TO THE HUNTING GROUNDS 103 



he seemed to have secured the leavings from someone's 

 teapot, so letting " I dare not " wait upon " I would " 

 my chance passed. 



Just as dawn crept ghostlike through the curtain- 

 less window all the air vibrated with a most un- 

 expected sound — a lion's roar! It was unmistakable. 

 In great, throaty, hoarse, spasmodic coughs the King 

 saluted us. We sat up on the miserable pallets 

 masquerading as beds, and " Did you hear it ? " 

 we exclaimed in unison. The sonorous voice thrilled 

 us through and through. Little waves of feeling broke 

 on the beach of memor}/. 



Ah, Your Majesty we don't know what you are 

 doing in Telav — probably you don't know yourself 

 — but Salaam ! Salaam ! and again Salaam ! 



A very early hour saw us sallying forth to find him. 

 Kenneth said we had been dreaming, as though two 

 people could dream the same dream at once, and as 

 though even a dream fancy could produce a voice so 

 wonderful ! 



" Where is the lion ? " asked Cecily simply, of the 

 first Russian soldier we met. 



He smiled, and directed us to a hollow in the town 

 area, and then, lest the place should elude us, came 

 too. 



A species of fair run by Persian showmen occupied a 

 patch of land, where in primitive cages on wheels happy 

 families lived. One prison-house had about a dozen 

 monkeys, a tortoise, a sheep, and two pigs, all on the 

 best of terms with each other. The largest ape sat on 

 a tortoise throne, and the pigs reposed beneath two 



