Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1857-01-31

ny 10 IRE; tne SccO00, bearing the water
came after, holding by the burnous of the lea
der and pausing when he paused; finally, the
third held in one hand the burnous of the Sc
cond, aud brandished yatagan with formida.
BILE vigor, In this order they came up TO the
lion; on seeing him they halted, and would
not approach till Saadi DO u-Nar struck his
corpse with his hand to re.assure them. And
these were men who in battle field would
fight like lions! Five minutes afterwards
men, women, and children rushed out to see
their vanquished foe, whom they apostrophiz-
ed in eloquent insults. AS the morning
broke, hundreds of Arabs came from all sides:
but even 10 presence ofther dead enemy their
terror was not quite allayed; they kept with
in ten PAGES of his corpse, the women stand
ing behind timid and curious
| Gerard soon found that bullets we're but an
uncertain resource against on animal whose
frontal bone sufficed to ilatten one fired at no
greater distance than five PAGES, and who,
when mortalIy wounded, had still strength
and ferocity enough to despatch half a dozen
armed men. He therefore exchanged bullets
for ingots OF iron, and even with these he ran
terrible risk. as we see from his first en-
ploymeDt of them. At midnight, under the
light OF full moon, he met young lion, q
mere puppy Of two years old, who, on seeing
him, lay down across the path and did not
move, even when Gerard was within fifteen
PAGES. Believing this to be the animals tao
tics, he thought better not to advance nearer;
kneeling on the ground he fred aiming jnst
beneath the shoulder How it happened he
knew not so sudden was the onslaught, but
before he could see anything he was knock
ed down, and his hand touched the leg of the
animal standing over him. "Lucky for me
wore my thick turban, which he tore with his
teeth; slipping from him and leaving him my
burnous, ] blew out the brains Of this foolish
youngster while he was spending his wrath
upon my clothes. My first lngot had passed
right through his body, below the shoulder !;
the second entering at his left ear came out
at the right" Europeans imagine it u very
simple thing to vanquish the lion; "you have
only to be good shot and to be perfectly
cool" 10 be good shot is not rare but
you have to meet such an antagonist, to await
him, perhaps not to see him until he is about
TO attack, and then 10 know that your first
ball, however well aimed, will only wound
him, the Goodness" 50 lightly spoken of will
be very rare quality. However adroit your
first aim, you have little time for your second
the first shot hits him while he is motionless ;,
the second must be fired as he bounds upon
you. Gerard soon learned this, and he says
with ndirete, perfectly French, that he always
commenced the struggle with mingled doubt
and confidence; doubt in the effects Of bis
shots, confidence in the protection divine
9u aCc0yae Il Sd creature FEtrc Supremc"-as
il the poor lion were equally ''sa creature !"
That, however is thought never entering
the minds Of the hunter or Arab. We were
amused at the lamentations and imprecatons
Of q discOnsolate woman, whose lamb had
been eaten by lion; she spoke with bitter
ness Of the "hcnrtess wretch" who had eaten
Ii lamb, which she herself would have eaten
had not tho lion anticipated her,
Such beng The terror and hatred inspired
by the lion, VIC can understand the frantic de-
monstrations of JOY over the corpse. They
triumph over their dead foe, insult him, call
him assassin" thief" "soD of a Jew," Chris
tian," pagan; = pluck his beard in scorn, aud
kick him contemptuously. 1t isa relief TO
their hatred, the reaction of terror. In
reading this We are naturally reminded Of that
scene in Homer, where the Greeks crowd
round the dead body Of Hector, marveling at
his great stature, and each inflictng q wound
on his terrible corpse.
And we think translators and commenta-
tors fall into blunder when they translate
and understand the phrase applied to Achilles
meditating the vengeance OF drapping Ilec-
tor round the walls, as if Homer by it meant
to stiglnatize Achilles. The phrase does not
mean ''he meditated unuorfhy deeds" but
"he meditated unheard Of deeds" Things
which are unusual are often unseemly, un-
worthy but not necessarily So Homer evil
IDENTITY did not think the vengeance unworthy
nor did the Greeks. They felt towards the
dead Hector as the Arabs felt towards the
dead lion.
, Very picturesque is the scene Of triumph.
The fires are lighted in the forest moving
amidst the snow and trees are groups Of men
and women, looking by the freight, like
phantoms, in their white burnouses, as they
distribute the pieces of lior-Hesh roasted on
q brasier big enough for an elephant. The
women chatter on their universal theme the
men talk of powder, boodsLed, and lions /;
Abdallah, the singer, yells improvsed cou.
plets while flute player charms the savag,
ear. They have insulted the lion, and now
they eat him
If the reader has ever had the pleasure of
playing with puppy lion he will comprehend
the fascination OF such a iayorte in the Arab
tents. The delight created by such play
fellow is not simply the delight which any fat
joyous puppy, gracefully upgraceiul, and sub
timely ca reless, will excite in all well cons;i-
tuted minds it is that, and with it the feeling
, of all the feroclty, power, and grandeur, which
! lie nascent in this innocent Child. This feel
Ing will Of course be intensified by the terror
felt for the grown lion; and as that terror is
very great umoug the Arabs, we can imagine
the interest Gerard excited by bringing into
their tents ioness of about u month old, no
larger than an Angora cat, and a lion about
third larger. The young lady had all the
timidity of her sex, skunk away from every
one, and answered ceresses with blows Of her
little paws her brother, whom they christen-
ed Hubert, had more manly dplomb. lie was
quiet, looking with some astouishment at all
that passed, but without any savageness.-
| The women idolized him and were never tired
of caressing him. a goat was brought to be
his nurse AT first he took no notice of her
but no sooner had few drops of milk Inois-
tened his lips, than he fastened upon her with
| leonne ardor. The goat had OF course to be
held down-she by no means iancied her il
| lustrious foster-son. But although the lion
ess had seen her brother take his meals in
this way, she coHld not be seduced TO follow
his example She was never quiet or happy
except when in concealment. Hubert passed
the night under Gerard's burnous, as tran
| nnilly as il with his mother and indeed