Read A Tale Of Three Lions for Free Online Page A

stood still in an open space and roared. The lioness roared too; then
there came a third roar, and another great black-maned lion stalked
majestically up, and joined number two, till really I began to realize what
the ox must have undergone.
    “‘Now, Harry,’ I whispered, ‘whatever you do don’t fire, it’s too risky.
If they let us be, let them be.’
    “Well, the pair marched off to the bush, where the wounded lioness was now
roaring double tides, and the three of them began to snarl and grumble away
together there. Presently, however, the lioness ceased roaring, and the two
lions came out again, the black-maned one first—to prospect, I
suppose—walked to where the carcass of the ox lay, and sniffed at
it.
    “‘Oh, what a shot!’ whispered Harry, who was trembling with
excitement.
    “‘Yes,’ I said; ‘but don’t fire; they might all of them come for us.’
    “Harry said nothing, but whether it was from the natural impetuosity of
youth, or because he was thrown off his balance by excitement, or from sheer
recklessness and devilment, I am sure I cannot tell you, never having been
able to get a satisfactory explanation from him; but at any rate the fact
remains, he, without word or warning, entirely disregarding my exhortations,
lifted up his Westley Richards and fired at the black-maned lion, and, what
is more, hit it slightly on the flank.
    “Next second there was a most awful roar from the injured lion. He glared
around him and roared with pain, for he was badly stung; and then, before I
could make up my mind what to do, the great black-maned brute, clearly
ignorant of the cause of his hurt, sprang right at the throat of his
companion, to whom he evidently attributed his misfortune. It was a curious
sight to see the astonishment of the other lion at this most unprovoked
assault. Over he rolled with an angry snarl, and on to him sprang the
black-maned demon, and began to worry him. This finally awoke the
yellow-maned lion to a sense of the situation, and I am bound to say that he
rose to it in a most effective manner. Somehow or other he got to his feet,
and, roaring and snarling frightfully, closed with his mighty foe.
    “Then ensued a most tremendous scene. You know what a shocking thing it is
to see two large dogs fighting with abandonment. Well, a whole hundred of
dogs could not have looked half so terrible as those two great brutes as they
rolled and roared and rent in their horrid rage. They gripped each other,
they tore at each other’s throat, till their manes came out in handfuls, and
the red blood streamed down their yellow hides. It was an awful and a
wonderful thing to see the great cats tearing at each other with all the
fierce energy of their savage strength, and making the night hideous with
their heart-shaking noise. And the fight was a grand one too. For some
minutes it was impossible to say which was getting the best of it, but at
last I saw that the black-maned lion, though he was slightly bigger, was
failing. I am inclined to think that the wound in his flank crippled him.
Anyway, he began to get the worst of it, which served him right, as he was
the aggressor. Still I could not help feeling sorry for him, for he had
fought a gallant fight, when his antagonist finally got him by the throat,
and, struggle and strike out as he would, began to shake the life out of him.
Over and over they rolled together, a hideous and awe- inspiring spectacle,
but the yellow one would not loose his hold, and at length poor black-mane
grew faint, his breath came in great snorts and seemed to rattle in his
nostrils, then he opened his huge mouth, gave the ghost of a roar, quivered,
and was dead.
    “When he was quite sure that the victory was his own, the yellow-maned
lion loosed his grip and sniffed at the fallen foe. Then he licked the dead
lion’s eye, and next, with his fore-feet resting on the carcass, sent up his
own chant of victory, that went