HUNTING THE LION. 156 



tains is ravaging the country around Archioua, and innumerable 

 victims, men as well as cattle, attested the terrible presence of the 

 monster. Tne whole population is in despair, and cries aloud for an 

 avenger. As an avenger Gerard offers himself. 



In the course of a few hours, accompanied by his dog called by 

 tli" prophetic name of Lion he has traversed the vast plain of Guel- 

 \, broken by 'ravens and hidden streams, and clad by the untrained 

 txuriance of nature with a gorgeousness of vegetation far exceeding 

 ,ae richest productions of European climes. Gerard, having exa- 

 mined the theatre of the enemy's depredations, and made himself 

 familiar with the necessary landmarks, calmly waits the return of 

 night. The hour of the evening watch has sounded. Refreshments 

 circulate in the hospitable tent where the elders of the tribe are as- 

 sembled, and one of the most gifted of the natives chants a long and 

 monotonous ballad in honor of the renowned Arsenne. 



This Arsenne was by birth a Turk, who had acquired great cele- 

 brity under the ancient beys of Constantino, as a lion-hunter, or lion- 

 Bnarer. Sometimes aloft in a tree, sometimes buried in a cavity of 

 the rocks, always sheltered in impregnable ambuscade, he killed a 

 great number of these ferocious creatures without ever daring openly 

 to face them. He wanted the glory of this exploit, or to speak more 

 truly, he was challenged by his betrothed, and, in her sweetest tones, 

 she said to him one day, " Arsenne, dost thou hear in the moun- 

 tain the roaring of the lion '/" 



" I hear it," Arsenne replied. 



" You must bring me his skin to-night ; not as a new trophy of thy 

 address, but of thy valor. In the open country only shalt thou attack 

 him." 



Such was her command. She waited the result. To humor hia 

 >etrothed, the enamored Arsenne threw himself upon the track of 



the lion His bones only were discovered at the foot of a 



ravine. 



This little history imparted something of a solemnity to the ocua. 

 ibn. Was it intended as a prudent warning against the rashness 

 of his enterprise ? Or was it a last confession of humiliation on th 

 part of the Arab, in accepting the heroic protection of the infidel f 



