“Oh, my!” the boy exclaimed gleefully. “Talk about a circus, Fitz; I call it a menagerie. This is a free show; and you and I have box seats.” Then thoughtfully, and with a little shiver, “And I’m mighty glad we have—and right above the ring. I—”
He was interrupted by a roar that seemed to shake the slender fronds of the palm trees and rock the balloon. The lion was directly beneath them, smelling over the ground where they had been. The two small comrades cuddled close together upon the locker, held each other’s hands, and strained their eyes and ears to see and hear all that was going on. Presently the leopard, too, was among the trees and, like the lion, was nosing from one spot to another; and the jackals and hyenas had ranged themselves along the border of the little oasis, and were indulging in a discordant serenade.
“Ugh!” the boy grunted in disgust. “Those cowardly things out there make me lonesome with their mournful sounds.”
“Me, too,” the goblin admitted, nodding. Then he whispered sharply: “There—there, Bob. The lion’s going to the spring. See him in that patch of moonlight?”
“Yes.”
“And now he’s right at the edge of the water. See him—see him?”
“Uh—huh. And there’s the leopard coming up on the other side.”
The lion advanced majestically to the edge of the pool. He looked askance at his slender cousin, the leopard; and then he touched his nose to the clear water. Instantly he sprang backward, bristling, sneezing and shaking his head, in surprise and anger. The leopard looked on in wonder at her cousin’s strange behavior; and the lion glared fiercely at her. The two aëronauts hugged each other and laughed softly.