n; instead, he raised
his right hand above his head.

"Allah!" he said, in praise of that which had come unto him, "Allah,
there is no God but Thee," just as, with a sudden swish, a flock of
startled pigeons flashing like jewels in the setting sun new low down
across his head, bringing an end to the battle.

For one half-second the jaguar's green eyes shifted, and the dog was at
its throat. There was a mighty, convulsive effort of the hind-legs
which ripped the bulldog's sides, a click, a shiver, and the black
brute fell dead, as the dog, a mass of blood, foam and pride, hurled
himself onto the skirt of his beloved mistress, whilst the enraptured
spectators, yelling with excitement, rushed out into the square with
shouts of "_Ma sha-Allah_," which means, "Well done, well done!"

"Keep quite still," said Hugh Carden Ali, gently, as Damaris made an
effort to turn; then, speaking quickly to the beaming, salaaming
spectators, who had had the time of their lives gambling on the chances
of either animal, ordered them to remove the dead beast and to strew
the place with sand. And "_Irja Sooltan_," he called to the stallion,
which, terrified at the sounds and sight and smell of battle, had
bolted up a side street, where he stood fretting and fidgeting himself
into a fine sweat, until he heard the clear call which could always
bring him back to the man he loved. He stood for one second, then
flung up his heels to the devastation of a stall of earthenware, and
raced back to the square at a most unseemly pace, causing the
spectators once more to fly in all directions with cries of "U'a u'a,"
which means, "Look out, look out!"

He pushed his soft nose with determination against the woman who stood
so close to his master, so that she looked up, and then smiled and
stretched out her arms.

"You beauty!" she cried. "Oh, you _beauty_!"

"You ride?"

Damaris, thinking of the hack, the only thing with the shape of a horse
she had been able to get so far, and upon the back of which she loathed
to be seen, made a grimace.

"I go out on horseback," she said. "I have not ridden since I left
home."

The man's reply, whatever it might have been, was interrupted by Abdul,
who, all smiles, stood before them, with the white pigeon in the left
hand and the _shahin_ upon his right fist.

The native had no intention of causing the white woman pain; in fact,
wishing to find favour in the eyes of the nobles, he only wanted to
give t