The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1894-09-20

came il and stood expectantly by the
side of the entrance, there was another
short4vait and the band struck long
minor chord.
And then they came in, one after the
other, with long, crouching, lurching
strides, not at all good-humoredly,
| like the dogs or the elephant, or even
the bear, but with low-hanging heads,
surly, watchful, their eyes cleaning
with the rage and hate that burned in
their hearts and that they dared not
vent Their loose. yellow hides rolled
and rippled over the great muscles as
| they moved, and the breath coming
| from their hot, half-opened mouths
turned to steam as it struck the air.
A huge, lue-painted see-saw was
| dragged out to the center, and the
tanner made a sharp sound of com
mand. Slowly, and with twitching
tails. two of them obeyed, and clam
| bering upon the balancing board.
swung up and down, while the music
played see-saw waltz. And all the
while their great eyes famed with the
detestation of the thing and their
black upper lips curled away from
their long fangs in protest of this
| hourly renewed humiliation and deg
radiation.
And one of the others, while wait
ing his turn to be whipped and bullied,
sat up on his launches and faced us
and looked far away beyond us over
the heads of the audience-over the
continent and ocean, as it were-as
though he saw something in that
quarter that made him forget his pres
ent surroundings.
You grand old brute" muttered
Toppan: and then he said: "Do you
know what you would see if you were
to look into his eyes Isow? You would
see Africa, and unnamed mountains,
and great stony stretches of desert,
with hot blue shadows, and plains of
SAT- and lairs in the jungle-grass, and
lurking places near the paths the stein
box make when they go down to water.
But now he's hampered and caged-is
there anything worse than a 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 droOped-''and ruled
over" concluded Toppan, by some
one who is not so great as 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 clumsy velocipede
built expressly for him, and. while the
lash whistled and snapped about him,
the conquered king heaved himself
upon it and went around and around
the ring while the band played a
quickstep, the audience broke into APP
plause and the tanner smirked and
bobbed his well-oiled head. | thought
of Samson performing for the Philis-
tines and Thusnelda at the triumph of
Germanicus. The great beasts, grand
though conquered, seemed to be the
only dignifed ones in the whole bust
ness. | hated the audience who saw
their shame from behind iron bars; |
hated myself for being one of tkem;
and | hated the SNUG, staggering
tanner.
This latter had been drawing out
various stools and ladders, and now
! arranged the lions upon them so they
should form a pyramid, with himself
on top
Then he swung himself up among
them, with his heels upon their necks,
and, taking hold of the jaws of one.
wrenched them apart with a great
show of strength, turning his head to
the audience SO that all should see.
And just then the electric light above
him cackled harshly, guttered, dropped
down to a pencil of dull red, then went
out, and the place was absolutely
dark.
The band stopped abruptly with
discord, and there was an instant of
silence. Then we heard the stools and
ladders Gathering as the lions leaped
down: and straightway four pair of
lambent green spots burned out of the
darkness and travelled swiftly about
here and there, crossing and recross-
ing one another like the lights of
steamers in a storm. Heretofore, the
lions had been sluggish and inert; now
they We're 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 as one and the other
passed nearer to us.
don't think the audience at all APP
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"
called the tanner out of the darkness,
and certain peculiar ring in his voice
was the first intimation of a possible
danger.
But Toppan knew: and as we heard
the tanner fumbling for the catch on
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, Blink
ing and dazed by the glarish blue
whiteness of a few moments before,
they could see perfectly now where
the tanner was blind.
Listen" said Toppan. Near to us,