Page:The Burton Holmes lectures; (IA burtonholmeslect04holm).pdf/164

 FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

We begin to doubt the excitability of the French. The car is brought to a standstill. With a painfully deliberate slowness a man in hunting costume takes a gun from beneath the seat. This reassures us; but why does he not make haste to shoot? Why does he wait for that fool of a photographer who is setting up his tripod in the face of such a danger? In wonder we await the dénouement. The man draws near with superhuman coolness; the huge beast, daunted, bows his head. The hunter stands over him in a pose of victory. The photographic artist—a veritable hero—then secures proofs of the courage of the lion tamer. And then at last the truth breaks in upon us as two poor Arabs