Somerset maughan

Le Tueur de Lions
, may have been fit to compare with 
me, but I can call to mind no other.' 
This statement, made with the greatest calm, caused a moment of 
silence. 
Margaret stared at him with amazement. 
'You suffer from no false modesty,' said Arthur Burdon. 
'False modesty is a sign of ill-breeding, from which my birth amply 
protects me.' 
Dr Porhoët looked up with a smile of irony. 
'I wish Mr Haddo would take this opportunity to disclose to us the 
mystery of his birth and family. I have a suspicion that, like the 
immortal Cagliostro, he was born of unknown but noble parents, 
and educated secretly in Eastern palaces.' 
'In my origin I am more to be compared with Denis Zachaire or with 
Raymond Lully. My ancestor, George Haddo, came to Scotland in 
the suite of Anne of Denmark, and when James I, her consort, 
ascended the English throne, he was granted the estates in 
Staffordshire which I still possess. My family has formed alliances 
with the most noble blood of England, and the Merestons, the 
Parnabys, the Hollingtons, have been proud to give their daughters 
to my house.' 

---

'Those are facts which can be verified in works of reference,' said 
Arthur dryly. 
'They can,' said Oliver. 
'And the Eastern palaces in which your youth was spent, and the 
black slaves who waited on you, and the bearded sheikhs who 
imparted to you secret knowledge?' cried Dr Porhoët. 
'I was educated at Eton, and I left Oxford in 1896.' 
'Would you mind telling me at what college you were?' said Arthur. 
'I was at the House.' 
'Then you must have been there with Frank Hurrell.' 
'Now assistant physician at St Luke's Hospital. He was one of my 
most intimate friends.' 
'I'll write and ask him about you.' 
'I'm dying to know what you did with all the lions you slaughtered,' 
said 
Susie Boyd. 
The man's effrontery did not exasperate her as it obviously 
exasperated 
Margaret and Arthur. He amused her, and she was anxious to make 
him talk. 
'They decorate the floors of Skene, which is the name of my place in 
Staffordshire.' He paused for a moment to light a cigar. 'I am the 
only man alive who has killed three lions with three successive 
shots.' 
'I should have thought you could have demolished them by the 
effects of your oratory,' said Arthur. 
Oliver leaned back and placed his two large hands on the table. 

---

'Burkhardt, a German with whom I was shooting, was down with 
fever and could not stir from his bed. I was awakened one night by 
the uneasiness of my oxen, and I heard the roaring of lions close at 
hand. I took my carbine and came out of my tent. There was only 
the meagre light of the moon. I walked alone, for I knew natives 
could be of no use to me. Presently I came upon the carcass of an 
antelope, half-consumed, and I made up my mind to wait for the 
return of the lions. I hid myself among the boulders twenty paces 
from the prey. All about me was the immensity of Africa and the 
silence. I waited, motionless, hour after hour, till the dawn was 
nearly at hand. At last three lions appeared over a rock. I had 
noticed, the day before, spoor of a lion and two females.' 
'May I ask how you could distinguish the sex?' asked Arthur, 
incredulously. 
'The prints of a lion's fore feet are disproportionately larger than 
those of the hind feet. The fore feet and hind feet of the lioness are 
nearly the same size.' 
'Pray go on,' said Susie. 
'They came into full view, and in the dim light, as they stood chest 
on, they appeared as huge as the strange beasts of the Arabian tales. 
I aimed at the lioness which stood nearest to me and fired. Without 
a sound, like a bullock felled at one blow, she dropped. The lion 
gave vent to a sonorous roar. Hastily I slipped another cartridge in 
my rifle. Then I became conscious that he had seen me. He lowered 
his head, and his crest was erect. His lifted tail was twitching, his 
lips were drawn back from the red gums, and I saw his great white 
fangs. Living fire flashed from his eyes, and he growled incessantly. 
Then he advanced a few steps, his head held low; and his eyes were 
fixed on mine with a look of rage. Suddenly he jerked up his tail, 
and when a lion does this he charges. I got a quick sight on his chest 
and fired. He reared up on his hind legs, roaring loudly and clawing 
at the air, and fell back dead. One lioness remained, and through the 
smoke I saw her spring to her feet and rush towards me. Escape was 
impossible, for behind me were high boulders that I could not climb. 
She came on with hoarse, coughing grunts, and with desperate 
courage I fired my remaining barrel. I missed her clean. I took one 
step backwards in the hope of getting a cartridge into my rifle, and 

---

fell, scarcely two lengths in front of the furious beast. She missed 
me. I owed my safety to that fall. And then suddenly I found that 
she had collapsed. I had hit her after all. My bullet went clean 
through her heart, but the spring had carried her forwards. When I 
scrambled to my feet I found that she was dying. I walked back to 
my camp and ate a capital breakfast.' 
Oliver Haddo's story was received with astonished silence. No one 
could assert that it was untrue, but he told it with a grandiloquence 
that carried no conviction. Arthur would have wagered a 
considerable sum that there was no word of truth in it. He had 
never met a person of this kind before, and could not understand 
what pleasure there might be in the elaborate invention of 
improbable adventures. 
'You are evidently very brave,' he said. 
'To follow a wounded lion into thick cover is probably the most 
dangerous proceeding in the world,' said Haddo calmly. 'It calls for 
the utmost coolness and for iron nerve.' 
The answer had an odd effect on Arthur. He gave Haddo a rapid 
glance, and was seized suddenly with uncontrollable laughter. He 
leaned back in his chair and roared. His hilarity affected the others, 
and they broke into peal upon peal of laughter. Oliver watched 
them gravely. He seemed neither disconcerted nor surprised. When 
Arthur recovered himself, he found Haddo's singular eyes fixed on 
him. 
'Your laughter reminds me of the crackling of thorns under a pot,' 
he said. 
Haddo looked round at the others. Though his gaze preserved its 
fixity, his lips broke into a queer, sardonic smile. 
'It must be plain even to the feeblest intelligence that a man can only 
command the elementary spirits if he is without fear. A capricious 
mind can never rule the sylphs, nor a fickle disposition the undines.' 
Arthur stared at him with amazement. He did not know what on 
earth the man was talking about. Haddo paid no heed. 

---

'But if the adept is active, pliant, and strong, the whole world will be 
at his command. He will pass through the storm and no rain shall 
fall upon his head. The wind will not displace a single fold of his 
garment. He will go through fire and not be burned.' 
Dr Porhoët ventured upon an explanation of these cryptic 
utterances. 
'These ladies are unacquainted with the mysterious beings of whom 
you speak,