He saw how mixed up the brute was amid the branches and this gave him a sudden idea.
With a lightness of foot that was surprising in a mere farm lad, he ran to the woodshed.
Soon he reappeared carrying a wash-line, a well-rope, and half a dozen leather straps.
He fastened an end of the wash-line to one of the limbs of the tree and then to another, and so on all around the lion.
Then he crossed the well-rope over the line, and even fastened it around the lion’s left hind leg.
Then making a noose of the longest strap, he watched his chance and dropped it over the brute’s neck.
Of course, the lion roared and struggled to free himself, but Leo was too quick for him.
The noose around his neck, Leo tightened it considerably, and then fastened the end of the strap to the tree trunk.
“Now, if you move you’ll take the whole tree with you,” thought the boy.