RECOLLECTIONS OF A LION TAMER 161 



At last my success was generally acknowledged. I 

 paid off all my debts, and became absolutely my own 

 master. Not till then did I dare to demand again the 

 hand of Maria, which this time was granted me. We 

 were soon married, and then we proceeded very humbly 

 to start a menagerie of our own. We began at Lyons with 

 a monkey named Simon — whose antics were a constant 

 source of amusement— some serpents and some crocodiles, 

 also two or three boas, which last we kept in our bed-room 

 in the little hotel where we lodged ; but as they continually 

 slept the sleep of the just they disturbed no one. From 

 time to time we received additions to our establishment. 

 One evening there arrived a cargo of crocodiles, which, 

 until they could be properly caged, were deposited, still 

 in the cases in which they had travelled, in a kind of 

 cellar opening on the courtyard. There Maria and I, 

 accompanied by men with lighted lanterns, went to work 

 to unpack them. 



All creatures of the crocodile tribe are totally want- 

 ing in grace and charm, and cannot safely be recom- 

 mended as household pets. Unlike all other creatures, 

 they have the lower jaw immovable, while the upper one 

 closes on its prey with a spring, both jaws being furnished 

 with no less than 175 teeth. They are clothed in an 

 invulnerable coat of mail, and their tail is a powerful 

 weapon, that shatters, mangles, destroys, everything that 

 comes in contact with it. Added to all these other 

 attractions they are at no time of amiable disposition, 

 particularly after ill-treatment or in confinement, and if 

 they escape they become the most ferocious of creatures. 

 Now ours had just undergone long imprisonment on board 

 ship, and one of them escaped. 



What a scrimmage then took place ! The men made 

 for the door, all the lights went out, Maria and I climbed 

 on a table, two of its legs gave way and we were hurled on 

 to the floor beneath, vainly groping along the walls for 

 the door, and pursued by terrible growlings and flappings 



R M 



