Of course he broke some of the eggs, but he took up his paw so quickly again that not many of the shells were cracked. And, as his paw was covered with the sticky whites and yellows of the eggs, Tamba began licking it with his tongue to make it clean.
“Hum! These eggs taste as good as the ones I used to get in the jungle,” said the tiger to himself. “Guess I’ll eat them. I’m hungry, and they’ll be almost as good as meat.”
So Tamba carefully cracked the egg shells and sucked out the whites and yellows. He ate a whole dozen of eggs before he finished, and then he felt better.
“Now I’ll go and find a new place to hide,” he said to himself.
He found a stairway leading from the upper part of the barn, where the hay was stored, to the lower part, where were the stables of the cows and horses. Down the stairs softly went Tamba, and no sooner was he down there than he felt right at home. For it smelled just like that part of the circus where the horses were kept. And, as a matter of fact, there were a number of horses in the barn, and quite a few cows.
At first the horses were afraid of the tiger, and pulled at the straps which held them fast in their stalls. But Tamba, speaking in animal talk, said:
“I am a tame tiger. I won’t hurt any of you. I only want to hide here so the circus men won’t find me. I am on my way back to the jungle. I have run away from the circus.”
When Tamba spoke thus kindly the horses were no longer afraid. One of them said Tamba might hide in a pile of straw near his stall, and this the tiger was glad to do. He stretched out, and got ready to go to sleep.
Now I must tell you a little about the farmer boy. When he saw the tiger rear up at him out of the hay, and ran away, screaming with fear, he did not know what to do. All he could yell was:
“The tiger! The tiger! A big striped tiger is in our barn!”