ARAB FASHION OF HUNTING THE LION. 59 



the leader of the party we left in the thicket has reached the 

 end of the trail. 



A fierce roar resounds through the woods a few paces 

 ahead. 



"Down!" cries a voice like the leader of an army, 

 " Remember you are men, children of Cessi, and that I am 

 with you." 



Immediately the party congregate together around their 

 chief, some seated, some kneeling, some stretched on the 

 ground, the better to see under the leafy cover. Their guns 

 are all cocked with the breech to their shoulders and the 

 muzzle to their foe. 



The lion has crouched to the earth like a cat, so that he 

 can be more ready for the spring, and present a smaller front 

 to his adversaries. 



The men are so closely banded together, that a single 

 burnous would cover them all. 



It is a solemn moment under that pall of leaves, with not 

 a sound in the sultry air. The lion and the Arabs, face to 

 face, only a step apart from the wary beast, and yet they can- 

 not see him. . 



Suddenly one of the men indicates with his finger that he 

 sees the lion. His neighbor following the direction of his 

 finger makes the same motion. Then they all lean forward 

 the better to take aim. 



One moment more of silence, and the woods will echo with 

 the ringing of twenty carbines, but no — they are too late — 

 the lion sees he is discovered, a crash of underbush, a short 

 hollow roar, and he is upon them. He crushes the head of 



