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Updated: May 22, 2025
"And if Switchie were here he and I could have some fun to-morrow, going about this new jungle," thought the lion boy. But Switchie, the lion cub with whom Nero used to play, was far off in Africa, so our circus friend had to stay by himself. He curled up on the leaves, listened to the swish and patter of the rain, and soon he fell asleep.
You're scattering bark in my eyes!" said a voice behind Nero. It was not a loud voice, for one has to be quiet when hunting in the jungle. "Who's there?" asked Nero, thinking for a moment it might be the crocodile who had tossed him into the jungle pool. "It is I Switchie," was the answer.
Switchie and the smaller lions, like Nero, could not roar very loudly, but Nero's father, and the other full-grown beasts made the very ground tremble with their rumblings. At the same time there were other jungle cries from other animals. The monkeys, who had been sleeping in the tree-tops, began to chatter and scold, as they swung to and fro. "What's the matter?
My mother didn't tell me not to go to the spring, so I'll walk on ahead until we come to it. Then I can look and see if there are any hunters. If there aren't you can come out of the jungle and get a drink. Won't that be all right?" "Yes, I guess it will," said Nero. "Mother wouldn't want me not to have a drink. All she's afraid of are the hunters." "Then come on!" growled Switchie.
We will give you a little, but, if you want any more, you must hunt for yourselves. I fed you when you were a little baby lion, Nero, but now that you are big you must learn to feed and hunt for yourself." And this, too, is the law of the jungle. Switchie and Nero eagerly ate the bits of meat the older lions gave them, and then the hunt went on.
"Want to have some fun?" asked Switchie, as Nero lay down in the jungle shade. "That's what I came over for," Nero answered. "Only my mother said I wasn't to get into any mischief." "Oh, no, we won't do anything like that!" replied Switchie. "We'll just go along in the jungle and have some fun. I know where there is some soft grass, and we can roll over and over in that and scratch our backs."
And home he went. As soon as his mother saw him, wet and muddy as he still was, Mrs. Lion said: "Well, Nero, what happened to you? Did you get into mischief?" "I don't know, Ma," answered Nero. "But I got in the spring!" "There! I told you to keep away from the water hole in the daytime!" said Mrs. Lion. "I knew something would happen if you played with that Switchie.
"Others must have been caught in traps and taken away." And Nero thought of this talk as he licked his sore paw in the jungle cave. What had happened to him was exactly like what had happened to some of the lions Bounder used to know. "But I am still here," thought Nero; "and when my father or Switchie comes to find me they will know what has happened to me. But I wish they would hurry!"
He was about a year older than the lion chap about whom I am going to tell you in this story. Switchie was called that because he switched his tail about in such a funny way. "So you are going to play with Switchie, are you?" asked Mrs. Lion, as she looked at a place where a sharp stone had cut her foot, though the sore was now getting better.
"Oh, are you hunting, too?" asked Nero, glad to find that he knew some one among the lions besides his father. "Have you killed anything yet?" "No, not yet. But I shall pretty soon," answered Switchie. "This isn't my first hunt. I've been out at night before." "Isn't it great!" said Nero. "I hope I can kill a big buffalo. That would make a fine meal!"
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