GEBABD, THE LION HUXTEB 77 



stop at home. From the first moment of the short twi- 

 light till the following day, any Arab who has heard that 

 warning roar feels the greatest reluctance to put a foot 

 outside his tent. But the very reason which kept them 

 safely indoors determined me to choose this particular 

 hour, for this is the time when the lion awakens from his 

 mid-day sleep and starts out in search of prey. 



When I reached the place marked by Amar Ben- 

 Sarah I found I still had a quarter of an hour's daylight, 

 and might study the landscape. 



It was the entrance to a mountain gorge. The 

 slopes on either side and the bottom of the gorge itself 

 were thickly wooded, the trees interspersed here and there 

 with bare rock, which stood out like gigantic bones, and 

 were still burning after the heat of the day. 



We plunged into the gorge, Ben-Sarah acting as guide. 

 Behind him he dragged a goat, who was to serve as a 

 decoy for the lion. 



About fifty paces from the lion's lair there was a 

 clearing, which I chose as my point of vantage. Amar 

 cut down a sapling, sharpened one end, and planted it 

 firmly in the middle of the clearing. Then he tied 

 the goat to it, leaving its rope a couple of yards 

 long. 



As he was completing his operations we heard a loud 

 and prolonged yawn at no great distance. It was the 

 Hon, only half awake as yet, but who was looking at us, 

 and who yawned as he looked. 



The bleatings of the goat had wakened him. He was 

 quietly sitting at the foot of a rock and deliberately lick- 

 ing his thick lips, looking all the time full of tbe most 

 magnificent contempt for us. 



I hastened to order my men back, and they were not 

 sorry to take up a position some two or three hundred 

 yards behind me. Amida alone insisted on remaining 

 close by me. 



I carefully examined the spot. A ravine separated me 



