354 THE LION KILLER. 



paces from me, I fired a shot that struck him in the side and 

 brought him to a halt. Had Rostain availed himself of this 

 pause, he would have been save<J> but he must needs stop to 

 see the effect of my shot. Seeing the lion recover himself 

 and charging anew, he again endeavored to flee. His foot 

 caught a root and he fell ; before he could regain his feet, 

 the lion was upon him, and seizing him in his jaws, the man 

 and beast rolled down the hill together. 



In spite of the close woods that grew at the foot of the hill, 

 I was by Rostain's side in a moment after he had been seized. 

 lie was lying motionless in a pool of blood. The lion had 

 disappeared, leaving him for dead. Nevertheless, he still 

 breathed, and I hurriedly examined the upper part of the 

 body which I found to be unhurt. The four incisors of the 

 angry lion had pierced his thigh like so many bullets, and 

 sixteen deep long gashes from his claws, furrowed his back. 



I called for the Arabs to come to my aid, but they were 

 all afraid to descend the hill, so I picked up the wounded 

 man, and carried him on my shoulder to the level plain. 

 The rest of the day and the following night I spent at his 

 side, trying to assuage his pains, and awaiting the arrival of 

 Dr. Gresloy, who had been summoned to come from Guelma 

 to our relief. 



The next morning I returned to the chase, taking with me 

 a large number of Arabs to help me beat up the bushes for 

 the wounded animal, or to find his body in case he was dead, 

 this was the third day I had been hunting this one lion. 



After taking up the trail where it had left the unfortunate 

 spahi, we followed it for about four hundred yards, until it 

 entered a thicket on the bank of the Bou-Hemdem. On the 

 other side of this river extended a close swamp, called by the 

 Arabs the woods of El-Bhar. 



When I had satisfied myself that the lion was ambushed 

 in this copse, I divided my forces and prepared for a hard 



