tion as soon as I entered the building, and I would have given the
whole show to have the little woman safely on the right side of the
bars. The animals in the dens were raising a worse row than they did
to-night, and the lions in Leotta's group had forgotten their fear of
the trainer in their greater fear of the approaching storm. They were
ugly, and Barton, who was more than half-seas over, stood at the bars
shouting abuse at his wife and the lions and jeering at her evident
terror. I saw that the other trainers and keepers appreciated the
danger, for they were gathered around, holding iron bars, Roman candles
and pistols; but they had sense enough to know that any interference
which would draw his attention from the cage would precipitate the
trouble, and none of them could make Leotta appreciate the danger of her
position. I went up to him quietly and told him that I thought he had
better call the rehearsal off for the night, intending to square
accounts with him as soon as Leotta was safely out of the cage; but the
drink was in his brain and he turned on me and cursed me. Leotta gave a
scream of terror as the brute turned his back on the cage and, as if by
a preconcerted plan, every one of the six great beasts jumped for her.

"Barton knew that the game was up, and in his drunken rage he attacked
me and it kept my hands full to manage him; but the others rushed for
the cage, and while Bonavita and Stevenson beat off the lions with the
help of the keepers on the outside who were firing pistols and Roman
candles and using fire-extinguishers through the bars, Bobby Mack picked
up Leotta and carried her outside. Of course, that ended Leotta's career
in the show business and finished Barton's employment with me. The poor
little thing's beauty was gone, for a lion's claws make deep cuts, and
it was many a day before she was able to leave the hospital. You can see
that I have reason to be confident of the accuracy of the predictions of
my weather bureau, for if there had been no thunderstorm brewing I might
have developed a sensational lion act."

"Or if Leotta had understood English," commented the Press Agent, as he
beckoned to the waiter. "Of course, it is sometimes an advantage to have
performers who can't converse with the audience, but it is mighty
inconvenient if they can't understand the orders of the boss. I lost the
chance of making a lot of money once, because a squaw who was working
for us couldn't understand