At these words the people of the inn, already terrified by the frightful roaring, fled from the spot and ran to inform the host.  The soldier’s anguish may be conceived, as pale, breathless, with his ear close to the chink of the door, he stood listening.  By degrees the roaring had ceased, and nothing was heard but low growls, accompanied by the stern voice of the Prophet, repeating in harsh, abrupt accents:  “Death! come here!  Death!”

The night was profoundly dark, and Dagobert did not perceive Goliath, who, crawling carefully along the tiled roof entered the loft by the attic window.

And now the gate of the court-yard was again opened, and the landlord of the inn appeared, followed by a number of men.  Armed with a carbine, he advanced with precaution; his people carried staves and pitchforks.

“What is the row here?” said he, as he approached Dagobert.  “What a hubbub in my house!  The devil take wild beast showmen, and negligent fellows who don’t know how to tie a horse to the manger!  If your beast is hurt, so much the worse for you; you should have taken more care of it.”

Instead of replying to these reproaches, the soldier, who still listened attentively to what was going on in the shed, made a sign to entreat silence.  Suddenly a ferocious roar was heard, followed by a loud scream from the Prophet; and, almost immediately after, the panther howled piteously.

“You are no doubt the cause of some great accident,” said the frightened host to the soldier; “did you not hear that cry?  Morok is, perhaps, dangerously wounded.”

Dagobert was about to answer, when the door opened, and Goliath appeared on the threshold.

“You may enter now,” said he; “the danger is over.”

The interior of the menagerie presented a singular spectacle.  The Prophet, pale, and scarcely able to conceal his agitation beneath an apparent air of calmness, was kneeling some paces from the cage of the panther, in the attitude of one absorbed in himself; the motion of his lips indicating that he was praying.  At sight of the host and the people of the inn, he rose, and said in a solemn voice:  “I thank thee, my Preserver, that I have been able to conquer, by the strength which Thou hast given me.”

Then folding his arms, with haughty brow and imperious glance, he seemed to enjoy the triumph he had achieved over Death, who, stretched on the bottom of her den, continued to utter plaintive howlings.  The spectators of this scene, ignorant that the pelisse of the brute-tamer covered a complete suit of armor, and attributing the cries of the panther solely to fear, were struck with astonishment and admiration at the intrepidity and almost supernatural power of this man.  A few steps behind him stood Goliath, leaning upon the ashen pikestaff.  Finally, not far from the cage, in the midst of a pool of blood, lay the dead body of Jovial.