HUNTING THE LION. 465 



lorseman in his teeth, whilst he savagely tore his sides with his claws. 

 When he had got over a few feet in this way, the animal abandoned 

 his victim, and tried with difficulty to make his way towards the foot 

 of the ravine. As soon %s I saw Kostain fall, feeling that the lion 

 would inevitably seize him, 1 had hastened, as well as the nature of 

 the ground and the brambles that covered it would permit, to fly to 

 his assistance, but I arrived too late. The lion had disappeared, and 

 I could do nothing but attend to the severe wounds of my poor 

 comrade. 



" The next day I went back to the wood, accompanied by a party 

 of thirty Arabs. We found the trail of the lion, and followed the 

 marks of his blood. He had betaken himself to a thicket forming 

 almost an islet, and separated by the river Bon Hemdem from the 

 plain which the Arabs call Elbaz. In spite of our shouts, and the 

 stones we threw plentifully, he did not stir. One of the natives 

 caught a glimpse of him as he lay counohed up in the midst of an 

 enormous mastic-tree. He fired, but missed his aim. The lion 

 sprang at him, but his strength was spent, and the Arab escaped. 

 Another of the party, finding himself face to face with the animal, 

 levelled his gun; the lion sat down and waited; the Arab, in a mo- 

 ment of panic, turned his head aside to see that his companions had 

 not left him ; the lion saw his opportunity, and made a spring ; with 

 one claw of his heavy paw he laid open the cheek of his victim, tore 

 the butt-end of his musket from the barrel and from his grasp, and 

 seizing him by the loins, hurled him against a tree some ten feet dis- 

 tant. Encountering a third native armed with a musket and bayo- 

 net, he struck him down with a blow of his tail, and then presented 

 himself on the bank of the river in face of the little ford occupied by 

 the rest of the men. These took to flight, and the lion escaped without 

 further molestation. I was starting off in pursuit of him, when the 

 Sheik Mustapha came to tell me that the litter for carrying the wounded 

 Rostain had arrived from Mezez-Arnar. I thought it my duty to at- 

 tend him to the camp, arid thence to Guelma, where I saw him re- 

 ceived into the hospital. On the morrow I returned to the spot, and 

 for six days caused the wood to be watched, to assure myself that tha 

 li-m did not come )ut either to eat or drink, and at the end of that 



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