I do not think I would have seen the animal but that his enormous body was lying directly before my eyes on the floor.

My uncle had been sitting with his head resting upon his hand at the table.

Suddenly he rose and a strange, guttural sound--it may have been a word from some language wholly unfamiliar to me--passed his lips.

The young man immediately left us, the lion following closely at his heels.

We both sat in silence for some moments after he had gone.