Nero, the Circus Lion | Page 5

The elephants of the jungle, which are the largest animals, crash their
way through, afraid of nothing except the men hunters. And the lions,
when the elephants are not near, are the real kings of the jungle. Few
animals stay to drink at the spring when the lion roars, to say he is
coming.
But this was in daylight and Switchie and Nero were only lion cubs, so,
I suppose, the crocodile was not afraid of them. And, being big and
strong, he just knocked Nero into the water, and claimed that as his side
of the pool, though he had no right to.

"Come on," said Switchie to Nero, after they had gone a little way
further through the jungle and back from the spring. "Come on; I know
how we can have some more fun."
"No, I've had enough for to-day," said Nero. "I'm going home and lie
down in the cave. My side hurts where the crocodile struck me with his
tail."
"Oh, come on! Play tag!" begged Switchie.
"No," said Nero. "I'm going home."
And home he went. As soon as his mother saw him, wet and muddy as
he still was, Mrs. Lion said:
"Well, Nero, what happened to you? Did you get into mischief?"
"I don't know, Ma," answered Nero. "But I got in the spring!"
"There! I told you to keep away from the water hole in the daytime!"
said Mrs. Lion. "I knew something would happen if you played with
that Switchie. That lion cub will get into trouble some day. He is too
bold!"
"A crocodile knocked me into the water," explained Nero. "It wasn't
Switchie's fault."
"It was the fault of both you lion boys for going where you ought not
to," said Nero's mother. "Now you see what happened. But I'm sorry
your side is hurt. Go into the cave and lie down. I'll bring you a nice
piece of goat meat to eat, and get some soft grass to make you a bed.
You'll be all right in a few days, but after this--mind me!"
"I will," promised Nero.
The soft grass, which his mother pawed into a bed for him with her
sharp claws, felt very comfortable to his sore side. And the goat's meat,
which lions eat when they can get it, tasted very good. Nero soon
became dry and then he went to sleep.

When he awakened his brother Chet and his sister Boo were in the cave
looking at him.
"Mother says you got into mischief!" exclaimed Boo. "Tell us all about
it, Nero."
So Nero did, and when his story was ended Chet said enviously:
"I wish I had been there. If I had, I'd have scratched that crocodile with
my claws!"
"You couldn't have hurt him that way," said Mr. Lion, who came into
the cave just then. "Crocodiles have a very hard, thick skin on their
backs and tails, much harder and thicker than our skin, and even that of
an elephant. You can't hurt a crocodile by scratching his back. The only
way to hurt them is to turn them over, and while you are trying to do
that they'll knock you about with the big tail. So keep away from the
crocodiles, children."
"I will," said Nero, and Boo and Chet said the same thing.
"Now hurry and get well," said Nero's father to him, as the lion boy lay
in the cave. "You are growing large and strong, and soon you will have
to learn to go hunting."
"What's hunting?" asked Nero.
"It is learning how to get your own things to eat," said his father.
"When you were little, your mother and I hunted the goats and other
animals that we have to eat. But now you are getting big enough to go
hunting for yourself. Only I must give you a few lessons."
"Can't I learn to hunt, too?" asked Chet.
"And I?" Boo wanted to know.
"Yes," said their father. "After I teach Nero I'll teach you. One at a time.
The jungle is full of danger, and I can teach only one of you at a time
how to be careful. So get good and well and strong, Nero, and soon I'll

take you on a hunt."
Nero thought he would like this, so he stayed quietly in the cave for a
day or two, until his side, where the crocodile had struck him with the
sharp-ridged tail, felt much better.
One day, about a week after Nero had been tossed into the spring, he
noticed his father sharpening his claws on the bark of a tree.
"What's he doing that for?" Nero asked his mother.
"To get ready for the jungle hunt to-night," answered Mrs. Lion. "I
heard him say something about taking you, so perhaps