ing after her own daily subsistence without laying a portion of it
at the feet of Maldonata, until her whelps being strong enough to walk
abroad, she took them out with her and never returned.

Some time after Maldonata fell into the hands of the Spaniards, and being
brought back to Buenos Ayres on the charge of having left the city
contrary to orders, the governor, a man of cruelty, condemned the
unfortunate woman to a death which none but the most cruel tyrant could
have thought of. He ordered some soldiers to take her into the country and
leave her tied to a tree, either to perish by hunger, or to be torn to
pieces by wild beasts, as he expected. Two days after, he sent the same
soldiers to see what was become of her; when, to their great surprise,
they found her alive and unhurt, though surrounded by lions and tigers,
which a lioness at her feet kept at some distance. As soon as the lioness
perceived the soldiers, she retired a little, and enabled them to unbind
Maldonata, who related to them the history of this lioness, whom she knew
to be the same she had formerly assisted in the cavern. On the soldiers
taking Maldonata away, the lioness fawned upon her as unwilling to part.
The soldiers reported what they had seen to the commander, who could not
but pardon a woman who had been so singularly protected, without appearing
more inhuman than lions themselves.

[Illustration]

ANECDOTE LIII.

A Good Finder.

One day a tradesman, walking with a friend, offered to wager that if he
were to hide a five-shilling piece in the dust, his dog would discover and
bring it to him. The wager was accepted, and the piece of money marked and
secreted. When the two had proceeded some distance, the tradesman called
to his dog that he had lost something, and ordered him to seek it. The dog
immediately turned back, and his master and his companion pursued their
walk. Meanwhile a traveller, driving in a small chaise, perceived the
piece of money which his horse had kicked from its hiding-place, alighted,
took it up, and drove to his inn. The dog had just reached the spot in
search of the lost piece, when the stranger picked it up. He followed the
chaise, went into the inn. Having scented out the coin in the pocket of
the traveller, he leaped up at him incessantly. Supposing him to be some
dog that had lost his master, the traveller regarded his movements as
marks of fondness; and as the animal was handsome, determined to keep h