kill the lion!"

These words astonished the Bedouins, but Chamis, who had witnessed
Stas' shooting in Port Said, began at once to cry:

"Give him the rifle! He will kill the lion."

Gebhr recollected at once the shots on Lake Karun and in view of the
horrible danger, assented. With great haste he gave the boy the short
rifle and Chamis, as quick as a thought, opened the cartridge box, from
which Stas took a large fistful of cartridges, after which he leaped
off his horse, inserted the cartridges in the barrels, and moved
forward.

For the first few steps he was as though stupefied and saw only himself
and Nell with throats cut by Gebhr's knife. But soon the nearer and
more horrible danger commanded him to forget about everything else. He
had a lion before him! At the sight of the animal his eyes grew dim. He
felt a chill on his cheeks and nose, he felt that he had feet as if
made of lead and he could scarcely breathe. Plainly he feared. In Port
Said he had read during the recitation time of lion-hunts, but it was
one thing to examine pictures in books and another to stand eye to eye
with the monster, who now gazed at him as if with amazement, wrinkling
his broad forehead which resembled a shield.

The Arabs held the breath in their breasts, for never in their lives
had they seen anything like this. On the one side was a small boy, who
amid the steep rocks appeared yet smaller, on the other a powerful
beast, golden in the sun's rays, magnificent, formidable--"The lord
with the great head," as the Sudanese say.

Stas overcame with the whole force of his will the inertness of his
limbs and advanced farther. For a while yet it seemed to him that his
heart had leaped up into his throat, and this feeling continued until
he raised the rifle to his face. Then it was necessary to think of
something else. Whether to approach nearer or to fire at once; where to
aim. The smaller the distance the surer the shot--therefore nearer and
nearer!--forty paces, too many yet;--thirty!--twenty! Already the
breeze carried the pungent animal odor.

The boy stood.

"A bullet between the eyes, or it will be all over with me," he
thought. "In the name of the Father and of the Son--!"

And the lion rose, stretched his body, and lowered his head. His lips
began to open, his brows to contract over his eyes. This mite of being
had dared to approach too closely--so he prepared for a leap, sitting
with haunches quivering on his hind legs.