noon
The show-girl was fastened in the central cage . The clowns raised the inner doors , and the lions shot from their cramped quarters swift as tawny arrows . They were almost against the slight figure , without seeming to observe her . For the fourth time since noon they stood erect , sniffing the air , their bodies unconfined by galling timbers and chilling iron . For the fourth time this day , they were to be put through their tricks by force of fear . They hated these tricks , as they hated the small cages in which they could not lash their tails . They hated the `` baby carriage '' in which one was presently to sit , while the other pushed him over the floor , his sullen majesty sport for the rabble .