GERAKD, THE LION SLAYER. 491 



by a banquet, I returned to my post of the previous night. 

 A little after sunset the lion roared for the first time, but in- 

 stead of quitting his lair, he remained there all night, roaring 

 like a madman. Convinced that the wounded lioness was 

 there, I sent, on the morning of the 24th, two Arabs to explore 

 the cover. They returned without daring to approach it. On 

 the 24th, there was the same roaring and complaining of the 

 lion, on the mountain and under cover. On the 25th, at five 

 in the evening, I had a young goat muzzled, and proceeded 

 with it to the mountain. The lair was exceedingly difficult 

 of access. Nevertheless I succeeded at last, by crawling now 

 on my hands, and now on my belly, in reaching it. Having 

 discovered certain indications of the presence of the inhabi- 

 tants of this locality, I had the goat unmuzzled and tied to a 

 tree. Then followed the most comical panic on the part of 

 the Arabs, who were carrying my arms. Seeing themselves 

 in the middle of the lion's lair, whom they could distinctly 

 smell, and hearing the horrified goat calling them with all its 

 might, was a position perfectly intolerable to them. After 

 consulting together as to whether it were better to climb up 

 a tree or clamber on a rock, they asked my permission to re- 

 main near the goat. This confidence pleased me, and obtained 

 them the privilege of a place by my side. I had not been 

 there a quarter of an hour when the lioness appeared ; she 

 found herself suddenly beside the goat, and looked about her 

 with an air of astonishment. I fired, and she fell without a 

 struggle. The Arabs were already kissing my hands, and I 

 myself believed her dead, when she got up again as though 

 nothing was the matter, and showed us all her teeth. One 

 of the Arabs who had run towards her was within ten paces 

 of her. On seeing her get up, he clung to the lower branches 

 of the tree to which the goat was tied, and disappeared like 

 a squirrel. The lioness fell dead at the foot of the tree, a 

 second bullet piercing her heart. The first had passed out of 

 the nape of the neck without breaking the skull bone. 



