THE MISFORTUNES OF LAKDAR. 341 



CHAPTER XXV. 



THE MISFORTUNES OF LAKDAR — A LION THAT DEVOURED THE 

 FACULTY OF A COLLEGE. 



I had hardly arrived at Guelma, before I had complaints 

 preferred by my friends in the Mahouna country against a 

 great red lion that had pitched his tent in their neighbor- 

 hood, and mocked at all the incantations of their sages, and 

 the reputation of their warriors. 



The fever was still lingering about my system, but I longed 

 for the fresh winds of the mountain, and believing the best 

 medicine would be some lion's blood, started for a hunt about 

 the first of August. 



Among those who had paid tribute to his mightiness, 

 none had been taxed heavier than one Lakdar, who had been 

 assessed twenty-nine beeves, forty-five sheep, besides mules 

 and jackasses. This was partly owing to the poor devil's 

 farm being situated in so pleasing a contiguity to the moun- 

 tains. Indeed his rugged field seemed more adapted for the 

 abode of lions than men. Fancy to yourself a little clearing 

 of land on the slope of the hills, cut up by deep ravines and 

 surrounded by woods, where the sun only shone at intervals 

 on the savage picture of tents and rocks, and you will have 

 an idea of the spot where Lakdar had reared his penates. 



To counterbalance these hardships of nature, there were a 

 few fields that the settler had reduced to cultivation, an 



