162 EECOLLECTIONS OF A LION TAMER 



of tails against the floor and furniture. At last I found 

 the door handle, and we were safe. But safety alone was 

 not enough. I had paid more than 150/. for the brutes, 

 and I could not afford to let one escape, nor to let them 

 destroy each other. Taking a lighted torch in my hand 

 I returned to the fray, and presently succeeded in im- 

 prisoning under a seat the monster, who measured no less 

 than four yards long. 



Shortly after this unpleasant incident we lost one of 

 these costly pets by death; injured at the time of its 

 capture, it suddenly fell ill and died at the end of twelve 

 hours. Not only was this a great loss to us — for it 

 was one of our finest, and had cost, alone, 80/. — but we 

 were due next day at Seyne, near Toulon, with all our 

 beasts, and how could we appear without the advertised 

 number ? A happy idea struck me : I went to a naturalist, 

 whom I knew in the town, and asked him to come to my 

 aid by stuffing the animal, and thus passing him off as a 

 sleeping crocodile. What a night we spent — cutting him 

 up, cleaning him out, stuffing him, and putting him to- 

 gether again ; but before the morning dawned our task was 

 accomplished, and stretched on a little stage the creature 

 had all the appearance of a bona-fide sleeping crocodile. 



Taking one of the liveliest of the small ones, I made 

 him furiously flap his tail and open wide his terrible jaws, 

 purposely exaggerating his ferocity, and at the same time 

 giving the usual explanations out of the natural history 

 books. When I saw that I had sufficiently excited my 

 audience I turned towards the stuffed crocodile, and said 

 with trembling voice : 



' Oh, what you have just seen is nothing ! Now if this 

 sleeping crocodile would but awake, then you would see 

 something really terrifying. One blow of his tail, and this 

 shed would be shattered to atoms ; as to his jaws, he has 



only to open them But you shall see for yourselves ; 



you have only to say the word and I will awake him at 

 once.' 



