His fatigue was so great that he threw himself down on a block of
granite, capriciously fashioned [Footnote: Capriciously fashioned.
Explain this term.] by nature into the semblance of a camp-bed, and,
without taking any precaution for defense, was soon fast in sleep. In
the middle of the night his sleep was disturbed by an extraordinary
sound. He sat up; the profound silence that reigned around enabled him
to distinguish the alternating rhythm of a respiration whose savage
energy it was impossible could be that of a human being.

A terrible terror, increased yet more by the silence, the darkness, his
racing fancy, froze his heart within him. He felt his hair rise on end,
as his eyes, dilated to their utmost, perceived through the gloom two
faint amber lights. At first he attributed these lights to the delusion
of his vision, but presently the vivid brilliance of the night aided him
to gradually distinguish the objects around him in the cave, when he
saw, within the space of two feet of him, a huge animal lying at rest.
Was it a lion? Was it a tiger? Was it a crocodile?

The Provencal was not sufficiently well educated to know under what
sub-species his enemy should be classed; his fear was but the greater
because his ignorance led him to imagine every terror at once. He
endured most cruel tortures as he noted every variation of the breathing
which was so near him; he dared not make the slightest movement.

An odor, pungent like that of a fox, but more penetrating as it were,
more profound, filled the cavern. When the Provencal became sensible of
this, his terror reached the climax, for now he could no longer doubt
the proximity of a terrible companion, whose royal lair [Footnote: Royal
lair. Why royal?] he had utilized as a bivouac.