we'll close the doors and windows."

As much to please the lady as anything, the boys went in, and
assisted in closing up the lower part of the house. They had just
reached an upper window when a man went hurrying through the Street,
holding a shotgun in his hands.

"Did a lion really get loose?" called out Snap.

"He certainly did," was the answer.

"Where is he now?"

"Somewhere back of the freight depot, or in one of the empty freight
cars."

"Going to try to shoot him?" asked Whopper.

"Yes. Four or five of us are going to try to do that or capture
him."

The man hurried on, and presently another appeared, armed with a
rifle.

"Wish I had a gun; I'd go on the hunt, too," said Snap. "Think
of laying a real lion low!"

"It would beat deer hunting, wouldn't it?" answered Whopper. "But
supposing the lion turned and hunted you? You'd want to run about
'leven hundred miles!"

"If you had the chance," came from Giant. "I've heard that a lion
can get over the ground as quick as a cat."

"I don't want any of you boys to leave this house until that lion
is caught," said Mrs. Carson firmly. "I feel it my duty to keep you
here."

"Maybe they won't catch him at all," suggested her nephew.

"Oh, they'll be sure to catch or shoot him by morning," answered
the lady of the house.

Supper in the dining-room below was rather a haphazard affair.
It was eaten behind closed blinds and in semi-darkness, the lady
of the house being afraid to make a light, for fear of allowing
the roaming lion to see the eating, and her guests. Just as the
hired girl was bringing in the dessert a distant shot rang out,
and uttering a scream the girl, whose nerves were on edge, let the
dessert saucers fall to the floor with a crash.

"Somebody must have shot the lion!" cried Giant.

"Or shot at him," corrected Whopper.

"Just look what you have done, Mary!" cried Mrs. Carson in dismay.

"I couldn't help it, mum," answered the servant girl. "That lion
gettin' loose has scared me stiff!"

"Well, I am scared myself. Clear up the muss, and be careful next
time. Boys, you'll have to do without the preserves. But you can
have cake."

"Cake is good enough for me," answered Snap, and the others said
about the same.

Not long after that came another shot, this time from the corner
at the end of the block.

"They are coming this way!" exclaimed the doctor's son. "Let us
go upstairs again and see what is doing."

"Be car