The evening times., 1895-09-05

cruel mirage, he went down the opposite
slope from which he had ascended. and,
to his great Joy, found here a sort OF grot-
to, formed by huge fragments Of granite.
at the base of the hill. The remains of
a rug showed that this shelter had been
habited. few steps away some date
palms grew.
Revived by this sight, the Frenchman
struck down some of the ripe fruit from
the palms, and the fresh. savorous flesh
of the date bespoke the care of his prede-
cessor. The Provencal passed suddenly
from his deep despair to a wild joy He
remounted the incline and spent the rest
of the day Telling one of the sterile palms
which had served him as a roof the night
before.
A vague thought had recalled the animals
of the desert to him, and. fearing they
might come to drink from the spring a tho
foot OF the rocks, he determined to prevent
their visits by barricading the caves open
ing. In spite of his efforts, in spite OF the
strength lent him by fear of being de-
voured during his sleep, he could not do
more than fell the palm in one day. To-
wards evening, when this king of the des-
ert crashed down, the noise of its fall re-
groaning of the solitude. The soldier
stripped the tree OF its great green leaves
and laid them, with the rug, where he was
to sleep.
Weary from the heat and the labor, he
soou slept In the night his sleep was
troubled by strange noise; he sat up,
aud in the profound silence heard the al
ternatiug accent of respiration whose
savage energy would belong TO no human
creature. An awful fear, Increased by the
darkness, the silence and the sudden
awakening, froze his heart He saw two
faint, yellow CLEANS through the obscurity,
At first he faucied these lights some re-
Election of his eyeballs; but 500 n the bright
ness of the night helped him to distinguish
the objects in the grotto, and he perceived
agreatanimaliying ng near him.
Was it lion, tiger, or crocodile?
The Provincial had not enough learning
TO know u nder which catalogue to class his
enemy: but his fear was the more intense
because ignorance LED him to imagine .
combination of the three.
He dared not make the slightest move.
Soon the rays of the moon, which was
sinking swiftly to the horizon, slanted into
spotted skin of panther This Egyptian
lion was sleeping curled up Ike big dog
in a comfortable kennel; the eyes, opened
for a minute, had closed again The ami
NAL faced the Frenchmdn- a thousand
confused thoughts crowded into the pris-
oner's soul; first, he wanted to shoot it,
but he saw there was not sufficient space
to aim; the bali would have passed over the
81, aL-aI
Listening to his heart beats in the ST.
leuce, he cursed the strong pulsations'
dreadiug to trouble that sleep which per-
initted him to search some means of es-
cape Twice he laid his ha nd o n the sciIIie-
ter to cut his enemy's throat but the diff
Guilty of cutting through the coarse, thick
hair made him abandon this daring project
To miss would be sure death. He chose
the chance of combat aud resolved to
await daybreak.
The day was not long in coming. Tho
Frenchman could then examine the tiger;
her muzzle was blood-stained.
.She has eaten WELL" he thought, with
out specrlating as to whether the feast
- be~o hrrlsn "She won't be hungry
when she wakes
a, WAS a female. The under fur of her
cody and le-s was of dazzling whiteness- A
number of little velvety spots made pretty
bracelets about her paws The muscular
tail was equally white and tipped with
black rings Her coat. yellow as unpublished
gold and soft and glossy, had those oharac-
teristic shaded spots, rose shaped, which
distinguish the panther from other felines-
This formidable hostess breathed with
pause as pleasing as cat sleeping on an
ottoman. Her bloody paws, nervous and
we'll armed, were spread underher head 4
Few straight, stiff whisSers shone ike sill
yer threads Had she been in cage the
provencal would have admired the grace
of the beast and the vigorous contrasts OF
vivid colors which gave her rube an impe-
rial splendor: bat the presence OF the
panther, even asleep, affected him as do the
snakes magnetic eyes the nightingale.
The soldiers courage finally ebbed away
in front of this danger, whereas he would
dou bites have been su blime be fore
belching cannon However. a brave thought
came to his soul and dried the cold sweat
rolling down his brow at its source.
Continued in to-morrow's s Morning Times.)