BECOLLECTIONS OF A LION TAMER 165 



To raise the bars and slip into the cage was the act 

 of a second. How I was not torn in pieces myself I know 

 not, for I was defenceless, with neither firearms, stick, 

 whip, nor weapon of any kind, but my two powerful fists ; 

 hitting out right and left with these I ordered the lions 

 to their dens. They obeyed me, and slunk away submis- 

 sively, letting fall their hapless victim, who was picked 

 up almost lifeless and conveyed to the hospital, where, 

 however, he recovered from his wounds. I asked him 

 afterwards how he came to let himself be caught. 



' Ah, sir,' he answered, ' am I not your pupil ? As 

 I was passing near these gentlemen ' (for he always spoke 

 very respectfully of the lions) ' I thought I would like to 

 pat them ; three were sleeping, but the fourth awoke his 

 comrades, and if you had not been there, sir, I should 

 surely have been made mincemeat of.' 



It was at Eochefort that I received my first wound : 

 a lion in a sulky fit defied me, growling and showing 

 his gleaming tusks. I lashed at him with my whip, and 

 he sprang upon me. I darted aside, but not in time to 

 avoid a blow from his heavy paw, the claws of which 

 tore open my thigh. I punished him ; but he was, perhaps, 

 to be excused, for the performance that evening took 

 place under peculiar circumstances ; there being no gas 

 we were obliged to light with candles, and no doubt this 

 unusual illumination irritated and annoyed him, for no 

 one can imagine how small a thing will put out a wild 

 beast. 



Lyons was the scene of a terrible disaster. While there 

 I received from Africa a superb lion, recently captured 

 and still untamed, packed in a solid cage, and that 

 enclosed in a special van, on which was a label with a 

 full description of its formidable contents ; no risk need 

 have been run by anyone coming in contact with it. But, 

 unfortunately, while the train which bore the monster to 

 "its destination was being shunted in a siding, a cattle 

 drover, named Picart, was foolhardy enough, in spite of 



