On a mellow moonlight evening a cyclist was riding along a lonely road in the northern part of Mashonaland.  As he rode, enjoying the somber beauty of the African evening, he suddenly became conscious of a soft, stealthy, heavy tread on the road behind him.  It seemed like the jog trot of some heavy, cushion-footed animal following him.  Turning round, he was scared very badly to find himself looking into the glaring eyes of a large lion.  The puzzled animal acted very strangely, now raising his head, now lowering it, and all the time sniffling the air in a most perplexed manner.  Here was a surprise for the lion.  He could not make out what kind of animal it was that could roll, walk, and sit still all at the same time; an animal with a red eye on each side, and a brighter one in front.  He hesitated to pounce upon such an outlandish being—­a being whose blood smelled so oily.

I believe no cyclist ever “scorched” with more honesty and single-mindedness of purpose.  But although he pedaled and pedaled, although he perspired and panted, his effort to get away did not seem to place any more space between him and the lion; the animal kept up his annoyingly calm jog trot, and never seemed to tire.

The poor rider was finally so exhausted from terror and exertion that he decided to have the matter settled right away.  Suddenly slowing down, he jumped from his wheel, and, facing abruptly about, thrust the brilliant headlight full into the face of the lion.  This was too much for the beast.  The sudden glare destroyed the lion’s nerve, for at this fresh evidence of mystery on the part of the strange rider-animal, who broke himself into halves and then cast his big eye in any direction he pleased, the monarch of the forest turned tail, and with a wild rush retreated in a very hyena-like manner into the jungle, evidently thanking his stars for his miraculous escape from that awful being.  Thereupon the bicyclist, with new strength returning and devoutly blessing his acetylene lamp, pedaled his way back to civilization.

—­P.L.  Wessels.

+Theme LXXV.+—­Write a short imaginative story.

Suggested subjects:—­
  1.  A bicycle race with an unfriendly dog.
  2.  An unpleasant experience.
  3.  A story told by the school clock.
  4.  Disturbing a hornet’s nest.
  5.  The fate of an Easter bonnet.
  6.  Chased by a wolf.

(Where is the incentive moment?  Is it introduced naturally?)

+145.  Climax.+—­You have already noticed in your reading that usually somewhere near the close of the story, there is a turning point.  That turning point is called the climax.  At this point, the suspense of mind is greatest, for the fate of the principal character is being decided.  If the story is well written as regards the plot, our interest will continually increase from the incentive moment to the climax.