vi .THE REIGN OF TERROR 63 



following manner. A heavy chain was secured 

 along the top part of the lion's doorway, the ends 

 hanging down to the ground on either side of the 

 opening ; and to these were fastened, strongly 

 secured by stout wire, short lengths of rails placed 

 about six inches apart. This made a sort of flexible 

 door which could be packed into a small space when 

 not in use, and which abutted against the top of the 

 doorway when lifted up. The door was held in this 

 position by a lever made of a piece of rail, which in 

 turn was kept in its place by a wire fastened to one 

 end and passing down to a spring concealed in the 

 ground inside the cage. As soon as the lion entered 

 sufficiently far into the trap, he would be bound to 

 tread on the spring ; his weight on this would 

 release the wire, and in an instant down would come 

 the door behind him ; and he could not push it out 

 in any way, as it fell into a groove between two 

 rails firmly embedded in the ground. 



In making this trap, which cost us a lot of work, 

 we were rather at a loss for want of tools to bore 

 holes in the rails for the doorway, so as to enable 

 them to be fastened by the wire to the chain. It 

 occurred to me, however, that a hard-nosed bullet 

 from my '303 would penetrate the iron, and on 

 making the experiment I was glad to find that a 

 hole was made as cleanly as if it had been punched 

 out. 



