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Chapter XXI - In the Alcove

As Smith-Oldwick realized that he was alone and practically defenseless in an

enclosure filled with great lions he was, in his weakened condition, almost in a

state verging upon hysterical terror. Clinging to the grating for support he dared

not turn his head in the direction of the beasts behind him. He felt his knees

giving weakly beneath him. Something within his head spun rapidly around. He

became very dizzy and nauseated and then suddenly all went black before his

eyes as his limp body collapsed at the foot of the grating.

How long he lay there unconscious he never knew; but as reason slowly

reasserted itself in his semi-conscious state he was aware that he lay in a cool

bed upon the whitest of linen in a bright and cheery room, and that upon one

side close to him was an open window, the delicate hangings of which were

fluttering in a soft summer breeze which blew in from a sun-kissed orchard of

ripening fruit which he could see without--an old orchard in which soft, green

grass grew between the laden trees, and where the sun filtered through the

foliage; and upon the dappled greensward a little child was playing with a

frolicsome puppy.

God," thought the man, "what a horrible nightmare I have passed through!" and

then he felt a hand stroking his brow and cheek--a cool and gentle hand that

smoothed away his troubled recollections. For a long minute Smith-Oldwick lay

in utter peace and content until gradually there was forced upon his sensibilities

the fact that the hand had become rough, and that it was no longer cool but hot

and moist; and suddenly he opened his eyes and looked up into the face of a

huge lion.

Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick was not only an English gentleman and

an officer in name, he was also what these implied--a brave man; but when he

realized that the sweet picture he had looked upon was but the figment of a

dream, and that in reality he still lay where he had fallen at the foot of the grating

with a lion standing over him licking his face, the tears sprang to his eyes and

ran down his cheeks. Never, he thought, had an unkind fate played so cruel a

joke upon a human being.

For some time he lay feigning death while the lion, having ceased to lick him,

sniffed about his body. There are some things than which death is to be

preferred; and there came at last to the Englishman the realization that it would

be better to die swiftly than to lie in this horrible predicament until his mind

broke beneath the strain and he went mad.

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Tarzan the Untamed