THE ISLAND OF MOMBASA 39 



frozen with horror, as slowly, slowly, slowly the 

 great animal crept toward them with his tail sibi- 

 lantly lashing above his back. They were now thor- 

 oughly alarmed and realized to the utmost that the 

 lion's intentions were open to grave suspicion. 

 Breathlessly they waited, or perhaps they tried to 

 climb trees, but being chained together they could 

 not climb more than one tree. And there was not a 



The Lion's Intentions Were Open to Grave Suspicions. 



single tree big enough to hold more than nine of 

 them. The record of the story is now obscure, but 

 the horrid tale goes on to relate that the lion gave 

 a frightful roar and leaped upon the tenth man, 

 biting him to death in a single snap. The dilemma 

 of the others is obvious. They knew better than to 

 disturb a lion while it is eating. To do so would be 

 to court sudden death. So they sat still and watched 

 the beast slowly and greedily devour their com- 

 rade. Having finished his meal the great beast, 

 surfeited with food, slowly moved off into the jun- 

 gle. 



Immediately the nine remaining slaves took to 



