ll 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 scratche