ions and tigers and--and
g'rillas?"

"Well, not exactly lions and gorillas, my boy; but there are plenty of
baboons and monkeys there, and lots of tigers."

"Have you shot them?" asked Junkie, with a look of keen interest.

"Yes; many of them."

"Did you ever turn a tiger outside in?"

Jackman replied, with a laugh, that he had never performed that curious
operation on anything but socks--that, indeed, he had never heard of
such a thing being done.

"I knew it was a cracker," said Junkie.

"What d'you mean by a cracker, my boy?" inquired Jackman.

"A lie," said Junkie, promptly.

"And who told the cracker?"

"Ivor. He tells me a great, great many stories."

"D'you mean Ivor Donaldson, the keeper?"

"Yes; he tells me plenty of stories, but some of them are crackers. He
said that once upon a time a man was walkin' through the jungle--that's
what they call the bushes, you know, in India--an' he met a great big
tiger, which glared at him with its great eyes, and gave a tremendous
roar, and sprang upon him. The man was brave and strong. He held out
his right arm straight, so that when the tiger came upon him his arm
went into its open mouth and right down its throat, and his hand caught
hold of something. It was the inside end of the tiger's tail! The man
gave an _awful_ pull, and the tiger came inside out at once with a
_tremendous_ crack!"

"Sure, and that _was_ a cracker!" remarked Quin, who had been listening
to the boy's prattle with an amused expression, as they trudged along.

"Nevertheless, it may not be fair to call it a lie, Junkie," said
Jackman. "Did Ivor say it was true?"

"No. When I asked if it was, he only laughed, and said he had once read
of the same thing being done to a walrus, but he didn't believe it."

"Just so, Junkie. He meant you to understand the story of the tiger as
he did the story of the walrus--as a sort of fairy tale, you know."

"How could he mean that," demanded Junkie, "when he said it was a
_tiger's_ tail--not a _fairy's_ at all?"

Jackman glanced at Quin, and suppressed a laugh. Quin returned the
glance, and expressed a smile.

"Better luck next time," murmured the servant.

"Did you ever see walruses?" asked Junkie, whose active mind was prone
to jump from one subject to another.

"No, never; but I have seen elephants, which are a great deal bigger
than walruses," returned Jackman; "and I have shot them, too. I will
tell you some stories about them