“You ain’t had a dressing down in a month, an’ now I’m a-goin’ ter give it to yer good!” he exclaimed, as he raised the whip and rushed at Leo.
Whiz! The heavy whip came down, the blow aimed for the boy’s shoulder.
But Leo was not hit. Like a flash he moved to one side at the last instant, and the whip only circled through the empty air.
More enraged than before Daniel Hawkins rushed forward again and caught the boy by the arm.
“You whelp! I’ll show you!” he snarled.
Again the whip was raised. But it never struck the blow intended, for an interruption came as terrorizing as it was unexpected.
There was a fearful roar out in the dusty road beyond the house, a roar that echoed and re-echoed among the hills around, and then a huge beast bounded over the stone fence, landing directly at Leo Dunbar’s feet.
It was a lion that had escaped from “The Greatest Show on Earth,” the circus that was to perform at Hopsville that afternoon and evening.
CHAPTER II.—CAPTURING A RUNAWAY LION.
If Leo Dunbar was startled at the sudden appearance of this mighty monarch of the forest, what shall be said of Daniel Hawkins and his wife, Martha?