234 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE. 



■ dotted the desert. One of my companions was telling 

 an interminable story worthy of the Arabian Nights, 

 when suddenly our horses ceased their pasture, tossing 

 their heads with distended nostrils, and showing by the 

 trembling of their muscles that some large enemy that 

 they feared was not far away. 



In an instant we were in the saddle, ready for anything, 

 with our guns lying across the necks of our horses. We 

 rode them behind a group of rocks a little farther on, and 

 lay in ambush to see what was approaching. I stood up 

 in my stirrups, but could not discern a movement any- 

 where in the bushes ; but after an hour of tedious waiting 

 in the hot sun, a tremendous roar, followed by sharp 

 whines and angry growls, came from the little oasis we 

 had just left. Fifty paces from us appeared two lions, 

 a male and a female. It was more than we had hoped 

 for, and, in spite of a hunter's courage, I confess I felt 

 a not unwarranted nervousness. To be sure, we were 

 three to their two, but even that consolation was almost 

 immediately taken away from us ! The female lay on a 

 couch of leaves, and near her stood her lover, caressing 

 her in true feline style, when, with a roar like the ocean, 

 a tremendous male sprang from the thicket and stood 

 with quivering tail and angry eyes before his rival. He 

 was the stronger of the two, but the first did not hesitate ; 

 and at a kind of signal cry from the fair one, they fell 

 upon one another in fearful fashion. Each tried to throw 

 the other off his feet upon the ground to bite him. Their 



