own
placed for her near the back steps of the automobile.

CHAPTER XXIV

THE BARKING DOG

Mr. and Mrs. Brown, not to say Bunny, Sue and Uncle Tad, were very, very
much surprised when Mrs. Jason said the boy had been scratched by a
lion.

"Are you sure about it?" asked the children's father.

"That's what he says," replied the farmer's wife. "He is certainly badly
scratched, as I could see for myself. Whether it was by a lion or
something else I can't say, never having seen a lion's scratches. The
boy might be making up some story, but he certainly _is_ scratched."

"The circus lion!" cried Mrs. Brown. "Oh, that must be the one that did
it! The lion must be roaming around here! We must lock the automobile
and stay inside!"

"Now please don't get excited," begged Mr. Brown. "In the first place
this boy may not be telling the truth. He is scratched, for Mrs. Jason
has seen the marks and bandaged them up, she says. But it may be the boy
fell down in the bushes, or among the rocks and got scratched that way.
Or it may have been some other wild animal in the woods that attacked
him. There are some animals around here, aren't there?" he asked the
farmer's wife.

"Well, skunks, groundhogs and the like of that, with maybe a fox or two.
Of course foxes or groundhogs will bite if any one tries to catch them,
but I don't know that they'd scratch, though they might if they were put
to it. I never saw such scratches as these. And, as you say, Mrs. Brown,
it _may_ have been the circus lion which is hiding around here."

"You don't seem very frightened over it," said Mrs. Brown.

"Well, what's the use of being frightened until I see it?" asked Mrs.
Jason. "I'm more worried about that poor boy. I wish I could do
something for him to ease his pain until Dr. Fandon comes. He may be a
long while."

"I'll come up with you and see what I can do," promised Mr. Brown.
"Uncle Tad knows something about soldiers' wounds, and perhaps he
could----"

"Oh, don't take Uncle Tad with you!" pleaded Mrs. Brown. "We need _one_
man around here if there's a lion loose in the woods. Come back as soon
as you can," she begged her husband as he walked toward the farmhouse
with Mrs. Jason.

"How did you happen to see the boy?" asked Mr. Brown.

"I was out gathering the eggs near the henhouse," said Mrs. Jason, "and
I heard a sort of groaning noise. Then I saw somebody coming toward me.

"At first I thought it was a tramp, and I was ju