The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-10-14

I don't think the audience at all APP
the situation at first, for no one
voice suggested that the band should play
When the Electric Lights go Out"
Keep perfectly quiet please called the
peculiar ring In his voice was the first
intimatIon of a possible danger.
But TopDan knew, and as We heard the
tanner fumbllng 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
But for their restless movements the
lions were quiet; they uttered no sound;
which was a bad sign. Blinking and dazed
by the garish blue wilderness of a moment
before, they could see perfectly now where
Listen" said Toppan. Near to us and
on the inside of the cage we could near a
sound as of some slender body being
OF the floor. In an instant l guessed what
it was; one of the lions was crouched there.
whipping his sides with his tail
"When he stops that he'll spring. said
Bring a light. ~Jerry-quick," came the
tanners voice.
this time. talking loud, and we heard a
woman cry out.
please keep as quiet as possible, ladies
and gentlemen" cried the tanner; 1T won't
do 10 excite"
From the direction of the voice came the
sound of a heavy fall and a crash that
shook the iron gratings in their sockets.
He's got him." shouted Toppan. '
And then what a scene. In that quick
over the seats and over each other. ali
shouting and crying out, suddenly stricken
with a panic fear of something they could
not see. Inside the barred death-trap every
lion suddenly gave tongue at once, until
the air shook and sang In our ears. We
could hear the ns great Sst cats ats c nuTiln see ta mem
eyes leaving CLASSY streaks against the
darkness as they leaped. Two more
quarter of the cage from which came
sounds of stamping and struggling and then
the tanner began to scream.
I think that so long as 1 live shall
never forget the sound Of the tanners
screams. He did not scream as a woman
would have done. from the head. but from
the chest, which sounded so much worse
that / was sick from 1t In a second with
that sickness that weaken one at the pit
Of the bsc stomach mn he and 1dss along Hs the 6ea muscles mus esu at
for a second. Every breath was a scream,
and every scream was alike and one heard
through it all the long snarls of satisfied
clothes and the rip. rip of the cruel jaws:
Hearing it all in the dark. as we did,
a ime must have taken leave OF my
senses. / was ready to vomit for the sick
ness that was upon me, and l beat my
hands raw upon the iron bars or clasped
them over my ears against the sounds of
the dreadful thing that was doing behind
them: remember praying aloud that it
might soon be over with, so only those
screams might be stopped.
1t seemed as though 1t had gone on for
hours. when some men rushed in with a
lantern and long sharp irons. A hundred
voices cried: Here he is, over herei' and
they ran around outside the cage and threw
the light OF the lantern on a place where
a heap OF gray, gold-laced clothes writhed
and twisted beneath three great bulks OF
fulvous hide and ~bristling black name.
The irons were useless. TIE three furies
dragged their prey out of their reach and
crouched over 1T again and recommended.
NO one dared go into the cage, and still
the man lived, and struggled, and screamed.
1 saw Toppan's fingers go to his mouth,
and through that medley of dreadful noises
there issued a sound that, sick as l was,
made me shrink anew and close my eyes
and teeth and shudder as though some
cold slime had been poured through the
should be. 1t was as the noise of a fine
wniplash, mingled with the whir of a To-
Gust magnifed a hundred times, and epded
In an abrupt clacking noise thrice repeated.
AT once l remembered where | had heard
1t before, because, having once heard the
hiss of an aroused and angry serpent, no
child OF Eve can ever forget Ii.
Tne sound that now came from between
Toppan's teeth and that filled the arena
from wall TO wall was the sound that / had
heard once before in the Paris Jardin des
PlanteS, at feeding time-the sound made
by the great constructors when their huge
bodies are looped and coiled like a reata
for the throw that never misses, that never
relaxes, and that no beast of the field Is
built strong enough TO withstand. All the
nlIny W1ckedneSS and aDOmtndDle malice OF
the centuries since the enemy first entered
into that shape that crawls was concen-
trated in that hoarse. whistling hiss-a hiss
that was cold and piercing like an icicle-
made sound. 1t was not loud, but had in II
some sort of penetrating quality that cut
through the waves of horrid sounds above
u.s., as the snake-carved prov of a Viking
galley might cut it's way through the
tumbling eddies of a tide.
AT the second repetition the lions paused
None better than they knew what was the
m a nfnO n fh0f hfo0 Thnyr hn1 n IL
before in their native hunting grounds In
the earlier days of summer. when the first
heat lay close over the jungle, like the hol-
low OF the palm of an angry god. Or. If
they themselves had not heard Ii, their
sireS before them had, and the fear of the
thing bred in their bones suddenly leaped
held them close.
When for a third time the sound sung
and shrilled in their ears. their heads drew
between their shoulders. their great eyes
grew small and glittering, the hackles rose
and stifened on their backs, their tails
dropped, and they backed slowly to the
whining and beaten.
Toppan wiped the sweat from the inside
of his hands and went into the cage with
the keepers and gathered up the painting.
broken body, with its twitching fingers and
white face. and carried 1t out. As they
lifted It the handful of pitiful medals
dropped from the shredded gray coat and
ratified down upon the floor. In the silence
that had now succeeded il was about the
OILY SOunQ one QearQ.
AS We sat that evening on the porch OF
Toppan's house in a fashionable suburb
OF the city. he said for the third time: II
had that trick from a Mpongwee headman,"
and added: 1T was while l was at Victoria
Falls. waiting TO cross the Kalahari des-
ert.
Then he continued, his eyes growing
keener and his manner changing: There
is some interesting work TO be done in that
quarter by some one. You see, the Kala-
hari runs like this'-he drew the lines on
the ground with his cane-'coming down
in something like this shape from the
Orange river TO about the twentieth par
allel south. The aneroid gives it's average
elevation about eco feet. / didn't cross IL
al the time, because We had sickness. and
the porters cut. But / made a lot of geo.
logical observations. and from these / have
built up a theory that the Kalahari Is no
desert at all, but a big, well-watered pla-
teau. with higher ground on the east and
west"
the tribes, too, thereabout called the
place Linoka-Noka, and that's the Bantu
though, these Bantu, and gave us a lot of
trouble. They have a way of splitting little
poisoned thorns into you unawares, and
your tongue sweils up and turns blue and
your teeth fall out and"
His wife Victoria came out on the porch
in evening dress.
"Ah. Clc." said Toppan. jumping up with
a very sweet smile, I'VE were just talking
about your paper-german next Tuesday.
and / think we might have some very
pretty favors made out of white tissue
paper-roses and butterflies. you know"
San Francisco Argonaut