登陆注册
5399000000003

第3章

He could now examine the panther at ease;its muzzle was smeared with blood.

"She's had a good dinner,he thought,without troubling himself as to whether her feast might have been on human flesh."She won't be hungry when she gets up."

It was a female.The fur on her belly and flanks was glistening white;many small marks like velvet formed beautiful bracelets round her feet;her sinuous tail was also white,ending with black rings;the overpart of her dress,yellow like burnished gold,very lissome and soft,had the characteristic blotches in the form of rosettes,which distinguish the panther from every other feline species.

This tranquil and formidable hostess snored in an attitude as graceful as that of a cat lying on a cushion.Her blood-stained paws,nervous and well armed,were stretched out before her face,which rested upon them,and from which radiated her straight slender whiskers,like threads of silver.

If she had been like that in a cage,the Provencal would doubtless have admired the grace of the animal,and the vigorous contrasts of vivid color which gave her robe an imperial splendor;but just then his sight was troubled by her sinister appearance.

The presence of the panther,even asleep,could not fail to produce the effect which the magnetic eyes of the serpent are said to have on the nightingale.

For a moment the courage of the soldier began to fail before this danger,though no doubt it would have risen at the mouth of a cannon charged with shell.Nevertheless,a bold thought brought daylight to his soul and sealed up the source of the cold sweat which sprang forth on his brow.Like men driven to bay,who defy death and offer their body to the smiter,so he,seeing in this merely a tragic episode,resolved to play his part with honor to the last.

"The day before yesterday the Arabs would have killed me,perhaps,he said;so considering himself as good as dead already,he waited bravely,with excited curiosity,the awakening of his enemy."

When the sun appeared,the panther suddenly opened her eyes;then she put out her paws with energy,as if to stretch them and get rid of cramp.At last she yawned,showing the formidable apparatus of her teeth and pointed tongue,rough as a file.

"A regular petite maitresse,"thought the Frenchman,seeing her roll herself about so softly and coquettishly.She licked off the blood which stained her paws and muzzle,and scratched her head with reiterated gestures full of prettiness."All right,make a little toilet,"the Frenchman said to himself,beginning to recover his gaiety with his courage;"we'll say good morning to each other presently;"and he seized the small,short dagger which he had taken from the Maugrabins.

At this moment the panther turned her head toward the man and looked at him fixedly without moving.The rigidity of her metallic eyes and their insupportable luster made him shudder,especially when the animal walked towards him.But he looked at her caressingly,staring into her eyes in order to magnetize her,and let her come quite close to him;then with a movement both gentle and amorous,as though he were caressing the most beautiful of women,he passed his hand over her whole body,from the head to the tail,scratching the flexible vertebrae which divided the panther's yellow back.The animal waved her tail voluptuously,and her eyes grew gentle;and when for the third time the Frenchman accomplished this interesting flattery,she gave forth one of those purrings by which cats express their pleasure;

but this murmur issued from a throat so powerful and so deep that it resounded through the cave like the last vibrations of an organ in a church.The man,understanding the importance of his caresses,redoubled them in such a way as to surprise and stupefy his imperious courtesan.When he felt sure of having extinguished the ferocity of his capricious companion,whose hunger had so fortunately been satisfied the day before,he got up to go out of the cave;the panther let him go out,but when he had reached the summit of the hill she sprang with the lightness of a sparrow hopping from twig to twig,and rubbed herself against his legs,putting up her back after the manner of all the race of cats.Then regarding her guest with eyes whose glare had softened a little,she gave vent to that wild cry which naturalists compare to the grating of a saw.

"She is exacting,"said the Frenchman,smilingly.

He was bold enough to play with her ears;he caressed her belly and scratched her head as hard as he could.When he saw that he was successful,he tickled her skull with the point of his dagger,watching for the right moment to kill her,but the hardness of her bones made him tremble for his success.

The sultana of the desert showed herself gracious to her slave;she lifted her head,stretched out her neck and manifested her delight by the tranquility of her attitude.It suddenly occurred to the soldier that to kill this savage princess with one blow he must poniard her in the throat.

He raised the blade,when the panther,satisfied no doubt,laid herself gracefully at his feet,and cast up at him glances in which,in spite of their natural fierceness,was mingled confusedly a kind of good will.The poor Provencal ate his dates,leaning against one of the palm trees,and casting his eyes alternately on the desert in quest of some liberator and on his terrible companion to watch her uncertain clemency.

The panther looked at the place where the date stones fell,and every time that he threw one down her eyes expressed an incredible mistrust.

She examined the man with an almost commercial prudence.However,this examination was favorable to him,for when he had finished his meager meal she licked his boots with her powerful rough tongue,brushing off with marvelous skill the dust gathered in the creases.

同类推荐
  • 破山禅师语录

    破山禅师语录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 长阿含经

    长阿含经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 儒言

    儒言

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 上清回神飞霄登空招五星上法经

    上清回神飞霄登空招五星上法经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 新石头记

    新石头记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 快穿之反派男神白救了

    快穿之反派男神白救了

    女主女扮男装攻略反派霸道总裁,绝世公子,邪魅教主,丧尸皇等等都等着来拯救。
  • 独醉美人

    独醉美人

    紫烟罗躺在床上偷偷的看着下面跪着的十几个侍女,吓得不敢睁大眼睛……<br>“我不是被卖了吗?现在人贩子的待遇都这么好?”<br>紫烟罗心中想到。
  • 八零年代千金媳妇

    八零年代千金媳妇

    重生后她定了2个小目标,发家致富和吃了卫少。可是,谁能告诉她,不会谈恋爱怎么办?但这身体胖成球又怎么办?没关系,这辈子重生归来,好歹要彪悍一回,掌握自己的人生,我胖又怎样,美男还不是我的!跟班:“卫少,那个土村姑说要娶你!”卫少:“不是她嫁?”跟班:“不是,她娶。”卫少:“嗯,准备嫁妆,明日出嫁!”一个生猛丫头把娇娇子拖回家的故事。
  • 快穿系统:娇妻,请赐教

    快穿系统:娇妻,请赐教

    宿主,发挥你的小宇宙将那个最有型的男人攻陷!”“可……我没有把握,没有信心,我怕……”瑟瑟发抖“去不去?还想不想活命了?”某女高举小白旗,一副生无可恋的样子“这火坑我跳,还不行吗?”可是在营里的欢迎会上,她却……“那个谁……怎么天天训练你,你看看你这一身赘肉?”“乔爷……”唐嘉何其无辜?可怜的小眼神根本就不敢直视他,委屈的盯着自己的小腹,瘪瘪嘴只差没哭出来!“立正,转过身面对墙,敢给我掉眼泪就给我去做俯卧撑100个!”
  • 青衣白梢头

    青衣白梢头

    奏一曲相思赋,误惊了琵琶语。愿俩人共白首,青衣已袖满霜。
  • 腹黑圣女:冷情神君预言妃

    腹黑圣女:冷情神君预言妃

    她是制毒高手,出手毫不留情,居然穿越成废材嫡女,没有灵力,没有元素之力,居然契约了远古美男,修炼神灵魔决...凭什么啊。他是煞神尊主,王族替身,全世界的妖孽天才冷男,全世界美女的倾心之王。“要看多久?”冷千殇冷漠的声音响起,转过身。颜汐先是一怔,想到自己的处境,说:“你们是一伙的吧。”冷千殇瞪视她一眼,道:“你就这样答谢你的救命恩人。”
  • 追妻无门:女boss不好惹

    追妻无门:女boss不好惹

    青涩蜕变,如今她是能独当一面的女boss,爱了冷泽聿七年,也同样花了七年时间去忘记他。以为是陌路,他突然向他表白,扬言要娶她,她只当他是脑子抽风,他的殷勤她也全都无视。他帮她查她父母的死因,赶走身边情敌,解释当初拒绝她的告别,和故意对她冷漠都是无奈之举。突然爆出她父母的死居然和冷家有丝毫联系,还莫名跳出个公爵未婚夫,扬言要与她履行婚约。峰回路转,破镜还能重圆吗? PS:我又开新文了,每逢假期必书荒,新文《有你的世界遇到爱》,喜欢我的文的朋友可以来看看,这是重生类现言,对这个题材感兴趣的一定要收藏起来。
  • 绝零七境

    绝零七境

    简柠再也不想回到那个家庭,再也不想见到简檬,可是上天作弄人,当她再次有意识的时候,竟然又回到了这个家。原以为二十一年的苦日子过去了,莫名其妙却又让她回到十年前,那个时候,她刚上初三。这还不算,上学路上,她连人带着自行车又莫名其妙进入了一个世外桃源般的地方,在这,她竟然又变回了21的模样,还在这里见到了苏宥柒!又懵懵懂懂的跟着苏宥柒进了一个现实中本不存在的地方,他们称这里为绝零境。令简柠感到不可思议的是,这里竟然能与她21岁的世界以及六年级的世界皆相通。
  • 紫电传奇之长枪依在

    紫电传奇之长枪依在

    紫电真解异界纷乱征战如火魔兽潮汐海陆争霸巅峰回首其实只是个开始,唯有长枪依在。
  • 位面超级学习系统

    位面超级学习系统

    平凡青年陈嘉,偶得超级系统,位面随意穿梭,能力肆意索取。金刚狼世界,他对狼叔笑了笑:这个世界不止一头金刚狼僵尸先生世界,获得修炼之法,踏上修行之途! 魁拔世界......斗罗大陆......环太平洋......瓦罗兰大陆!......