Then, like a streak of sunshine, the beast leaped for him.
CHAPTER XXV
THE LAST WARNING
“Crack!”
Larry fired the revolver. It was an automatic one, and all he had to do was to pull the trigger. Right at the face of the lion he aimed it, as the animal was in the air above him.
“Crack! Crack! Crack!”
Streaks of fire from the heavy cartridges shot in the direction of the beast.
“Crack!”
It was the last shot. As he fired it Larry leaped to one side to escape the lion’s claws. Then he cast the revolver at the beast, and fled.
But there was no need of this. Cowed by the streaks of flame, and the noise of the reports, the brute, who had been only slightly wounded, had no sooner landed on the sawdust, than, with tail between its legs, it started back toward the cage it had left.
“Chase after him, some of you fellows!” shouted the head trainer. “His nerve’s gone now. That boy has more sense and grit than the whole lot of you!”