ey could hear the far-away crying and clamour, and the
surly Z[=o][=o]t-beating of the Earth-mulgars drawing nearer and nearer.

Without pausing an instant, Nod cast the stone into his mouth for
safety, and away went the three travellers, bundle and cudgel, rags and
sheep's-coat, helter-skelter, between the silvery breaks of the trees,
scampering faster than any Mulgar, Mulla, or Munza had ever run before.
The snow was crisp and hard; their worn and hardened feet made but the
faintest flip-flap in the hush. And scarcely had they run their first
short wind out, when lo and behold! there, in a leafy bower of snow in
their path, three short-maned snorting little Horses of Tishnar, or
Zevveras, stood, rearing and chafing, and yet it seemed tethered
invisibly to that same frosty stable by a bridle from which they could
not break away.

They whinnied in concert to see these scampering Mulgars come panting
over the snow. And Nod remembered instantly the longed-for gongs and
stripes of his childhood, and he called like a parakeet: "Tishnar, O
Tishnar!" He could say no more. The Wonderstone that had lain couched on
his tongue, as he opened his mouth, slid softly back, paused for his
cry, and the next instant had glided down his throat. But by this time
Thumb had straddled the biggest of the little plunging beasts. And, like
arrows from the Gunga's bow, each with his hands clasped tight about his
Zevvera's neck, away went Thumb, away went Thimble, away went Nod, the
night wind whistling in their ears, their rags a-flutter, the clear
stripes of the Zevveras winking in the rising moon.

But the Little Horse of Tishnar which carried Nod upon his back was by
much the youngest and smallest of the three. And soon, partly because of
his youth, and partly because he had started last, he began to fall
farther and farther behind. And being by nature a wild and untamable
beast, his spirit flamed up to see his brothers out-stripping him so
fast. He flung up his head with a shrill and piercing whinny, and
plunged foaming on. The trees winked by. Now up they went, now down,
into deep and darkling glades, now cantering softly over open and
moon-swamped snow. If only he could fling the clumsy, clinging Mulgar
off his back he would soon catch up his comrades, who were fast
disappearing between the trees. He jumped, he reared, he kicked, he
plunged, he wriggled, he whinnied. Now he sped like the wind, then on a
sudden stopped dead, with all four