t her arm. Not a word did she
speak, only stretched out her draped arm, but the effect was remarkable
and instantaneous.

At the sight of her down on to their faces went those wild men, every
one of them, as though a lightning stroke had in an instant swept them
out of existence. Then she let her arm fall and beckoned, whereon a
great fellow who, I suppose, was the leader of the band, rose and crept
towards her with bowed head, submissive as a beaten dog. To him she
made signs, pointing to us, pointing to the far-off Peak, crossing and
uncrossing her white-wrapped arms, but so far as I could hear, speaking
no word. It was evident that the chief understood her, however, for
he said something in a guttural language. Then he uttered his shrill
whistle, whereon the band rose and departed thence at full speed,
this way and the other, so that in another minute they had vanished as
quickly as they came.

Now our guide motioned to us to proceed, and led the way upward as
calmly as though nothing had happened.

For over _two_ hours we went on thus till our path brought us from the
ravine on to a grassy declivity, across which it wound its way. Here, to
our astonishment, we found a fire burning, and hanging above the fire
an earthenware pot, which was on the boil, although we could see no man
tending it. The figure signalled to me to dismount, pointing to the pot
in token that we were to eat the food which doubtless she had ordered
the wild men to prepare for us, and very glad was _I_ to obey her.
Provision had been made for the horse also, for near the fire lay a
great bundle of green forage.

While Leo off-saddled the beast and spread the provender for it, taking
with me a spare earthen vessel that lay ready, I went to the edge of the
torrent to drink and steep my wounded arm in its ice-cold stream. This
relieved it greatly, though by now I was sure from various symptoms
that the brute Master's fangs had fortunately only broken or injured the
small bone, a discovery for which I was thankful enough. Having finished
attending to it as well as I was able, I filled the jar with water.

On my way back a thought struck me, and going to where our mysterious
guide stood still as Lot's wife after she had been turned into a pillar
of salt, I offered it to her, hoping that she would unveil her face and
drink. Then for the first time she showed some sign of being human,
or so I thought, for it seemed to me that she bowed ever so littl