"It isn't good for little children to go to a circus at night," said Uncle Tad. "You've seen enough."

Of course Daddy Brown and Mother Brown had to hear all about it over the supper table, and they were glad the children had had such a good time.

At night when they sat around a little campfire on the ground near the automobile, they could hear, in the distance, the music of the circus.

In the middle of the night Mr. and Mrs. Brown were awakened by hearing the noise of many persons rushing past on the road alongside of which their automobile was drawn up. Also the chugging of automobiles and the patter of horses' feet could be heard.

"I wonder what it can be," said Mrs. Brown. "Is it the circus coming back again?"

"No, they would be going the other way. I'll see if I can find out what it is."

Slipping on a bath robe, Mr. Brown went to the back door of the automobile. He saw a crowd of people rushing along.

"What's the matter?" he called.

"One of the circus lions is loose," was the answer, "and we're chasing it!"

[Ill.u.s.tration: BUNNY AND SUE FED THE ELEPHANTS.

_Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue on an Auto Tour._ _Page_ 218.]

CHAPTER XXIII

THE SCRATCHED BOY

"What's that? What's the matter?" asked Mrs. Brown. In the darkness she had slipped to her husband's side. She, too, looked out on the crowd of men and boys rushing past in the moonlight. "What has happened?" she asked again, as Mr. Brown did not appear to have heard what she said.

"As nearly as I could understand," he said slowly, speaking in a low voice, "one of the men who ran past said a lion had broken loose from the circus."

"Oh, how dreadful!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown. "What shall we do? Did Uncle Tad bring his gun with him?"

"Hush! Don't wake the children," said Mr. Brown. "They might be frightened if they heard that a lion was loose."

"Frightened? I should think any one would be frightened!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown. "A savage lion raging around at night, trying to get something to eat----"

"Now please don't get excited," begged Mr. Brown. "There is no danger--at least I believe there isn't."

"No danger? And with a lion loose--a hungry lion!"

"That's where I think you're wrong," said her husband. "The circus people usually keep their lions and other wild animals well fed. They know the danger a hungry beast might be if he should get loose. And I dare say they often do get loose, for all sorts of things may happen when the cages are taken to so many different places.

"But though this lion has broken loose, I don't believe it would bite even a rooster if it crowed at him. I mean he won't be hungry, because he'll have been well fed before the circus started away."

"Then you don't believe there is any danger?"

"Well, not enough to worry about. Another thing is that usually circus lions are so tame, having been caged so long, that they are fairly gentle."

"I read of one that bit his keeper," said Mrs. Brown.

"Oh, of course there are _some_ dangerous lions in circuses. But we won't believe this one that got away is that kind until we are sure.

There's a man who seems tired of running. I think he's going to stop and I'll ask him how it happened."

One of the crowd of men and boys, racing past the "Ark," had slowed his pace, being tired it seemed. Mr. Brown leaned out of the back door and called to him:

"What is the matter? Did a lion really get loose from the circus?"

"That's what really did happen, sir. Are you one of the circus folks?"

"No, we are just travelers. We are stopping here because one of the springs of our automobile is broken."

"Oh, excuse me. I thought this was one of the circus wagons. Yes, as they were loading the lion's cage on the train a few hours ago, it slipped, fell on its side and broke. The biggest lion in the circus got away before they could catch him, and they say he headed down this way.

The circus men started after him with nets and ropes, and they offered a reward of twenty-five dollars to whoever caught him. So a lot of us started out, but I guess I'll go back. I'm tired out. I didn't have an automobile like some."

"Then the lion didn't get loose while the circus performance was going on?" asked Mrs. Brown.

"Oh, no. And it's a good thing it didn't, or there'd have been a terrible scare and maybe lots of folks hurt in the rush. The show was over, and most of the animal tent stuff was loaded on the flat cars when the lion's cage broke."

"Aren't you afraid to try to catch him?" asked Mrs. Brown.

"Well, I didn't stop to think of that. I don't know though that I am. I just started off with a rush--the same as lots of others did who were watching the circus load--when the lion got loose. I thought maybe I could earn that twenty-five dollars. You see that's given to whoever finds where the lion is hiding. The circus men just want to know that and then they'll do the catching. There really isn't much danger."

"Well, I shouldn't like to try it," murmured Mrs. Brown.

"I guess I'll give up, too," said the man.

He called a "good-night!" to Mr. and Mrs. Brown and went back along the road. There were no more people to be seen, those who had gone lion-hunting being now out of sight.

"Well, I'm glad the children didn't wake up," said Mrs. Brown, for, strange as it may seem, Bunny and Sue had slept all through the noise.

But then they were tired because of having gone to the circus. "Shall you tell them about the lion being loose?"

"Oh, yes, to-morrow, of course. While I think there is little danger I would not want them to stray too far away, for the poor old lion may be hiding in the woods or among the rocks, and he might spring out on whoever pa.s.sed his hiding place."

"Why do you call him a 'poor old lion'? I think he must be a _very_ savage fellow."

"Oh, I think he'll turn out to be a gentle one," said her husband with a laugh.

Then Mr. and Mrs. Brown went to bed, after Uncle Tad had heard the story, and the rest of the night pa.s.sed quietly. At the breakfast table Bunny and Sue were told of what had happened.

Bunny wanted to go right out with Uncle Tad, who was to take his gun.

"We'll hunt him and get the twenty-five dollars," said the little fellow.

"No. You'd better play around here for a while," ordered his father. "It will be safer."

"I wouldn't let him out of my sight for a million dollars!" cried Mrs.

Brown.