smiled. "Another happy illustration of my theory," said he.
"It is the tail of a lion bounding through his native jungles. Why? The
effect of suggesting the lion, so to speak, is much more thrilling than
that of painting him at full length. Genius accomplishes by hints what
mere talent fails to achieve by the utmost elaboration. You will not
deny that that vague revelation of the lion's tail inspires a feeling of
mystery and terror, which would not be caused by a full-length portrait
of that king of beasts?"

Marcus Wilkeson did not deny it, but said that perhaps everybody could
not identify the object as a lion's tail.

"That has all been thought of," said Tiffles. "I shall explain the
panorama, you must understand. When I come to the lion's tail, I shall
tell the audience what it is, and go on to give a full account of the
lion, and his ferocious habits. This will gratify the women and small
boys quite as much as seeing the lion _in propria persona_."

"Precisely. Very good," was the laughing acknowledgment. "And what is
that thing, twisted like a piece of grapevine above the tall grass at
this point?"

"The trunk of an elephant. Look a little farther on, as the canvas
unrolls, and you will observe the white tusk of a rhinoceros protruding
from the jungle with wonderful effect. Why? The two animals are
advancing toward each other for mortal combat."

"I shall describe their terrific struggles," interrupted Tiffles. "Have
read up Buffon for it."

"More lions' and elephants' tails, you observe," continued the artist;
"also more rhinoceroses' tusks. It is well to have enough of them, to
illustrate the teeming life of the African jungle. Also the head of a
boa constrictor. Likewise the tail of one. Here we come to a change of
scene. Mark how wonderfully a few strokes of dark-green paint, put on by
the hand of genius, impart the idea of a pestiferous swamp. That
odd-looking object, like a rock, is the head of a hippopotamus. A few
feet beyond, you notice two things like the stumps of aquatic weeds.
Those are the tails of two hippopotamuses engaged in deadly strife at
the bottom of the swamp. The heads of crocodiles are thrust up here and
there. Severe simplicity again."

The panorama, from thence nearly to the end of it--or rather the
beginning--was a repetition of jungles and deserts, varied by an
occasional swamp, all diversified with the heads and tails of indigenous
animals. The last hundred feet was the river