The men looked at Tom Gordon as if doubting his words.
"Are you in earnest?" asked one of them.
"Look for yourselves."
The horseman was out of the saddle in a twinkling, and walked quickly to the woodshed, whose cracks were so numerous that it was easy to see every part of the interior. Placing his eyes at one of these openings, he peered through.
"By George, boys!" he exclaimed, turning about, "the youngster"s right; Tippo is in there."
The others hastily dismounted, tied their horses, and joined him. All took a look before they were satisfied no mistake had been made.
The tiger was stretched out in one corner, and had been asleep, when he was awakened by the noise. He raised his head, opened his eyes and growled, but showed no special anger at being disturbed.
While the men were debating as to the best means of securing him, Jack Durrick, who had done most of the talking, explained to the ladies and Tom what must have puzzled them concerning the action of the beast.
Durrick, it should be stated, figured on the stupendous posters as "Professor De La Cordova, Successor of the Renowned Van Amberg, and Fully his Equal in his Amazing Power and Control over the Wild Beasts of the Forest and Jungle." In this case, it must be added, the professor possessed fair claim to this distinction. He displayed great skill in the management of wild animals. No one could handle Tippo Sahib as did he. Had he been near the cage when Sam Harper angered him, he never would have permitted the beast to escape.
He said Tippo was frightened and nervous through his suddenly acquired freedom. He suffered pain from the jab in his eye, and was made more restless and fidgety by the excitement and his strange surroundings. The slight wound received by him renewed his anger; but, when he withdrew from the immediate vicinity, he undoubtedly made a raid on some farmer"s live-stock, and had devoured a calf, pig, or sheep. He had eaten his fill, and thereupon became so docile as to be comparatively harmless, provided he was treated with consideration.
His return to the scene of his most stirring experience was one of those whims which his species sometimes show. Tired from his flight and filled to satiety, he had lain down to rest in the woodshed, so satisfied with his quarters that he offered no objection when Tom Gordon slipped up and fastened the door. So powerful and active an animal, had he chosen, could have broken out of the place in a twinkling; but he was content to stay where he was until fully rested.
"I a.s.sure you," added the professor, "you wouldn"t have kept him much longer; when he awoke, hungry and thirsty, he would have placed himself on the outside before you could say Jack Robinson, and _then_ there would have been trouble."
The actions of the professor proved his faith in his own words. He coolly unhooked the door, gently pushed it back, and stepped within the structure. Tippo Sahib uttered a growl, and Tom and his friends shrank farther away. The men, however, one of whom carried a coil of rope, held their places.
Professor De La Cordova displayed admirable coolness and tact. He was not rough in manner, but acted like one who felt himself master of the situation. His course, indeed, suggested to Tom that there was much truth in Jim Travers"s declaration about the power of the human eye over the denizens of the jungle. Standing erect, the man remained motionless for a full minute, during which he kept his gaze fixed on the tiger, staring into those orbs as if he would "look him through."
Tippo Sahib was uneasy for a brief while, and then succ.u.mbed to that mysterious hypnotic influence which, in some cases, is equally potent with persons. He became humble, meek, and, if the term can be allowed, penitent.
Fully understanding his condition, the professor reached his hand behind him, without removing his gaze from the beast.
"The rope!" he said in a low voice.
The next moment, to the amazement of Tom and his relatives, he stepped gently forward, and fastened the rope around the unresisting neck of Tippo Sahib, who was led outside like a thoroughly subdued dog. Tom gave him plenty of room, and closely watched proceedings. While doing so, he observed a slight scratch on the hip of the beast, barely sufficient to break the skin; that was the path of the bullet fired by the lad the day previous.
Other ropes were fastened about the tiger, who took it all as a matter of course, and calmly followed when his guards moved in the direction of the horses. These resented the approach of the huge cat, so the professor and one of his men walked some distance behind the others, who took care of the animals.
Before their departure, Professor De La Cordova told Tom to call at the hotel between six and seven that evening, and he would be paid the hundred dollars with the thanks of Mr. Jones and all connected with the menagerie and circus.
"I wonder if they mean to cheat me out of it?" said the boy that afternoon, when he looked at the clock and saw it was nearly time to start.
"I hardly think so," replied his mother.
"Why didn"t they give the money before they took the tiger away?"
"Probably they hadn"t so much with them," suggested Aunt Cynthia, who plainly felt some misgiving over matters; "most likely the money has to be paid by some officer connected with the show."
"And he may say he never gave his men the right to make such an offer,"
remarked Tom.
"That may be," said the mother, thinking it wise to prepare her son for a probable disappointment; "the circus is to exhibit at Boorman"s to-night.
That is twenty miles off, and all may have gone thither. If those men choose to disregard their word, I see no help for it."
"It will be awful mean in them," declared the boy, who had become quite nervous; "I"ll never catch any more tigers for them."
Tom loitered on his way to Briggsville, striving not to reach there before the time named; but despite the effort, he was in town fully a quarter of an hour too early.
A surprise awaited him. The news of the recapture of the runaway tiger had preceded him; and, as was natural, the story was exaggerated to an absurd degree. Jim Travers had told the wondering people that he saw Tom capture Sipo Tahib, as he called him, by jumping on his back and bending his forepaws over his neck. (Peter Parley"s History, which Jim read at school, contained a picture of the naturalist Chatterton thus navigating an alligator, and Jim couldn"t see why a tiger should not be handled the same way. He preferred, however, that some other boy should be the one to make the experiment.)
So it was that Tom found himself the hero of the hour. The boys and all his acquaintances gathered round him, and he had to tell the story over and over, until he became tired. When Jim Travers was reminded that Tom"s modest account did not agree with his flamboyant yarn, he said he feared he had got things a little mixed, but that was the way he or Tom would have conducted the recapture had the chance been given them.
"Are you the young man that caught the runaway tiger?" asked a pleasant looking gentleman, somewhat loudly dressed, as he laid his hand on the shoulder of Tom Gordon, while he was standing among a group of his friends on the porch of the hotel.
"I didn"t exactly capture him," replied the blushing lad; "but I shut the door of the woodhouse, and he stayed there till the owners came and took him away."
"It"s all the same; you deserve as much credit as if you had brought him here without help. I believe they promised you a hundred dollars reward, didn"t they?"
"Yes, sir; one of the men said if I would call here between six and seven he would give me the money; but I don"t see anything of him," added Tom, looking around, in the hope of catching a glimpse of Professor De La Cordova. "Has he gone away"
"Yes; he is to appear in the show to-night at Boorman"s, and could not wait. But I am Mr. Jones, the proprietor, and if you will step inside with me, it won"t take us long to fix it. I was only waiting to make sure you were the right lad."
Tom delightedly followed the gentleman into an inner room, where the door was closed and the transaction quickly completed.
Mr. Jones made some sympathetic inquiries of the youth, and when he learned of his mother"s moderate circ.u.mstances, expressed great pleasure that the reward had fallen to him. Then he handed him ten bright, crisp ten-dollar bills.
"That is quite a sum of money for a lad like you to have about him," added Mr. Jones. "You must be careful not to lose it."
"I am very thankful to you, and shall take good care of it," replied Tom.
"Where are you going to carry it?"
"In my inside coat pocket; then I will b.u.t.ton my coat over it."
"That"s right; and don"t unb.u.t.ton the coat till you reach your own home."
The money was put away as Tom indicated, and, thanking his kind friend again, Tom bade him good-by and withdrew.
Chapter VI.
Tom Gordon could not be blamed for failing to note several suggestive occurrences during this memorable visit to Briggsville.