A NEW KIND OF LION'S BAIT. 377 



field that bordered the road. On coming to the place where 

 she had been standing, I could hear her mutterings in the 

 plantation, but did not think it was best to follow her into 

 the land of shadows at such an hour. So we waited for day- 

 light, and then followed the trail until it left the field, and 

 entered the woods where it was soon lost to sight. 



After having sent the body of the lioness I had shot to the 

 camp, where the soldiers tendered it the funeral honors due 

 to a hero, I resumed my post of the previous evening. A 

 little while after sunset, I heard the lion roar for the first 

 time, and then instead of leaving his lair, he remained there 

 crying like one possessed, all night. Convinced that the 

 wounded lioness was there, and that it was the sympathy of 

 her husband that shook the hills with its complainings, I sent 

 a couple of Arabs the next morning to find the spot, but 

 they returned in a little while afraid to venture. 



The following two nights were passed like the first, and 

 from evening until morning, the forest was full of the roar- 

 ings and murmurings of the distressed lion. 



The next afternoon I took a young kid, and having 

 muzzled it, we turned our steps up the mountain to the lion's 

 den. It was situated in the wildest and most inaccessible 

 part of the mountains, and so difficult of approach that we 

 had to crawl on hands and knees, one after the other, to get 

 there. 



Presidency I judged that we had reached the neighbor- 

 hood of the proprietors of the domain, and I had the kid 

 tied to a tree, and his muzzle removed. 



Then there ensued a most amusing panic among the Arabs 

 that had accompanied me, and almost a stampede. To find 

 themselves in the den of lions, scenting their breath, and 

 then to hear that cursed kid calling them to come with all 

 his might, was a position of terror not to be endured. After 

 having consulted hastily among themselves, whether it would 



