HAWKING IN AFRICA. 135 



some jackals wandering around the corpse of Lakdar, which I 

 found horribly mutilated and lying with our two eagles, 

 beheaded one on each side of him. 



" After having satisfied myself that I was alone, I wrapped 

 the body and head of my cousin in my burnous, and placing 

 it on my shoulder, proceeded towards the place where we had 

 hidden our mule in the morning. 



" I found him in the same spot, quietly grazing on the 

 grass at the foot of the tamarind to which he had been 

 attached. Binding my precious bundle on his back by means 

 of a cord, I crossed the plain in order to strike a path 

 which would enable me to arrive at the douar before day. 



" I had walked for about four hours without meeting any- 

 thing, all the time followed by several jackals, that attracted 

 by the smell of blood, barked at intervals behind me, when 

 my ass suddenly stopped short, raising his ears and trembling 

 violently. On looking ahead of me, I perceived not very far 

 off, two eyes like diamonds on our path. 



" Accustomed to these sort of meetings, I hastened to cut 

 the string with which I had bound Lakdar on the back of 

 the ass, took him on my shoulder as before, and entered the 

 thicket, leaviDg my poor beast motionless with fear on the 

 road. 



" When I had walked about a hundred steps, I heard some- 

 thing like the fall of a heavy body thrown violently down, then 

 a kind of rattling in the throat, and then a total silence. 



" The lion having accepted the sacrifice offered him, I was 

 secure as to myself, and regained the path I had left, by 

 making a circuit. 



