Nero, the Circus Lion Part 9

So, though of course Nero could not understand what the circus men said when they talked to one another, the lion had learned some words. So he could talk and understand animal language, and he could also understand some words of man-talk. And that is pretty good, I think, for a lion who had not been out of the jungle quite a year.

"Shall we have to push any of the cages?" asked Nero of his friend Leo, as they both watched the circus men hurrying to and fro in the big barn.

"Oh, no," answered the older lion. "They never let us out of the cages."

"And a good reason, too," declared a humpy camel, near by. "If they let you lions and tigers out of the cages, you'd run away. We wouldn't do that. We camels are well-behaved, like the horses and the elephants."

Leo, the old lion, shook his head until his mane dangled in his eyes.

"No," he said, "if they opened my cage, I wouldn't run away. I wouldn't even go out, unless it was to get something to eat and come right back again."

"I would!" growled Nero. "I'd go out in a minute, if they opened my cage door wide enough. I'd go out and run back to the jungle."

"Yes, that's what I used to think, at first," growled Leo. "But after you've been in the circus awhile you get used to it. It's home to you.

"Why, I remember, Nero, we once had in this circus a lion just about like you. He always said he'd run away if he got the chance. Well, one day his cage was left open by accident, and he ran away."

"What happened?" asked Nero.

"Well, he ran back again, the next day, and a more sorry or sick-looking lion you never saw! He was bedraggled and lame and hungry and thirsty!

He said he was glad to get back to his cage, and he never left it again."

"What had happened to him?" asked the camel. "I guess that was before my time."

"Oh, no sooner was he loose in the streets," said Leo, "than he was chased by men and boys, who threw rocks and sticks at him. They were afraid of him, and tried to drive him away. But the circus men tried to catch the runaway lion, and, between both, poor Tarsus, which was his name, had a bad time. He had enough of running away."

"He should have gone back to the jungle," said Nero. "That's what I'd do if I could get loose."

"Oh, you think you would!" growled Leo. "But the jungle is far away from here. You could never reach it. No, you had much better stay here in the circus, Nero. Here you are in a cage, it is true, but you are warm, you have a good place to sleep, you have plenty to eat and drink, and boys can not throw stones at you."

But Nero only switched his tail to and fro, thought of the jungle where he had played with Boo and Chet, and said to himself:

"That's all right. But, even though my trainer is kind to me, if ever I get the chance I'll run away!"

And so the circus got ready to go out on the road. Tum Tum and the other elephants pushed the animal cages about, and one day Nero saw the big elephant come close up to the lion's cage.

"What are you going to do, Tum Tum?" asked Nero.

"It is time for your cage to be moved," said the elephant. "I am going to push you out on the lot, and there horses will be hitched to your cage and you will be given a ride."

"Well, I hope the ride will be nice," said the lion.

"You'll like it," said Tum Tum, trumpeting through his trunk.

Pretty soon Nero found himself, in his cage, out in the bright suns.h.i.+ne.

It was a warm day, and the lion stretched, opened his mouth as wide as he could, and then lay down in his cage where the sun could warm his back.

"It feels just as good as the jungle," thought Nero. "But of course there aren't as many trees, and there are no pools of water, and I haven't Switchie or Chet or Boo to play with. A circus may be nice, but I'll run away the first chance I get."

Tum Tum pushed Nero's cage about until some horses could be hitched to it to draw it to the railroad station. For the circus was to travel on a train of cars to the city where it was first to give a show.

Nero's cage, as well as other cages, were put on a big flat car, and when the engine started puffing and pulling away, and when Nero felt the motion of the train, he called to Leo, who was on the same car:

"I remember riding like this once before."

"Yes," said Leo, "I suppose so. It was when you were brought here from the big city where the s.h.i.+p landed. The same thing happened to me. But I am used to riding on railroads now. I don't mind it any more. I like it."

"I guess I'll like it, too," said Nero.

For the rest of that day and all the night the circus train traveled onward, and it was nearly morning when it stopped. Peeping out between the cracks of the wooden cover of his cage, Nero could see the sun just coming up. It reminded him of the sunrise in the jungle, and he began to feel lonesome and homesick again, even though he had new friends--Tum Tum, Dido and Leo.

There was a great deal of noise when the circus train stopped. Men shouted, horses kicked about in their wooden cars, the elephants trumpeted, the tigers growled, the lions roared, while the monkeys chattered.

Nero felt his cage being run down off the car, and then he heard Tum Tum talking in elephant animal language.

"How are you, Nero? All right?" asked Tum Tum, as he pushed the lion's cage about so the horses could be hitched to it again. "Are you ready to do your tricks in the circus?"

"Oh, yes," answered Nero. "When do we begin?"

"Pretty soon," answered Leo from his cage. "We'll go to the circus lot, then will come the parade, and then we'll be put in the big tent for the boys and girls to look at. Then the bands will play and the performance will start."

"My! that's a lot of things to happen," said Nero.

Pretty soon one side of his cage was opened, and Nero's trainer pa.s.sed by.

"h.e.l.lo, Nero, old boy!" called the man. "Did you stand the ride all right? Yes, I guess you did. Well, we'll soon be doing our tricks together in the tent," and he patted the paw Nero held out to him, for this was his way of shaking hands.

Soon after this Nero felt his cage being hauled along by a team of eight horses. The wooden outside covers of the cage were still down, and Nero could look out through the bars, and the people could look in. Then Nero saw that many of the other cages of wild animals were in line with his, some in front and some behind. There were many horses, elephants and camels in line also, and a band was playing music.

[Ill.u.s.tration: His keeper rode in the cage with him. _Page 82_]

"What's all this about?" asked Nero of Tum Tum.

"We are going in the circus parade, through the streets of the town,"

answered the jolly elephant. "We always have a parade before the show.

You'll like it."

And Nero liked, very much indeed, his first parade. His keeper rode in the cage with him, sitting on a chair, and now and then patting the big head of the lion. Nero liked that, for he and his keeper were friends.

Through great crowds of people on the streets went the circus parade, and then the procession went back to the circus lot where the big, white tents, with their gaily colored flags, had been set up.

"Pretty soon the show will begin, Nero," said the keeper, as he got out of the lion's cage. "The parade was only the first part. The people will shortly be in here to look at you and the other animals, and, later on, you and I will do some tricks."

All at once, as the trainer walked away, Nero looked out of his cage and saw a big s.h.a.ggy animal running along on the ground.

"h.e.l.lo, Dido!" growled Nero, for at first he thought it was the dancing bear he saw. But as the running animal turned, Nero saw that it was not Dido. This animal was not so large as the dancing bear.

"I'm not Dido," said the new chap. "And I don't seem to know you, though I know that bear in the cage back of you."