32 NEIGHBORS WITH CLA WS AND HOOFS. 



until she began again to purr. He took hold of her paws, 

 felt her ears, and rolled her over. She suffered him to do 

 all this ; and when he played with her paws she carefully 

 drew in her claws lest she should hurt him. He soon be- 

 gan to have an unwillingness to kill her. In the lonely 

 desert she seemed like a friend. He gave her a name, 

 and before the end of the day she would look up in his 

 face when he called " Mignonne ! " 



16. When the sun went down she uttered a deep, mel- 

 ancholy cry. " She is well educated," said the soldier ; 

 " she has learned to say her prayers ! " He was rejoiced 

 to see her grow drowsy. " That is right," said he, " you 

 would better go to sleep first ! " When she was sound 

 asleep, he arose silently and set off vigorously toward the 

 Nile ; but he had not gone a quarter of a league over the 

 sand when he heard the panther bounding after him, ut- 

 tering at intervals a loud, sharp cry. 



17. Before she came up, the Frenchman fell into a 

 dangerous trap of loose sand, from which he could not ex- 

 tricate himself. The panther seized him by the collar, 

 drew him out of the sand, and brought him safe to the 

 other side of the treacherous ditch at a single bound. 

 " My dear Mignonne," exclaimed the soldier as he caressed 

 her, " our friendship is for life and for death." He re- 

 traced his steps. Having hung out his shirt as a signal to 

 any human being who might come near, he lay down and 

 slept. 



18. When he awoke, Mignonne was gone. He went 

 out, and soon saw her at a distance clearing the desert 

 with her long and high bounds. She arrived with bloody 

 jaws. When receiving caresses, she purred and fixed her 

 eyes upon him with more fondness than usual. The sol- 

 dier patted her neck and talked to her as he would to a 

 companion. "Ah, miss, you have been eating some of 



