PREPARING POR A BOUND. 
89 
mount the rock, his next bound would be on to the 
back of one or other of the poor animals, lie made 
the attempt; but, whether from the distance or the 
height of the rock, he fell short of his mark, and 
his head alone rested upon the top of the stone, 
when he bad the mortification of seeing the large 
stallion, who is always in the rear to defend the 
troop, and whom he had intended to victimize, 
gallop past him not only unscathed, but switching 
his tail in the air as if in derision of the enemy. 
His majesty then tried a second and a third leap at 
the rock, and at length succeeded in fairly mount¬ 
ing it. In the meantime two other lions came up, 
and seemed to talk and roar away about something, 
while the old lion led them round the rock and 
round it again; then he made another grand leap, 
to show them what he and they must do next time. 
‘ They evidently talked to each other,’ Africaner 
added, with the most perfect gravity ; £ but, though 
loud enough, I could not understand a word they 
said;’ and, fearing lest we ourselves should be the 
next objects of their skill, we crept away and left 
them in council.” 
Impossible as it may seem that the lion should 
practice vaulting, that he may properly judge the 
distance his victim may be from him when he makes 
his bound, as stated by Moffatt, yet, singularly 
enough, similar stories are told of the fox in Mr. 
Lloyd’s 66 Scandinavian Adventures,” vol. ii., page 51, 
where we read :— 
££ A certain Jagare, who was one morning keeping 
watch in the forest, saw a fox cautiously making 
his approaches towards the stump of an old tree; 
