THE CHASE OF THE PANTHER. 19 



and then came to me for redress ; and I found myself at his 

 tent on the evening of the 13th of August. On the 26th of 

 the same month, Lakdar came to my tent, saying, " the herds 

 have come home without the black bull, and I am going to 

 see if I can find his body ; if I do, wo betide the robber that 

 stole him." And he took the road leading to the jungle. 



On the following morning about daybreak, on awakening, 

 I found Lakdar squatted by my bed-side, with a grim smile of 

 anticipated pleasure athwart his dark face. His burnous was 

 dripping with dew, and his dogs that were stretched by his 

 side were dappled with mud that was made by the last night's 

 storm. 



" Good morning, brother," he said, " I have found him, let 

 us go." 



Without a word of question, I took my arms, and we left 

 the douar. 



After a long walk through the forest of wild olives, we 

 followed a ravine where broken rocks, and impenetrable 

 thickets made our progress almost impossible. But after 

 reaching the extremity of the' woods, in the wildest part of the 

 cover, we came upon the remains of the black bull. The 

 thigh and breast had been eaten, and then the lion had 

 turned the body over so that the whole side was upper- 

 most. 



I said to Lakdar, " Go, and bring me a cake and a flask of 

 water, and let no one come here until to-morrow." After he 

 had returned with my dinner, and I had eaten, I placed 

 myself in position at the base of a wild olive, and within 

 three steps of the dead body. I cleared the branches away 



