AN OLD FRIEND APPEARS

"That can't be the wild man, can it?" queried Giant.

"No," answered the doctor's son. "I think I know that voice."

"I think it's Jed Sanborn," came from Snap.

They waited for a few minutes and then saw a familiar figure emerge from the woods. It was their old hunting friend, and in his hand he carried six partridges.

"h.e.l.lo, there!" he cried on coming closer. "Thought you fellers was a-goin' up to the Windy Mountains?"

"We've been up---have our camp there," answered the doctor's son.

"We came down here for a purpose."

"Everything all right at home?" asked Giant.

"Yes. We had a scare day before yesterday, though. Hicks' barn got afire, an' folks thought the town might burn down, account o' the wind. But the bucket brigade an' the engine got the fire out before anything else caught."

"Are our folks all well?" asked Snap.

"Yes; an' hopin' you are the same, as they write in letters,"

and the old hunter grinned. "Had much luck shootin' and picter-takin'?"

"We are well satisfied," answered Shep. "Got quite some partridge and rabbits and some deer, and a lion-----"

"Oh, sure! A lion! Suppose ye got an ellerphant, and hoppo-what-you-call-'em, too?"

"We did get a lion," said Giant. "We've got him in a pit."

"See here, son, lions don't roam these woods, an' never did. You are mistook in the beast."

"It's the circus lion, Jed; the one that got away at Railings,"

explained Snap.

"Oh! Do ye really mean it?" And now Jed Sanborn was tremendously interested.

"Yes. We saw him on the mountain side and found a big pit and made a trap of it with some wildcat meat, and we caught him."

"Is he alive an' well?"

"Yes."

"Glory to Washington! Do you know them circus folks has offered a reward o' three hundred dollars fer that lion if caught alive?"

"Then the money is ours!" cried Shep. "Hurrah, boys, that suits me down to the ground!"

"Are you sure about the reward?" asked Snap.

"O' course---I read the poster in the post-office. They'll give three hundred dollars fer the lion an' five hundred fer the eddicated chim---what-you-call-him. You know."

"The educated chimpanzee," said Shep.

"That's it. It looks as if that chimpanzee was wuth a lot to them.

He was a whole show in hisself."

"Well, we've got the lion right enough," said Snap. "We don't know anything about the monkey."

They told the old hunter about many of their doings, and related the story of the missing watch, camera, and other things.

"Why, I didn't know anybody lived in this cabin," said Jed Sanborn.

"It's been empty ever since old Sturgis died---about twelve years ago. He had some awful disease---like smallpox---and folks got scared to come here."

"Gracious! You don't suppose we'll get any disease?" cried Giant in alarm.

"Not from him, son---it's too long ago. Why, say, I was at this cabin less than a month ago---stopped here overnight account o'

a rainstorm."

Wasn't n.o.buddy here then. It can't be Peter Peterson, can it?"

"No; it didn't look like Peterson," answered the doctor's son.

"Besides, Peterson isn't so plumb crazy as this chap."

"I'll take a look around," answered Jed Sanborn.

He made the same investigation as had the boys. Then he got down on his hands and knees and examined the soft ground in and around the cabin.

"Say, did ye see anything o' a dog around here?" he asked.

"Yes," answered Giant. "That is, the circus boy we told you about has his dog with him---a collie."

"Here's a trail looks something like a dog's, but not much. Plenty o' other footmarks---but I reckon you made those."

What to do next the boys did not know. There was no telling what had become of the strange occupant of the lonely cabin, or when he would return.

"We'd like to let those circus folks know about the lion," said the doctor's son. "I suppose one of us will have to go back to town to send them word."

"I am going back to town to-morrow," answered the old hunter. "I can take word, if ye want me to."

"That will do first-rate," answered Shep. "We can send word where some of the men can meet us---and in the meantime we can watch the lion, so that he doesn't get away, and doesn't die of hunger and thirst."

"Wild beasts can live a long time without food and drink," said Jed Sanborn. "But the gittin' away is another story. Better watch him putty closely."

After a good deal of talking the boys decided to return to their camp. It was arranged that the old hunter should depart for town at once, find out where the circus was, and inform the proprietor that the lion was found. Then, when a circus representative appeared, Sanborn was to meet him, arrange to cage the lion, and meet the boys at their camp, the location of which they described in such a manner that it could not be missed. Sanborn said the circus manager had found out that the three discharged employees were guilty of letting the animals escape, and the men were now in jail.

"Tell our folks that we are well and having a grand time," said Snap, and Sanborn promised to do so.

After a hearty dinner, at which the old hunter ate his fill of the things cooked by Giant, the boys and the old hunter separated, and Shep and his chums struck out for the camp. It was still warm, so the doctor's son did not mind the loss of his shirt. He had more at the camp, so the loss did not matter much.