At the same instant the boy bent low and jumped to one side, holding his gun before him, finger ready on the trigger. But the lion did not spring. Instead, it whirled with the boy, and instantly was again facing him, this time at a greater distance, Teddy having backed away, once he was clear of the wall.
Thoughts were flashing through the boy’s brain like subtitles on a moving picture screen. Should he shoot and risk having the animal charge if he missed? Would it be better to wait and see if the lion would depart of its own accord? Perhaps the brute was frightened. Given time, it might turn tail and make off without attacking. Still, where had it come from? If it had leaped down from above, Teddy would surely have heard it. Why, it must have been here when Teddy had fallen!
Still backing, the boy determined to let the lion decide the issue. If it made off, very well. If it sprang—Teddy took in a bit more of the trigger slack and raised the barrel just a trifle, so that it pointed directly at the lion’s left eye. Ad least he would go under, fighting.
Suddenly the tail stopped its restless lashing. Teddy saw the shoulder muscles of the beast move like ropes in silken sheathes. He knew the moment had come.
As the lion sprang, Teddy fired. In that small enclosure the roar of the large automatic was deafening.
When the lion landed, not five feet from Teddy, it turned its head and began biting savagely at its left flank. Teddy’s bullet had only wounded the animal.
He fired again and jumped aside. The bullet hit the beast just below the heart. Furious with pain, it whirled about and came at the boy.
Now a hot, almost unreasoning, rage took possession of Teddy.
“Come on, come on, you yellow coward!� he shouted wildly. “Fight! Don’t lay down so soon! Fight, you sneak!�
Teddy’s abstinence from food, his chase after the thieves, and the fall down the mountainside had snapped his restraint. He knew nothing, except that he was facing an enemy—something he must kill. With an abandonment of fury, he fired his remaining shots in the direction of the lion, threw his gun from him, and started forward, fists clenched, eyes burning with a feverish light.