"There, see that! There's a true picture of the gentle beast you say you would like to go in with."
Kenneth looked, and saw a picture of an animal ten or twelve feet high, with a great mouth like a hippopotamus, wide open, showing rows of teeth six inches long. A lot of hunters and black natives were trying to get out of his way, but the biggest hunter had fallen, and the horse was about to come down upon him with his forward feet. The animal's eyes seemed to be flashing fire, and he had a mane like a lion.
"How long do you think you'd like to stay in a cage with an animal like that?" asked the young man, proudly. "Like to sit down with him and do your sums, perhaps? Or maybe you'd rather lie down on the floor of the cage and take a nap—eh?"
"I can't say about that sort of a horse," admitted Kenneth, doubtfully. "I never saw a horse just like that, you know."
"See what it says," cried the young man. "'The Dreadful Terror in his Native Jungle! Captured after Awful Weeks of Cyclonic Struggle! To be seen in the Full and Excruciating Exuberance of his own Tremendous Verbosity in this Show alone!' What do you think of that?"
"Well, I don't know, hardly. I can tell better after I have seen the horse," said Kenneth.
"Yes, and we must be moving or we'll be late," returned the young man. "Here we go!" and off along the road they went again. In a few minutes they came to the circus-grounds. There were two large tents connected, with many smaller ones standing alone. There were great banners everywhere showing pictures of the wonders within, the largest being devoted to the horse. They left their bicycles in a shed, and after buying tickets, went into the first of the big tents. There was a great crowd inside, especially over at one side. "I think the horse is over there," whispered the young man. Just then they heard a man shouting:
"This way, ladies and gentlemen, to see the Mighty Monarch of the Trackless Jungle, the only Horse ever captured by Man. He is now about to be fed a Peck of Hardened Oats, which he will Crunch and Rend by the Terrific Force of his Unaided and Unassisted Jaws! Step up, ladies and gentlemen; step up!"
"We've got to see that horse if half of our bones are broken," exclaimed the young man, as he seized Kenneth by the arm, and began to force their way through the crowd.