42 
THE LION. 
valour she appreciates on hearing his roar¬ 
ings. 
C£ The lovers bravely play their part, and arrive, 
with the lioness, in presence of the preferred rival. 
“ The preliminaries are soon settled, and the re¬ 
sult of these battles is always certain. Attacked by 
the three impudent youngsters, the old lion reviews 
them without stirring; with the first grasp of 
his jaws, he dispatches one of his assailants, with 
the next he crushes the leg of a second, and the 
third beast is only too happy if he escapes with an 
eye, leaving the other eye at the end of the claw of 
the victor. 
“ The arena free, the noble animal proudly shakes 
his mane, and then crouches near to the lioness, 
who, as the first token of affection, licks with a 
fondling look the wounds he has received on her 
account. 
“ When two adult lions meet,” Gerard goes on to 
say, “ the affair does not terminate thus easily. An 
Arab, of the tribe of Kesenna, related to me a com¬ 
bat of the kind to which he himself was an eye-wit¬ 
ness. 
eC It was during the rutting season with deer, 
Mohammed, my informant, a great lover of 
the chase, was one fine moonlight night perched 
among the branches of an oak standing in the midst 
of an extensive glade of the wood, and near to a 
foot-path, awaiting the arrival of a hind he had pre¬ 
viously observed in company with several stags. 
“ Towards midnight he saw a lioness, followed by 
a full grown fawn-coloured lion, approaching his 
