The trainers started out in hot pursuit, accompanied by Bert and his friends. "I don't want to shoot him," panted the man with the rifle as he ran, "he's worth five thousand dollars. He's one of the finest lions in captivity, and his loss would mean a bad blow to the outfit. But if I get a crack at him I'll shoot, just the same. We can't run the risk of trying to capture him alive." It was not difficult to trace the lion's path, although not once did they actually catch sight of him. Distant shouts and cries told of the beast's progress, and their path was lined by closely shut doors and pale faces peering from upper windows. Soon they reached the outskirts of the town and then, in the more open country, were able to catch a glimpse of their quarry. He was about half a mile distant, and evidently making directly for a dense piece of woodland just ahead of him. Soon he disappeared among the trees, and the man carrying the rifle, who was evidently the head trainer, called a halt. "How far do those woods extend?" he asked Bert. "Not very far," replied Bert. "I should say there's not more than a square mile of woodland, at most." "Well, then," said the other, "the chances are ten to one that Leo will stick to the trees, and not come out unless he has to. In that case, all we have to do is surround the place to see that he doesn't get away. Then I don't think we'll have much trouble recapturing him." As this seemed to be the opinion of his assistants, too, their leader sent one of them back to the circus to make a report and bring out reinforcements, and then made plans to surround the strip of woods. By this time quite a crowd had collected, and the animal trainer selected volunteers to set up a guard about the trees and give warning if the lion attempted to break cover. "All you have to do," he explained, "is to climb a tree near where I post you, and if you see anything of the lion, sing out. He can't climb a tree, of course, so you'll be perfectly safe." There was no lack of volunteers, and our three comrades were among the first to proffer their services. "This is a little more than we had counted on," laughed Tom; "we expected _some_ excitement for our money, of course, but nothing like this." "Well, we won't kick now that it is handed to us," remarked Bert; "it begins to seem like old times again. Only that time we were up against a tiger instead of a lion." "Yes, that's so," agreed Dick, "but I hope we don't have as close a shave this time as we had then. That was getting a little too close to the undertaker to suit me." "No, we won't go looking for trouble the way we did that time," said Bert. "If that lion wants us, he'll have to climb a tree to get us. I'm not anxious for a fracas with a big healthy lion. I'll leave that pleasure to some one else."