“That’s a lion out on the sands,” chuckled the goblin; “he’s coming for a drink. Now the fun’ll begin, Bob.”
“And listen! What are those other sounds, Fitz?”
“Jackals barking and hyenas howling. They’re all coming at once. There’ll be a circus when they gather at the spring.”
The two aëronauts giggled and shrugged their shoulders, in nervous but delicious expectancy. The moon made the night almost as light as day; but soon great dark shapes and shadows were to be seen approaching the oasis, from various directions. The lion roared defiantly, the jackals barked snappishly and the hyenas howled dolefully.
“I see the lion,” Bob whispered excitedly. “There! He’s just coming in among the trees. But what’s that other animal creeping along away out there in the bright moonlight?”
“A leopard,” Fitz replied.
“And that pack of little fellows are jackals?”
“Yes.”
“And those ugly scrawny ones are hyenas?”
“Yes.”