MY FIRST EXPERIENCE IN LION HUNTING. 231 



el-Ahor, which signifies lame, had visited a certain douar so 

 constantly, that it was nearly depopulated, and one of its 

 inmates had become so much enraged that he resolved to put 

 an end to the importunities of the robber once and for all. 

 This was a hair-brained resolve, and the Arab took good 

 care to keep his intentions secret. 



As the lion took not the least notice of the fires that were 

 lighted, or the noise that was made at his approach, nor 

 of the talismans that were written by the most famous mara- 

 bouts, and as he followed the douar wherever it might be 

 removed, the people had at last become resigned to the will 

 of God, and made no further resistance. 



With the shades of the evening, the Arab took his place 

 near the spot where the enemy was accustomed to jump over 

 the hedge to get at the cattle. About midnight, the jabber 

 of the jackal, that always follows the lion, could be heard 

 from the plain, and the dogs began to bark. The Arab 

 cocked his gun, and in a few minutes the lion cleared the 

 hedge at a single bound, and stood within three paces of 

 him. 



The gun sounded, and in the winking of an eye, the lion 

 with a broken shoulder bounded on the venturesome man, 

 and crushed him to the earth, and then rushed upon the tent 

 that happened to stand nearest to him, killing all that he 

 found within it, with the exception of a woman with a child 

 in her arms, who managed to reach the next tent and 

 climbed on the top of it, hoping that the lion would rather 

 seek the women who were shrieking beneath, than climb after 

 her. But the animal, furious to see this last victim escaping, 



