HUNTING THE LIONESS. 189 



lion roared under cover at dawn of day ; but instead of advancing 

 toward me, he started off in a westerly direction at such a pace 

 that it was impossible for me to come up with him. I retraced 

 my steps at midnight and took up my quarters at the foot of a 

 tree upon the path which the lion had taken. The country about 

 this spot was cleared and cultivated. The moon being favorable, 

 the approach of anything could be descried in every direction. I 

 installed myself and waited. Weary after a ride of several hours 

 over a very irregular country, and not expecting any chance that 

 night, I enjoined my spahi to keep a good watch, and lay down. 

 I was just about to fall asleep when I felt a gentle pull at my 

 burnous. On getting up I was able to make out two lions, sitting 

 one beside the other, about one hundred paces off, and exactly on 

 the path in which I had taken up my position. At first I thought 

 we had been perceived, and prepared to make the best of this dis- 

 covery. The moon shed a light upon the entire ground which 

 the lions would have to cross in order to reach the tree, close to 

 which all within a circumference of ten paces was completely 

 dark, both on account of the thickness of the tree and the shadow 

 cast by the foliage. My spahi, like me, was in range of the 

 shadow, while the Arab lay snoring ten paces off in the full light 

 of the moon. There was no doubting the fact it was this man 

 who attracted the attention of the lions. I expressly forbade the 

 spahi to wake up the Arab, as I was persuaded that when the 

 action was over he would be proud of having served as a bait even 

 without knowing it. I then prepared my arras and placed them 

 against the tree and got up, in order the -better to observe the 

 movements of the enemy. They were not less than half an hour 

 traversing a distance of one hundred metres. Although the 

 ground was open, I could only see them when they raised their 

 heads to make sure that the Arab was still there. They took 

 advantage of every stone and every tuft of grass to render them- 

 selves almost invisible ; at last the boldest of them came up crouch- 

 ing on his belly to within ten paces of me and fifteen of the Arab 

 His eye was fixed on the latter, and with such an expression that 

 I was afraid I had waited too long. The second, who had stayed 



