HOW ROSTAIN BEARDED THE LION. 353 



that dead or alive, the lion must be there. I then posted the 

 Arabs in different groups around the thicket, and took my 

 position where I judged h* would most likely come out, 

 relying upon his habit of charging a single individual rather 

 than a number together. 



At a given signal, the Arabs gave a loud hurrah, and 

 waving their burnous, threw stones into the thicket, and hied 

 on their dogs, that immediately disappeared in the under- 

 brush. 



We stood in breathless silence for some minutes, awaiting 

 the result. No movement was seen, or noise heard, in answer 

 to our salute ; and supposing the animal dead, I was about to 

 return to the trail to follow it up to the body, when suddenly, 

 with a howl, out came the pack of dogs, with their tails 

 between their legs, and their hair on end, in grand rout. 

 The Arabs, not waiting any longer to see the cause of this 

 discomfiture, but well knowing what was coming, took flight 

 like the dogs. 



In a moment after, I saw the lion cautiously comma* out of 

 the thicket, and taking the very path where Rostain was 

 posted. I called to him, but before I could make him hear, 

 the animal was within ten steps of him, and the spahi losing 

 his reason at the fierce bearing of his foe, dropped his gun 

 and tied, only instead of running up the hill as the Arabs 

 had done, he conceived the fatal idea of turning down the 

 declivity to hide in the scattered woods at its base. 



The moment the lion caught sight of the fugitive, he gave 

 chase, with his mane ruffled and his tail in the air, and with 

 every jump he roared with the full blast of his lungs. Each 

 leap he made he staggered, but regaining his feet in an 

 instant, he pursued his course with a fearful earnestness. 



At the first glance at this chase, I knew that it was all 

 over with Rostain, though I ran with all my speed to his aid. 

 As the animal crossed a little opening in the w T oods at forty 



