* THE LION IN THE COMMISSARIAT DEPARTMENT. 33*7 



scowled at me, and wrinkled his lips to show his teeth ; he 

 then would raise his long mane until it shadowed his face, 

 and utter a hollow roar, like the mutterings of a coming 

 storm. So the Arab horde that scours the plain, and halts 

 before you, flaunts its burnous, clatters its arms, and chants 

 its Bedouin cry before the last great charge that sweeps. like 

 a whirlwind over you. 



When he reached the end of his walk, he paused, and threw 

 up large masses of dirt and sod with his fore paws like a bull, 

 grumbling all the while, and shaking with anger. 



As he was becoming more and more excitable at every 

 minute, and as my first shot would call forth all the force of 

 the pent-up storm, I prepared to make the attack without 

 losing any time. I carefully selected a sod on the precipitous 

 bank, where I might sit *without danger of slipping to the bot- 

 tom of the ravine. Taking my seat, I brought my gun to my 

 shoulder, when the lion was directly opposite to me. At this 

 motion, which the enemy fully comprehended, he attempted -to 

 crouch down, but was not able to do so on the declivity, and 

 could only gather himself up like a goat, with his haunches 

 backed against the hill. 



I aimed back of the shoulder, as near as might be at the 

 heart, and fired. 



The lion bit the earth, writhed for an instant, and then, 

 with his great eye on me, he bounded in the air to cross the 

 ravine, and fell within ten steps of where I stood. He com- 

 menced to gather himself together again for another leap, 

 holding on to some roots that grew out of the bank, and I 

 could see the blood spirt out of both sides where my ball had 

 gone entirely through his body. Before he had recovered 

 himself, I sent rny other ball in his breast. He little by little 

 loosened his hold, his limbs relaxed, and rolling down the hill, 

 he fell with a dull sound on the rocky bed beneath. 



I commenced re-loading my gun, but found I had left my 

 15 • 



