AN EXCURSION IN THE MAHOUNA COUNTRY. 275 



The path on which we were lying, ascended the steep hill 

 side, from a densely-wooded ravine, where the lion kept him- 

 self by day, to the high plateau on which the douar was 

 placed. If he should follow his accustomed path, coming up 

 from the ravine, I would be able to have my shot at him 

 from above ; if on the contrary he should gain the douar by 

 some other route, I would be beneath him. In this uncer- 

 tainty I took my position so that I could see through the 

 cork wood trees either above or below me, and would have a 

 free sight in either direction for about thirty paces. 



At about one o'clock in the morning, Saadi-bou-Nar, but 

 little accustomed to these night watches, plead guilty to being 

 very sleepy, and stretched himself out behind me, where, to 

 do him justice, he slept most soundly. I know a great many 

 men who, in spite of their greater pretensions to bravery, 

 would not have done as much in such a place, at such a time 

 as this. I had taken the precaution to have all the dogs tied 

 up under the tents so as to quiet their customary clamor, and 

 now in the midst of the dead silence around me, I could 

 detect the faintest noise or motion. Up to this time the 

 heavens had been serene, and the moon clear, but soon clouds 

 gathered in the west and came scudding past before a warm 

 sultry wind a little later, the sky was all overcast, the moon 

 was gone, and the thunder rolled around us in heavy peals, 

 announcing a coming tempest. Then the rain fell in torrents, 

 and drenching my companions they awoke, and we consulted 

 for a moment about returning to the douar. But while we 

 were talking, an Arab called from the camp, " Beware, the 

 lion will come with* the storm 1" 



It is needless to say that this decided me to remain at my 

 post, and I covered the locks of my gun with the skirts of my 

 coat, while Saadi-bou-Nar draped himself in his burnous with 

 the heroic resignation of a beaver. Soon the rain ceased, like 

 all rains that accompany a thunder gust, and we only saw its 



