the old
kasbah in the wood, and he has moved now to make a new lair. I have made a
note of his feet in my book; he had been wallowing less than twenty-four
hours before when I found him. To-morrow, when we hunt the beast I hope to
track to-day, the pack will follow in charge of the huntsmen. They will be
taken through the wood all the way, for it is necessary to avoid villages
and cattle pasture when you have more than a score of savage dogs that
have not been fed since three o'clock on the previous afternoon. They are
by no means averse from helping themselves to a sheep or a goat at such
times."

We had ridden in single file through a part where the lotus, now a tree
instead of a bush, snatched at us on either side, and the air was
fragrant with broom, syringa, and lavender. Behind us the path closed and
was hidden; before us it was too thick to see more than a few yards ahead.
Here and there some bird would scold and slip away, with a flutter of
feathers and a quiver of the leaves through which it fled; while ever
present, though never in sight, the cuckoo followed us the whole day long.
Suddenly and abruptly the path ended by the side of a stream where great
oleanders spread their scarlet blossoms to the light, and kingfishers
darted across the pools that had held tiny fish in waters left by the
rainy season. When we pushed our horses to the brink the bushes on either
hand showered down their blossoms as though to greet the first visitors to
the rivulet's bank. Involuntarily we drew rein by the water's edge,
acknowledging the splendour of the scene with a tribute of silence. If you
have been in the Western Highlands of Scotland, and along the Levantine
Riviera, and can imagine a combination of the most fascinating aspects of
both districts, you have but to add to them the charm of silence and
complete seclusion, the sense of virgin soil, and the joy of a perfect day
in early summer, and then some faint picture of the scene may present
itself. It remains with me always, and the mere mention of the Argan
Forest brings it back.

Pepe Ratto soon recovered himself.

[Illustration: SELLING GRAIN IN MOGADOR]

"Yes," he said, in reply to my unspoken thoughts, "one seldom sees country
like this anywhere else. But the boar went this way."

So saying, the hunter uppermost again, he wheeled round, and we
followed the stream quite slowly while he looked on either hand for signs
of the large tusker. "We must find where he ha