on the bark of a tree.

"What's he doing that for?" Nero asked his mother.

"To get ready for the jungle hunt to-night," answered Mrs. Lion. "I
heard him say something about taking you, so perhaps you had better
sharpen your claws, also."

"I will," answered Nero, and he did, making the bits of bark fly as he
pulled it from a tree in the jungle, not far from the cave where he
lived.

When it began to get dark, which it does very early in the big African
forest, as the thick trees shut out the light of the sun, Nero said to
his mother:

"Aren't we going to have any supper?"

"Not to-night--that is, not right away," said Mr. Lion. "You are going
to hunt for your supper, Nero."

"But I am very hungry," returned the little lion boy, who was growing
bigger and stronger every day.

"Then you will hunt all the better," growled his father. "There is
nothing like being hungry to make a good hunter-lion. Come, now is the
time I have long waited for--to teach you to hunt in the jungle. Your
mother and Chet and Boo are going to have supper with Switchie and his
folks. You and I are going to hunt for ourselves. Come, we will go into
a part of the jungle where you have never yet been."

And Nero felt very much excited when he heard his father say this. The
lion cub felt brave and strong, and he knew that his teeth and claws
were very sharp.

Suddenly, through the jungle, which was now quite dark, there came a
distant sound as if of thunder. There was a rumble and a roar, and the
very ground seemed to shake.

"What's that?" asked Nero, looking at his father.

CHAPTER III

NERO IS SHOT

Once again, as Nero stood with Mr. Lion at the front door of the jungle
cave, the roaring sound echoed among the trees.

"What is that?" asked the boy lion once more.

"That is the roaring of other lions, who are also going out to hunt
to-night," said Nero's father. "There will be many of us lions in the
jungle; perhaps others, like you, who are going out for the first time.
You must be brave and strong. Remember the lessons your mother and I
have taught you. Crouch down and jump hard. Strike hard with your paws
and dig deep with your sharp claws. That is what they are for--to help
you hunt so that you may get things to eat. Now we will start."

By this time the jungle around the cave where Nero lived seemed filled
with the roarings of other lions. The very ground seemed to tremble.
Nero was excited, but he was sure he cou