ened tense, wide-eyed, and dangerous.

The Chieftain's wife had jerked her head and sneezed. At least, she had
yanked her cranium quick as quick, and made a noise. It seemed like a
sneeze. For the rest, she remained as motionless and expressionless as
bronze Buddha, her wonderful orbs scowling at the wild cat.

Then that cat got off that slab of rock. I say got off, but it would be
more correct to say that he slid off sideways on his tummy--flat. One
had difficulty in seeing that he moved. His inscrutable, wide, sinister,
yellow-green eyes were fixed upon the Chieftain's wife. The whole of his
attention was fastened, focused, concentrated upon the Chieftain's wife.
And there he made his mistake. He forgot about the Chieftain himself,
but the Chieftain had not forgotten about him. In fact, the Chieftain
was there, on the spot, or over it, rather, exactly above the wild cat's
head, five hundred feet above, and very slowly revolving upon wide,
outstretched pinions, as if hung by invisible, slowly swung wire from
heaven.

If the cat had looked up! But, then, the cat would not have been a wild
four-footed animal if he had. In all the aeons four-footed wild-folk
never seem to have learnt to look up, and, for the omission, die some
painful deaths that might otherwise be avoided. I do not say that none
of them _ever_ look up--they do, but it is seldom.

Indeed, finally this wild cat did look up; he could not well help it.
There was a sound like the swift descent of a smiting sword above him.
But he was seconds too late.

Seconds before, the Chieftain had vanished again. Nay, he had changed.
His wings had shut, and--he had turned into a line, a dark streak drawn,
almost as lightning draws itself, from heaven to earth,
thus--wh-r-r-r-ssss-sh!

It was then that the cat looked up--just in time to receive the
Chieftain's black tiger-talons, upon brilliant yellow claws, clashing
against his own ivory fangs, and--well, in his eyes.

The Chieftain's wife flung from her strange self her immobility, flung
out a scream, flung open her pinions, and--shifted. She could not have
arrived upon the scene more than three seconds after her lord--but not by
any means master. She was certainly not half that time getting to work.

I am not going to describe the struggle that followed, in deference to
certain good, kind, and well-meaning people who are unable to face the
stern realities of life, or--to save their country. Such