awing in the air through his great nostrils as a hound might do, till
suddenly he stopped and sniffed towards the north.

"I smell lion near," he whispered, searching among the reed stems with
his eyes. "I see lion," he whispered again, and pointed, but I could see
nothing save the stems of the reeds.

"Rouse him," I whispered back, "and I will shoot as he bounds."

Then Bes poised the spear, shook it till it quivered, and threw. There
was a roar and a lioness appeared with the spear fast in her flank. I
loosed the arrow but it cut into the thick reeds and stuck there.

"Forward!" whispered Bes, "for where woman is, there look for man. The
lion will be near."

We crept on, Bes stopping to cut the arrow from a reed and set it back
in the quiver, for it was a good arrow made by himself. But now he
shifted the broad spear to his right hand and in his left held his
knife. We heard the wounded lioness roar not far away.

"She calls her man to help her," whispered Bes, and as the words left
his lips the reeds down wind began to sway, for we were smelt.

They swayed, they parted and, half seen, half hid between their stems,
appeared the head of a great, black-maned lion. I drew the string and
shot, this time not in vain, for I heard the arrow thud upon his hide.
Then before I could set another he was on us, reared upon his hind legs
and roaring. As I drew my dagger he struck at me, but I bent down and
his paw went over my head. Then his weight came against me and I fell
beneath him, stabbing him in the belly as I fell. I saw his mighty jaws
open to crush my head. Then they shut again and through them burst a
whine like that of a hurt dog.

Bes had driven his spear into the lion's breast, so deep that the point
of it came out through the back. Still he was not dead, only now it was
Bes he sought. The dwarf ran at him as he reared up again, and casting
his great arms about the brute's body, wrestled with him as man with
man.

Then it was, for the first time I think, that I learned all the
Ethiopian's strength. For he, a dwarf, threw that lion on its back and
thrusting his big head beneath the jaws, struggled with it madly. I
was up, the knife still in my hand, and oh! I too was strong. Into
the throat I drove it, dragging it this way and that, and lo! the lion
moaned and died and his blood gushed out over both of us. Then Bes sat
up and laughed, and I too laughed, since neither of us had more than
scratches and we had