Part 26 (1/2)

For what seeraceful body with its treer until it looreat as that of an elephant She could feel a screa in her throat; but before it could find utterance; Sadu swung his head back to the corpse and settled down to feed

Alurna felt a wave of relief so intense she nearly fainted; it required several minutes to beat down her weakness sufficiently to think of escape

Sohty tree, its wide branches offering a secure haven could she but reach them Only half that distance, however, separated her and the lion; and if she made a break for the tree, Sadu could be upon her before she had taken half a dozen steps

But the beastof lions and their habits Only in the arena during the Games had she seen a live one and then always from a distance And so she resolved to lie quiet and wait for the ani Perhaps then it would rise and stalk back into the jungle, leaving her un to close her ears to sounds of grinding teeth and splintering bones Once she shut her eyes on the revolting picture of Sadu at dinner, but opened the into that , while an overwrought i toward her, was more than human nerves could endure

Suddenly Sadu rose frorowl Alurna saw that the cat's attention was fixed on so beyond her, and she cautiously turned her head toward the cliff

A few feet below the upper edge were severalto the vertical surface Carefully, each inched its way doard, testing each foot-and hand-hold before continuing on

For a brief, ecstatic irl took them to be warriors from Sephar; but then she saw they were creatures identical to her late captor, and suddenly heightened hopes plunged to a new depth of le breeze ruffling his tawny ures For severalhis head he seized the corpse of Mog by one arrowth of vegetation beside the trail Not once during this change of position did he glance toward the watching girl

Theto her feet and plunged blindly into the jungle at a point farthest reht was to put all the distance possible between Sadu and herself She dared not take to the open for fear the Hairy Men would catch sight of her and hunt her down

For nearly two hours she struggled on, tearing her way through a tangled confusion of creepers, trees, ferns, broken branches and bushes Several ti, only to rise and stumble onward

Her tunic was stained and torn, thorns and branches having ripped the ly changing her course reat tree in the center of a s deep within the heart of the primeval forest

Completely exhausted she lay half-conscious on the soft carpet of grasses, her tortured lungs laboring to bring oxygen to an overtaxed heart Gradually her eyes closed, her heart slowed its mad tereat distance came the low monotonous hus from many leaves Alurna slept

When she sat up, several hours later, the glade was filled with the half-light that presages nightfall She stood up and looked about, aware of the danger she had courted by sleeping on the ground in a territory where savage ani dusk deepened into darkness The girl's tiny supply of courage fled with the light, leaving a frightened child to grope her way to the base of the lofty tree, where shethe branches

Here she found two thick boughs close together and extending horizontally outward in about the sah trunk, she stretched tired legs along the two branches and composed herself to wait for the dawn

Scarcely was she settled than the screareat cat sounded beneath her, and she heard the aniround at the foot of the tree For a short ti undergrowth and Jalok, the panther, was gone

That night was the longest Alurna had ever known The chill dale penetrated to the innermost parts of her body until she was certain she would never again be war was no protection; in fact, it added to her disco moisture from the damp air

Later, the heavy blackness about her was dispelled by rays of the full hty tree that sheltered her So bright was the glare that Alurna could see objects so s the day Several ti, and once she saw little Sleeza kill and s a field led fastness about the clearing, but what made the sounds ree roars and screams of fierce beasts reached her ears, but always froan to wane, and near daybreak the girl dozed fitfully

When next she opened her eyes the sun had risen, flooding the glade with life-giving, hope-reviving rays Alurna rose, unkinkedhours in an unfaround She are of being very hungry as well as possessed of a raging thirst Acting on these needs she entered the forest to search for water and food

Shortly thereafter, and solely by chance, she ca mountain streareatly refreshed, rose, and set about gathering fruit from the plentiful supply everywhere about her