362 THE LION KILLER 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



A LION HUNT AMONG THE NATIVES OF CONSTANTINE. 



After my return to Africa I was attached to the Govern- 

 ment Office, and was therefore obliged to give np my old 

 quarters at Guelma and reside at Constantine. 



In this part of the country some tribes still hunt the lion, 

 as it might be called, by assault, a royal chase that is far 

 superior to every other method, and those that engage in it 

 play for heavy stakes. 



They go in a body of thirty or forty men, to find the lion 

 in his lair, and irritate him until he comes out, not to flee, 

 but to attack the disturbers of his rest. The Arabs remain 

 in a body, and when the lion is within ten steps of them they 

 fire all at once, but in spite of this hail storm of lead, eight 

 times out of ten the animal is not killed at the shot, but 

 dashes on his foes, and thrashing about in the living mass 

 dies under many blows, and not unavenged. 



In the south of Constantine when a lion has ravaged a 

 particular section of the country for a long time, and has 

 apparently fixed himself for life in some neighboring moun- 

 tain, the people come forth to give him battle. The day is 

 fixed by the men in authority, and a given place is designated 

 for the meet. The horsemen take their position on the 

 plain at the base of the mountain, and the footmen, in com- 

 panies of twenties, climb the hill towards the lairs with loud 



