stress in the carriage.

"Vedia!" I exclaimed. "Caia!"

"Castor!" she screamed. "You know me? You call me Caia? Are you a ghost?
Are you alive? And that voice! Oh, are you real?"

"Real and alive," I answered. "I am myself. I am Hedulio."

To my amazement there, in the dusk under the willows, among the alders,
she gave a half-smothered shriek and the next instant her arms were round
my neck and mine round her, and she was sobbing on my shoulder, repeating:

"Call me Caia again. This is too good to be true."

CHAPTER XXVIII

MOONLIGHT

When our transports had abated a little I was aware that the twilight was
deepening into dusk and that I must somehow save Vedia from the roaming
wild beasts. I guided her along the twisting track from her hiding-place
to the road. As we gained it I heard a loud snarl of a lion or tiger or
panther far off towards the crag. We must make haste.

I reflected that it would be a very strong and enterprising beast, even if
a lion, which would break into Vedia's coach when its panels were slid and
fastened.

"We are too far from any habitation," I said, "for us to reach any while
the light holds. I dare not make the attempt with you among all these
freed wild beasts. I should be afraid to try it alone in this deepening
dusk. The best thing we can do is to get inside your carriage, slide the
panels and trust to them to keep out any inquisitive leopard or lion. With
the carcasses of four well-fed horses and as many mules laid ready to eat,
no tiger ought to be hungry enough to be eager after us."

"I had thought that, too," she agreed.

I peered through the open door into the coach, which was roomy. Then I
replaced in it its mattresses and cushions, Vedia showing me how they
fitted and, going round to the other door and opening it, helping me to
lay smooth the unmanageable feather-stuffed upper-cushions. She also
showed me the receptacles for her toilet-box, the food hampers and the
kidskins. While we were thus busied the almost full moon rose clear and
bright over a distant mountain. I helped Vedia into the coach and she
disposed herself at full length on its cushions, sinking into the
feathers. I walked round the coach and slid all the panels except the
front panel through which the moonlight entered, then I climbed inside,
shut and fastened the door, shut the panels, fastened each and stretched
out by Vedia, like her with plenty of cushions and pillows under my head
and sho