“I think so,” answered Mr. Ford. “But don’t go near him yet—he may be shamming.”
They waited a few minutes, and then Jack went up carefully and made an examination.
“Dead as a barn door!” he called out. “My, what a big fellow he is!”
“Are you certain he is dead?” faltered Laura.
“Yes,” answered her father.
“Are there any more of them?”
“He is the only one that got loose,” answered Pepper.
Thus assured, the girls and Mrs. Ford came downstairs, followed later by the butler and the cook. The latter was still trembling.
“Thought we was goin’ to be eat up suah!” said the cook.
“It was a great happening, sir,” said the butler. “I can’t abide wild beasts, sir, not me!”