| 107 | 108 | 109 | 110 | 111 |
| 1 | 74 | 149 | 223 | 297 |
|
Then an odd sound, a sobbing panting, that grew faster and fainter. Yet
another silence, and then dim sounds and the grunting of some animal.
Everything was still again. Far away eastwards an elephant trumpeted,
and from the woods came a snarling and yelping that died away.
In the long interval the moon shone out again, between the stems of the
trees on the ridge, sending two great bars of light and a bar of
darkness across the reedy waste. Then came a steady rustling, a splash,
and the reeds swayed wider and wider apart. And at last they broke open,
cleft from root to crest.... The end had come.
She looked to see the thing that had come out of the reeds. For a moment
it seemed certainly the great head and jaw she expected, and then it
dwindled and changed. It was a dark low thing, that remained silent, but
it was not the lion. It became still--everything became still. She
peered. It was like some gigantic frog, two limbs and a slanting body.
Its head moved about searching the shadows....
A rustle, and it moved clumsily, with a sort of hopping. And as it moved
it gave a low groan.
The blood rushing through her veins was suddenly joy. "Ugh-lomi!" she
whispered.
The thing stopped. "Eudena," he answered softly with pain in his
109
Page
Quick Jump
|