Out with Gun and Camera Part 9

"Oh!" came in a groan from Giant, and his chums saw him stagger.

"What is it?" asked Snap quickly. But instead of answering the small youth staggered around the piazza top.

"Giant is shot!" gasped Whopper. "Catch him! He is falling off the roof!"

Snap made a quick leap forward and caught Giant around the waist.

Both were now on the slanting portion of the piazza roof. Snap did what he could to stay their progress, but it was in vain, and the next instant both boys slipped down over the edge. Snap clutched at a honeysuckle vine growing there, but it gave way, and a moment later the two boys rolled to the ground.

CHAPTER VI

SOMETHING ABOUT A CHIMPANZEE

It was well that that honeysuckle vine was growing there and that it gave way slowly after Snap grasped it, for otherwise the two boys might have suffered some broken bones. As it was, Snap b.u.mped his shoulder severely and sc.r.a.ped his ear on the sand of the path that ran around the side of the house.

Poor Giant was unconscious, and even in that perilous moment Snap realized that his little chum had been hit by some of the shot from the gun. Whether the lad was dangerously wounded or not remained to be seen.

The two boys had fallen inside the dooryard, which was separated from the street by a low fence. Hardly did they land when Snap scrambled up, dragging Giant with him.

"The front door! The front door!" yelled Shep from above. "We'll let you in!" And then he leaped through the window and tore down the stairs four steps at a time, with Whopper at his heels.

As Snap turned and looked out into the street he saw a sight calculated to daunt the stoutest heart. The lion was there, standing erect, with bristling mane, glaring fiercely at him.

"Get away!" the boy yelled, not knowing what else to do. "Get away!"

And then he picked up a whitewashed stone, one of a number bordering the garden path. With all his might he threw it at the lion and caught the beast in the head. The animal turned, slunk along the fence, and disappeared behind a tree in front of the next house.

The moment the animal turned away, Snap moved toward the piazza. He had Giant in one of his arms, and in his excitement did not notice the weight of his burden. As he ascended the steps the door was flung open and Shep appeared. Then Whopper showed himself, armed with an umbrella he had s.n.a.t.c.hed from the hall rack.

"Where's the lion?" asked the doctor's son.

"Behind the tree!" gasped Snap, and then he literally fell into the hallway with Giant still in his arm. At once the door was closed and locked again.

"Was Giant shot?" queried Whopper, as he threw down the umbrella.

"Yes," answered Snap. "Make a light," he added, for the hallway was in total darkness.

Mrs. Carson was still upstairs, while the hired girl in her fright had fled to the garret, so the boys had to stumble around until Shep found a match and lit the lamp. Whopper and Snap carried Giant into the sitting-room and placed him on a sofa. As they did this the small youth opened his eyes and stared around wildly.

"The lion! Don't let him eat me!" he muttered.

"You're safe, Giant," answered the doctor's son.

"I---I got shot!"

"We know it. Let us see if you are badly hurt." On several occasions, in cases of accident, Shep had aided his father in caring for patients, and the knowledge thus gained now stood him in good stead.

He made a close examination and found that several buckshot had grazed the small youth's temple, while one had gone through the tip of the ear. Giant's face was covered with blood, and this was washed off, and then his wounds were bathed with witch hazel and bound up.

"You had a narrow escape," was the comment of the doctor's son. "A little closer and you might have been killed, or might have lost your eyesight."

"That fellow with the gun was mighty careless," said Whopper.

"He was excited," added Snap. "He didn't want to hit Giant."

Snap said nothing about his hurt shoulder, although the b.u.mp he had received made him stiff and sore. He was thankful that the honeysuckle vine had broken the fall from the piazza roof, and that he and Giant had escaped from the clutches of the lion.

The hunters of the animal had gone past the house, and now those inside heard firing in the distance. The shots gradually grew fainter and fainter, at last dying out altogether.

"I guess his lionship has left town," said Shep.

"Or else he is dead," added Snap.

Mrs. Carson was much worried over the wounds Giant had received and insisted upon putting on them some salve. The boy declared he felt all right again and that the wounds would soon heal.

"I'm used to little things like that," he said. "When we went hunting we had all sorts of things happen to us."

"Mercy on us! Then you ought never to go hunting again!" declared the lady of the house.

"It was a narrow escape," said Snap gravely. "You can be thankful that man didn't blow your head off.

"I am thankful, Snap; and I am also thankful for what you did for me," murmured Giant, and looked at his chum in a manner that spoke volumes.

It was now too late to think of going to Fairview, for the last train had already departed. And as it was, Mrs. Carson insisted upon it that the boys remain all night.

"If you leave the house I'll be worried to death, thinking the lion caught you," she said.

So the boys stayed over another night. Late in the evening they stopped two men who were pa.s.sing the house and from them learned that the lion had been chased to the edge of a big woods north of Railings. He had been wounded, of that the men were certain, and a regular hunting party was going out in the morning to either kill or capture the beast.

"The circus owner has offered a hundred dollars reward for his capture," said one of the men "So they'll get him alive if they can."

"Did any other lions escape?" asked the doctor's son.

"No; but one of the big monkeys is missing---the educated one."

"Do you mean Abe, the educated chimpanzee?" queried Snap.

"That's the fellow---the one who eats, drinks, smokes and does all sorts of stunts. He's missing, and the circus men are more worried over him than over the lion. One man said the chim---what-do-you-call-him was worth a thousand dollars."

"I believe that---being educated to do so many things," said Whopper.

"He sat up to a table to eat just like a man."

"Did you hear how the lion and the chimpanzee happened to get away?"

asked Giant.

"Why, there was a report it was the fault of four rascals who used to work for the circus---three men who were discharged for getting drunk, and a boy who did stunts on the trapeze and ran away."