THE KING OF CATS 83 world so deeply merely with the vastness of his voice. A shadowy reed-buck flitted from the bank ; the spoor of a yesterday's elephant was passed—that great flat pad which expresses so much ; and in the darkness the isolated police post near the Khor Galegu was reached, amid the excitement of its solitary occupants.

The baggage camels were late in arrival, and I wondered how the servants liked the monarch's voice. I asked Abid if the lion talked to him ; grinning, he replied, " Yes, sir, he talk very big too much." Then followed the usual vocal illustration. But silence had come with the darkness ; Arab conversation is not usually quiet, less quiet amongst the camel-men this evening, perhaps, because the guns had been far ahead, and their voices were doubtless wafted down to the owner of the deep bass voice, which forthwith was still.

Yet can he in justice claim the title "King of Beasts " ? His courage when at bay—great as it is —is no greater than that of the buffalo, and his methods are those of the sneak and the footpad.

Cunning, as a rule, is his controlling influence rather than a broad intelligence, and even his looselimbed majesty of stride fails to enthrone him.

He must yield the sceptre to the elephant, who by reason of courage, size, strength, and intelligence, surpasses all other animals. In how few creatures of the brute creation exists any germ of true unselfishness ! Thought for others of 6—2