*      *      *

After using bolt-cutters to remove the lock, and after much struggling Livie pulled the iron bolt out of its bracket, before swinging the grill door open….

To find herself staring into two large, yellow eyes.

At first in the dark the yellow eyes seemed to be hovering in space, unattached to any body.   But then as Livie’s eyes adjusted better to the dark, she was able to make out the figure of the large, black panther that sat on its haunches, rearing to spring.

As it sprang she tried to slam the cage door shut.   However, the panther thundered forward, head butting the grill door open as it leapt.

Screaming and covering her head with her hands, Livie fell over backwards, expecting to be savaged by the panther.   Instead it leapt straight over top of her, pivoted and quickly reversed direction toward the back of Hautman’s Paddock, to race toward the dense forest a quarter of a kilometre away.

*      *      *

Gaston Anyos fired off shot after shot at the rapidly disappearing animal, all the while cursing the stupidity of the woman for opening the cage; cursing his own stupidity for letting her.

Jim and Paul reached the back of the big top at a run.

“All right, what the Hell is going on?” demanded Jim Kane, shouting to make himself heard above the rifle fire.

Without waiting for an answer, Paul Bell drew his police revolver from his holster, reversed it and brought the butt of the revolver down hard on the back of the Frenchman’s head, knocking him unconscious.

*      *      *

Later, during questioning, Gaston Anyos claimed that he had only been firing to scare away the animal-libbers, having decided that it would be unwise to mention the escaped panther.   The Circus of the Grotesque would be moving on immediately and would be returning to France in a few months’ time.

Livie McTaggart wrestled with her conscience for hours, trying to decide whether or not to tell Jim Kane what had really happened.   However, no one else in the Animal Liberation Agency had seen the black panther in the dark, so (having learnt the hard way that police rarely sided with organisations like the ALA) she reluctantly decided that it would be best to keep quiet.