at her with an expression as cold and cruel as that
which Otter had seen in the eyes of the Water-Dweller, when he lifted
_his_ head from its bed of rock. She never saw him roll slowly over and
over across the snow towards her, pausing a while between each turn of
his body, for now she was occupied in replacing the jewels one by one
into their bag of leather.

At last all were in, and with a sigh--for it was sad to lose sight
of objects so beautiful--Juanna drew the mouth of the bag tight and
prepared to place it round her neck.

At this moment it was that a hand, withered and lean with age, passed
beneath her eyes, and, swiftly as the snatch of an eagle's talon, seized
the bag and rent it from her grasp. She sprang up with a cry of dismay,
and well might she be dismayed, for there, running from her with
incredible speed, was Nam, the jewels in his hand.

Otter and Leonard heard her cry, and, thinking that the priest was
escaping, sped to cut him off. But he had no idea of escape, at least
not of such escape as they expected. Some forty yards from where Juanna
had been sitting, a little promontory of rock jutted out over the
unclimbable gulf below them and towards this spot Nam directed his
steps. Running along the ridge he halted at its end: indeed he must do,
unless he would fall a thousand feet or more to the bottom of the ravine
beneath. Then he turned and faced his pursuers, who by now had reached
the edge of the cliff.

"Come one step nearer," he cried, "and I let this bag fall whence you
shall never recover it, for no foot can tread these walls of rock, and
there is water at the bottom of the gulf."

Leonard and Otter stopped, trembling for the fate of the jewels.

"Listen, Deliverer," cried Nam; "you came to this land to seek these
trinkets, is it not so? And now you have found them and would be gone
with them? But before you go you wish to kill me for vengeance' sake,
because I have shown you to be cheats, and have sought to offer you up
to those gods whom you have blasphemed. But the red stones you desire
are in my hands, and if I unclasp my fingers they will be lost to you
and all the world for ever. Say now, if I bring them back to you in
safety, will you swear to give me my life and suffer me to go my ways in
peace?"

"Yes, we will swear it," answered Leonard, who could not conceal the
anguish of his anxiety. "Come back, Nam, and you shall depart unharmed;
but if you let the stones fall, then you sh