Nero, the Circus Lion Part 13

"Well," said Nero to himself, "I guess I'll look around this jungle and see if I can find any breakfast. I'm hungry, and that nice trainer man isn't here to give me anything to eat. I'll have to hunt for it myself, as I used to do when I was at home. We'll see what kind of jungle this is."

Nero soon found that it was quite different from the jungle in Africa.

The trees were not so big, nor were there so many of them, and the vines and bushes were not so tangled. It was not quite so hot, either, though this was the middle of summer, and there were not as many birds as Nero was used to seeing in his home jungle. Nor were there any monkeys swinging by their tails from the trees. It was quite a different jungle altogether, but Nero liked it better than his circus cage.

"Now for something to eat!" said Nero, when he had finished stretching.

He stepped from the little cave out into the bright sunshine, and looked around. He wanted to make sure there were no men near by who might catch him and take him back to that queer house on wheels, with iron bars all around it. Nero saw nothing to make him go back into his cave.

Up in the trees the robins and the sparrows sang and chirped, but if they saw the tawny, yellow lion moving about, like a big cat, they paid no attention. They did not seem to mind Nero at all.

And, pretty soon, Nero found something to eat in the woods. He had not forgotten how to hunt, as he had done in the jungle, though it was rather a long time ago.

Then Nero sniffed and sniffed until he found a spring of water, at which he took a good drink.

"Well, now that I have had something to eat and something to drink I feel much better," said Nero to himself. "I must have some fun."

So he looked about, wondering what he would do. It was a sort of vacation for him, you see, as he did not have to do any of his circus tricks.

"Let's see, now," thought Nero. "I wonder--"

And then, all of a sudden, the lion heard a rustling noise over in the bushes at one side. He gave a jump, just as your cat does when something startles her. Nero wanted to be on the watch for any one who might be trying to catch him or trap him.

Then Nero saw a small black animal walk slowly out from under a big bush. The animal was something like a little tiger, except that she was plain black instead of being striped yellow and black. At first Nero was much surprised.

"h.e.l.lo, there!" called the lion, in animal talk, which is the same all over the world. "h.e.l.lo there! Who are you and where are you going?"

"Oh, I'm Blackie, a cat," was the answer. "Once I was a lost cat, but I'm not that way any longer. Who are you, if I may ask?"

CHAPTER XII

NERO AND THE TRAMP

Nero, the circus lion, gave himself a big shake. His mane, or big fringe of hair around his neck, stood out like the fur on your cat's back when a dog chases her, and then Nero roared. Oh, such a loud roar as he gave!

The ground shook.

"There! Now do you know who I am?" asked Nero.

Blackie, the cat who was once lost, seemed quite surprised at the way Nero acted. She looked at the lion and said:

"Well, I'm sure I don't know why in the world you are making so much noise. I just asked what your name was, and there you go acting as though you were a part of a thunderstorm. What's it all about, anyhow?"

"I was just telling you my name," said Nero, a little ashamed of himself for having made such a racket. "I'm a circus lion. At least I used to be in a circus, but I ran away last night, when my cage rolled downhill and broke."

"Oh, a circus lion!" mewed Blackie. "Why, I know some folks in a circus. There was Dido, a dancing bear, and--"

"Why, I know him too!" roared Nero, in delight. "He's in the same circus I came from!"

"You don't tell me!" exclaimed Blackie. "And then I knew Tum Tum, a jolly elephant, and--"

"Well, say now, isn't that queer?" laughed Nero--at least he laughed as much as a lion ever laughs. "Why, Tum Tum is in my circus, too! We are great friends. And once a dog named Don came to the show, but he did not stay very long."

"Oh, I know Don, too," said Blackie. "Once he ran away, and once he chased me. But that was before we were friends. Say, Nero, I feel as if I had known you a long time, since we know so many of the same friends.

Tell me, have you ever been in a book?"

"There it goes again!" cried Nero. "Book! Book! Book! Tum Tum is in one, and so is Don, and Dido. I suppose, next, you'll be telling me that you have had a book written about you."

"Yes," said Blackie, rather slowly, as she waved her tail to and fro, "a man wrote a book about me. It tells how I got lost, how I was in a basket, and how I came home to find the family all away. And maybe I wasn't glad when they came back! But were you ever in a book?"

"No," answered the circus lion, "and I never expect to be."

But that only goes to show that Nero didn't know anything about it. For he is in a book, isn't he?

"Where do you live?" asked Nero of Blackie. "Is it in a circus?"

"Gracious sakes alive, no!" exclaimed Blackie. "I wouldn't know what to do in a circus. I live in that house over there with a little boy and girl who are very kind to me. Wouldn't you like to come over and see them?"

"Thank you, no. Not just now," Nero answered. "I'm not much used to being around houses, though I like boys and girls, for I see many of them in the circus, and they like to watch me do my tricks. But I have just run away, and I want to go about by myself a bit more. The men from the circus may try to catch me, you know."

"Don't you want them to?" asked Blackie.

"Well, not right away," answered the lion. "I want to have some fun by myself first."

"Well, I must be going," said Blackie after a bit, when she had talked a little further with Nero. "If ever you're around my house, stop in and see me. It's right over there, across the hill," and she pointed to it with her paw.

"I will, thank you," said Nero, switching his tail from side to side.

Then Blackie said goodbye to him, and the cat walked on through the woods, back toward the house where she lived.

For two or three days Nero wandered about in the woods, and, all this while, the circus men were hunting everywhere for him. But they could not find him, for the lion kept well hidden in the woods. And of course, though Blackie knew he was there, she could not speak man-talk to tell about him. So Nero remained free and had a good time.

But one day the circus lion felt lonesome. He had met none of his friends in the woods, and had not seen Blackie again, though he had looked for her. Nero did meet a little animal who seemed quite friendly.

This was Slicko, the jumping squirrel, and Slicko had a nice talk with the lion.

"I know what I'll do," said Nero to himself one day. "I'll go over to that house where Blackie lives and see her."

So Nero started over the hill to go to the house that Blackie had pointed out as the one in which she lived. And a very strange thing happened to the circus lion there.

As it happened, when Nero slunk out of the woods, which were near Blackie's house, no one saw him. In fact none of the family was at home, having gone visiting for the day. Blackie wasn't at home, either, having gone down in the cow pasture to hunt gra.s.shoppers, so there was no one in the house. But Nero did not know that. He went sniffing and snuffing around, thinking perhaps he could find something to eat, but nothing had been left out for lions, as Blackie's folks did not know one was roaming about so near them.

Nero walked softly up to the kitchen door of the house. The door was partly open, and this was strange, if the lion had only known it, for folks don't usually go away and leave doors open behind them. And from the open door came the smell of something good. It was the smell of meat, and, in fact, was a boiled ham, which Blackie's mistress had left in a pot on the stove.

Now the reason the door of the farmhouse was open was because it had been broken open by a tramp! This tramp, coming to the house to ask for something to eat and seeing that no one was at home, had broken open the door. He was going to get something to eat, and then take whatever else he wanted. And that's why the door was open when Nero walked up to it.

The tramp was in the kitchen, cutting himself some pieces from the cold, boiled ham.

"My, that smells good!" thought Nero, as he sniffed the meat. "I guess I'll go in and see if I can't get some."

So Nero, not, of course, knowing anything about the tramp, but wanting only to get some meat and, perhaps, see his friend Blackie, pushed the kitchen door open with his nose and walked in.