waited bravely,
with excited curiosity, the awakening of his enemy.

When the sun appeared, the panther suddenly opened her eyes; then she
put out her paws with energy, as if to stretch them and get rid of
cramp. At last she yawned, showing the formidable apparatus of her teeth
and pointed tongue, rough as a file.

"A regular petite maitresse," thought the Frenchman, seeing her roll
herself about so softly and coquettishly. She licked off the blood which
stained her paws and muzzle, and scratched her head with reiterated
gestures full of prettiness. "All right, make a little toilet," the
Frenchman said to himself, beginning to recover his gaiety with his
courage; "we'll say good morning to each other presently;" and he seized
the small, short dagger which he had taken from the Maugrabins.

At this moment the panther turned her head toward the man and looked at
him fixedly without moving. The rigidity of her metallic eyes and their
insupportable luster made him shudder, especially when the animal walked
towards him. But he looked at her caressingly, staring into her eyes in
order to magnetize her, and let her come quite close to him; then with
a movement both gentle and amorous, as though he were caressing the most
beautiful of women, he passed his hand over her whole body, from the
head to the tail, scratching the flexible vertebrae which divided the
panther's yellow back. The animal waved her tail voluptuously, and her
eyes grew gentle; and when for the third time the Frenchman accomplished
this interesting flattery, she gave forth one of those purrings by which
cats express their pleasure; but this murmur issued from a throat so
powerful and so deep that it resounded through the cave like the
last vibrations of an organ in a church. The man, understanding the
importance of his caresses, redoubled them in such a way as to surprise
and stupefy his imperious courtesan. When he felt sure of having
extinguished the ferocity of his capricious companion, whose hunger had
so fortunately been satisfied the day before, he got up to go out of the
cave; the panther let him go out, but when he had reached the summit of
the hill she sprang with the lightness of a sparrow hopping from twig to
twig, and rubbed herself against his legs, putting up her back after the
manner of all the race of cats. Then regarding her guest with eyes
whose glare had softened a little, she gave vent to that wild cry which
naturalists compare to the gra