DOUBLE SHOT AMONG THE LIONS OF ZEIlAZER. 37 i 



hills by the same path the lion had followed on the previous 

 day. I kept still until she was within thirty paces, when I 

 arose with my gun to my shoulder, and she halted. She 

 gave an anxious glance over her shoulder, and then showed 

 me her teeth, hissing like a cat, and tossing her head. 



I took aim at her shoulder, and fired. With the explosion 

 of the gun, she doubled up like a snake, and then with all 

 her strength bounded at me, but before she could make a 

 second leap, my remaining ball struck her in the nape of the 

 neck, and she fell dead. 



The Arabs came running from every side at my double 

 shot, and when they saw the dead lioness at my feet, they 

 knelt one by one, to kiss the hand that had given them a 

 lesson never to be forgotten. 



I sent the body of this lioness to Constantine, and the one 

 that I had shot two days previous, we drew out of the ravine 

 for home consumption. Nevertheless, we could not be con- 

 tented without the third lion that we had flushed, and the 

 next day I was on his trail, with all the Arabs at my side, 

 who would have willingly hunted with me as long as there 

 was a lion left in Africa. 



We followed the same tactics we had before employed, 

 and succeeded in starting a lioness of the same age as the 

 one I had killed on the yesterday, but she kept to the covers 

 so closely, that it was impossible to bring her to battle. 

 That evening she was seen travelling towards Bou-Aziz, and 

 thinking she w r ould not wish, after such a chase, to visit the 

 Zerazer again, I returned to Constantine. 



In January, 1850, I was summoned by the same people to 

 come to their help against the mighty, as two lions had emi- 

 grated from Aures, and since their arrival ,-there had been 

 nothing but rapine and vexation of spirit. 



The morning after I reached the Zerazer I was standing 

 on the high plateau of the mountain, while ten Arabs beat 



