laid down again on the floor of his natural chamber, and,
happily for one in his situation, fell asleep once more.

About two hours after dawn he awoke, and immediately going to the
window, he looked down, and when he saw the dead lion stretched stiff at
the foot of the tree, he said to himself:

"He would have it; he would not listen to me. Like Tifum he revelled in
his strength, and was conscious of his might, and, like him, he wished
to rend and tear me, but I have a gun, and I would that Tifum came after
me, so that I could give him the same answer I gave this lion."

As he spoke, he placed his spears outside, then his: gun, then went out
himself, and, taking his weapons up, he stood by the body of the lion.

The following thoughts, though unexpressed, ran through his mind:

"Behold! how strong this lion was early last night--how proud his pace
as he roamed through the silent forest looking for his prey! All the
animals ran from before him, and left him lone in his proud strength.
As if they knew his power, the echoes submissively sent his voice
pealing through the long colonnades of the forest, like the heralds
trumpeting the approach of a king. His eyes pierced the darkness and
searched the night, his nostrils scented prey and blood, and he came and
stood before me, the relentless tyrant of the wilderness! His great,
flaming eyes glowed red with rage, his nostrils dilated wide as he
thought of his hunger and the prospective feast; he pawed the ground and
whirled his tail in fury, and tossing his mane back impatiently, he
sprang at me and met his death.

"Now, how weak! An unarmed infant might play with his mane and pull at
his great teeth. There lies no more danger in him; and as he is, so may
all my enemies be! Farewell, thou lion! I would have preferred thou
were not so unclean. My hunger is now sharp, and woe befall the hoofed
animal I meet, but thee I may not eat."

Then Selim, shouldering his gun and spears, having observed the sun, and
found out the direction he intended to go, strode on, looking keenly to
the right and left for any game that might promise him relief from the
gnawing pangs of hunger he began to feel. He had been now thirty-six
hours without food, for he had disdained to steal the rations of his
comrades, as he might have done, knowing from experience that the slave
who lost his rations or consumed them before the next distribution of
food was very apt to suffer, as none of hi