286 THE LION KILLER. 



the bank beneath furrowed by his claws. Beneath, by the 

 edge of the brook, Ahmed-Ben-Ali picked up a piece of bone 

 the size of his finger. The bone, together with the mark 

 of a single front paw, when the animal had bounded against 

 the side of the bank, made me conclude that he had his 

 shoulder broken. As he had followed the course of the 

 stream, probably to soothe his wound in the water, it was 

 impossible for us to find any traces of him, although we spent 

 the whole day in the attempt. 



On the next day a great number of the Arabs came 

 together to aid me in the hunt; and we beat through all the 

 woods in the neighborhood without any success. I then 

 gave up the lion as dead, and was making my arrangements 

 to return to Bone, when I heard loud cries together with the 

 reports of guns from the side of the mountain. I mounted 

 my horse and rode in the direction of the sound as fast as 

 possible. 



When I reached the place I saw the body of the Arabs at 

 a goodly distance oft* on the other side of the brook, but there 

 were about a dozen that had approached the wounded animal 

 as they said, to finish him, and had turned tail and were 

 fleeing like mad, while the lion was charging close after them. 

 Over rocks and mastic bushes they came, helter skelter, Sheik 

 and servant together, their horses so wild with fright, that 

 there was no checking them, and they did not halt until 

 they had placed a long distance between themselves and 

 their pursuer, who would have made short work of the whole 

 party had he not been dragging after him a broken leg. 



The animal came to a halt in a small opening, growling 

 with a menacing mien. How grand and beautiful he was, 

 standing there on one side of the brook, with his regal 

 carriage, his bristling mane, and lashing tail, while sixty 

 armed horsemen stood trembling on the other. 



I dismounted from my horse, and giving him in charge to 



