CHAPTER XI. 



LIONS AND TIGERS. 



NCE Hanno, Emperor of Carthage, on returning 

 from a campaign covered with the trophies of 

 victory, glittering in gold and silver, stood 

 before his captives. There were five hundred of them, 

 naked, chained together, bowed under the yokes which 

 ground into their shoulders, standing silent before their 

 master. Between him and them was a blazing brazier. 

 Other slaves, older in years of servitude, were heating 

 the irons with which the mark of slavery was to be 

 branded in the quivering ilesh of the captives. 



"Stop!" said he, with an imperious gesture. "Let 

 half of the beasts stand on my right, and half on my 

 left. Now, let those on my left get together the ma- 

 terial and build me a palace more magnificent than 

 any in Carthage ; and those on my right, away with 

 them to the desert, and let them bring me home young 

 lions — scores of them, and quickly." 



They were free ! — two hundred and fifty men. Under 

 guards they departed for the southern part of the prov- 

 ince, where they laid skilfully arranged traps for the 

 "King of the Desert." They lay in ambush, armed 



