Here she lay breathless watching the lion; but the beast gave no
indication that he had heard aught to arouse his suspicions. Again
she rolled over, gaining a few more feet and again she lay in rigid
contemplation of the beast's back.

During what seemed hours to her tense nerves, Jane Clayton continued
these tactics, and still the lion fed on in apparent unconsciousness
that his second prey was escaping him. Already the girl was but
a few paces from the tree--a moment more and she would be close
enough to chance springing to her feet, throwing caution aside and
making a sudden, bold dash for safety. She was halfway over in
her turn, her face away from the lion, when he suddenly turned his
great head and fastened his eyes upon her. He saw her roll over
upon her side away from him, and then her eyes were turned again
toward him, and the cold sweat broke from the girl's every pore
as she realized that with life almost within her grasp, death had
found her out.

For a long time neither the girl nor the lion moved. The beast
lay motionless, his head turned upon his shoulders and his glaring
eyes fixed upon the rigid victim, now nearly fifty yards away.
The girl stared back straight into those cruel orbs, daring not to
move even a muscle.

The strain upon her nerves was becoming so unbearable that she could
scarcely restrain a growing desire to scream, when Numa deliberately
turned back to the business of feeding; but his back-layed ears
attested a sinister regard for the actions of the girl behind him.

Realizing that she could not again turn without attracting his