been a record
jump that. We measured it afterwards in strides, and my wife said she
was proud of me, and she always knew I could jump better than any other
lion in South Africa.

'Well, those little beggars jumped on that zebra, and bit at him; but
the skin was too tough for their little teeth, bless them! It was the
funniest sight. But when the old woman and I started in, we did more
than that, I can tell you; we tore off great chunks of him, and the
little ones ate what they could. They got in the way, too, and we had to
give them a slap now and then to keep them in order; and they snarled
and swore at each other until their mother had to quiet them. When we
had done we felt as if we could hardly walk, and we just wanted to get
home as fast as we could and do no more that night. We had pretty well
finished up that zebra before we walked off, and the vultures came
hopping round to clean up what we had left. I was feeling all right
then, and we lay down comfortable and satisfied. Oh dear! I had quite
forgotten where I was; and now I wake up to find myself in this dull
place, where there is no hunting and no fun, where we are caged up in
horrid bars.'

Just as the lion finished speaking, Mrs. Lioness came out from the
inner den. She was not nearly so handsome as her husband, and he thought
her not nearly so handsome as his first wife, who had hunted with him in
South Africa; still, she was company, and that was something.

We have stayed a long time at this lions' cage, and we must pass over
all the rest of the lions--some of them born in captivity, who have
never known the delight of a wild, free life--and go on to the great
striped Bengal tiger, with his magnificent head and handsome face. There
is not the same tremendous strength in his appearance as in the lion's,
but there is something almost more terrible in his long, gliding body
and catlike movements, more ferocious altogether. In the wild state the
lion prefers to prey upon animals, and will not turn on man unless he is
desperate. But a tiger sometimes takes to the life of a man-eater for no
reason but because he likes the taste of human flesh; and once he has
begun to eat human beings, he is a man-eater to the end of his days. He
turns man-eater sometimes, too, when he is old and his strong teeth
fail; and then he will hang about outside villages to pounce on a
soft-flesh man, who is easier to catch than a wild animal.

Tigers are very fierce; a mother tig