tawny form with a
shaggy mane in which Toby could recognize the king of the African
forest, a male lion!

Who could blame Toby for believing that he was still dreaming as he
stared out of the window of his own little second story room, and saw
this wonderful array of wild beasts camped in the back yard, where up to
then the fiercest captive had been his snarling wildcat, and undersized
at that?

CHAPTER IV

A PROFITABLE BACK YARD

"Oh, my s-s-stars!"

That was the extent of Toby's utterance for the moment, as he remained
crouched under the window, and watched that wonderful thing that had
come to pass in a single night, just as though he might be living in the
times of the "Arabian Nights," when magic was in vogue.

"W-w-where am I at?" he presently breathed. "W-w-what does it all
m-m-mean? Has the w-w-world really turned upside d-d-down? Am I in
Africa, or is this s-s-still p-p-plain old Carson, and I'm j-j-just
seein' things?"

Just then the swinging trunk of the largest elephant was curled over the
rim of the trough where running water passed day and night, coming
through a long pipe from a distant spring; there was a strange sucking
sound, then the trunk was turned upward, and a spray of water went
sizzling over the great broad back of the animal.

Toby stirred himself. He could see that the camels were chewing their
cud, and the ostrich pluming its ruffled feathers, while the baby
elephant nosed around as though in search of breakfast. Then even the
skulking tawny figure that was partly hidden under the cage containing
his wildcat moved; and he could make out the hitherto defiant inmate
trying to cower against the back of the refuge as though frightened by
the nearness of the king of the African jungle, the lion.

"By jinks! mebbe the circus was busted in the storm, and all the wild
animals got loose!"

Why, Toby was so startled by this sudden thought, that he even neglected
his customary stutter. Bandy-legs would have been quick to draw
attention to this remarkable fact, had he been present to notice it, as
he invariably did.

The more Toby allowed this idea to sink into his brain the stronger grew
his conviction that he had really hit upon the truth. What tickled Toby
most of all was the fact that the escaped animals should select _his_
back yard above all other places of refuge in the good old town of
Carson.

Perhaps it had happened that the gate blew open in the storm, having
been ins