158 BECOLLECTIONS OF A LION TAMER 



And so we went on, slowly travelling towards the 

 south — each day each performance exactly like the pre- 

 ceding ; till at last a red-letter day dawned in my career. 

 It happened at Bayonne, in this way : The performance 

 was just about to begin, one afternoon, the band was 

 tuning up, and the spectators were already assembling in 

 crowds at the foot of the wooden steps leading to the 

 arena, when the cry arose : ' Ather has escaped ! ' 



Now, Ather was a young royal tiger, noted, perhaps 

 with some slight exaggeration, for his ferocity ; the only 

 one, in fact, of all our animals not a sluggard. Everyone 

 had seen him prowling to and fro in his cage, rubbing him- 

 self against the bars, at times lashing his tail in a fury, 

 while his bloodshot eyes darted flame and fire. In the 

 menagerie he was tractable enough, but at liberty, out of 

 doors — his prey all ready to hand — who could answer for 

 the consequences ? 



In one instant the public fled helter-skelter into the 

 houses, up on the roofs, some even climbing the nearest 

 trees. As for me, feeling that my long looked for 

 opportunity had now arrived, I straightway set off on 

 his track : under the burning afternoon sun. I had been 

 a considerable time in his pursuit, when a window was 

 cautiously opened, and a voice said, almost in a whisper ; 

 ' He is there ; ' while a hand pointed to the half-open 

 door of a locksmith's workshop, which, in contrast to the 

 brilliant sunshine outside, seemed a cavern of darkness. 

 In I plunged — at first I saw nothing ; but after a few 

 seconds, becoming accustomed to the darkness, I per- 

 ceived the fugitive, with flaming eye and slavering jaws, 

 crouching in a corner all ready to spring. Another instant 

 and he would leap on me, seize, and rend me. I fore- 

 stalled him, however, and it was I who leapt upon him ! 

 What a combat ensued! what roaring, 1 aging, foaming, 

 scratching ! Fortunately it was of short duration, or it 

 would have been all over with me. 



Seizing him with my large, strong hands by the scruff 



