ecurely fastened; and that somehow the first animal may have
been attracted by the very odor of which his mother was beginning to
complain, and which is always present where wild animals are kept, such
as his wildcat, 'coon and fox.

Toby, however, always insisted that it must have been some instinct that
caused elephants, dromedaries, ostrich, zebra and even the toothless old
performing lion, Nero, to camp in his back yard in preference to any
other harbor of refuge.

"Sure they knew a friend when they wanted to get in out of the wet,
didn't they?" he would argue, with many a twist and turn to his speech;
"animals are wise to the fact that a _few_ people care for them, and I'm
one of that select bunch. And you can believe that I'll always take it
as one of the greatest compliments ever paid to me that they picked out
the Jucklin yard to camp in!"

But Toby was not saying anything like this just at present. He knew that
some energetic action must be taken in order to notify the owners of the
wrecked circus where they could find a big part of their stray stock.

He tore downstairs in a great hurry, though very careful at the same
time to close the shutters of his window again; for it gave him a cold
chill to imagine that great yellow-maned lion scrambling up the
grape-arbor near by, and finding entrance to his sleeping apartment.
Toby liked wild animals all right, but he was not hankering after having
them quite as close as that.

It was a quiet Sunday morning. Later on the church bells would begin to
jangle and ring, but at that early hour not a sound seemed to make
itself heard.

Straight to the telephone rushed Toby, and as soon as he could get
Central he begged to be connected with the office of the Chief of
Police.

Now Toby hardly expected that the brave defenders of Carson would march
up to the Jucklin domicile, and arrest those elephants, dromedaries,
zebra, ostrich and last but not least the terrible king of the dark
African jungle, as Nero was described on the posters that decorated all
the bill boards in town. But when citizens were in any sort of trouble
it was only right they should put it up to the police. What were those
men paid for, but to shoulder all the burdens that might arise, and find
a solution to mysteries? Why, they would not earn their salt unless
people found something for them to do once in a while; because Carson
most of the time was as sleepy and peaceable as any town could be.

"