shot—therefore nearer and nearer!—forty paces, too many yet;—thirty!—twenty! Already the breeze carried the pungent animal odor.
The boy stood.
"A bullet between the eyes, or it will be all over with me," he thought. "In the name of the Father and of the Son—!"
And the lion rose, stretched his body, and lowered his head. His lips began to open, his brows to contract over his eyes. This mite of being had dared to approach too closely—so he prepared for a leap, sitting with haunches quivering on his hind legs.
But Stas, during the twinkling of an eye, perceived that the bead of the rifle was in a direct line with the forehead of the animal—and pulled the trigger.
The shot pealed. The lion reared so that for a while he straightened out to his full height; after which he toppled over on his back with his four paws up.
And in the final convulsions he rolled off the rock onto the ground.
Stas for several minutes covered him with his rifle, but seeing that the quivering ceased and that the tawny body was stretched out inertly, he opened the rifle and inserted another cartridge.
The stony walls reverberated yet with the thunderous echo. Gebhr, Chamis, and the Bedouins could not at once descry what had happened, as on the previous night rain had fallen, and owing to the dampness of the weather the smoke veiled everything in the narrow ravine. Only when the smoke abated, did they shout with joy, and wanted to rush towards the boy, but in vain, as no power could force the horses to move ahead.
And Stas turned around, took in the four Arabs with his gaze and fixed his eyes on Gebhr.
