the difference. And, I almost
forgot, lions can purr, too, only it sounds like a buzz saw instead of
the way your cat purrs. But then a lion's throat is very big, and so his
purr has to be big also.

"Want to have some fun?" asked Switchie, as Nero lay down in the jungle
shade.

"That's what I came over for," Nero answered. "Only my mother said I
wasn't to get into any mischief."

"Oh, no, we won't do anything like that!" replied Switchie. "We'll just
go along in the jungle and have some fun. I know where there is some
soft grass, and we can roll over and over in that and scratch our
backs."

"Fine!" said Nero. "We'll go there."

So Switchie led the way along another jungle path to a place where very
few trees grew. In the midst of these few trees was a grassy place.
That is, it had been green and grassy once when it was raining, which it
does for several months at a time in the jungle. But the rains had
stopped, the hot sun had come out from behind the clouds and dried the
grass up, so that it was now like hay.

"And it's just fine to roll in. It scratches your back just hard
enough," said Switchie, making his tail, with the tuft of hair on the
end, swing about in a funny way.

"I like to have my back scratched," said Nero.

So the two boy lions went to have some fun and roll in the dried grass.
It was just as if you had gone to roll and tumble on the hay in
Grandpa's barn. The lion boys leaped about, jumped over one another,
made believe bite one another and played tag with their paws.

As Switchie had said, the dried, curled grass tickled their backs just
enough when they rolled over and over in it. But at last Switchie said:

"Say, aren't you thirsty?"

"Yes," answered Nero, "I am."

"Then let's go to the spring and get a drink," went on Switchie.

"Oh no! My mother said I wasn't to go to the spring in the daytime!"
exclaimed Nero. "There may be hunters there, waiting to shoot us."

"Oh, I don't believe there are," said Switchie. "I'll tell you what we
can do. My mother didn't tell me not to go to the spring, so I'll walk
on ahead until we come to it. Then I can look and see if there are any
hunters. If there aren't you can come out of the jungle and get a drink.
Won't that be all right?"

"Yes, I guess it will," said Nero. "Mother wouldn't want me not to have
a drink. All she's afraid of are the hunters."

"Then come on!" growled Switchie. "We'll go to the spring, and we'll
have some fun on th