A NIGHT WITH THE ARABS. 411 



" The lion's mouth relaxed into a smile, and then he replied 

 with proud earnestness : 



" ' I am with you, Aicha, and when I am near, you need 

 fear nothing.' 



" ' But I will not always have thee with me,' said Aicha • 

 'it is a great way from here to my father's tent, and it is 

 growing late.' 



" ' I will see you home,' gallantly replied the lion. 



"Taken so by surprise, what could a poor girl do but 

 accept ? The lion walked up to her side, and extended to 

 her his mane. She wound her fair hand in his tawny locks, 

 and with her arm resting on his neck as it would have rested 

 on the shoulder of her lover, the twain, each so beautiful, 

 and yet so opposite in their different perfections, walked 

 together towards the douar of the tribe. 



" In the road, they met dark eyed-gazels, that fled from 

 them, and hyenas that crouched down to the earth, and men 

 and women that prostrated themselves as to a god. But the 

 lion said to the gazels, do not run away, and to the hyenas, 

 he said, be not afraid, and to the men and women, rise up, 

 for by the grace of this young girl, who is my own true love, 

 I will do you no harm. At the royal word, the gazels 

 wheeled in their swift flight, the hyenas raised their ugly 

 faces, and the men and women rose to their feet, and they all 

 asked : the gazels in the soft language of their race, the 

 hyenas in the grunting tone of their species, and the men and 

 women in the Arab language they spoke : " What is the 

 meaning of this beautiful scene ? Do the lion and the girl 

 go together to worship at the tomb of the prophet in Mecca V 



"Thus they walked down through the gum dropping forest, 

 and over the blossom scented field, until they came to the 

 douar, and the white tent of Aicha's father arose in sight. 

 Here the lion paused to say adieu, and with all the grace of 

 the noblest courtier in the land, he asked the young girl's 



