wn as if his very life depended on it.
Immediately the white goat dropped from his pedestal, minced daintily
over, skipped up upon the centre of the board, and mounted to the
elevated end. His weight was not sufficient to lift, or even to
disturb, the leopard, who kept the other end anchored securely. But
the goat seemed to like his high and conspicuous position, for he
maintained it with composure and stared around with great
condescension upon the other beasts.

The goat having been given time to demonstrate his unfitness for the
task he had undertaken, Tomaso's whip cracked again. Instantly King
descended from his pedestal, ran over to the teeter-board, and mounted
it at the centre. The goat, unwilling to be dispossessed of his high
place, stamped and butted at him indignantly, but with one scornful
sweep of his great paw the puma brushed him off to the sawdust, and
took his place at the end of the board. Snarling and clutching at the
cleats, the leopard was hoisted into the air, heavily outweighed. The
crowd applauded; but the performance, obviously, was not yet perfect.
Now came the white goat's opportunity. He hesitated a moment, till he
heard a word from Tomaso. Then he sprang once more upon the centre of
the board, faced King, and backed up inch by inch towards the leopard
till the latter began to descend. At this point of balance the white
goat had one forefoot just on the pivot of the board. With a dainty,
dancing motion, and a proud tossing of his head, he now threw his
weight slowly backward and forward. The great teeter worked to
perfection. Signor Tomaso was kept bowing to round after round of
applause while the leopard, the goat, and King returned proudly to
their places.

After this, four of the red-and-yellow uniformed attendants ran in,
each carrying a large hoop. They stationed themselves at equal
distances around the circumference of the cage, holding the hoops out
before them at a height of about four feet from the ground. At the
command of Tomaso, the animals all formed in procession--though not
without much cracking of the whip and vehement command--and went
leaping one after the other through the hoops--all except the pug, who
tried in vain to jump so high, and the bear, who, not knowing how to
jump at all, simply marched around and pretended not to see that the
hoops were there. Then four other hoops, covered with white paper,
were brought in, and head first through them the puma led the way.