Chapter 6

A STRANGE VISITOR.

The McIntyre family was seated at breakfast on the morning which
followed the first visit of Raffles Haw, when they were surprised to
hear the buzz and hum of a multitude of voices in the village street.
Nearer and nearer came the tumult, and then, of a sudden, two
maddened horses reared themselves up on the other side of the garden
hedge, prancing and pawing, with ears laid back and eyes ever glancing
at some horror behind them. Two men hung shouting to their bridles,
while a third came rushing up the curved gravel path. Before the
McIntyres could realise the situation, their maid, Mary, darted into the
sitting-room with terror in her round freckled face:

"If you please, miss," she screamed, "your tiger has arrove."

"Good heavens!" cried Robert, rushing to the door with his half-filled
teacup in his hand. "This is too much. Here is an iron cage on a
trolly with a great ramping tiger, and the whole village with their
mouths open."

"Mad as a hatter!" shrieked old Mr. McIntyre. "I could see it in his
eye. He spent enough on this beast to start me in business. Whoever
heard of such a thing? Tell the driver to take it to the
police-station."

"Nothing of the sort, papa," said Laura, rising with dignity and
wrapping a shawl about her shoulders. Her eyes were shining, her cheeks
flushed, and she carried herself like a triumphant queen.

Robert, with his teacup in his hand, allowed his attention to be
diverted from their strange visitor while he gazed at his beautiful
sister.

"Mr. Raffles Haw has done this out of kindness to me," she said,
sweeping towards the door. "I look upon it as a great attention on his
part. I shall certainly go out and look at it."

"If you please, sir," said the carman, reappearing at the door, "it's
all as we can do to 'old in the 'osses."

"Let us all go out together then," suggested Robert.

They went as far as the garden fence and stared over, while the whole
village, from the school-children to the old grey-haired men from the
almshouses, gathered round in mute astonishment. The tiger, a long,
lithe, venomous-looking creature, with two blazing green eyes, paced
stealthily round the little cage, lashing its sides with its tail, and
rubbing its muzzle against the bars.

"What were your orders?" asked Robert of the carman.

"It came through by special express from Liverpool, sir, and the train
is drawn up at the Tamfield siding all ready to take it back. If it 'ad
been royalty the railway folk couldn't ha' shown it more respec'. We are
to take it back when you're done with