Old Tom 



kill him! Most likely he ll jump down hill then 

 you ll have to kill him ! Be quick. Now loose the 

 hounds. Hi! Hi! Hi! Hi!&quot; 



I jumped into the narrow slide of weathered stone 

 and looked up. Jones s stentorian yell rose high 

 above the clamor of the hounds. He whirled his 

 lasso. 



A huge yellow form shot over the trail and hit 

 the top of the slide with a crash. The lasso streaked 

 out with arrowy swiftness, circled, and snapped 

 viciously close to Old Tom s head. &quot; Kill him I Kill 

 him ! &quot; roared Jones. Then the lion leaped, seem 

 ingly into the air above me. Instinctively I raised my 

 little automatic rifle. I seemed to hear a million 

 bellowing reports. The tawny body, with its grim, 

 snarling face, blurred in my sight. I heard a roar 

 of sliding stones at my feet. I felt a rush of wind. 

 I caught a confused glimpse of a whirling wheel of 

 fur, rolling down the slide. 



Then Jones and Frank were pounding me, and 

 yelling I know not what. From far above came 

 floating down a long &quot; Waa-hoo! &quot; I saw Wallace 

 silhouetted against the blue sky. I felt the hot barrel 

 of my rifle, and shuddered at the bloody stones below 

 me then, and then only, did I realize, with weaken 

 ing legs, that Old Tom had jumped at me, and had 

 jumped to his death. 



233 



