392 THE LION KILLER. 



The same second, the lion bounded into the opening, with 

 open mouth and raised mane. Hardly had he appeared before 

 eight shots were fired at him without one ball touching him. 



Before the smoke of the useless powder had lifted, and 

 before a word could be spoken, Amar-ben-Sigha, who had also 

 fired his piece with the rest, was crushed to the earth, his 

 gun was broken, his right thigh stripped of its flesh, and at 

 the moment I came to his succor, his head had disappeared 

 in the jaws of the lion, that had laid down on his body 

 watching my gun taking aim upon him without ever loosing 

 his victim. 



Fearing for the head of the man in aiming at that of the 

 lion, I fired for the heart. As I fired, Amar-ben-Sigha fell 

 from the lion's mouth, and rolling to my feet, grasped me so 

 convulsively that he nearly threw me down, groaning fearfully 

 all the time, and yet the lion, with his side leaning against 

 the branches that cracked with his weight, still kept his 

 feet. 



I aimed again; this time for the temple, and pulled the 

 trigger. Only the cap snapped. For the first time in ten years 

 my gun had missed fire, and yet the lion was still there, tear- 

 ing with his teeth the clump of bushes he was leaning against, 

 and writhing in convulsions, only a step from nre, and almost 

 over the body of the fallen man. 



All the hunters rushed to the rescue, some with their yata- 

 ghans and some with clubbed muskets, paltry weapons against 

 a foe insensible to balls. 



My first motion was towards my spahi Hamida for my gun 

 that I had left in his hands. Trembling, with haggard eye 

 and palsied lips, he could only articulate one word, " Empty !" 



The fool had fired with the others, and we were at the 

 mercy of the lion. 



But Providence was with us, and the beast fell dead on the 

 body of Amar, and between Mr. Rodenburgh and myself. 



