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after him. Tigers will jump a trifle higher than lions. But of all wild
animals, the leopards are the greatest jumpers, being able to hurl their
lithe and beautiful bodies, curled up almost into a ball, to
extraordinary heights. They bound with ease, for instance, from the
floor of the cage so as to touch a ceiling twelve feet high.

For a short distance a lion or a tiger will outrun a man, and can equal
the speed of a fast horse, but they lose their wind at the end of half a
mile at the most. They have little endurance, and are remarkably weak in
lung power. Their strength is the kind which is capable of a terrific
effort for a short time. It would take six men, for instance, to hold a
lion down in his first struggles, even after his legs were tied.

One day Philadelphia, wishing to test the affection popularly supposed
to exist between a lion and a mouse, put a mouse in the cage of a
full-grown Nubian lion. The lion saw the mouse before it was fairly
through the bars, and was after him instantly. Away went the little
fellow, scurrying across the floor and squealing in fright. When he had
gone about ten feet, the lion sprang, lighting a little in front of him.
The mouse turned, and the lion sprang again. This was repeated several
times, the mouse traversing a shorter distance after each spring of the
lion. It was demonstrated that a lion is too quick for a mouse, at least
in a large cage.

Finally the mouse stood still, trembling, while the lion studied it
with interest. Presently he shot out his big paw, and brought it down
directly on the mouse, but so gently that the little fellow was not
injured in the least, though held fast between the claws. Then the lion
played with him in the most extraordinary way, now lifting his paw and
letting the mouse run a few inches, now stopping him as before. Suddenly
the mouse changed his tactics, and, instead of running when the lion
lifted his paw, sprang into the air straight at the lion's head. The
lion, terrified, gave a great leap back, striking the bars with all his
weight, and shaking the whole floor. Then he opened his great jaws and
roared and roared again, while the little mouse, still squealing, made
his escape. Of the two, the lion was the more frightened.

Speaking of Philadelphia, I used to wonder, as I watched him manage
Black Prince on horseback, whether the lion was really in earnest as he
struck and roared with such apparent viciousness, or whether he had
s