384 THE LION KILLER. 



• 



On the return of the hunters, I learned that the lion had 

 made a long course, following nearly all the mountain paths, 

 and visiting nearly all his customary lairs, that he had killed 

 a mule and two beeves on his route as a sort of pastime, 

 and then had taken to the ridge of the hills, going towards 

 the south. His last resting-place was at three leagues from 

 the rendezvous. 



1 took my horse and rode to the place where the Arabs 

 had abandoned the trail, and dismounting, I waited for night 

 to follow up the path he had taken, hoping that he might 

 return by the same road. At about eleven o'clock in the 

 evening, not having met my game, and hearing a great 

 uproar among the douars on the plain, I supposed the lion 

 had entered the wood by some other path, and I therefore 

 returned to my tent. 



Four more days were occupied with the same searches, the 

 same long walks, and were rewarded with the same want of 

 success; the lion seemed to amuse himself by leading us a 

 merry chase over the greatest extent of country through 

 which ever hunter stumbled. 



While I w r as occupied in this manner, I was joined by Mr. 

 Rodenburgh, an officer in the army of Holland, who had 

 accompanied the expedition to Kabylie, and now sought the 

 wild life of a hunter under the Arab's tent, enjoying with 

 the zest of a true sportsman, the beautiful scenes and thrilling 

 excitement of the chase. 



I was engaged in conversation with him, when a native 

 came riding up from the south to tell me that the lion had 

 fixed himself in the woods of Tafrent, and had killed eight 

 horned cattle in his short sojourn in the neighborhood. We 

 immediately returned with the Arab, not taking the time to 

 strike our tents, and carrying with us only my arms, my 

 spahi, and some of the best of the native hunters. 



The next day my men found the lion's trail coming out of 



