Part 26 (2/2)

After eating, she bathed in the river, its waters soothing to the scratches and bruises of yesterday's le

By the tih While she had been in the water she had caught sight of a narrow ga in the direction she was confident Sephar lay Spirits soaring, she started out for hoy with confidence

By noon the sun's heat had become so oppressive that she stopped in the shelter of a tree to rest She was tempted to cliht of being forced to spend another night in this wilderness drove away that temptation It could not be reat plateau about Sephar was reached

Her sweat-streaked face set in stubborn lines, the daughter of Uriedly on And every step was taking her farther and farther fro after, that Tarlok, the leopard, his belly eht scent of her Sloith infinite stealth, he slunk upwind, keeping within the jungle's edge until he caught sight of the girl's bowed shoulders

Tarlok's jowls dripped with anticipation Of all creatures known to him, none was --and once again Tarlok would feed

Nearer and nearer he approached, h into some tree When almost abreast of her, he boldly stepped into the trail, not ten feet behind his unsuspecting prey

It was then that Alurna, warned perhaps by some subtle sense, turned around

Vulcar of Sephar and his band of twenty warriors having safely descended the precipice at the same point where Alurna had inched her way down earlier that day, assembled at the mouth of a pathway into the unchartered wood before them

”They probably can of their passage”

A few ht the others to his side He was pointing to a reat flat foot, grotesquely huriht track,” he declared ”Let us go on; we have work to do”

As unwittingly as though it did not exist they passed the spot where their princess had entered the jungle They did not see the broken and twisted greenery in the forest wall, and had they done so they could not have interpreted its le lore, had found her trail at once, just as they had picked out Mog's bones where Sadu had left thehter held no interest for any one of them, and they had made no effort to track her down

For the balance of the day Vulcar and his coe Because they were sround much more quickly than their bulky quarry

Consequently they were rapidly overtaking the five Neanderthals

Near sunset the winding path debouched into a sh which ran a fair-sized stream Here the pursuers found the first positive indication they were on the right track On the near bank of the river were ashes of a small fire, still warnawed bones of Muta, the boar--already picked clean by hordes of ants

At first, Vulcar's men had clamored to dash ahead in hot pursuit But the hawk-faced leader decided against it, saying a short rest and full bellies would help thery

”But if ait,” argued one, ”the Hairy Men ainst an entire tribe of them”

Vulcar shook his head ”Had they been close to their caves,” he pointed out, ”they would not have stopped to eat and rest No; ill stop for a little while and eat of the food we carry; then we can go on even htly ahead of the others In case the Hairy Men find thatthem they may run away If they see only five, however, they are sure to attack Then the balance of us will fall upon the the soundness of Vulcar's plan Even the er warrior saw its beauty And so the round beside the river, ate of the cured strips of meat carried in their shoulder pouches, and drank from the river

After a short rest period, Vulcar called thee of the journey