oved to the next prisoner and held it before
him awhile, and so on till he came to the fifth, that young woman of
whom I have spoken. Now the cat grew very angry, for in the death-like
stillness we could hear it spitting and growling. At length it seemed
to lift its paws and strike the girl upon the face, whereon she screamed
aloud, a terrible scream. Then all the audience broke out into a shout,
a single word, which we understood, for we had heard one very like it
used by the people of the Plain. It was "Witch! Witch! _Witch!_"

Executioners who were waiting for the victim to be chosen in this ordeal
by cat, rushed forward and seizing the girl began to drag her towards
the fire. The prisoner who was standing by her and whom we rightly
guessed to be her husband, tried to protect her, but his arms being
bound, poor fellow, he could do nothing. One of the executioners knocked
him down with a stick. For a moment his wife escaped and threw herself
upon him, but the brutes lifted her up again, haling her towards the
fire, whilst all the audience shouted wildly.

"I can't stand this," said Leo, "it's murder--coldblooded murder," and
he drew his sword.

"Best leave the beasts alone," I answered doubtfully, though my own
blood was boiling in my veins.

Whether he heard or not I do not know, for the next thing I saw was Leo
rushing through the gate waving the Khan's sword and shouting at the
top of his voice. Then I struck my heels into the ribs of the horse and
followed after him. In ten seconds we were among them. As we came the
savages fell back this way and that, staring at us amazed, for at first
I think they took us for apparitions. Thus Leo on foot and I galloping
after him, we came to the place.

The executioners and their victim were near the fire now--a very great
fire of resinous pine logs built in a pit that measured about eight feet
across. Close to it sat the priest upon his stool, watching the scene
with a cruel smile, and rewarding the cat with little gobbets of raw
meat, that he took from a leathern pouch at his side, occupations in
which he was so deeply engaged that he never saw us until we were right
on to him.

Shouting, "Leave her alone, you blackguards," Leo rushed at the
executioners, and with a single blow of his sword severed the arm of one
of them who gripped the woman by the nape of the neck.

With a yell of pain and rage the man sprang back and stood waving the
stump towards the people and st