en trying to catch him,
he said:

"Well, well! it must be true. He isn't a circus animal at all." And then
to Don the lion said:

"How do you happen to know Dido, the dancing bear?"

"Well, that's a long story," answered Don. "You can read all about me,
and how I ran away, if you want to, for it's all in a book a man wrote
about me."

"Thank you," returned Nero. "But I can't read, and I don't know what a
book is, anyhow."

"Well, I can't read, either," said Don. "But I know a book when I see
one. The little boy in the house where I live goes to school, and he
has books. Sometimes I carry them home for him in my mouth. So I know a
book when I see one.

"But as long as you can't read about me I'll just tell you that in the
book the man wrote about how I ran away, got locked in a freight car,
how I went to a strange city and traveled about the country. It was then
I met Dido, the dancing bear."

"Yes, that's right," growled Dido, licking his paws, for some one had
thrown him a sugared popcorn ball, and some of the sweet, sticky stuff
was still on the bear's paws. Dido wanted to get all of it off. "It was
then you met me, Don," went on the dancing bear. "We certainly had some
fine times together!"

"Indeed we did!" replied the runaway dog, though I should not call him
that any more, as he had run back again, as you all know, and was now
living in a nice home. "And when I was down at the butcher shop this
morning and saw the circus wagons come from the railroad yard," went on
Don, "I thought maybe I'd see you again, Dido. So I came here as soon as
I could."

"I'm glad you did," said the bear. "This lion chap is named Nero. He
hasn't been out of the jungle very long."

"I'm glad to meet you, Nero," barked Don. "I always like circus
animals."

"I am glad you do," growled Nero, in his most jolly voice. "I think I
shall like you, too, Don, though I don't know much about dogs. I never
saw any in the jungle."

And this was true, for though there are some dogs in Africa, they are
mostly in cities or the towns where the native black men live. There may
be some wild dogs in the jungle, but Nero never saw any, and the nearest
he ever came to noticing animals like a dog were the black-backed
jackals. These are animals, almost like a dog, and, in fact, are
something like the Azara dogs of South America, and now Nero asked Don
if he was a jackal.

But the runaway dog soon told the circus lion a different story, and
th