The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1894-09-25

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the sound of their great bodies rub
bling against the bars of the cage as
one aud the other passed nearer to
us.
don't think the audience at all
appreciated 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
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 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 a bad sign.
Blinking and dazed by the garish
blue whiteness of few moments be-
fore, they could see perfectly now
where the tanner was blind.
Listen" said Toppan. Near to us
and on the inside of the cage we
could hear sound as of some slen-
der body being whisked back and
forth over the surface of the floor.
In an instant 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 Toppan excitedly.
Bring me light, Jerry-quick"
came the tanners voice.
People were clambering to their
feet by 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 to eXcite"-
From the direction of the voice
came the sound of heavy fall and a
crash that shook the iron gratingsi in
their sockets
Hes got him" shouted Toppan.
And then what scenel In that
thick darkness every one sprang up,
stumbling over the seats and over
each other all shouting and crying
out, suddenly stricken with panic
fear Of something they could not see.
Inside the barred deathtrap every
lion suddenly gave tongue at once
until the air shook and sang in our
ears. We could hear the great cats
hurting themselves against the bars
and could see their eyes leaving
brassy streaks against the darkness
as they leaped. Two more sprang, as
the first had done, toward that quar-
ter of the cage from which came
sounds of stamping and struggling,
and then the tanner began to scream.
l think that so long as shall live
l shall not forget the sound of the
tanners screams. He did not scream
as woman would have done, from
the head, but from the chest, which
sounded so much worse that l was
sick from it in a second with that
sickness that weakens one at the pit
of the stomach and along the muscles
at the back of the legs He did not
pause for q second. Every breath
was q scream, and every scream was
alike, and one heard through it all
the long snarls of satisfied hate and
revenge, muffled by the mans clothes
and the rip, rip Of the cruel, blunt
claws.
Hearing it all in the dark as we
did made it all the more dreadful. i
think for time I must have taken
leave of my senses. was ready to
vomit for the sickness that was upon
me, and I beat my hands raw upon
the iron bars or clasped them over
my ears against the sounds of the 4
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 it had gone on
for hours when some men rushed in
with lantern and long sharp irons.
A hundred voices shouted, Here he
is, over herew 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 with
ed and twisted beneath three great
bulks of fulvous hide and bristling
black name
The irons were useless. The three
furies dragged their prey out of their
reach and crouched over it again and
No one dared to go
into the cage, and still the man lived |
and struggled and screamed.
saw Toppans 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
hollow of my bones where the mar
row should be. 1t was as the noise
Of the whistling of a fine whiplash,