Then he turned about and faced Leo.
“Run for your life!” sang out the youth to the woman. “Run, I tell you!”
She stared at him, but when he gave her a shove she realized what he was saying, and made such a spurt as had never before been seen in that dooryard.
The lion watched her go, but made no attempt to follow. His mind was on Leo and on the blow the boy had given him.
He was an ugly brute, and around the circus was known to be the most difficult to manage. Trainer after trainer had tried to break him in, but without effect. Instead of getting more docile, he grew worse.
In his former days he had killed a man, and evidently he was longing for a chance to repeat this bloody tragedy.
He took several steps and tried to get behind Leo.
But the boy was on the alert and ran backward toward the apple tree.
Then the lion crouched for a leap. His immense body was bent low, his tail gave a quiver, and forward he shot toward the very spot where Leo was standing.
But as the lion leaped so did the boy. He turned a graceful curve to the left, out of the brute’s reach, and caught the lowest branch of the tree behind him.
The lion’s nose struck the tree trunk, and he let out another roar of mingled pain and disappointment.
“Didn’t do it that time,” muttered Leo. “What’s the use of banging your nose like that?”
Another roar was the only answer, and then the lion left the vicinity of the tree and moved back several yards beyond the branch to which Leo clung.
The boy knew what was coming, and immediately stood up on the limb.
He was none too soon.
Again the lion made a leap upward.
He reached the limb, but only to find that Leo had taken a spring to the next above.
But now an accident happened which neither the boy nor the brute was expecting.
The apple tree was old and somewhat rotted at the roots. The weight of the boy and the sudden shock from the heavy body of the lion were too much for it to stand.
There was a crack and a loud snap, and then the tree went over on the ground, carrying Leo and the lion with it.
The lion was completely bewildered by the fall, and, moreover, he was entrapped for the moment by several limbs which came down on his back and neck.
As the tree went over, Leo turned around and landed on his feet directly beside the lion.
He saw how mixed up the brute was amid the branches and this gave him a sudden idea.
With a lightness of foot that was surprising in a mere farm lad, he ran to the woodshed.
Soon he reappeared carrying a wash-line, a well-rope, and half a dozen leather straps.
He fastened an end of the wash-line to one of the limbs of the tree and then to another, and so on all around the lion.
Then he crossed the well-rope over the line, and even fastened it around the lion’s left hind leg.
Then making a noose of the longest strap, he watched his chance and dropped it over the brute’s neck.
Of course, the lion roared and struggled to free himself, but Leo was too quick for him.
The noose around his neck, Leo tightened it considerably, and then fastened the end of the strap to the tree trunk.
“Now, if you move you’ll take the whole tree with you,” thought the boy.
CHAPTER III. – LEO LEAVES THE FARM
The savage lion was a prisoner.
In vain he tried to release himself. Turning over merely tangled him up tighter, and in his struggle he almost broke a hind leg and choked himself to death.
He tried to run, and succeeded in carrying the whole apple tree several yards.
But the load was too much for him, and, with a roar of pain and rage, he at length became quiet.
In the meanwhile Daniel Hawkins and his wife had gone into the farmhouse and locked all the doors and lower windows.
They were now at an upper window watching proceedings.
“He’s got him, Daniel!” cried Mrs. Hawkins.
“The apple tree is down!” groaned the old farmer in reply. “Plague take the pesky critter!”
“Leo hez tied him fast!”
“Maybe he might git away an’ chew him up. Wish he would,” continued Daniel Hawkins.
“It must be a lion from thet circus at Hopsville, Daniel, an’ if so, they’ll come after him.”
“Well, they better take him away,” growled the old farmer.
While they were talking a loud shouting was heard on the road, and presently half a dozen men on horseback came into view.
All were heavily armed, and several carried lassoes and ropes.
They were a party from the circus on the search for the lion.
Leo heard them coming and ran down the road to meet them.
“Hi, boy! Seen anything of a lion around here?” asked the leader.
“Indeed I have,” laughed Leo.
“Where is he?” demanded another of the crowd quickly.
“Over in the dooryard of that farmhouse.”
“Has he hurt any one?”
“He has scared the wits out of that man and his wife,” and Leo pointed to Daniel Hawkins and his spouse.
“He’s enough to scare the wits out of any one,” put in another of the crowd. “Come, boys, now for a tussle with old Nero.”
“We ought to shoot him at once. We can’t capture him alive,” growled a rear man.
“You won’t have to shoot him,” said Leo, with a twinkle in his eye.
“Why not? You don’t mean to say he’s dead already?”
“Oh, no! He’s alive enough.”
“Is it possible he has been captured?”
“Yes, I captured him and tied him to a tree.”
“Nonsense, boy, this is no time for fooling. The lion may eat somebody up.”
“I’m not fooling, sir. I have captured him. If you don’t believe me, come and see for yourself.”
Still incredulous, the party of men followed Leo into the dooryard.
When they saw the lion under the fallen apple tree they did not know whether to laugh, or praise Leo the most.
“By Jove! but this is the greatest feat yet!”
“Old Nero has a cage around him now and no mistake.”
“He can’t move a step unless he drags the whole tree with him!”
“Say, boy, who helped you do this?”
“No one.”
“You did it entirely alone?”
“Yes, sir,” was the modest reply.
“Thet ain’t so; it wuz me as captured yer lion fer yer,” came from Daniel Hawkins, who had joined the party in the yard.
“Mr. Hawkins, how can you say that!” exclaimed Leo in amazement. “You ran for your life and locked yourself in the house, even before your wife got away.”
“Tain’t so. I captured the lion, an’ if there’s any reward it comes to me.”
“We have offered no