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loose from his hold and leaped for his throat. The man stepped back and warded
off the first attack with a heavy blow of his fist, immediately drawing his knife
with which to meet the Airedale's return. And Nobs would have returned, all
right, had not I spoken to him. In a low voice I called him to heel. For just an
instant he hesitated, standing there trembling and with bared fangs, glaring at
his foe; but he was well trained and had been out with me quite as much as he
had with Bowen--in fact, I had had most to do with his early training; then he
walked slowly and very stiff-legged to his place behind me.
Du-seen, red with rage, would have had it out with the two of us had not Al-tan
drawn him to one side and whispered in his ear--upon which, with a grunt, the
Galu walked straight back to the opposite end of the hall, while Nobs and I
continued upon our way toward the hut and Ajor. As we passed out into the
village plaza, I saw Chal-az--we were so close to one another that I could have
reached out and touched him--and our eyes met; but though I greeted him
pleasantly and paused to speak to him, he brushed past me without a sign of
recognition. I was puzzled at his behavior, and then I recalled that To-mar,
though he had warned me, had appeared not to wish to seem friendly with me. I
could not understand their attitude, and was trying to puzzle out some sort of
explanation, when the matter was suddenly driven from my mind by the report of
a firearm. Instantly I broke into a run, my brain in a whirl of forebodings, for the
only firearms in the Kro-lu country were those I had left in the hut with Ajor.
That she was in danger I could not but fear, as she was now something of an
adept in the handling of both the pistol and rifle, a fact which largely eliminated
the chance that the shot had come from an accidentally discharged firearm.
When I left the hut, I had felt that she and I were safe among friends; no thought
of danger was in my mind; but since my audience with Al-tan, the presence and
bearing of Duseen and the strange attitude of both To-mar and Chal-az had each
contributed toward arousing my suspicions, and now I ran along the narrow,
winding alleys of the Kro-lu village with my heart fairly in my mouth.
I am endowed with an excellent sense of direction, which has been greatly
perfected by the years I have spent in the mountains and upon the plains and
deserts of my native state, so that it was with little or no difficulty that I found my
way back to the hut in which I had left Ajor. As I entered the doorway, I called
her name aloud. There was no response. I drew a box of matches from my
pocket and struck a light and as the flame flared up, a half-dozen brawny
warriors leaped upon me from as many directions; but even in the brief instant
that the flare lasted, I saw that Ajor was not within the hut, and that my arms
and ammunition had been removed.
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