In this trying to break the obstacle which separated us. position he looked truly magnificent, roaring with mingled joy and anger. His expanded nostrils were sniffing, in blissful happiness, the hand I had given up to him; whilst his enormous paws were softly trying to draw me to him. If any one else attempted to come near, Hubert broke out into a most appalling fury; but as soon as they retired he became calm and affectionate as before. I cannot express how painful our parting was on that day. Twenty times I returned to try and make him understand that he should see me again; and every time I withdrew, he shook the gallery with his tremendous bounds. For some time after I paid frequent visits to the prisoner, and we often spent several hours alone together. But I soon observed that he was getting low, in fact pining away. On mentioning this to the men who had charge of him, they seemed to attribute it to my presence, upon which I thought it better to visit him less frequently. One day in the month of May I came as usual. "Sir," said the keeper, bowing to me sorrowfully, "you need come no more- -HUBERT IS DEAD!" Such was the end of Hubert, whom I had carried away from his mother, from the pure mountain air-from liberty. Child of nature, he might still have been alive and healthy : civilisation had killed him. So, henceforth you may grow and multiply in peace, ye proud Sultans of the mountains; I will never more carry off your children. Death for death; the shot which strikes you like the lightning in open forest, under the starry canopy of heaven, is better than slow torture in the narrow space of a few yards; the lead bullet of the hunter is preferable a hundred times to the dull consumption of a prison. Gerard. THE LION AND THE SPANIEL. IN the afternoon our company went to the Tower, to satisfy ourselves as to the truth of the wonderful story of the great lion and the little dog. We found the place thronged, and all were obliged to pay high prices of admission, on account of the novelty of the show; so that the keeper, in a short time, made a little fortune. The great cage in front was occupied by a beast, who was called the king's lion; and, while he traversed the limits of his straitened dominions, he was attended by a small and very beautiful black spaniel, who frisked and gambolled about him. At one time it would pretend to snarl and bite at the lion; at another, the noble animal, with an air of fondness, would hold down his head, while the tiny creature licked his terrible chaps. Their history, as the keeper related, was this: It was customary for all, who were unable or unwilling to pay their sixpence, to bring a dog or cat as an offering to the beast in place of money to the keeper. Among others, a fellow had caught up this pretty black spaniel in the streets, and it was thrown into the cage of the great lion. Immediately the little animal trembled and shivered with fear, and threw itself on its back. It then put forth its tongue, and held up its paws, as if praying for mercy. In the meantime, the lordly brute, instead of devouring it, beheld it with an eye of cool curiosity. He turned it over with one paw, and then with the other; sniffed at it, and seemed desirous of courting a further acquaintance. The keeper, on seeing this, brought a large mess of his own family dinner; but the lion kept aloof, and refused to eat, keeping his eye on the dog, and, as it were, inviting it to eat. At length the little animal's fears being somewhat abated*, and its appetite being quickened by the smell of the victuals, it approached slowly, and tremblingly ventured to eat. The lion then advanced gently and began to partake, and they finished their meal very lovingly together. From this day the strictest friendship commenced between them, a friendship consisting of all possible affection and tenderness on the part of the lion, and of the utmost confidence and boldness on the part of the dog; insomuch that he would lay himself down to sleep within the fangs and under the jaws of his terrible patron. A gentleman who had lost the spaniel, and had advertised a reward of two guineas to the finder, at length heard of the adventure, and went to claim his dog. "You see, sir," said the keeper, "it would be a great pity to part such loving friends; however, if you insist upon your property being restored, you must even be pleased to take him yourself: it is a task that I would not engage in for five hundred guineas." The gentleman of course declined the risk of a dispute with the lion. In about twelve months the little spaniel sickened and died, and left its loving protector the most desolate of creatures. For a time the lion did not appear to believe otherwise than that his pet was asleep. He would continue to smell the body; then would stir it with his nose, and turn it over with his paws. But finding that all his efforts to awake his pet were vain, he would traverse his cage from end to end at a swift and uneasy pace, then stop; and look down with a fixed and drooping gaze; then raise his head, and open his horrible throat, and utter a prolonged roar, as of distant thunder, for minutes together. They attempted, but in vain, to take away the carcase from * Abated, lessened, diminished. him; he watched it constantly, and would suffer no one to touch it. The keeper then endeavoured to tempt him with a variety of food, but he turned from all that was offered with loathing. They then put several living dogs into his cage, and these he instantly tore piecemeal, but left their bodies, untasted, on the floor. His passion being thus inflamed, he would dart his fangs into the boards and wrench away large splinters; and again grapple at the bars of his cage, and seem enraged at his restraint. Again, quite exhausted, he would stretch himself by the remains of his friend, gather them in with his paws, and hug them. The while he uttered under-roars of terrible melancholy for the loss of his little play-fellow-the only friend, the only companion that he had upon earth. For five days he thus languished, and gradually declined, without taking any food or accepting any comfort. At last, one morning, he was found dead, with his head lovingly reclined on the carcase of his little friend. They were both buried together, and their grave was plentifully watered by the tears of the keeper and his loudly lamenting family. Brooke. |