The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1894-10-03

Slowly and with switching tails two OF
them olpeyed, and clambering upon the
balancing-board, swung up and down,
while the music played a see-saw
waltz.
And all the while their great eyes
/ famed with the detestaiion of the
thing and their black upper lips curl
ed away from their long fangs in pro-
test of this hourly renewed humiliation
and degradation.
And one of the Others, while waiting
his turn to be whipped and bullied, sat
up on his launches and faced US and
Hooked far away beyond Us over the
/ heads of the audience-over the conti-
nant and ocean, as il were-as though
he saw something i'm that quarter that
made him forget his present surround
ings.
.sYou grand old bruter muttered
Tonpan: and then he said: "Do you
know what You would see if you were
to look into his eyes now? You would
see Africa, and unnamed mountains,
and great stony stretches of desert,
with hot blue shadows, and plains OF
salt, and lairs in the jungle grass, and
lurking places near the paths the stein
book make when they go down TO wa
ter. Bat now he is hampered and Gag
eds there anything worse than n
Gagged lion?-and kept from the life he
loves and was made for''-just here the
tanner spoke sharply TO him, and his
eyes and crest dropped-"and ruled
over" concluded Toppan, "by some
one who is not so great "a he, who has
spoiled what was best in him, and has
turned his powers to trivial, resultless
uses-sOme one weaker than he, Yet
stronger. All, well, old brute, it was
yours once, we will remember that"
They wheeled out a clumsy veloci-
pede built expressly for him, and, while
the lash whistled and snapped about
him, the conquered king heaved him.
self upon il and went around and
around the ring, while the band play
ed quickstep, the audience broke in
to applause, and the tanner smirked
and bobbed his well-oiled head. i
thought of Samson performing for the
Philistines and Thusnelda at the tri-
umph of Germanicus. The grand
beasts, grand though conquered, SEEM
ed TO be the only dignified ones in the
whole business. | hated the audience
who saw their shame from behind iron
bars; hated myself for being one of
them; and / hated the SNUG, snigger-
ing tanner.
The latter had been drawing out va
rious stools and ladders, and now ar
ranged the lions upon them so they
should form pyramid, with himself
on top.
Then he swung himself up among
them, with his heels upon their neeks,
and, taking hold of the jaws of one,
wrenched them apart with great
show of strength, turning his head to
the audience so that all should see.
And just then the electric light above
him cracked harshly, Clustered, drop
ped down to a pencil of dull red, then
went out, and the place was absolutely
dark
The band stopped abruptly with Il
discOrd, and there was an instant OF ST.
lence. Then we heard the stools and
ladders Gathering n the lions leaped
down; and straightway four pairs OF
lambent green spots burned out of the
darkness and travelled swiftly about
here and there, crossing and re-cross-
ing one another like the lights OF
steamships in a storm. Heretofore the
lions had been sluggish and inert; now
they were aroused and alert in an in
slant, and we could hear the swift pad
pad of their heavy feet as they swung
around the arena, and the sound OF
their great bodies rubbing against the
bars of the cage a one and the other
passed nearer TO Us.
| don't think the audience at all ap-
preciated the situation at first, for no
one moved or seemed excited, and one
shrill voice suggested that the band
should play, .'when the electric lights
go out"
keep perfectly quiet, please" call
ed the tanner out of the darkness, and
a certain peculiar ling in his voice WAS
the first intimation of possible dan
ger.
But Toppan knew, and as we heard
the tanner fumhling for the catch of the
gate, which he somehow could not
loose in the darkness, he said, with a
rising voice: ''He wants to get that gate
open pretty quick"
But for their restless movements the
lions were quiet; they uttered no sound
which was bad sign. Blinking and
dazed by the garish blue-whiteness of
a moment before, they could see per
fectly now, where the tanner was per
fectly blind.
.Listen," said Toppan. Near to Us,
and on the inside of the cage we could
hear sound rs of some slender body
being whisked back and forth over the
surface of the floor. In an instant
guessed what il was; one of the lions
was crouched there, whipping his sides
with his tail.
"When he stops that he'll spring" "
said Toppan exeitedly.
''Bring a light, Jerry-quickr' came
the tanners voice.
People we're clambering to their feet
10y this time, talking loud, and we
heard woman cry out.
''Please keep as quiet as possible, la
dies and gentleman" cried the tanner;
''it won't do TO excite''-
From the direction of the voice came
the sound of a heavy fall and crash
that shook the iron gratings in their
sockets.
''He's got him." shouted Toppau.
And then what a scene. In that
thick darkness every one sprang up,
stumbling over the seats and each 9TH
er, all shouting and crying out, sud
denly stricken with Il panic fear OF