ly have dragged his victim back to
the ground again. It was a narrow escape, therefore, but as Ben
afterwards remarked, "an inch of a miss was as good as a mile," and the
sequel in this case proved the justice of the adage, for we were now
safe among the branches where the lion could not possibly reach us.

At the time, however, we were far from being satisfied upon this head,
and for a long while entertained no very confident feeling of security.
We both knew that lions cannot climb an ordinary tree. They have not
the power of "hugging" with which some bears are gifted, and of course
cannot ascend in that manner. Neither can they climb as cats do; for
although the lion if neither more nor less than a great cat--the biggest
of all cats--and is furnished with retractile claws, such as cats have,
yet these last are usually so worn and blunted, that the king of beasts
can make but little use of them in attempting to climb a tree. For this
reason, tree-climbing is altogether out of his line, and he does not
make any pretensions to the art; notwithstanding all this, he can rush a
long way up the trunk by the mere strength of his elastic muscles, and
particularly where the bark is rough on the surface, and the trunk large
and firm as was that of the dragon-tree.

No wonder, then, that our apprehensions continued; no wonder they
increased when we saw the fierce brute crouch down at some paces distant
from the trunk, and, spreading out his broad paws, deliberately set
himself for a spring.

Next moment he rushed forward about two lengths of his body, and then,
bounding in a diagonal line, launched himself aloft. He must have
leaped over ten feet in an upward direction--for his fore-paws struck
the tree just under the forking of the branches--but to our great relief
he was not able to retain his hold, and his huge body fell back to the
ground.

He was not discouraged by his failure; and, once more running outward,
he turned and cowered for a second spring. This time he appeared more
determined and certain of success. There was that expression in his
hideous face, combined with the extreme of rage and fury. His lips were
drawn back, and his white teeth and red frothy tongue were displayed in
all their horrid nakedness; a hideous sight to behold. We trembled as
we looked upon it.

Another fierce growl--another rush forward--another bound--and before we
had time to utter a word, we perceived the yellow paw of the lion