260 THE LION KILLER. 



" Are the robbers then servants to the lion ?" 



"When he encounters them with booty he takes what suits 

 him best, when he meets them empty handed he makes them 

 work for him." 



" But how does the lion recognize his servants." 



" By their toilet. Those who have no shirt he can recog- 

 nize a league off. Those who wear only a shirt he can see 

 half a league off; those who wear more than a shirt he does 

 not recognize at all, and eats them or kills them with 

 fright." 



It was about one o'clock in the morning when we reached 

 the banks of the Ouled-bou-Sousa, which we crossed in the 

 same manner as the first river. As we approached the 

 douars, we found the Arabs all asleep, the dogs quiet, and 

 nothing visible but the fires that were burning at a douar a 

 little way off, to which I sent Bou-Aziz to find out some 

 news. 



" There is nothing for us to do," he said on returning, 

 followed by several Arabs, " but to go back where we came 

 from. This douar that offers us hospitality has been visited 

 by the lion, and as he has not roared since, we cannot tell 

 the way he has gone." 



I had resolved not to enter a tent during the whole of my 

 leave of absence, and so after my two comrades had been to 

 the douar to get some refreshment, we returned to the edge 

 of the forest to await the coming of daylight, and return of 

 the wild animals that were roaming the plain. This day, as 

 on the others, we could overlook the de-file of wild game of 

 every kind escaping from the light and heat of the plain to 

 the dusky woods. A spectacle full of interest for the hunter, 

 and that brought to my mind the lines of my friend Leon 

 Bertrand : 



When sun-rise gemmed the prairie grass, 

 The loitering stags to covert pass. 

 With lithesome step they track'd the dew, 

 While herald birds before them flew, 



