He began to discourse on
art, and spoke somewhat disparagingly of the cauliflower as a subject.
With a shake of his head he spoke of the possibilities of a spotted cow
or a blue lion.

"Talking of lions," said the ancient, musingly, "I s'pose as you never
'eard tell of the Claybury tiger? It was afore your time in these parts,
I expect."

The painter admitted his ignorance, and, finding that the allusion had no
reference to an inn, pulled out his pipe and prepared to listen.

"It's a while ago now," said the old man, slowly, "and the circus the
tiger belonged to was going through Claybury to get to Wickham, when,
just as they was passing Gill's farm, a steam-ingine they 'ad to draw
some o' the vans broke down, and they 'ad to stop while the blacksmith
mended it. That being so, they put up a big tent and 'ad the circus
'ere.

"I was one o' them as went, and I must say it was worth the money, though
Henry Walker was disappointed at the man who put 'is 'ead in the lion's
mouth. He said that the man frightened the lion first, before 'e did it.

"It was a great night for Claybury, and for about a week nothing else was
talked of. All the children was playing at being lions and tigers and
such-like, and young Roberts pretty near broke 'is back trying to see if
he could ride horseback standing up.

"It was about two weeks after the circus 'ad gone when a strange thing
'appened: the big tiger broke loose. Bill Chambers brought the news
first, 'aving read it in the newspaper while 'e was 'aving his tea. He
brought out the paper and showed us, and soon after we 'eard all sorts o'
tales of its doings.

"At first we thought the tiger was a long way off, and we was rather
amused at it. Frederick Scott laughed 'imself silly a'most up 'ere one
night thinking 'ow surprised a man would be if 'e come 'ome one night and
found the tiger sitting in his armchair eating the baby. It didn't seem
much of a laughing matter to me, and I said so; none of us liked it, and
even Sam Jones, as 'ad got twins for the second time, said 'Shame!'
But Frederick Scott was a man as would laugh at anything.

"When we 'eard that the tiger 'ad been seen within three miles of
Claybury things began to look serious, and Peter Gubbins said that
something ought to be done, but before we could think of anything to do
something 'appened.

"We was sitting up 'ere one evening 'aving a mug o' beer and a pipe--same
as I might be now if I'd got any baccy