the bones of the spinal column.] which divided the yellow back of the
panther. The animal slightly moved her tail voluptuously, and her eyes
grew soft and gentle; and when for the third time the Frenchman had
accomplished this interested flattery, she gave vent to those purrings
like as cats express their pleasure; but it issued from a throat so
deep, so powerful, that it resounded through the cave like the last
chords of an organ rolling along the vaulted roof of a church. The
Provencal seeing the value of his caresses, redoubled them until they
completely soothed and lulled this imperious creature.

When he felt assured that he had extinguished the ferocity of his
capricious companion, whose hunger had so luckily been appeased the day
before, he got up to leave the grotto. The panther let him go out, but
when he reached the summit of the little knoll she sprang up and bounded
after him with the lightness of a sparrow hopping from twig to twig on a
tree, and rubbed against his legs, arching her back after the manner of
a domestic cat. Then regarding her guest with eyes whose glare had
somewhat softened, she gave vent to that wild cry which naturalists
compare to the grating of a saw.

"Madame is exacting," said the Frenchman, smiling.

He was bold enough to play with her ears; he stroked her body and
scratched her head good and hard with his nails. He was encouraged with
his success, and tickled her skull with the point of his dagger,
watching for an opportune moment to kill her, but the hardness of the
bone made him tremble, dreading failure.

The sultana of the desert [Footnote: Why does the author call the tiger
the sultana of the desert?] showed herself gracious to her slave; she