CHAPTER VI
"And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate homes."--_The Bible_.
"Gawd!"
Mrs. Henry Higgins called upon the Almighty in the vernacular of SevenDials, sought gropingly for the members of her progeny who clutched herskirt, and fortunately kept her head.
"'Enery James--no! Gertrude Ellen--you've gotter better headpiece,jest yer slip along to the keeper an' tell _'im_ to look slippy andcome along quick _h'and_ quiet!"
Gertrude Ellen, puffed up with pride at the pull she had had over herbrother, slipped off, as her mother continued in a raucous whisper,"Now if that young miss don't deserve a thorough good 'iding! I'd takethe skin off yer if any of yer did such a fing, strite I would. Dratyer, keep stilt cawn't yer--you'll rouse the brute!"
She shook her skirts so that the half-dozen clinging children rattledlike a bunch of keys, pushed her jet bonnet back from the shinywrinkled forehead, and waited, her motherly heart aquake in spite ofher drastic language.
Jan Cuxson was standing in front of the lions' cage at one end of thelion-house, talking to his old friend the keeper, under the impressionthat Leonie was close beside him; but she, having taken advantage oftheir conversation and a practically empty house, had slipped quietlyaway, climbed the barrier near the far window, and was _also_ holdingconversation--with a tiger from Bengal.
The animal lay outstretched with his wonderful head close to the bars,and his unblinking opalescent gold-flecked eyes staring straight intothe opalescent gold-flecked eyes of the child as she stood on tip-toeso that her face was almost on a level with that of the animal.
"_Poor_ tiger!" she was saying. "I'm vewwy sowwy for you--I'm sureyou're not so vewy, vewy wicked, an' if you will bend your head I willstwoke you behind the ear same as I did Kitty."
Mrs. Henry Higgins gasped.
Holding on to one bar tightly just near the tiger's mouth so as tosteady herself, Leonie stretched, and thrusting her hand inside beganto rub the tiger's head quite forcibly behind the ear.
"Nice?" she inquired as the animal closed its eyes under the unexpectedand unexperienced caress, then opening them lifted the beautiful headand yawned to the full capacity of the huge mouth, affording Leonie afront row view of the splendid ivories and pale pink tongue.
"Oh--h--h!" said she admiringly, standing flat and patting the nearestpaw. "I _do_ like you though you _do_ fwighten me when you walk sosoftly in my dweams--oh--h--h!"
She shivered with ecstasy as the tiger rolled on its back, displayingits soft white belly as it bit its hind foot with the abandon of ababy, then turned on its side, and leaping sideways to its feet, slunkoff to the far corner of the miserable den, which is all a civilisedcountry gives a wild animal in exchange for its jungle home.
Meanwhile the Higgins brood, like hungry sparrows on a rail, weresitting open-mouthed on the lower steps provided for the benefit ofthose spectators who wish to revel with safety in the degrading sightof the royal beasts fed with lumps of bleeding meat pushed through thelower bar on the end of a prong.
Rendered somewhat incoherent by fear, and haste, allied to the ghastlyEnglish she had acquired in the streets and been allowed to retain inthe Council School, Gertrude Ellen had found it somewhat difficult toarouse the keeper to a realisation of the impending disaster.
But when he _did_ look over his shoulder in the direction her dirtylittle hand was pointing he swore a mighty oath and acted promptly.
"Keep still, Sir, for the love of heaven!" he whispered, catching holdof Jan Cuxson's arm as the latter made a step forward. "Don't let thatthere animal see yer, he's the blamedest, cussedest brute I've ever hadto do with. Never had a civil growl from him since he came here overthree years ago."
Whilst speaking the man had hurriedly discarded his boots and climbedinside the barrier, whilst Cuxson held the child quiet by her thinlittle shoulders.
"Damn that woman," went on the keeper, "why can't she keep still. Sureas blazes if that there tiger sees her, which don't mean if he's_looking_ at her, he'll go nasty and have that missy's 'and off."
Mrs. Higgins, having clumped her brood into silence, was making franticand what she imagined to be surreptitious signals of distress with herleft arm, keeping her eyes glued on Leonie, who was clinging to thebars with both hands whilst calling upon the tiger to come back.
He came back, half crouched, noiselessly, stealthily, the hair of thebelly almost touching the ground, for all the world like a cat about tospring upon an unsuspecting sparrow.
He came to a standstill within an inch of the bars and threw hispointed ears straight forward so that they stood out at right angles tothe beautifully marked face; spasmodically twitched back the mouthwithout a sound issuing therefrom, and then lay down and pressed hishead against the bars.
The tiny hand was stroking the silky ears, patting the head, andprodding contentedly into the thick fur of the neck when suddenly witha mighty heart-quaking roar the tiger leapt up and back, and thenhurled himself at the bars.
The keeper had crept, bent double, along the inside of the barrier, andhad most suddenly and surprisingly seized Leonie by the waist andwrenched her free from the bars to which she had tried to cling,holding her like a vice in his arms where she vainly kicked andstruggled for freedom.
Leonie of the Jungle Page 6
