sed the too violent pulsations which the flow of blood brought
on, fearing to disturb that sleep which allowed him time to think of
some means of escape.

Twice he placed his hand on his scimiter, intending to cut off the
head of his enemy; but the difficulty of cutting the stiff short hair
compelled him to abandon this daring project. To miss would be to die
for CERTAIN, he thought; he preferred the chances of fair fight, and
made up his mind to wait till morning; the morning did not leave him
long to wait.

He could now examine the panther at ease; its muzzle was smeared with
blood.

"She's had a good dinner," he thought, without troubling himself as to
whether her feast might have been on human flesh. "She won't be hungry
when she gets up."

It was a female. The fur on her belly and flanks was glistening white;
many small marks like velvet formed beautiful bracelets round her feet;
her sinuous tail was also white, ending with black rings; the overpart
of her dress, yellow like burnished gold, very lissome and soft, had the
characteristic blotches in the form of rosettes, which distinguish the
panther from every other feline species.

This tranquil and formidable hostess snored in an attitude as graceful
as that of a cat lying on a cushion. Her blood-stained paws, nervous and
well armed, were stretched out before her face, which rested upon them,
and from which radiated her straight slender whiskers, like threads of
silver.

If she had been like that in a cage, the Provencal would doubtless have
admired the grace of the animal, and the vigorous contrasts of vivid
color which gave her robe an imperial splendor; but just then his sight
was troubled by her sinister appearance.

The presence of the panther, even asleep, could not fail to produce the
effect which the magnetic eyes of the serpent are said to have on the
nightingale.

For a moment the courage of the soldier began to fail before this
danger, though no doubt it would have risen at the mouth of a cannon
charged with shell. Nevertheless, a bold thought brought daylight to his
soul and sealed up the source of the cold sweat which sprang forth on
his brow. Like men driven to bay, who defy death and offer their body to
the smiter, so he, seeing in this merely a tragic episode, resolved to
play his part with honor to the last.

"The day before yesterday the Arabs would have killed me, perhaps," he
said; so considering himself as good as dead already, he