270 THE GLIMMER OF A CAMP-FIRE. 



hard task to carry the weapon and his bundle, but now. after shouldering his load 

 once more, he suddenly recalled what had been said at the camp-fire about the 

 expected visit from lions. 



"The best thing I can do," he reflected, "is to get home as soon as I can, for 

 I've wandered some distance from camp." 



The thought was still in his mind when he was frightened by the same cause 

 that gave his cousin such a shock, almost at the same moment: it was the unmis- 

 takable growl of a wild beast in front of him. 



His sense of hearing told him the latter fact, but he was so much farther from 

 the camp than his cousin that his eyes could be of no help at all. 



Dick stood still, with th<? deliberate conviction that of all the mistakes he had 

 ever made the present one was the greatest. 



He had his knife and his revolver weapons which he knew well how to handle 

 in an emergency, but they were not likely to be of much assistance in the impend- 

 ing fight in the dark. 



While he was hesitating as to what step he should take, if indeed he could take 

 any, the same streak of lightning which told Bob Marshall the nature of the peril 

 that threatened him, made the same revelation to his cousin. 



Still worse, the lion that Dick saw was nigh enough to make his spring and was 

 in the very act of doing so. The youth could not have seen anything more dis- 

 tinctly than he did that appalling sight. 



Instead of drawing his pistol, Dick flung up his arms, so as to spread out the 

 canvas, and held it before him as a shield against the impending shock. He knew 

 the iion was coming, and he used the only protection at command. 



Now there is nothing so terrifying to a wild animal as a danger which it cannot 

 understand. You have noticed how the appearance of some uncouth object will 

 frighten a horse which is gentle in the presence of danger twice as great. 



So long as Dick Brownell remained himself in looks, he was just the kind of a 

 supper to please a large and hungry lion, but when the latter saw him assume the 

 shape of some mysterious creature, with large, white wings, he was scared almost 

 out of his senses. Nothing could induce the king of beasts to attack such a frightful 

 animal, unless he himself were pushed into a corner and forced to fight. 



The snarling growl which followed this precaution on the part of Dick apprised 

 him, for the first time, of his singular success ; he had succeeded in doing that 

 which seemed impossible : he had frightened the lion. 



That certainly was strong reason for satisfaction, but the youth could by no 

 means feel certain the fright would last. The beast, still muttering, trotted several 

 rteps, looking back in the gloom, as if he expected pursuit. 



Had Dick known it, or rather had he possessed the light to guide him, he could 

 have completed his work by dashing after the lion, swinging and swirling the 

 canvas, and uttering frightful cries. The beast would have fled at the top of his 

 speed, and never halted till a long way off. 



But the youth could see nothing of his foe, so long as the Egyptian darkness 



