him," said the biggest little lion. "And we all meanto stand by him. I came to him from the Nubian desert this morning,and it is a long way off."
"I love every one of you," said Barty. "I don't believe there isany other boy in the world who has such delightful friends."
He stroked the lion's side, and he was just going to put his cheekagainst his mane, when he stopped suddenly and stared with wideopen eyes at the long narrow opening in the big rock at the otherside of the green circus. A thin, wicked face with evil shiningblack eyes was peering out and watching him and his animals.
He started so that he almost dropped the little lion. And thatminute he saw another thin wicked face, and another above that andanother above that, all glaring at him. And the owner of the firstwicked face began to wriggle his long body through the narrow slit,and in about two minutes he had wriggled his way out and stoodgrinning, with swords and pistols and knives hung at his belt.
"He is a thin robber!" gasped Barty. "I knew a fat one could neverget in and out. It is a Robber's Cave."
CHAPTER FIVE
TO find that your secret play ground has a robber's cave in it isvery startling. Barty stood up quickly and so did all the littleanimals. At first Barty thought they might suddenly grow big, asthe Good Wolf had said they would if they saw a grown-up person.But they did not. And if they had looked as small as kittens whenthey were compared with a boy, they looked almost as small as micewhen they were compared with a long, thin robber. In fact, theylooked so tiny that Barty was afraid they would be hurt.
"You had better run off into the forest as fast as you can beforehe wriggles all the way out," he said quickly to the biggest littlelion.
"No, we won't," the lion answered. "Not much. We are going to stopand see the fun."
Barty was afraid there might not be much fun, but when he saw thelion slowly wink one eye at him and then saw another lion wink, anda tiger and elephant wink too, until each animal in the circus hadwinked, he began to see that something queer was going to happen.But he could not imagine what it was going to be, because they allhuddled round his feet as if they were frightened, and even shookand shivered.
When the first robber had wriggled through the slit in the rock,another one began to wriggle through, and then another and anotheruntil there were no less than four robbers standing scowling athim.
"Hello!" said the biggest one, who was the captain, and had afeather sticking in his hat and at least four pistols and sixswords hanging at his belt. "Here's a rich kid! He's just what wewere looking for. He's got the finest lot of mechanical toys I eversaw in my life. Just look at those lions lashing their tails."
That made Barty very angry. He felt as if his friends were beinginsulted, and he strode forward and stood before them.
"They are not toys!" he shouted out. "They are as real as you are!They are my intimate friends. Go away!"
The robbers burst out laughing.
"They are not toys!" they said. "Real lions and tigers andelephants half as big as kittens!"
"If they are real, make the lion roar," said the robber captain,grinning.
"Oh do roar! Please roar!" said Barty to the lions. "Perhaps itwill frighten them."
The biggest little lion winked at him again quite as if he werehaving a joke, and he turned round and roared. But it was such alittle roar that Barty could not help knowing that it sounded likea toy roar. And the robbers laughed louder than ever.
"Good Wolf! Good Wolf!" he called out, and turned to look for him.But there was no wolf there only a big, white furry dog, who lookedso innocent that he would frighten nobody.
The captain slapped his knee.
"Never since I was a robber have I seen such toys!" he cried. "Wecan sell them to a king for their weight in gold. These two aremine--and I will take the dog." And he picked up a little lion inone hand and a little tiger in another.
"You shall not touch them!" cried out Barty. "You shall nottouch----" But he stopped in the middle of saying it because thesomething very queer was beginning to happen. It began that veryminute.
The robber captain standing in the middle of the ring suddenlyturned pale. He looked so frightened that the other robbers did notpick up anything, and stood and stared at him with their mouthsopen.
"What's the matter?" he shouted out. "They are growing heavier. Ican't hold them. They are swelling! They are swelling!" and hedropped both the lion and the tiger on the grass.
And Barty saw that they were swelling. First they swelled untilthey were as big as cats, then they swelled until they were as bigas dogs, then they were as big as pigs, then they were as big ascalves, and the next second they were as big as the hugest lion andtiger in a menagerie, and the other lions, and tigers, and leopardswere as big as they were. The elephants and rhinoceroses andhippopotamuses had to go outside the hedge to swell because therewasn't room inside. But they put their big heads through the bushesso that there was no mistake about their being there.
You can just imagine how frightening it was to the robbers to findthemselves suddenly surrounded by roaring lions, and tigers, andleopards, and huge trampling elephants and hippopotamuses insteadof tiny toy creatures they thought they could pick up and carryaway. If Barty had not known that all of them were his particularfriends he would have been frightened too. The robbers stood in themidst of them all and howled with fright.
"Call them off! Call them off!" they shouted to Barty because theysaw he was really the ring-master, "we will never do it again!Never--never--never--never-r-r!"
The captain tried to dart to the crack in the rock and wrigglethrough, but the biggest lion put out a huge paw and dragged himback by the seat of his trousers. He laid him flat on the grass andput the huge paw on him and roared and roared.
"I wouldn't kill him," cried Barty. "Perhaps he is sorry."
"We are all sorry," the robbers sobbed.
"We are sorrier than we ever were before in our lives!
"I'll see that they are sorry enough," said the biggest lion, butof course it was only Barty who understood what he said. Therobbers thought he was roaring and their knees knocked together.
"What are you going to do to them?" asked Barty.
"Watch!" answered the lion.
He made a sign to his mate and two tigers, and each of them took upa robber by his trousers and shook him as if he were a rat. Theirlegs flew and their arms flew until they looked as if they wouldfly to pieces, and they had not even the strength to yell with. Ofcourse it must have been most disagreeable and breath-taking, butit served them perfectly right, for if you are a robber I shouldlike to know what you expect.
When the shaking was over, and the lions and tigers laid therobbers on the ground again, they did look queer. You see the boneshad nearly been shaken out of their bodies and the teeth out oftheir mouths, and the hair had been shaken off their heads, everybit of it, and they were quite bald.
"Now," said the biggest lion to Barty, "you can tell them we aregoing to give them a nice bit of a run through the forest; and ifthey can get away from us this time they may as well give one houra day in the future to remembering that if they come near this caveany more they won't get away again. They might do their rememberingfrom five to six every morning."
So Barty told them, but when he had explained they were morefrightened than ever.
"We never can get away from them," the robber captain said, wipinghis eyes on his sleeve. "We are too nervous to run, and our kneeskeep knocking together. Ask him if he won't let us off easier thanthat. There's not one of us who would think of coming back here.Never--never--never!"
He was in such a state that Barty actually began to feel sorry forhim. He turned and spoke to the lion.
"How would it do," he inquired, "if they stopped being robbers andwere something nicer instead--bakers or hair dressers or pewopeners?"
"We will! We will! We will!" shouted out the robbers.
"I never wanted to be a robber," sobbed the captain. "I alwayswanted to be a toy-shop man. I'm fond of toys.
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"And I wanted to be a confectioner," said another robber.
"And I wanted to learn to play the harp!" cried another.
"And it nearly broke my heart," said the fourth, "because I wasn'tallowed to be a gardener, and grow violets and sweet peas."
"Well," said the lion to Barty, "tell them to go away and beanything they like that is decent."
"Wait a minute," said the Good Wolf, stepping forward. "Ask them ifthey haven't had a great many adventures."
"Yes, thousands of them," the captain answered when Barty askedhim. "We've been so many things; we've been pirates and