220 THE LION KILLER. 



" And this," said another, casting down a second skin. 



" And this," said another, placing a similar trophy on the 

 other two. 



" What do you say to that ? here are the skins of three of 

 our best working oxen, and another was carried to the moun- 

 tain to be eaten ; and what makes it more humiliating, is that 

 they were all taken from before our tents at sundown, while 

 they were hitched to the cart." 



The reader will pardon me, if for once in my life I rejoiced 

 at the misery of others ; for I committed this fault on this 

 occasion, when I learned that they were speaking of the lion 

 who had just sacrificed for his personal comfort a hecatomb 

 of beef. 



One would have thought that the animal, if he had been a 

 moderate liver, might have contented himself with one ox 

 for his supper, and I am of that opinion myself, unless, as 

 it appears, that the blood of these oxen are to him what a 

 good bottle of moselle is to some of our bon-vivants after a 

 summer's dinner. Indeed it seems that a few swallows of 

 bloody to this royal proprietor of broad-lands, is not more in 

 proportion to the size of his dinner and the measure of his 

 wealth, than the bottle of champagne that trickles down the 

 throat of a Parisian gourmand. 



I rejoiced at these tokens of prowess on the part of the 

 seignior and master, and as the spahis charged their relatives 

 with cowardice in abandoning their teams at the approach of 

 the lion, the interview seemed to be about terminating in a 

 very sanguinary manner. They manaced and defied each 

 other, and without the intervention of the assistants of the 



