“Fiddle! Girls are just like boys, if you let them be. Shall I see you to-morrow?”
“You sure will!”
For a moment Johnny hesitated before taking her hand for a farewell; the question of the diamond ring had flashed through his mind. Was this the time to ask? He hesitated; then gave it up. A moment before he had felt that he had lost her. He would risk nothing more this day.
“Good-bye and good luck,” he murmured, as she turned to go her way.
CHAPTER XI
THE BLACK BEAST
“Pant,” said Johnny the next evening, as they sat upon the beach in the moonlight, with the tom, tom, tom of the circus drum sounding from the distance, “there’s one thing that puzzles me about this crimson flash.”
“Let’s hear.” There was a smile lurking about the corners of Pant’s mouth.
“That big yellow cat last night was scared stiff, just frozen in his tracks by the crimson flash,” said Johnny. “They tell me that all the big cats act that way, except one.”
“Uh!” grunted Pant. “The black panther.”
“He leaps right at it, wants to eat someone up every time it’s flashed on his cage. How’s that?” asked Johnny.