"Somebody must have shot the lion!" cried Giant.

"Or shot at him," corrected Whopper.

"Just look what you have done, Mary!" cried Mrs. Carson in dismay.

"I couldn't help it, mum," answered the servant girl. "That lion
gettin' loose has scared me stiff!"

"Well, I am scared myself. Clear up the muss, and be careful next
time. Boys, you'll have to do without the preserves. But you can
have cake."

"Cake is good enough for me," answered Snap, and the others said
about the same.

Not long after that came another shot, this time from the corner
at the end of the block.

"They are coming this way!" exclaimed the doctor's son. "Let us
go upstairs again and see what is doing."

"Be careful!" screamed his aunt. "That lion may jump right up
to the second story window!"

The boys went to an upper window, and then, growing bolder, stepped
out on the top of the front piazza. They saw several men running
along a cross street. Then another shot rang out.

"The lion must be in this vicinity," said Snap.