344 THE LION KILLER. 



presence, but on the contrary I quietly waited for bis return 

 from what I supposed would be a sbort visit of pleasure or 

 business. 



One evening while seated in the garden, watching an old 

 boar that was gradually rooting along the intervening dis- 

 tance, between the edge of the forest and fair rifle shot, 

 Lakdar came came running to tell me that the old black 

 bull, the monarch of all the herd, had not come in at sunset 

 with the rest of the cattle, which was strong evidence of the 

 lion's having returned to his old haunt. Lakdar said that he 

 would go out at early light the next day to see what had 

 become of him. The next morning, after a long night's rest, 

 such as comes to the light heart after a day's chase among 

 the mountain, I opened my eyes and saw my host seated 

 cross-legged before my bed, with his face radiant with 

 pleasure. 



" Come," he said, " I have found him." 



In a quarter of an hour more we were standing contemplat- 

 ing the dead bull that lay in the middle of a tangled wood. 

 The thigh and the breast had been eaten, the rest was 

 still untouched, except by the destroyer's teeth, that had left 

 a semicircle of marks on the black neck. 



I sent Lakdar for some cakes and a flao-on of water, and 

 after he had brought them, I gave him leave of absence until 

 the next morning, and took my post at the foot of a wild 

 olive tree within three steps of the carcass. The woods were 

 so thick that I could not see six steps ahead of me, but I 

 carefully picked out the tracks the lion had made when 

 leaving the place, so that I should know which way he would 

 return. I then took off my turban and rolled it up out of the 

 way that I might hear more distinctly, and sat myself down 

 to the banquet of bull's meat that I all uninvited had come 

 to share with the lion. 



With the setting sun came forth to the world all the 



