202 THE COACHING ERA 



him to abstain from such rashness, and drawing out his 

 own blunderbuss was about to fire it off with a grim 

 determination to kill something when voices were heard 

 and a mastiff dog rushed up. 



The lioness leaving the horse turned on the dog and 

 for some moments they fought furiously; then some men 

 appeared and the lioness hearing her keeper's voice slunk 

 off and hid in a hovel under a granary where she was 

 soon captured. It turned out that she belonged to a 

 travelling showman, whose caravans had been broken 

 into by thieves, who either by accident or design per- 

 mitted the lioness to escape. 



The outside passengers retained their seats throughout 

 the encounter, but the "insides" fled precipitately 

 into the inn, and never rested till they reached a room 

 at the top of the house, where they locked themselves 

 in. 



The unfortunate horse was so badly injured that 

 it was at first thought necessary to destroy it, but the 

 showman, who saw the chance of a good advertisement, 

 asked permission to buy it, and after careful nursing it 

 recovered, and was exhibited in company with the lioness. 



Another animal was responsible for an accident to 

 a Cambridge coach, though instead of being a wild 

 beast, it was in that case a mild and inoffensive donkey, 

 who saw the coach coming towards him, and wishing to 

 show that he had as much right to the public road as a 

 coach and four, suddenly lay down and rolled, kicking 

 up such a cloud of dust that the coach horses, who 

 objedled to donkeys at any time, were fairly panic 



