fore the dawn.
Twice she had not been aware of his return until she found him lying on
the sleeping-mat by her side; but, on the third evening, she had
remained awake until a noise without told her that her husband was at
hand. Then she had hastened to unbar the door, which she had fastened
after Abas and Abdulrahman had fallen asleep. The moon was behind a
cloud, and the light she cast was dim, but Patimah saw clearly enough
the sight which had driven her mad with terror.

[Footnote 9: Isa = The hour of evening prayer.]

On the topmost rung of the ladder, which in this, as in all Malay
houses, led from the ground to the threshold of the door, there rested
the head of a full-grown tiger. Patimah could see the bold, black
stripes which marked his hide, the bristling wires of whisker, the long
cruel teeth, and the fierce green light in the beast's eyes. A round
pad, with long curved claws partially concealed, lay on the ladder rung,
one on each side of the monster's head, and the lower portion of its
body reaching to the ground was so foreshortened that to the girl it
looked like the body of a man. Patimah gazed at the tiger, from the
distance of only a foot or two, for she was too paralysed with fear to
move or cry out, and as she looked a gradual transformation took place
in the creature at her feet. Slowly, as one sees a ripple of wind pass
over the surface of still water, the tiger's features palpitated and
were changed, until the horrified girl saw the face of her husband come
up through that of the beast, much as the face of a diver comes up to
the surface of a pool. In another moment Patimah saw that it was Haji
Ali who was ascending the ladder of his house, and the spell that had
hitherto bound her was snapped. The first use she made of her regained
power of motion was to leap through the doorway past her husband, and to
plunge into the jungle which edged the compound.

Malays do not love to travel singly through the jungle even when the sun
is high, and under ordinary circumstances no woman could by any means be
prevailed upon to do such a thing. But Patimah was wild with fear of
what she had left behind her, and though she was alone, though the
moonlight was dim, and the dawn had not yet come, she preferred the
dismal depths of the forest to the home of her Were-Tiger husband. Thus
she pushed her way through the underwood, tearing her garments and her
flesh with thorns, catching her feet in creepers and tr