THE CHASE OF THE PANTHER. 83 



narrow that I could scarcely understand how an animal 

 that was nearly the size of a lioness could have passed 

 through it, and if I had not seen the marks of her feet 

 in the sand, and against the sides of the rock, I should 

 have thought that I had been mistaken. I noticed a mastic 

 tree about ten paces up the hill that I selected as a place of 

 concealment, and stretched myself behind it in such a manner 

 that I could not be seen by the panther until she had got 

 three or four yards from the mouth of her den. 



It was about ten o'clock in the evening, when I heard seve- 

 ral sharp and quick repeated growls behind me, and on the 

 other side of the tree, and fearing lest I might be surprised, I 

 turned my head to see what was going on behind me. Unfor- 

 tunately, my gun struck a branch of the tree, as I moved. The 

 growls ceased, and a hissing spit was heard, like that made 

 by a cat, when at bay ; then I heard the quick steps of a 

 retreating animal, and the panther fled into her hole. I 

 only caught a glimpse of her as she entered it I waited till 

 daylight without her daring to come out of it. 



With the dawn of the day, I saw my Arab coursing over 

 the plain, leading with him my saddle-horse, and I rode to 

 the douar, with the promise of returning at evening. 



I was at my post when the first star opened its eye in the 

 heavens ; but the night passed quietly away without any 

 result. The panther once or twice put her nose outside of the 

 rocks, but immediately retreated on the suspicion of danger. 



After this same fashion, I passed ten consecutive nights 

 alone on that rocky hill, without even the chance of a shot. 

 On the eleventh day, a shepherd came to me to say, that he 



