370 THE LION KILLER. 



and was standing at the foot of the rock, gazing up at my 

 two armor-bearers, who were in the anticipation of imme- 

 diate death. 



The distance was about forty paces, and I fired without 

 hesitation, aiming for the shoulder. The lion fell at the 

 report of my gun, but immediately regained his feet, when 

 another ball struck him in the side. He gave one roar that 

 threw the two Arabs into convulsions of fear, and then sprang 

 over a sheer precipice of fifty feet in height with a single 

 bound, and the dark ravine below-received his last struggles. 



The Ouled Sassi had reached the ridge overlooking the 

 plateau, at the moment I fired my first shot, and had seen 

 the lion make his grand leap into the Hades below. They 

 came running along the rocks, leaping like chamois from 

 ledge to ledge, and I had great difficulty in preventing them 

 from going into the ravine in search of the wounded beast, 

 who would have made bloody work in that narrow gorge, if 

 by chance he had a moment's breath to spare. 



I had hardly reloaded my rifle when the sentinels called 

 out as loud as they could yell, " Two lions are up in front of 

 the Ouled-Achour.' , 



There was no time to lose, the lion I had shot could not 

 well get out of the ravine even if alive, and so we all rushed 

 off, pell-mell, on the new scent. When we reached the other 

 slope of the mountain, we found the Ouled- Achour had fled 

 from their foes, and the lions could nowhere be found, though 

 we spent the whole day in the search. 



On the next morning it rained, and we watched with 

 anxious eyes all day, the flying scud through the curtains of 

 our tents. The following morning, however, shone out with 

 the accustomed brightness of African skies, and its earliest 

 light found me on the mountain, guarding the same plateau 

 as before, and mounted on a rock where I could command a 

 better view. From here I saw a lioness coming down tho 



