cavern a second
later, and then with a single bound a great tawny beast sprang out of
the shadows, and striking Guy to the earth with one blow of his mighty
paw, threw himself furiously on the prostrate body.

CHAPTER XXXV.

BILDAD DRINKS NEW LIFE.

The stricken man had no time to utter another cry. The lion--for such it
proved to be--paused a moment, with uplifted head, snarling angrily. The
torch had been flung back a yard or more toward the water, and was
spluttering on the damp sand.

Guy's companions were helpless with fear and dread. Forbes alone had
self-possession enough to remember that he had a revolver. It was not
loaded, and he trembled so much that he could scarcely draw the shells
from his pocket.

"Hurry! Hurry!" whispered the colonel. "The brute may tear him apart any
moment."

Meanwhile Guy lay white and motionless in the grasp of the lion. Not a
muscle quivered, and his eyes were closed.

Suddenly, as Forbes was nervously ramming the shells into the revolver,
the beast turned on his prey with a vicious growl and seized Guy's arm
loosely in his mighty jaws. In another instant Chutney would have been
dragged off, but help was to come from an unlooked-for source.

With a single bound Bildad sprang out upon the sand, brandishing a huge
spear that Canaris had brought with him from the lake.

Another leap carried him within a yard or two of the lion, and the
amazed spectators had a brief vision of the enraged beast quivering for
a spring at the audacious African.

Then the spear flashed in the torchlight, and as Bildad sprang to one
side, the lion, with a mighty roar, toppled over on the sand--dead. The
spear had pierced his heart.

For an instant no one realized what had happened. The lion in his fall
had cleared his victim entirely, and before any one thought of moving
forward Guy pulled himself to his feet and staggered feebly toward the
raft. Melton ran forward just in time to catch him in his arms.

"Thank God," he exclaimed fervently. "You are not hurt, Chutney?"

"No, I think not," was Guy's response; "only stunned and bruised a
little. It was a close call."

"Close! I should say it was. It's the first time I ever saw a lion
killed in that way. Bildad saved your life, for Melton could never have
killed the brute with that toy he has there."

A strange sound suddenly diverted their attention to Bildad.

The savage was ripping open the dead lion's throat with a spear, and
t