94 THE LION KILLER. 



however, lose the hope of seeing them return, and selected 

 places of concealment, resolved to pass the remainder of the 

 night in watching for them. 



The field was separated from the woods by a little path 

 made by the Arabs. 



I left Rousselet to install himself between two bushes, and 

 placed myself at three hundred steps further along the path, 

 near a beautiful mastic, standing alone between the road and 

 field. 



The weather was calm, the sky serene, and the moon was 

 sailing aloft, in undimmed effulgence. 



At the moment I cocked my gun and pistol, I heard the 

 trumpets in the camp sound for putting out the lights. From 

 this moment I counted the hours by the cry of the guard, as 

 it made its round, calling " sentinelles, prenez garde a vous" 

 which, in spite of the distance, reached us quite distinctly 

 through the calm night air. 



It must have been about eleven o'clock, when a tramping 

 noise was heard in the woods on my left. At the same 

 instant, a troop of young wild pigs, followed by a large and 

 beautiful sow, crossed the path and commenced rooting about 

 in the bean field. 



As my companion and I had previously agreed only to fire 

 when certain of killing, I feared to hazard a shot at forty 

 paces, and waited until the game should present a nearer 

 shot. 



A little while afterwards, and following the sow and her 

 young ones, appeared an old boar, walking slowly along, 

 snuffing and listening each time he paused in his walk. 



