Small
Wonder That He Was Panic-Stricken At The Sight.
There Was Only One Possible Way Of Escape, And
That Was Through The Second Sliding Door
Communicating With The Servants' Quarters, Which
Was Opposite To That By Which The Lion Had
Entered.
But in order to reach this door Huebner
had literally to jump on to the man-eater's back,
for its great bulk filled up all the space beneath
his berth.
It sounds scarcely credible, but it
appears that in the excitement and horror of the
moment he actually did this, and fortunately
the lion was too busily engaged with his victim
to pay any attention to him. So he managed
to reach the door in safety; but there, to his
dismay, he found that it was held fast on the
other side by the terrified coolies, who had been
aroused by the disturbance caused by the lion's
entrance. In utter desperation he made frantic
efforts to open it, and exerting all his strength
at last managed to pull it back sufficiently far to
allow him to squeeze through, when the trembling
coolies instantly tied it up again with their
turbans. A moment afterwards a great crash was
heard, and the whole carriage lurched violently to
one side; the lion had broken through one of the
windows, carrying off poor Ryall with him. Being
now released, Parenti lost no time in jumping
through the window on the opposite side of the
carriage, and fled for refuge to one of the station
buildings; his escape was little short of miraculous,
as the lion had been actually standing on him as
he lay on the floor.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 213 of 247
Words from 58642 to 58916
of 68125
