s, and with
desperate courage I fired my remaining barrel. I missed her clean. I took
one step backwards in the hope of getting a cartridge into my rifle, and
fell, scarcely two lengths in front of the furious beast. She missed me.
I owed my safety to that fall. And then suddenly I found that she had
collapsed. I had hit her after all. My bullet went clean through her
heart, but the spring had carried her forwards. When I scrambled to my
feet I found that she was dying. I walked back to my camp and ate a
capital breakfast.'

Oliver Haddo's story was received with astonished silence. No one could
assert that it was untrue, but he told it with a grandiloquence that
carried no conviction. Arthur would have wagered a considerable sum that
there was no word of truth in it. He had never met a person of this kind
before, and could not understand what pleasure there might be in the
elaborate invention of improbable adventures.

'You are evidently very brave,' he said.

'To follow a wounded lion into thick cover is probably the most dangerous
proceeding in the world,' said Haddo calmly. 'It calls for the utmost
coolness and for iron nerve.'

The answer had an odd effect on Arthur. He gave Haddo a rapid glance, and
was seized suddenly with uncontrollable laughter. He leaned back in his
chair and roared. His hilarity affected the others, and they broke into
peal upon peal of laughter. Oliver watched them gravely. He seemed
neither disconcerted nor surprised. When Arthur recovered himself, he
found Haddo's singular eyes fixed on him.

'Your laughter reminds me of the crackling of thorns under a pot,' he
said.

Haddo looked round at the others. Though his gaze preserved its fixity,
his lips broke into a queer, sardonic smile.

'It must be plain even to the feeblest intelligence that a man can only
command the elementary spirits if he is without fear. A capricious mind
can never rule the sylphs, nor a fickle disposition the undines.'

Arthur stared at him with amazement. He did not know what on earth the
man was talking about. Haddo paid no heed.

'But if the adept is active, pliant, and strong, the whole world will be
at his command. He will pass through the storm and no rain shall fall
upon his head. The wind will not displace a single fold of his garment.
He will go through fire and not be burned.'

Dr Porhoet ventured upon an explanation of these cryptic utterances.

'These ladies are unacquainted with the mysterious