In less than half an hour the leopard and the jaguar seemed to realize
that they, and not the man, were on the defensive. Their savage dashes
were less frequent, and they were more inclined to crouch close to the
floor and lash their tails in sullen defiance. Then it was that Frenchy
began his first attempt at teaching them. Hooking the movable bracket
upon one of the lower rounds about three feet from the floor of the
cage, he made a forward movement toward the animals, veering a little
to the side opposite the bracket. The creatures had long been
attempting to get past him, and now their opportunity had apparently
come.
Together they made a rush to run under the projecting bracket. Quick as
a flash, however, the trainer was back again in his old place, and the
head of the foremost animal struck the rounds of the chair. This
checked the leopard's progress for a moment, but the creature was not
given a jab of the rod as before. Instead, the chair was slightly
withdrawn, with the result that the spotted cat instantly bounded upon
the narrow bracket--precisely the result at which the trainer had been
aiming.
Before the leopard was fully aware of what was transpiring, Frenchy
reached forth his training-rod and rubbed it caressingly along the
creature's back from head to tail. Of course the animal struck out
spitefully with its paw, but the blows were received by the chair and
did no harm, while the trainer had been able to bestow upon his
ferocious pupil a caressing touch of approval.
Even at that early stage in the education of the animal I fancied I
could see an understanding of this commendatory stroke. Certainly
within a week this sign was clearly understood, and never did one of
the animals leap upon the bracket without receiving this token of
approval. Before Frenchy came out of the cage on the occasion of this
first experience with these two creatures his chair was splintered
beyond repair. Backing out as deftly as he had entered, he leaned up
against one of the posts in the winter quarters and remarked:
"Those cats will make good performers. They've got just enough fight in
them. I don't mind working a leopard that's been captured, but I don't
want anything to do with cats that have been born in a cage. By the
time an animal has cuffed one chair to pieces I can generally size him
up and get at his disposition. I don't mind a creature that's ready for
war right at the start. The sulky, sullen brutes are the ones that keep
a trainer in a perpetual state of suspicion."