316 THE LION KILLER. 



mine, and neither of us were apt to come home empty- 

 handed. 



" It is true, if he was hungry when I met him, he always 

 asked me go shares with him in whatever I had with me, and 

 I never turned a deaf ear. 



" Only once did I ever find him unreasonable. It was the 

 evening of El-cid-Kebir, and every good Mussulman on that 

 day, as you know, kills the fatted calf. I, however, never 

 liking to take away the life of one of my own poor dumb beasts, 

 generally selected my repast from the herds of my neighbors. 

 As I was coming home with the sheep I had just taken, thrown 

 over my shoulder, I met a lion. 



u ' Seignior,' I said to him, ' I am very sorry, but you can't 

 have my sheep this evening, as I want to keep it for the feast 

 to-morrow, like a good Mussulman as I am.' „ 



"The lion made believe he did not understand me, and 

 became more and more pressing in his request. 



tt I then left the path to take refuge in a grotto that I knew 

 quite near, thinking I would remain there until morning, and 

 return home by daylight. Before going into the grotto, I 

 looked over my shoulder, and the lion had disappeared ; but 

 I understood the gentleman a little too well to think that he 

 had gone, and therefore hid myself in the furthermost end of 

 the cave. 



" In about an hour's time I began to find it lonely in this 

 marmot's hole, and thought I would just step out, to see how 

 matters looked out of doors. On reaching the entrance, and 

 bracing myself with one hand on each side of the opening, I 

 slowly protruded my head to take a peep outside. At this 

 instant, I w r as suddenly harpooned by the capuchin of my 

 burnous, and I had just strength enough to draw in my head 

 in order to avoid being dragged out in the open air like a por- 

 cupine. 



The lion, who had been all this time crouching down over 



