ped at the idea. So did Higgs, who of late
had been practising with a rifle and began to fancy himself a shot.
He exclaimed loudly that nothing would give him greater pleasure,
especially as he was sure that lions were in fact cowardly and overrated
beasts.

From that moment I foreboded disaster in my heart. Still, I said I would
come too, partly because I had not shot a lion for many a day and had
a score to settle with those beasts which, it may be remembered, nearly
killed me on the Mountain of Mur, and partly because, knowing the desert
and also the Zeu people much better than either the Professor or Orme, I
thought that I might possibly be of service.

So we fetched our rifles and cartridges, to which by an afterthought we
added two large water-bottles, and ate a hearty breakfast. As we were
preparing to start, Shadrach, the leader of the Abati camel-drivers,
that man with the scarred face who was nicknamed the Cat, came up to me
and asked me whither we were going. I told him, whereon he said:

"What have you to do with these savages and their troubles, lords? If
a few of them are killed it is no matter, but as you should know, O
Doctor, if you wish to hunt lions there are plenty in that land whither
you travel, seeing that the lion is the fetish of the Fung and therefore
never killed. But the desert about Zeu is dangerous and harm may come to
you."

"Then accompany us," broke in the Professor, between whom and Shadrach
there was no love lost, "for, of course, with you we should be quite
safe."

"Not so," he replied, "I and my people rest; only madmen would go to
hunt worthless wild beasts when they might rest. Have we not enough of
the desert and its dangers as it is? If you knew all that I do of lions
you would leave them alone."

"Of the desert we have plenty also, but of shooting very little,"
remarked the Captain, who talked Arabic well. "Lie in your beds; we go
to kill the beasts that harass the poor people who have treated us so
kindly."

"So be it," said Shadrach with a smile that struck me as malicious. "A
lion made this"--pointing to the dreadful threefold scar upon his face.
"May the God of Israel protect you from lions. Remember, lords, that,
the camels being fresh again, we march the day after to-morrow, should
the weather hold, for if the wind blows on yonder sand-hills, no man may
live among them;" and, putting up his hand, he studied the sky carefully
from beneath its shadow, then, with a g