rainers call
it, and who stood for a moment in the doorway, wrathfully surveying his
frantic companions and selecting a victim. Froth was dripping from his
snarling lips, his small eyes were blazing like two points of flame, the
hair on his neck and back stood up like bristles, and his great tail
struck the door-casing resounding whacks, as he lashed it from side to
side. Only a moment he stood there, and then the great striped body
hurtled through the air as if shot from a catapult, and covering a good
twenty feet in the spring it landed fair on Bombay, one of the largest
tigers in the group. The aim was a true one and the sound of breaking
bone mingled with a scream of pain from his victim, as Bombay sank under
the weight of the blow, his cervical vertebrae crushed between Depew's
powerful jaws.

The door had been closed behind Depew when he made his spring, and the
other tigers were chasing madly about the great cage, looking for a
chance to escape. There was no desire to fight left in them, but when
they collided with each other they snapped and struck with the instinct
of self-preservation, their sharp claws and teeth cutting gashes in the
sleek striped coats. It was evident that all training had been
forgotten, that fear of anything so puny as man had departed from the
minds of the tigers, and a groan went up from the audience when the door
was opened and quickly closed behind Miller, the trainer, who stood,
whip and training rod in hand, in the cage with the maddened animals. He
went about his work as quietly as if it were only an ordinary
performance, his object being to return his pupils to their dens before
further damage was done and to try to make them recognize that they were
obeying him.

Depew was still crouched on the body of his victim, biting at the neck
and growling ferociously, his tail lashing from side to side. Miller
never took his eyes from him and kept between him and the door as he
called the others by name and tried to regain control of them. One tiger
after another was released, glad of the opportunity to escape, as the
door to the runway was opened at Miller's signal, until only Depew, the
body of Bombay and the trainer occupied the cage.

The other tigers had entered into a general free fight in the runway,
but the noise of their bickering was unheeded in the excitement of the
contest in the exhibition cage. Depew rose as Miller cracked his whip
and approached him, and made a rush which