they rushed forward with raised spears.

The women and the children came from the huts to witness the slaying of
the devil-god. The lion turned blazing eyes upon them and then swung
about toward the advancing warriors.

With shouts of savage joy and triumph they came toward him, menacing
him with their spears. The devil-god was theirs!

And then, with a frightful roar, Numa, the lion, charged.

The men of Mbonga, the chief, met Numa with ready spears and screams of
raillery. In a solid mass of muscled ebony they waited the coming of
the devil-god; yet beneath their brave exteriors lurked a haunting fear
that all might not be quite well with them--that this strange creature
could yet prove invulnerable to their weapons and inflict upon them
full punishment for their effrontery. The charging lion was all too
lifelike--they saw that in the brief instant of the charge; but beneath
the tawny hide they knew was hid the soft flesh of the white man, and
how could that withstand the assault of many war spears?

In their forefront stood a huge young warrior in the full arrogance of
his might and his youth. Afraid? Not he! He laughed as Numa bore down
upon him; he laughed and couched his spear, setting the point for the
broad breast. And then the lion was upon him. A great paw swept away
the heavy war spear, splintering it as the hand of man might splinter a
dry twig.

Down went the black, his skull crushed by another blow. And then the
lion was in the midst of the warriors, clawing and tearing to right and
left. Not for long did they stand their ground; but a dozen men were
mauled before the others made good their escape from those frightful
talons and gleaming fangs.

In terror the villagers fled hither and thither. No hut seemed a
sufficiently secure asylum with Numa ranging within the palisade. From
one to another fled the frightened blacks, while in the center of the
village Numa stood glaring and growling above his kills.

At last a tribesman flung wide the gates of the village and sought
safety amid the branches of the forest trees beyond. Like sheep his
fellows followed him, until the lion and his dead remained alone in the
village.

From the nearer trees the men of Mbonga saw the lion lower his great
head and seize one of his victims by the shoulder and then with slow
and stately tread move down the village street past the open gates and
on into the jungle. They saw and shuddered, and from another tr