Then the boy’s heart started beating again violently, for he felt that the moment for action was fast approaching, if not at hand. He started round listening, and as he did, he saw that the place was fairly lit up now, and Emson’s face stood out clearly as he lay peacefully asleep.
Duke snuffled at the crack at the bottom of the door, and uttered an uneasy growl; while, plainly enough to be heard now, there was a stealthy step, passing along beside the building, and making for the back.
“Safe there!” thought Dyke; and the dog uttered his uneasy growl, while his master listened intently for the creature’s return.
And now that the peril seemed to be so close, Dyke’s nerve grew firmer, and ready to fire as soon as the lioness came round the other way, as he felt sure she would, he encouraged himself with the thought that if he were only steady, he could not miss.
He was not long kept waiting. There was the stealthy, soft step again, and the sound of the animal’s side brushing lightly against the corrugated iron wall. But, to the overturning of the boy’s expectations, the sounds were not continued round from the back toward the window, but in the same direction as that in which they had previously been heard.
Duke uttered a low, muttering growl, and glanced round at his master, thrusting his nose again to the bottom of the door, where the stealthy pace ceased, and there was the sound as of the beast passing its muzzle over the door.
The dog uttered a loud bark, and Dyke presented the muzzle of the gun, half prepared to fire through the boards, but raised it, with his face wrinkling up from a mingling of annoyance, surprise, and amusement, for in answer to the dog’s sharp bark, came:
“Ah-ah-ah-ah! Wanter bucket: milk.”
“Tant!” cried Dyke, laying his hand on the bar. “Mind! there is a lion,” he said, as he opened the door cautiously.
“Eh? Eat a lot. Eat cow.”