In a few seconds Randy was boosted to the shelf. Looking around, he saw a place where he could dig in with his toes, and he promptly lay flat, extending his hands downward as he did so.
“Come on! I’ll help pull you up!” he gasped. “Hurry up! The lion is getting ready to jump.”
Thus assisted, the young major managed to scale the wall and reach the rocky shelf. He had scarcely done so when the lion, crouching low, made a wild leap upward.
The distance the beast covered was fully fifteen feet, and both the Rover boys felt that he might have gained the rocky shelf had it not been for Randy’s quick action. Beside him lay a jagged stone half as big as his head. This he scooped up and launched at the beast when the lion was less than a yard away. The stone did little damage to the lion physically, but the attack was so unexpected that the forward movement of the king of the jungle was stopped, and he dropped down on the rocks from which he had come.
“Fire at him, Jack!” called out Randy. “Give him every bullet you’ve got!” And then both boys emptied their pistols into the beast as he stood there, evidently trying to make up his mind what next to do.
Some of the shots went wild, but two hit the lion squarely in the side, and now with roars of pain and fear the beast suddenly retreated and the next instant disappeared in the undergrowth on the edge of the jungle.
“He’s gone!”
“Maybe he’ll come back!”
“Let’s reload just as fast as we can.”
The last suggestion was a good one, and they carried it out immediately. In the meanwhile, they kept their eyes on the jungle, but the lion did not show himself.