The Lion 99 



into the dreamy languor Dr. Livingstone expatiates 

 upon. His pain was sooner over than that of some we 

 know of; death came when the neck was crushed, but 

 what had he suffered previously ? 



There is an alleged trait of character which should be 

 alluded to on account of the propensity displayed even by 

 those who really know this animal to make a composite 

 being of him part lion and part gentleman. 



Gerard is one of them. He was to some extent, no 

 doubt, deceived by common report, and likewise misled by 

 his knowledge of those domestic virtues that really belong 

 to the animal. At all events he constructed a lion that 

 bears a curious resemblance to a raffine of the famous old 

 duelling days in France without the seigneur s levity or his 

 lewdness. When his family, whom he has up to this time 

 fed himself, are able to join in the chase, the lion finds the 

 game, strikes it down, and then, with that refined self- 

 abnegation which comports so well with his natural charac- 

 ter, he retires to a little distance from the quarry in order 

 that Madame may be first served. This and much more to 

 the same effect. 



It happens, however, that one man, and only one to the 

 writer's knowledge, the Hon. W. H. Drummond, chanced 

 to see what Gerard has depicted in colors furnished by his 

 own fancy. His narrative of the incident from first to 

 last is much more in accordance with the style of manners 

 taught in the struggle for existence than the former one. 

 One day while watching the motions of some antelopes 

 from the summit of a grassy and rock-strewn ridge, Drum- 

 mond suddenly became aware that he was not the only 



