Part 9 (2/2)

”What for? To o la scent upon dry ground”

He turned pale ”Do youno more time in words, we saddled up in frantic haste Just as I fastened the last strap of ht that a faint sound reached ain it came, and now there was no doubt about it It was the sound of baying dogs

”By heaven! the death-hounds,” said Leo

”Yes,” I answered quietly enough, for at this crisis my nerves hardened and all fear left hed”

”What shall we do?” asked Leo ”Leave the horses?”

I looked at the Peak Its nearest flanks were h to do that e are forced We can never reach that mountain on foot, and after they had run down the horses, they would hunt us by spoor or gaze No,to our saddles, but before we gave rein I turned and looked behindslope which tere, about three reat plain whereon we stood Now the sun had sunk behind that ridge so that although it was still light the plain had fallen into shadow Therefore, while no distant object could be seen upon the plain, anything crossing the ridge reh in that clear air, at least to persons of keen sight

This isOver the ridge poured a alloped a reat horse, who led another horse by the bridle

”All the pack are out,” said Leo griht a second mount with him Now I see why he wanted us to leave the spears, and I think,” he shouted as we began to gallop, ”that before all is done the Shaman h the gathering darkness, heading straight for the Peak While ent I calculated our chances Our horses, as good as any in the land, were still strong and fresh, for although we had ridden far we had not over-pressed them, and their condition was excellent But doubtless the death-hounds were fresh also, for, ht catch us sleeping, Rassen would have brought the the peasants and only laying thee had been left behind

Also he had two h afterwards this proved not to be the case, for he wished to work his wickedness alone and unseen-he ht be followed by attendants with relays Therefore it would appear that unless we reached some place whither he did not dare to follow, before him-that is the slopes of the Peak many miles away, he s would tire and refuse to pursue the chase

This, however, seemed scarcely probable, for they were extraordinarily swift and strong, and so savage that when once they had scented blood, in which doubtless our horses' hoofs were steeped, they would fall dead from exhaustion sooner than abandon the trail Indeed, both the Khania and Siht lose the scent, but seeing its nature, again this was not probable Even an English pack will carry the trail of a red herring breast high without a fault for hours, and here was so compound of which the tell-tale odour would hold for days A last chance If ere forced to abandon our horses, we, their riders, ht possibly escape, could we find any place to hide in on that great plain If not, we should be seen as well as scented, and then--No, the odds were all against us, but so they had often been before; meanwhile we had three miles start, and perhaps help would come to us from the Mountain, some help unforeseen So we set our teeth and sped away like arrohile the light lasted

Very soon it failed, and whilst the rew dark

Now the hounds gained on us, for in the gloo, we did not dare to ride full speed, fearing lest our horses should stumble and lame themselves, or fall Then it was for the second time since we had dwelt in this land of Kaloon that of a sudden the fire flamed upon the Peak When we had seen it before, it had appeared to flash across the heavens in one great lighthouse ray, concentrated through the loop above the pillar, and there this night also the ray ran far above us like a lance of fire But now that ere nearer to its fount we found ourselves bathed in a soft, mysterious radiance like that of the phosphorescence on a summer sea, reflected doards perhaps from the clouds and massy rock roof of the column loop and diffused by the snows beneath

This unearthly glimmer, faint as it was, helped us much, indeed but for it we h, full of holes alsomarmots Thus in our extreth the moon rose, when as quickly as they had appeared the volcanic fires vanished, leaving behind the but the accustomed pillar of dull red smoke

It is a commonplace to speak of the music of hounds at chase, but often I have wondered how thatfor its life

Noe filled the place of the quarry, it was my destiny to solve this probleeny of earth can produce no more hideous noise It had coht the hellish harmonies of its volume seemed terrific, yet I could discern the separate notes of which it was composed, especially one deep, bell-like bay

I remembered that I had heard this bay e sat in the boat upon the river and saw that poor noble done to death for the cri the Khania As the hunt passed us then I observed that it burst froe brute, red in colour, with a coal-black ear, fangs that gleamed like ivory, and a mouth which resembled a hot oven I even knew the name of the beast, for afterwards the Khan, whose peculiar joy it was, had pointed it out to ht it, and told me that it could kill an ar warned us, Master was not half a allop faster, especially as here the ground was s covered with a short, dry turf, and for the next two hours we gained upon the pack Yes, it was only two hours, or perhaps less, but it seemed a score of centuries The slopes of the Peak were now notout at last They had borne us nobly, poor beasts, though ere no light weights, yet their strength had its limits The sweat ran froasps, they stu of our spear-shafts Their gallop sank to a jolting canter, and I thought that soon they entle rise, froround, that was sprinkled with bush and rocks, sloped doards to where, so the enormous flanks of the Mountain When we had travelled a little way down this slope ere obliged to turn in order to pass between two heaps of rock, which brought us side on to its brow And there, crossing it not more than three hundred yards a the pack There were fewer of them now; doubtless many had fallen out of the hunt, but many still reh his second alloped the first to a standstill

Our poor horses saw thes, for all the while they knew that they were running for their lives This we could tell fro came near to them, not as horses tremble with the pleasureable excitement of the hunt, but in an extre tiger roars close to their cah they were fresh froain until another four miles or so were covered and the river was but a little way ahead, for we could hear the rush of its waters

Then slowly but surely the pack overtook us We passed a cluone a couple of hundred yards or so across the open plain beyond, feeling that the horses were utterly spent, I shouted to Leo-”Ride round back to the bush and hide there” So we did, and scarcely had we reached it and dismounted when the hounds ca along upon our spoor and running all but mute, for now they were too weary to waste their breath in vain ”Run for it,” I said to Leo as soon as they had gone by, ”for they will be back on the scent presently,” and we set off to the right across the line that the hounds had taken, so as not to cut our own spoor

About a hundred yards aas a rock, which fortunately ere able to reach before the pack swung round upon the horses' tracks, and therefore they did not view us Here we stayed until following the loop, they came to the patch of bush and passed behind it Then we ran forward again as far as we could go Glancing backwards as ent, I saw our two poor, foundered beasts plunging away across the plain, happily al which we had ridden frohts and urged on by fear, could still gallop and keep ahead of the dogs, though we knew that this would not be for very long I saw also that the Khan, guessing e had done in our despair, was trying to call his hounds off the horses, but as yet without avail, for they would not leave the quarry which they had viewed

All this caht in a flash, but I rehty, snow-clad Peak sur its shadow for mile upon mile across the desert flats; the plain with its isolated rocks and grey bushes; the doo across it with convulsive bounds; the trailing line of great dogs that loped after the sure of the Khan and his horse, of which the black hide was beflecked with foam Then above, the blue and tender sky, where the round ht no detail, even the smallest, could escape the eye

Now youth and evenman for my years, I could not run as I used to do Also I wasriding, so I ress, and to worsen ainst a stone and hurt it ht that if we could once reach the river our scent would be lost in the water; at any rate that it would give us a chance of life Just then too, I heard the belling bay of the hound Master, and waited for the next Yes, it was nearer to us The Khan had made a cast and found our line Presently we o!” I said ”I can keep them back for a few minutes and you may escape It is your quest, not mine Ayesha awaits you, not me, and I am weary of life I wish to die and have done with it”

Thus I gasped, not all at once, but in broken words, as I hobbled along clinging to Leo's arm But he only answered in a low voice-”Be quiet, or they will hear you,” and on he went, dragging me with him

We were quite near the water now, for we could see it gleaed for one deep drink I remember that this was the uppermost desire in my mind, to drink and drink But the hounds were nearer still to us, so near that we could hear the pattering of their feet on the dry groundhorse We had reached soan, when Leo said suddenly-”No use, we can't h”

So heeled round, resting our backs against the rock There, about a hundred yards off, were the death-hounds, but Heaven be praised! only three of the horses, and doubtless when they caught theorge theht Only three, and the Khan, a wild figure, who galloped with them; but those three, the black and red brute, Master, and two others alht be worse,” said Leo ”If you will try to tackle the dogs, I'll dodown he rubbed his palrit, for they et as water, an exaht hands and the knives in our left, and waited

The dogs had seen us now and ca fearfully With a rush they came, and I am not ashamed to own that I felt terribly afraid, for the brutes seemed the size of lions and more fierce One, it was the s up the little rise, sprang straight at my throat

Why or how I do not know, but on the i to ht caht The spear entered between its forelegs and such was the shock that I was knocked backwards But when I regained nashi+ng at the spear shaft, which had been twisted from my hand

The other two had juh one of theh, he hurled his spear at it but missed, for the steel passed just under its belly and buried itself deep in the ground The pair of theht of their dying companion made the, where, as our spears were gone, they were safe from us

Now the Khan had ridden up and sat upon his horse glowering at us, and his face was like the face of a devil I had hoped that he ht fear to attack, but the moment I saw his eyes, I knew that this would not be He was quite -drawn excite from the saddle, he drew his short sword-for either he had lost his spear or had brought none-andatand I saw him rush at Leo, and after that who can tell exactly what happened?

My knife went horound and lay there-for its hindquarters were paralysed, howling, snarling and biting at ht arhty jaws, and the agony of it, or so I suppose, caused ged h I kicked it in the stoth I fell to my knees and, as it chanced, e orange, which I gripped I gained ain and pounded at its skull with the stone, but still it did not leave go, and this ell for me, for its next hold would have been on my throat

We twisted and tuht that I saw Leo and the Khan rolling over and over each other upon the ground; at another, that he, the Khan, was sitting against a stone looking at me, and it ca while the dog worried row black, soe hound lifted froainstround in the air Leo held it by its hind legs and with all his great strength whirled it round and round

Thud!

He had dashed its head against the rock, and it fell and lay still, a huddled heap of black and red Oddly enough, I did not faint; I suppose that the pain and the shock to my nerves kept me awake, for I heard Leo say in a asps for breath-”Well, that's over, and I think that I have fulfilled the Shaman's prophecy Let's look and make sure”

Then he ledsupinely against it, sat the Khan, still living but unable to move hand or foot The madness had quite left his face and he looked at us with melancholy eyes, like the eyes of a sick child

”You are bravealso, to have killed those hounds and broken my back So it has come about as was foretold by the old Rat After all, I should have hunted Atene, not you, though now she lives to avenge me, for her own sake, not mine Yellow-beard, she hunts you too and with deadlier hounds than these, those of her thwarted passions Forgive o before you, for there one dwells who is stronger than Atene”

Then his jaw dropped and he was dead