"I—I hope, Mrs. Tarbox, we shall meet again," said Mrs. Dunlap, as she kissed her friend a tearful good-by. "I don't feel sure, for we may meet the terrible beasts." "If you do," said Mrs. Tarbox, with tearful emotion, "I'll come to your funeral." Somehow this didn't seem to comfort Mrs. Dunlap much, for when they were fairly out of the house she observed sharply, "That woman's a fool!" "You seem to like to call on her, Lucinda." "That's only being neighborly. She has no heart or she wouldn't allude so coolly to my funeral. But do let us be getting home as soon as you can." "I tell you what, Lucinda, I don't take any stock in this cock-and-bull story of a tiger being loose. I heard nothing of it at the tent." "But Mr. Tarbox said it chased him." "Tarbox is a coward. But here are two boys coming; they belong to the circus. I will ask them." Robert and Charlie Davis were coming up the road. No sooner had their enemy fled than they descended from the trees in whose branches they had taken refuge, and started on their way home, laughing heartily at the farmer's fright. "I say, boys," said Mr. Dunlap, "don't you two boys belong to the circus?" "Yes, sir," answered Robert. "What's this story I hear about a tiger having escaped from his cage?" "Who told you?" asked Robert. "Mr. Tarbox." "Did he see him?" "He said the tiger chased him all the way home." Both boys burst into a fit of laughter, rather to the amazement of Mr. Dunlap and his wife. Then they explained how the farmer had been humbugged, and Mr. Dunlap shouted with merriment, for Tarbox was very unpopular in that town, and no one would feel troubled at any deception practised upon him. "Then the children are safe?" said Mrs. Dunlap, with a sigh of relief. "Don't you think I ought to go and tell Mr. Tarbox?" "No; let Tarbox stay in the house, like a coward that he is, for fear of the tiger. It's a good joke at his expense. That was a pretty smart trick, boys." "Old Tarbox will feel like murdering us if he ever finds out the truth," said Charlie. "He feels so now, so far as I am concerned," said Robert. "I am not afraid of him." CHAPTER XII. THE CANVAS MAN. When Mr. Tarbox came to understand how he had been hoaxed by the boys he was furious, but his anger was ineffectual, for there seemed no way in which he could retaliate. He had had his opportunity in the woods, but that had passed, and was not likely to come again. Meanwhile he found it hard to bear the jocose inquiries of his neighbors touching his encounter with the "tiger." For instance, the next day he met the constable in the street. "How are you, Mr. Tarbox?" inquired Spriggins, smiling. "Well enough," growled Tarbox, quickening his pace. "I hear you had an adventure with a tiger yesterday," said the constable, with a waggish smile. "Suppose I did!" he snapped. "Ho, ho! Were you very much frightened?" continued the constable.