fight a policeman some day."

A few minutes later, one of his patrons, a tow-headed young man who was
boarding and rehearsing three performing leopards at Cedarwild, was
asking Collins for the loan of an Airedale.

"I've only got one left now," he explained, "and I ain't safe without
two."

"What's happened to the other one?" the master-trainer queried.

"Alphonso--that's the big buck leopard--got nasty this morning and
settled his hash. I had to put him out of his misery. He was gutted
like a horse in the bull-ring. But he saved me all right. If it hadn't
been for him I'd have got a mauling. Alphonso gets these bad streaks
just about every so often. That's the second dog he's killed for me."

Collins shook his head.

"Haven't got an Airedale," he said, and just then his eyes chanced to
fall on Michael. "Try out the Irish terrier," he suggested. "They're
like the Airedale in disposition. Pretty close cousins, at any rate."

"I pin my faith on the Airedale when it comes to lion dogs," the leopard
man demurred.

"So's an Irish terrier a lion dog. Take that one there. Look at the
size and weight of him. Also, take it from me, he's all spunk. He'll
stand up to anything. Try him out. I'll lend him to you. If he makes
good I'll sell him to you cheap. An Irish terrier for a leopard dog will
be a novelty."

"If he gets fresh with them cats he'll find his finish," Johnny told
Collins, as Michael was led away by the leopard man.

"Then, maybe, the stage will lose a star," Collins answered, with a shrug
of shoulders. "But I'll have him off my chest anyway. When a dog gets a
perpetual sour-ball like that he's finished. Never can do a thing with
them. I've had them on my hands before."

* * * * *

And Michael went to make the acquaintance of Jack, the surviving
Airedale, and to do his daily turn with the leopards. In the big spotted
cats he recognized the hereditary enemy, and, even before he was thrust
into the cage, his neck was all a-prickle as the skin nervously tightened
and the hair uprose stiff-ended. It was a nervous moment for all
concerned, the introduction of a new dog into the cage. The tow-headed
leopard man, who was billed on the boards as Raoul Castlemon and was
called Ralph by his intimates, was already in the cage. The Airedale was
with him, while outside stood several men armed with iron bars and long
steel forks. These weapons, ready for immediate use, were thrust between