Chapter XV: Prisoners of a Wild Beast

As soon as they could do so the three cadets ran into the side door of the mansion. They found the girls on an upper landing, gazing down anxiously.

"Is the tiger coming?" called down Laura.

"Yes, he's in the kitchen," answered Jack.

"The kitchen!" gasped Mrs. Ford, who had come out of the library.

"Oh, save me, somebody!" came from the rear of the mansion, and the butler appeared, with his hair almost on end. "A wild beast, mum--roaming the pantry, mum," he spluttered.

"Better go upstairs, all of you," said Jack, as he heard the tiger leap upon a table.

"Dat's where I'm a-goin'," said the cook, and ran to the top of the house, followed by the butler, where both locked themselves in their rooms.

The girls and Mrs. Ford were soon on the second floor of the mansion, and the three cadets followed.

"Shut all of the doors tight, Mrs. Ford," said Jack. "For all we know, he may take it into his head to come upstairs."

Following Jack's directions, the doors were closed, and the family gathered in a large room in the front of the mansion.

"Whatever are we to do?" questioned Laura, helplessly.

"Well, we can stay here," answered her sister. "That is what I am going to do for the present."

"Where is Joseph?" asked Mrs. Ford. The man she mentioned was the gardener.

"He has gone to town to have the lawn mower repaired," answered Laura. She turned to Jack. "Oh, isn't this dreadful!"

"Have you got anything in the way of a gun or a pistol, Mrs. Ford?" questioned the young major.

"My husband keeps a pistol in his bedroom. I can get it for you."

"Please do so."

"Are you going to risk going after the tiger?" asked Andy.

"A pistol won't fetch him," put in Pepper. "He looks as tough as a boarding-house steak."

"I want to investigate, and I'll feel safer with the pistol," answered Jack.

The weapon was soon brought and the young major saw that it was ready for use. It looked as if it might do considerable damage.

"Keep all the doors but this one shut," said Jack, and then tiptoed his way into the hall once more. He looked down the stairs and along the lower hallway, but could see nothing of the tiger.

"How are you making out?" questioned Pepper, coming out behind him with a bed slat.

"Don't see anything yet."

Andy came out into the hallway also, and the three listened intently. All was quiet outside and not a sound came from the lower floor of the mansion.

"Perhaps he went outside again," whispered Andy. "It wouldn't be natural for him to stay indoors. Tigers love to roam the forest, and lay in wait for----"

"I hear him!" interrupted Pepper. "Hark!"

All listened again, and now they could hear the creature moving from the kitchen into the library, and then to the parlor. A discord on the piano followed.

"Hullo, he is trying the piano!" cried Pepper, and grinned. "Maybe he'll play us a waltz!"

From the parlor the tiger roamed into the library, and then showed his head in the hallway for an instant. But before Jack could take aim the beast had disappeared.

"He is making himself at home," muttered the young major. "Wish I could get a chance at him."

"Here he comes again!" cried Pepper, and at that moment the tiger came out into the hall and turned partly around.

Jack had his pistol ready, and taking a quick aim, he pulled the trigger. There was a flash and a report, in the semi-dark hallway, and the tiger gave a snarl of pain. Then he glanced up the stairs, glared at the cadets, and came up four steps at a time.

"Into the room, quick!" yelled Jack, and blazed away twice in rapid succession. The tiger was struck in the fore leg, and came to a pause close to the top of the stairs. Jack fired one more shot, then followed his chums into the room, and the door was closed and locked.

"Did you hit him?" queried several, in concert.

"I certainly did, but I don't know how badly he is wounded. Mrs. Ford, have you any cartridges for this pistol?"

"Yes," answered the lady of the mansion, and brought forth a box half full. Without loss of time, Jack filled up the empty chambers of the pistol.

"He is snarling outside of the door!" cried Laura. "Oh, do you think he'll try to break down the door?"

Before anybody could answer there came a wild snarl, and then a thump on the barrier that almost took the door from its hinges.

"Better get into the next room," called out Pepper. "He'll break in here if he can."

"Let us move the bed against the door," suggested Andy.

The bed was a large affair, of solid mahogany, and would prove an excellent barrier, but before it could be rolled into position there came a crash, and the tiger's head appeared through a portion of one of the door panels.

Crack! crack! went the pistol in Jack's hand, and as quickly as he had appeared the tiger disappeared, with a wound in the jaw and another along the left ear.

"Guess that will teach him to keep his distance," said the young major.

"He is going to the front of the house," cried Andy.

"The upper veranda! He is going out on the upper veranda!" cried Mrs. Ford.

"He'll come through the windows!" burst from Flossie's lips. "Let us go to another room, mamma!" And the girls and their mother did so. Andy and Pepper looked inquiringly at Jack.

"A few more shots ought to make him tired of living," said the young major.

"Let me try the pistol on him," came from Pepper, and having secured the weapon, he peeped out into the hallway. The tiger stood at the front end, gazing at the upper veranda and beyond.

Pepper was not an extra shot, but the bullet took the tiger in the left hind knee, and made him utter a fierce snarl. He leaped out on the veranda, and then made another leap into the branches of a nearby tree.

"He has taken to the tree!"

"Let me give him a shot too," pleaded Andy, and having received the pistol, he awaited his opportunity, and blazed away, hitting the beast in the side. There was a snarl, and the tiger fell to the grass, rolling over and over in evident pain.

"Good!" cried Jack. "That's one of the shots that told! Give him another, Andy!" and the cadet did so.

"What's all this shooting about?" came from the roadway, and Mr. Ford appeared, in company with his gardener. "Gracious! Where did that tiger come from?" he added.

"It's the one that got away from the circus the other day!" called down Jack. "Look out, there may be some fight left in him yet, although we have peppered him pretty well."

"Throw down the pistol and I'll finish him," said the gentleman.

"Let us finish him, won't you?" pleaded Pepper.

"All right, you can do so."

All three of the cadets went down the front stairs with a rush, while the girls and Mrs. Ford came out on the upper balcony. Pepper fired one shot, Jack a second, and Andy a third. The last was too much for his tigership, and with a final quiver he rolled over, stretched out, and lay dead.

"Is he--he dead?" asked the gardener cautiously.

"I think so," answered Mr. Ford. "But don't go near him yet--he may be shamming."

They waited a few minutes, and then Jack went up carefully and made an examination.

"Dead as a barn door!" he called out. "My, what a big fellow he is!"

"Are you certain he is dead?" faltered Laura.

"Yes," answered her father.

"Are there any more of them?"

"He is the only one that got loose," answered Pepper.

Thus assured, the girls and Mrs. Ford came downstairs, followed later by the butler and the cook. The latter was still trembling.

"Thought we was goin' to be eat up suah!" said the cook.

"It was a great happening, sir," said the butler. "I can't abide wild beasts, sir, not me!"

"You ought to have the skin of this tiger," said Jack to Mrs. Ford. "It would make a fine rug."

"Yes, mamma, let us have the skin by all means," pleaded Laura. "We can have it fixed up with the head on, and it will look beautiful!"

"I'll have to see the circus people about it," came from Mr. Ford. "Tell me how he happened to come here." And then all told their stories, to which the gentleman listened closely.

"I'm so glad these young men were here," said Mrs. Ford. "Had we been alone, I do not know what might have happened."

The tiger was dragged to a carriage shed by the gardener and the boys, and then the cook was sent off to get dinner ready. It was found that outside of eating up some steaks, drinking a pan of milk, and breaking a few dishes, the tiger had done no damage. Every bullet aimed at him had taken effect, and there were also two old wounds on him, in the leg and side.

"He must have gotten these old wounds when he leaped into the lake," said Mrs. Ford. "But it was a mistake to report him drowned."

"I don't know as I ever want to meet another tiger at large," said Andy. "They are too dangerous!"

"Yes, Snow," answered Mr. Ford. "You can all be thankful that he did not get at you. If he had, he might have made mince-meat of one or another in no time."