Una of the Hill Country | Page 6

knew and feared him. Then she
remembered the desolate old grandparents and their hopeless, helpless
poverty. "I'll resk the lion," she said with a tremulous bated voice.
"That's a brave girl," cried the manager.
"I hev read 'bout Daniel's lions an' him in the den," she explained. "An'
Daniel hed consid'ble trust an' warn't afeard--an' mebbe I won't be
afeard nuther."
"Daniel's Lions? Daniel's Lions?" the portly manager repeated
attentively. "I don't know the show--perhaps in some combination
now." For if he had ever heard of that signal leonine incident recorded
in Scripture he had forgotten it. "Yes, yes," as Valeria eagerly appealed
to him in behalf of Brent, "we must try to give Hubby some little stunt
to do in the performance--but you are the ticket--a sure winner."
Of course the public knew, if it chose to reflect, that though apparently
free the lion was muzzled with a strong steel ring, and every ponderous
paw was chained down securely to the exhibition car; it may even have
suspected that the savage proclivities of the great beast were dulled by
drags. But there is always the imminent chance of some failure of
precaution, and the multitude must needs thrill to the spectacle of
intrepidity and danger. Naught could exceed the enthusiasm that
greeted this slim, graceful Una a few days later in the streets of a
distant city, as clad in long draperies of fleecy white she reclined
against a splendid leonine specimen, her shining golden hair hanging
on her shoulders, or mingling with his tawny mane as now and again
she let her soft cheek rest on his head, her luminous dark gray eyes
smiling down at the cheering crowds. This speedily became the favorite

feature of the pageant, and the billboards flamed with her portrait,
leaning against the lion, hundreds of miles in advance of her triumphal
progress.
All this unexpected success presently awoke Brent's emulation--so far
he had not even "barked a few." A liberal advance on his wife's salary
had quieted him for a time, but when the wonders of this new life
began to grow stale--the steam-cars, the great cities, the vast country
the Company traversed--he became importunate for the opportunity of
display. He "barked a few" so cleverly at a concert after the
performance one evening that the manager gave him a chance to throw
the very considerable volume of sound he could command into the jaws
of one of the lions. "Let Emperor speak to the people," he said.
Forthwith he wrote a bit of rodomontade which he bade Brent
memorize and had the satisfaction soon to hear from the lion-trainer, to
whom was intrusted all that pertained to the exhibition of these kings of
beasts, that the rehearsal was altogether satisfactory.
An immense audience was assembled in the great tent. The soaring
dome of white canvas reflected the electric light with a moony lustre.
The display of the three rings was in full swing. That magic atmosphere
of the circus, the sense of simple festivity, the crises of thrilling
expectancy, the revelation of successive wonders, the diffusive delight
of a multitude not difficult to entertain--all were in evidence. Suddenly
a ponderous cage was rolled in; the band was playing liltingly; the
largest of the lions within the bars, a tawny monster, roused up and
with head depressed and switching tail paced back and forth within the
restricted limits of the cage, while the others looked out with
motionless curiosity at the tiers of people. Presently with a long supple
stride the gigantic, blond Norwegian trainer came lightly across the
arena--a Hercules, with broad bare chest and arms, arrayed in spangled
blue satin and white tights that forbade all suspicion of protective
armor. At a single bound he sprang into the cage, while Brent, garbed
in carnation and white, stood unheralded and unremarked close by
outside among the armed attendants. There seemed no need of
precaution, however, so lightly the trainer frolicked with the savage
creatures. He performed wonderful acrobatic feats with them in which

one hardly knew which most to admire, the agility and intrepidity of
the man or the supple strength and curious intelligence of the beasts.
He wrestled with them; he leaped and rolled among them; he put his
head into their terrible full-fanged jaws--but before springing forth he
fired his pistols loaded with blank cartridges full in their faces; for the
instant the coercion of his eye was pretermitted every one treacherously
bounded toward him, seeking to seize him before he could reach the
door. Then Emperor, as was his wont, flung himself in baffled fury
against the bars and stood erect and shook them in his wrath.
All at once, to the astonishment of the people, he spoke, voicing a
plaintive panegyric on liberty and protesting his willingness to barter