too, like the distant
roaring of a band of lions.

"The storm will soon be here," said the striped tiger, as he crouched
down in one corner of his cage, which, like that of Nero, was being
hauled along the road by eight horses.

"Well, we'll feel better when it rains," said the lion.

And then, all at once, the wind began to blow, there came a brighter
flash of lightning, a loud clap of thunder, and the storm broke. Down
came the rain, in "buckets full," as is sometimes said, and the horses,
camels and elephants loved to feel the warm water splashing down on
their backs, cooling them off and washing away the dust and dirt.

Some of the rain even dashed into the cages of Nero and the tiger, and
the jungle cats liked the feel of it as much as did the other circus
beasts.

But the rain did something else, too. It made the roads very soft and
slippery with mud, and in the middle of the night, when Nero's cage was
being pulled up a steep hill, something broke on the wagon. It got away
from the horses and began to roll down the hill backward.

"Look out! Look out!" cried the driver, as he tried to put on the brake.
"The lion's cage is running away downhill! Look out, everybody! Look out
behind there, Bill on the tiger's cage! Look out!"

But the lion's cage did not crash into the tiger's cage, which was the
next wagon behind. Instead, Nero's house on wheels rolled to one side of
the road and toppled over into a ditch. There was a loud crash as the
wooden sides and top cracked and broke.

All at once Nero saw the door of his broken cage swing open. He could
walk right out, and, as soon as he got steady on his feet, after being
tossed about by the fall, the lion gave a leap and found himself
standing clear of his cage in the soft mud, with the rain beating down
all about him.

"Why--why, I'm loose!" roared Nero. "I'm out of my cage for the first
time since I was caught in the jungle! Oh, and this is like the jungle,
a little. I can feel the soft mud on my paws, and the rain on my back!"

Nero opened his mouth to roar, and the rain dashed in, cooling his
tongue. As the lightning flashed he could see his broken cage at one
side of the ditch, but he was clear of it. When the thunder roared Nero
roared back in answer.

Up above him Nero could hear the circus men shouting. What they were
saying he did not know, but they were telling one another that the
lion's cage had rolled downhill, had broken, and that the lion was