A NEW KIND OF LION'S BAIT. 375 



us he took an opposite direction, and walked so fast that I 

 could not overtake him. 



I came back to my post where I had left my two men 

 about midnight, and feeling very much fatigued selected a 

 thick-set tree by the side of the path, and laid down for a 

 nap, bidding my spahi keep a good watch until I awoke. 

 The Arab stretched himself out at a little distance, and in a 

 few minutes was snoring like a windmill. 



It was a night of perfect beauty. The full moon poured 

 down a flood of silver that rolled off the trees, and lay knee 

 deep on all the fields of grain, and grassy knolls. Here and 

 there a cultivated patch of ground showed its fruitful breast 

 amid the woods, margined with the stately trees of ages ago. 

 The air was warm and fresh, the wind was whist, and no 

 sound met the ear, save the murmur of insects in the air, or 

 the bumping of beetles as their shardy wing came against the 

 white barked trees. The shadows lay heavily under the 

 foliage where we were stationed, though the Arab slept in 

 the full moonshine that gleamed on his burnous white as 

 snow. I saw for a while around me the pleasant view dis- 

 solving away in the mists of sleep,- when I felt my arm gently 

 pulled by my spahi. I slowly raised my head, and following 

 his eye saw on the pathway at about a hundred paces from 

 us, two lions sitting down side by side. 



I thought at first that we had been discovered, and was 

 preparing to fire away as best I could, but then • again I 

 reflected that we were in the shadows, partly concealed by 

 the bushes, while the happy native was lying in the full light 

 of the moon. It was evident it was he they were watching. 

 I forbade my comrade to awaken him, persuaded that he 

 would be proud of his share in the adventure after it was 

 over, and carefully raising to my feet, stood behind the trunk 

 of the tree to watch the operations of the enemy. 



The distance between me and them was only a hundred 



