There was nothing but dead twigs and branches at hand, but these
he flung at the upturned, snarling face of Sabor just as his father
had before him twenty years ago, when as a boy he too had taunted
and tantalized the great cats of the jungle.
The lioness fretted about the bole of the tree for a short time;
but finally, either realizing the uselessness of her vigil, or
prompted by the pangs of hunger, she stalked majestically away and
disappeared in the brush that hid her lord, who had not once shown
himself during the altercation.
Freed from their retreats Akut and the boy came to the ground, to
take up their interrupted journey once more. The old ape scolded
the lad for his carelessness.
"Had you not been so intent upon the lion behind you you might have
discovered the lioness much sooner than you did,"
"But you passed right by her without seeing her," retorted the boy.
Akut was chagrined.
"It is thus," he said, "that jungle folk die. We go cautiously
for a lifetime, and then, just for an instant, we forget, and--"
he ground his teeth in mimicry of the crunching of great jaws in
flesh.
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