He leaned over and whispered to Jimmy, taking good care that Larry did not see him.
“If you come with me I’ll take you to the animals,” the youth said. “We’ll see the elephants, the tigers, the lions, the zebras, and the horses. Come on, Jimmy, and we’ll have a good time!”
It was done in an instant, but, swift and low as the voice was, the little boy heard and understood. Still he remembered what his mother had said to him about keeping tight hold of Larry’s hand. The strange youth seemed to understand this, for he went on:
“After we see the animals we’ll come back to Larry. Don’t let him know about this, for the animals might all run away, and we wouldn’t see them again.”
That settled it for Jimmy. He was ready to do anything to see the wild beasts again, and was willing to keep quiet for fear of scaring them away.
So, almost before he knew what he was doing, Jimmy had released his hold of Larry’s hand, and clasped that of the strange youth who promised such delights as unlimited quantities of wild animals.
Once he had hold of Jimmy, the youth made his way rapidly through the crowd. He dodged this way and that, pulling the little chap along, half dragging him at times, until Jimmy, from very weariness, cried out:
“Please show me the wild animals. I’m awful tired!”
“We’ll soon be there,” the lad went on. “It’s just around the next corner, and down a little ways. Oh, but you’ll see the finest lot of animals that ever got into a circus!”
That satisfied Jimmy for a while, and he trudged on, not noticing that the crowd was thinning out, that his leader had left the Garden, and was walking along the street.