A LION HUNT IN THE VALLEY OF OURTEN. 383 



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marabout, I need not have left the place where I was stand- 

 ing, but the lion would have come and allowed himself to be 

 shot with perfect complacency. But with whatever confi- 

 dence this blessed saint inspired me, a confidence which was 

 shared by every Arab in the district, I had still greater faith 

 in the proverb, " Help yourself and heaven will help you," 

 and so I spent the day in gaining all the information I could 

 about the habits of the animal, and in giving instructions to 

 the huntsmen and trackers for the labors of the morrow. 



The duty of these men was to take each some particular 

 section of the woods, and search for the track of the game, 

 having found it to .follow it to where it entered the forest 

 and then search to see if another trail showed that it had 

 again broken cover. In a word, to follow it like huntsmen 

 when tracking a stag or a wild boar, and having once marked 

 down the game, to bring me word at a given rendezvous on 

 the edge of the forest. 



The second day after my arrival, the meet came together 

 at the designated place, when the trackers made the follow- 

 ing report : 



" The lion and his wife have been out all night. The lion 

 took a long walk all round the plain, and there are no signs 

 of his coming in again before the herds trod down the paths 

 in the morning. The lioness came in about nine in the 

 morning, and all the trackers united on her trail, and have 

 followed it up to a wood of about fifteen acres in extent, 

 where she still lies hid." 



I came to the wood and watched the track where it 

 entered the thicket, and when the lioness came out at night, 

 she fell at the third shot. 



The next day we followed the same plan, only knowing 

 that the lion, seeking his mate, would give a long run to his 

 pursuers, I appointed the hour of rendezvous at two o'clock 

 instead of daybreak. 



