His eyes were wide and staring. Sweat glistened on the dirt-streaked face under the old Aussie campaign hat. There was no mistaking the man caught for a brief moment in the bright headlights.
“Hank Morton!” Bob exclaimed.
“Running wild through the woods — and looking mighty scared,” added Pete. “I wonder what he’s been up to now.”
The panting man plunged into the thick jungle on the other side and disappeared. The crashing sounds of his flight gradually diminished.
They heard angry cries up ahead, and saw the beams of bobbing torches.
“It looks like some kind of trouble,” Bob said, peering out.
“Let’s see what’s going on,” Jupe cried.
In a moment the boys were scrambling out and running. A voice called out.
“Jupiter! Bob! Pete!’
Jupe turned, peering uncertainly into the darkness.
A torch signalled. “Over here. It’s me — Mike.”
He directed them with the torch until they were together. Jupe noticed Mike was breathing hard. Behind him, dim figures were walking slowly through the jungle, swinging torches from side to side, and then up towards the trees. A few men were holding rifles.
Jupe caught his breath as he took in the eerie scene. “What’s going on?” he asked. “Did George break out again?”
“It’s not George this time,” Mike said breathlessly. “It’s a lot more trouble than that.”
“What happened?” asked Bob. “Some of those men have rifles. Are they looking for Hank Morton?”
“Who?”
“Hank Morton,” Pete said. “We just saw him running scared. He broke out of the jungle below the hill and ran across the road.”
“So that’s it!” Mike Hall said grimly. “I knew it!”
“Knew what, Mike?” Bob demanded. “What’s going on here?”
“The gorilla I told you about,” Mike began. “He broke out of his cage and escaped!”
“When?” Pete demanded. “You mean there’s a wild gorilla running loose here?”
“It happened a little while ago, right after Doc Dawson brought George home this evening.”
“A wild gorilla and a lion,” Jupiter said thoughtfully. “I don’t know much about how those two species get along, Mike. Would a gorilla be that frightened at the presence of a lion that he would break out of his cage?”
Mike shrugged. “Jim knows more about that than I do. But after what you told me, I’m not at all sure he did break out of his cage.”
“What do you mean, Mike?” asked Pete.
“I mean somebody could have let him out. Somebody who hated my Uncle Jim bad enough to pull a stunt like that. You said yourselves you saw him running through the woods.
“Unless I’m dead wrong, it was Hank Morton who let him out!” he said bitterly.
Jupe shook his head. “Hank Morton could have been running through the woods for any number of reasons. That’s not proof that he let your gorilla escape. Perhaps if we could see its cage, we might find some clues.”
“Okay, you fellows are the investigators,” said Mike. “Maybe you’ll discover something.” He led them up the hill. “Say, where’s that Rolls-Royce you said you were coming in?”
“Down at the foot of the hill,” said Bob. “Worthington is used to us. He’ll just wait until we show up again.”
Mike chuckled and brought the boys to a clearing at the side of the house. Lights blazed in every room, lighting up the nearby area. Mike pointed and The Three Investigators found themselves staring at a large, empty cage.
“The shipment arrived not long after you left this afternoon. There were two cages this time and — ”
“Two cages?” Jupe asked.
A snarling, spitting sound behind him made him whirl in fright. Bob and Pete flinched.
“Gosh!” Bob gasped. “What was that?”
Mike directed his flashlight to the far end of the house. “I guess I should have warned you first. Take a look! Isn’t that a beauty?”
The boys looked in awe at the sinister creature caged barely twenty feet from them. As they slowly approached, it snarled again.
“It’s a black panther,” Mike said. “How do you like it?”
Gleaming yellow eyes stared unwinkingly at them from behind thick iron bars. As they took another cautious step forward, the panther hissed. Its mouth opened, showing long, white pointed fangs. Hastily, the boys stepped backward.
Bob gulped. “I like him fine. Just so long as he stays locked up in that cage.”
“Wow!” Pete exclaimed.” Look at those muscles! If you ask me, that panther looks a lot tougher than old George.”
As if acting in support of Pete’s observation, the beast snarled and lunged at the bars with a frightening thud. The boys retreated another step, watching the black animal warily.
“It would be a pretty good fight, at that, Pete — lion against panther,” Mike said. “Panthers, this kind, are really leopards. They strike like lightning. They’ve got terrible raking claws as well as sharp teeth. But don’t let George fool you with his dumb, gentle act. He’s still a lion — a good-sized one at that — over four hundred pounds — and he’s simply too big and powerful for the panther. No panther ever beat a lion yet, that I ever heard of. It would take a tiger to do it.”
The boys stared in silence at the animal pacing restlessly in its cage. “I kind of agree with Pete,” Bob said finally. “This baby looks real mean and tough. What do you think, Jupe?” He looked around. “Jupe?”
The First Investigator was spotted by the cage the gorilla had escaped from. He motioned them over.
“What’s up, Jupe?” asked Bob.
“This cage has been tampered with, fellows,” Jupe announced. “While I’m not certain that Hank Morton was responsible for the gorilla getting out, somebody was!”
“How can you tell?” asked Pete.
Jupe pointed dramatically to the side of the cage. “See there? One bar has been removed. The adjoining two are bent. The bars are set approximately six inches apart. I think whoever removed the bar gave the gorilla his chance. He bent the other two far enough apart to slip out. You said he was a big one? How big?”