rushed to the back of his cage, and cowered down, burying his face in the
straw.

The heroine butted Mahdi the Missing Link with her gamp. He gave no sign.
She kicked him. He bore it meekly, crouching lower. There was some
tittering in the crowd.

"Get up, you nasty brute!" said the woman, and prodded the horrid
monster.

Nickie didn't even growl. The woman kicked, she kicked with force. She
booted the terrible brute round the cage. She seemed to glory in her
triumph, and when Mahdi butted into a corner and refused to stir, she
took him by one leg, and towed him twice round the cage, and the
tittering the crowd swelled to yells of derisions and ribald laughter,
while Professor Thunder pranced about and cursed furiously. To save his
show from being ruined with ridicule, he rushed in, seized the woman, and
bundled her from the cage.

"I can't permit on to risk your life in this mad way," he blurted; "any
moment he might round on you, and then they'd pinch me for manslaughter.
Here is your pound, madam; go, and thank God you have been permitted to
live through this fearful experience." He paid with the grand air of a
hero of melodrama. His manner was so impressive it almost restored
confidence, but Mahdi, the monster, remained crouched at the back of his
cage, his face hidden in the straw, and nothing would induce him to come
out till closing time.

When the last patron was gone, and the doors were closed, Professor
Thunder approached Nickie.