ile? Does yuh think I's on'y makin' b'lieve, or dat I
done got de fever? Jest look fo' yo'self out o' de window, an' see all
dem awful t'ings out dere. I done spect yuh got all de menagerie yuh
wants dis time, an' dat's a fack!"

Toby hastened to explain what had happened, and that the animals she saw
belonged to the menagerie connected with the circus that was passing
Sunday in Carson, meaning to give a parade Monday morning, to be
followed by two performances later in the day and evening.

Then he hastened upstairs again to tell the rest of the folks; and for
some time every one in the Jucklin house had his or her face glued to a
window pane, watching the remarkable sight to be seen in their plain
back yard, which for the time being seemed to have been transported to
the heart of Africa.

Then the first detachment of the circus people hove in sight, and there
were witnessed some of the strangest things that ever came to pass on
the quiet of a Sunday morning in old Carson, since the days of the war,
half a century before.

Men led elephants away; others came with the two-humped dromedaries, and
after them the striped zebra trotted, showing something like temper
because his spell of liberty had been so short.

Then came the ostrich, with its master leading it by a rope, and warning
the curious spectators to keep away from its feet because it could kick
forward like a football punter, and with disastrous results.

Last of all a cage was brought to hold the lion that was at large; and
while the men, armed with sticks and pistols, the latter being
discharged frequently so as to inspire old Nero with alarm, drove the
beast toward the open door of the wagon, the spectators peeped from
behind corners and other places of refuge, ready to run madly if there
seemed any chance of his turning toward them.

In the end all the animals that had gathered so strangely in the Jucklin
yard were taken away. Toby had thought to call up his chums on the
'phone early in the affair, so that not only Max, but Steve and
Bandy-legs were on the spot, to gape, and see all that went on, enjoying
it immensely too.

That was a Sunday never to be forgotten in the annals of Carson. The
news went around, and many timid people remained shut up in their houses
the livelong day, not daring to venture out for fear lest they be
pounced upon by a striped tiger, a yellow-maned lion, a man-eating
panther, or some inferior beast like a common wolf, hyen