He had faced the priest and had escaped from him with the degradation of a few tears.

Now he was in the presence of the lioness and her young.

The lioness had claimed him as a denizen of the forest; and, would he yield to her, she no doubt would be very tender to him.

But, as he was resolved not to yield, he began to find that he had been wrong to enter her den.

As he looked at her, knowing that she was at this moment softened by false hopes, he could nevertheless see in her eye the wrath of the wild animal.