238 THE LION KILLER. 



I was utterly confused by this answer of my comrade. 

 I at first thought that he had seen the lion, and was afraid 

 of a cloud obscuring the moon at the moment that we were 

 about to meet him, which would certainly have been danger- 

 ous. But the moon was sailing in beauty over the trees, and 

 as far as the eye could reach there were nothing but stars. 



"There, they have heard us, and are on our track, cock 

 your gun." 



I listened, and heard the sound of murmuring voices and 

 the rustling of burnous against the trees. 



" But these are men," I whispered to Bou-Aziz. 



" Yes," he replied, " a band of marauders." Judging from 

 the noise they made there could not have been less than a 

 dozen. I had two barrels to fire and Bou-Aziz another, and 

 in spite of my dagger and his sabre, it seemed to me that we 

 were in as bad a position as two unlucky wights might ever 

 find themselves. 



After cocking ray gun and trying to see if my knife was 

 loose in its sheath, I sprang to my feet, saying, " Come, let us 

 charge the beggars." 



He was on his feet almost as soon as myself, and throwing 

 the skirt of his burnous over his shoulder, he cried, " You 

 dogs, you never saw men — wait till we teach you a lesson !'' 

 and we rushed forth from our concealment to be saluted with 

 peals of laughter, and hear our names coupled with many a 

 covert joke. 



"Bah! they are my cousins," said Bou-Aziz, laughing, 

 " they are going out for a walk, let's find out something 

 about the lion." 



