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their scabbards; gleaming, razor-edged weapons they were, but for the instant
rendered futile by the terrific speed of the charging beast.
Two of the spears entering his body but served to further enrage him as, with
demoniacal roars, he sprang upon the hapless man he had singled out for his
prey. Scarcely pausing in his charge he seized the fellow by the shoulder and,
turning quickly at right angles, leaped into the concealing foliage that flanked the
trail, and was gone, bearing his victim with him.
So quickly had the whole occurrence transpired that the formation of the little
party was scarcely altered. There had been no opportunity for flight, even if it had
been contemplated; and now that the lion was gone with his prey the men made
no move to pursue him. They paused only long enough to recall the two or three
of their lions that had scattered and then resumed the march along the trail.
"Might be an everyday occurrence from all the effect it has on them," remarked
Smith-Oldwick to the girl.
"
Yes," she said. "They seem to be neither surprised nor disconcerted, and
evidently they are quite sure that the lion, having got what he came for, will not
molest them further."
"I had thought," said the Englishman, "that the lions of the Wamabo country were
about the most ferocious in existence, but they are regular tabby cats by
comparison with these big black fellows. Did you ever see anything more utterly
fearless or more terribly irresistible than that charge?"
For a while, as they walked side by side, their thoughts and conversation
centered upon this latest experience, until the trail emerging from the forest
opened to their view a walled city and an area of cultivated land. Neither could
suppress an exclamation of surprise.
"Why, that wall is a regular engineering job," exclaimed Smith-Oldwick
"And look at the domes and minarets of the city beyond," cried the girl. "There
must be a civilized people beyond that wall. Possibly we are fortunate to have
fallen into their hands."
Smith-Oldwick shrugged his shoulders. "I hope so," he said, "though I am not at
all sure about people who travel about with lions and are afraid of parrots. There
must be something wrong with them."
The party followed the trail across the field to an arched gateway which opened at
the summons of one of their captors, who beat upon the heavy wooden panels
with his spear. Beyond, the gate opened into a narrow street which seemed but a
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