Nero, the Circus Lion | Page 4

a big splash!
CHAPTER II
NERO GOES HUNTING
The first thought of Nero, the little lion cub boy, as he felt himself
falling into the spring of water, was that Switchie had played a joke and
pushed him in.
"And when I get out I'll push him in," thought Nero. But that was all he
had time to think, just then, for his head went away under the water--as
the spring was deep--and Nero had to think of getting out. So he
splashed and scrambled his way to shore, clawing and spluttering and
half choking, for lions are not good swimmers. Indeed few animals of
the cat family are, and lions belong to the cat family, you know, as do
tigers and jaguars.
So, with his eyes and nose and mouth full of water, Nero scrambled to
shore, a very wet and bedraggled lion boy indeed. On the shore he saw
Switchie standing looking at him. Switchie was nice and dry.
"What did you do that for?" growled Nero to Switchie, as soon as our
friend had shaken some of the water off his shaggy, tawny-yellow coat.
"I'll fix you for that! Fun is all right, but you know I don't like jumping
into the water, however much I like a drink from the spring. Now I'm
going to push you in!" and Nero started to run toward Switchie.
"Hey! Wait a minute!" cried Switchie, raising his paw to push Nero
away if the younger lion cub should come too near. "I didn't do
anything to you."

"Yes, you did!" growled Nero. "You pushed me into the water!"
"No, I didn't!" answered Switchie. "I was taking my second drink,
when I heard a noise, and I looked up and saw you sliding down into
the water. But I didn't push you in."
"Who did, then?" asked Nero, looking around, quite fiercely for a little
lion boy. "Who did? If I find out, I'll push him in! If it was one of the
monkeys--"
"Oh, it wasn't any of them," said Switchie quickly. "They won't come
near the spring when we lions are drinking."
"But it was some one!" said Nero. "I heard some one say I couldn't
drink on his edge of the spring, and then I was pushed in. Who did it? I
want to know that!"
"I did it!" said a grumbling sort of voice, and up out of the spring came
something which, at first, looked like a log of wood. It was dark, and
had knobs, or warts, on it, as has the trunk of a tree.
"Who--who are you?" asked Nero, in surprise. "Are you a log of wood
that can speak?"
"Look out! Gracious no! That's a crocodile!" cried Switchie. "I forgot
about their being here. Come on! Run!"
And as Nero saw what he had thought was a log of wood open a big
mouth with many sharp teeth in it, the little lion boy ran after Switchie,
who scampered off along the jungle path as fast as he could go.
"What's the matter? What was that thing which looked like a log
floating in the water?" asked Nero, when he and Switchie stopped to
rest in the shadow of a big tree.
"That's a crocodile, I told you!" said Switchie. "They are very big and
strong, and if they get hold of your soft and tender nose, when you are
drinking at the pool, they can pull you under water and drown you. You

want to be careful about crocodiles."
"Well, I will," said Nero. "Only I didn't know about them before. Was
it the crocodile who knocked me into the water?"
"Yes," answered Switchie, "it was. A crocodile has a long and very
strong tail, with knobs and sharp ridges on it. They can knock you into
the water with their tail, and then they bite you. I didn't know there
were crocodiles at our spring, or I wouldn't have gone there in the
daytime for a drink. At night it's all right, for then they can't see you so
plainly."
[Illustration: Nero saw what he had thought was a log of wood open a
big mouth. Page 18]
"Well, this one saw me all right," said Nero. "My side is sore where he
knocked me into the spring."
"It's lucky your nose isn't sore where he might have bitten you,"
growled Switchie. "That was a mean crocodile! We had just as good
right to drink on that side of the spring-pool as he had!"
"Well, maybe we had," said Nero. "But he was stronger than I, and so
he knocked me in. Now I'm all wet!"
And so Nero learned one of the first lessons of the jungle, that it is the
strongest and fiercest animals that have the best of it.