262 THE LION KILLER. 



with the greatest care, and selected a place to await for the 

 awaking of the lion. 



Already night drew the curtains of the earth. Distant 

 objects disappeared, and nearer ones assumed a dusky hue 

 while the shadows blackened in the forests, under the cork 

 trees. I knew that there was no moon that night, and yet 

 each minute shortened the twilight, and nothing announced the 

 coming of the lion, unless perchance it might be the absence 

 of the wild boars that were usually rooting in the forest glades. 



I can hardly tell the anguish and anxiety that tortured my 

 mind. I counted, and recounted the days that had passed 

 since I left the camp, and I came to the conclusion that I 

 must go back on the morrow, and this time with no hope of 

 ever trying the chase again. 



My companions, harassed by dangers, and worn out with 

 fatigues, were anxious to avoid passing the night in beating the 

 mountain paths, and had risen from the turf where they were 

 stretched, with the intention of leaving. Bou-Aziz pointed to 

 the stars that were already burning brightly in the sky, and 

 said : 



" It is too late to meet him here, he has already left the 

 woods for the plains by some other path." 



I could not bear to leave, though I saw my companions 

 shoulder their guns, and start. 



" You can go," I said, " I will follow you by and by." 



They had hardly taken ten steps when the heavy roar 

 of the lion sounded in the ravine below. I was so wild 

 with delight that, not thinking of the condition of my gun, 

 I sprang into the woods to run straight to the lion, followed 

 by my two comrades. When the sound ceased I paused to 

 wait. 



Bou-Aziz and Ben-Ouinbark were close on my heels, pale 

 as two spirits, and gesticulating to each other that I had 

 gone mad. In few a moments more the lion roared again, 

 about a hundred paces distant, when I rushed forward in 



