MY FIRST EXPERIENCE IN LION HUNTING. 267 



bad fallen with the Hon, and now they were more grateful 

 and ardent in their affection than the men, and they all 

 desired to enrich me by gifts of cattle and herds. The 

 proposition that was made to me by the Arabs reminded me 

 of a custom in force in some of the departments of France, 

 where a hunter who has killed a wolf is in the habit of 

 marching from village to village, and the farmers and culti- 

 vators pay a tribute as he passes. 



The Arabs wanted me before leaving, to visit all the douars 

 scourged by the lion in order to receive a beef from every 

 tent. The offer was made in perfect good faith, as they 

 proposed to commence with themselves, and to send horse- 

 men with me to drive my herds into Guelma after the body 

 of the lion. 



I could have entered the city that evening if I had accepted 

 their generous offer, with a thousand head of horned cattle 

 bellowing victory. I preferred entering with my lion. 



You were a rich man to refuse this gift worth a hundred 

 thousand francs, I hear you say. 



Heavens ! no, I was poor as Job ; but does not a pay- 

 ment destroy the worth of a good act ? Yes, or no, I have 

 refused the same offer a hundred times since then, and never 

 yet regretted my decision. 



Nevertheless, we marched on towards Guelma as fast as 

 the weight of the lion, the resistance of the frightened ani- 

 mals that carried it, and the curiosity of the thousands of 

 Arabs who came out to see the cortege, would permit. 

 Already the distant walls of the city arose from the sandy 

 plain, when I saw a horseman coming at full run, with a man 

 behind him on the crupper. Having reached the procession, 

 the man mounted behind slid to the earth, and I recognized 

 the old- man to whom I had promised the lion's beard, who 

 had come to demand the honor. 



The execution was had on the spot, and I was as happy in 



