09 Lion Adventure Read Online Free PDF Page A

took eighty-five. It will go on as long as there are any lions.’ ‘Then why not get rid of all lions?’ ‘That’s like saying why not get rid of all motor cars. They cause a lot more deaths than the lions do. The lion is one of the most magnificent animals we have on this planet. People come from all over the world to see him. And even if lions kill one or two hundred Africans in a year that’s not many out of a population of three hundred million. Of course we don’t want them to get even one hundred. It’s not much comfort to a woman whose husband has been killed to know that most lions are not dangerous. Get your beauty sleep. We’ve got to find another of these rascals tomorrow morning.’

Chapter 5
The lion that snored
    They didn’t have to wait until morning.
    Roger no sooner got to-sleep than he was wakened by a snoring sound. That was strange. His brother never snored.
    Could it be one of the railway men in the next tent? But it was closer than that. It must be Hal.
    Roger hated to wake him up. His brother had had a hard day and needed his sleep. Roger tried to ignore the noise. He just buried his ears, one in the pillow and the other under the covers.
    It was no use. He couldn’t get to sleep with that racket going on. He was just about to speak when he heard Hal’s voice.
    ‘Roger. Wake up. You’re snoring loud enough to wake the whole camp.’
    ‘I wasn’t snoring,’ Roger protested.
    ‘Guess you weren’t - because I still hear it. Must be a hyena prowling around outside.’
    ‘If it’s a hyena it’s not outside. It’s right here between us.’
    ‘We’ll soon see,’ Hal said and turned on his torch.
    There was something between the two cots but it was a lot bigger than a hyena. There stood a super-size lion. He had a black mane. He looked remarkably like the beast they thought they had killed.
    The loose tent flaps showed how he had entered. He was growling softly. He looked from one boy to the other, trying to decide which would make a better supper.
    Hal grabbed for his gun. He had left a -45 revolver lying on a camp chair between the two beds so that either he or Roger could reach it in case of trouble.
    The lion got there first. Excited by Hal’s sudden movement, he struck out with his paw, knocking over the chair and spinning the revolver to the back of the tent.
    Then he chose Roger, perhaps because he looked more tender than his tough older brother, or because he was in the full light of the torch while Hal was in the shadow.
    There was plenty of action crowded into the next few seconds. The lion clawed at the covers. Roger locked them under his body so they could not be torn off. The lion’s jaws opened within indies of his face. The big black nose almost touched his own.
    If the lion could bite, so could he. He sank his teeth into the lion’s nose. At the same instant, Hal was pulling the animal’s tail. This was a favourite Masai trick. The two tenderest parts of a lion are the nose and the tail.
    Roger looked for some weapon. There was nothing -nothing but a few groceries on a shelf above his cot. Desperate, he grabbed a half-used box of pancake flour and dashed the contents into the lion’s eyes.
    The animal looked like a comedian that has just been plastered with a custard pie. Roger would have laughed, if this had been a moment for laughing.
    This lion had probably fought many battles but he had never before been attacked with pancake flour. Surprised and blinded, he roared his disapproval. He tore loose from the nose-hold and tail-hold and plunged but of the tent. He took with him what could have been Roger’s body but was actually only a fat pillow. It had the smell of a human, but when he tore it apart and found no flesh and bones he again roared in bitter disappointment.
    Hal jumped for his gun. ‘That beast is going to kill somebody as soon as he gets the flour out of his eyes. He’s rarin’ mad.’
    Hal found his revolver and tossed another to Roger. Revolvers