, there wasn't
anything to do but go in. It wasn't quite so funny, though, as it
seemed, for I might as well have taken a lion fresh from the wilds of
Africa." Mr. Bostock smiled at the memory.

"Well, I did the thing, and got through all right. Young Wallace hasn't
forgotten what happened to him. I got the best of him by a trick: had a
little shelter cage placed inside the big arena cage, and at first I
stood in the small one, and let the lion come at me. Oh, you'd better
believe he came! I thought sure he'd jump clean over the thing and land
on me; for there was no roof to my cage--only sides of wire netting. He
didn't quite do it, though; and as soon as I saw he was getting rattled
I stepped out quick and went at him hard with whip and club. And I drove
him all over the ring, and the people went crazy, for he was the maddest
lion you ever saw.

"That was all right as far as it went, but the people wanted more. They
got to be out-and-out bloodthirsty there in Indianapolis. Wanted me to
go in the ring with Rajah, that big tiger. See, over there! Come up,
Rajah. Beauty, isn't he? Doesn't pay any special attention to me, does
he? Nearly killed me, just the same. Look!" He lifted his cap and showed
wide strips of plaster on his head.

"Point about Rajah was that he'd killed one of my keepers a couple of
weeks before. Poor fellow got in his cage by mistake. And now these
Indianapolis folks wanted to see me handle him. Between you and me, this
keeper wasn't the first man Rajah had killed, and I didn't care much for
the job. As for my wife--well, you can imagine how _she_ felt when she
heard I was going in with Rajah.

"On the morning of the performance I decided to have a rehearsal, and
called on a few picked men to help me. I knew by the way he had killed
his keeper that Rajah would go at my head if he attacked me at all, so I
rigged up a mask of iron wire, and wore this strapped over my head like
a little barrel. Then I drove him into the arena and began, while the
others looked on anxiously. It's queer, sir, but that tiger went through
his tricks as nice as you please, back and forth, up on his pedestal and
down again, everything just as he used to do in the old days before he
went bad. Never balked, never turned on me; just as good as gold.

[Illustration: "RAJAH'S" ATTACK UPON BONAVITA IN THE RUNWAY.]

"Soon as I was satisfied I drove him across the bridge and down the
runway toward his den. I came about a dozen