It was particularly audacious of her to venture onto the mountain because her horse baulked at climbing that path. At some points the slope was almost vertical, and the stony ground spat stones at the poor horse whose journey was made harder by having someone on his back, light as she was. In spite of this, Joséphine pushed the animal onwards without dismounting; today she wanted to pick up the pace; she didn’t want to waste time on this beautiful afternoon which she had free. Today she wanted to use her freedom to pursue her plan of losing her way.

Again the wild cats smelt them coming from afar, the horse and the horsewoman. For two weeks, they had been restless. The excitement produced by the sheep passing had given way to a profound resentment that would not dissipate. In order to try to reassert his authority, Wolfgang had poached at least ten wild boar and three deer, but despite his best efforts to get them fresh meat, the lions had not softened. They were not happy in captivity any more; they could not stand it. They could not forget the smell of the hundredweight of legs of lamb and sides of beef; they kept thinking of the tons of meat they could have had. For two weeks the eight beasts had their mouths open and were short of breath. Their jaws were clenched, a sign that they could smell that the prey was still in the vicinity. From time to time, the wind carried particles of new flesh to them, wafts which upset the coherence of the group and agitated them all. Not since the beginning of time had lions had such an abundance of smells in their area, never had they sniffed a herd nearby without being able to get to them. Smelling them without being able to see them was agony. Beyond the bars that penned them there was not just holm oaks and scrub, but also dense woods of which lions have a horror, because trees and bushy scrub hinder their path and obstruct the way. When lions hunt they need to run through flat, open savannah. More than ever they cursed those trees, those bars and that man. For two weeks, everything had been making them mad.

When she reached the top, rather than taking the path to the east, Joséphine looked over towards the cages. She kept her distance but from where she was she could see them all. She was profoundly moved by their growls, a sign that they were agitated. She was a bit frightened. It was the first time she had come up this far, into that man’s territory. Usually she turned off at the crossroads just below the summit.