hand," and Mrs. Jason helped Mr. Brown give
some to the lad. In a little while he grew quieter, and then Dr. Fandon
came in with Mr. Jason.

The two men helped the physician get the youth undressed and into a
spare bed, and then the doctor, with Mrs. Jason's help, dressed the
wounds on the boy's face and shoulders, while the men waited outside.

Then, having done what he could for the boy, and promising to call in
the morning, when he could tell more about the boy's condition, the
doctor went home, while Mr. Brown and Mr. Jason planned to get word of
the lion to the two circus men who were still at the hotel in the
village.

"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 te