her fiercely upon the lips.

IX

The moments that followed were like a ghastly nightmare to Beryl, for,
struggle as she might, she knew herself to be helpless. Having once
passed the bounds of civilisation, he gave full rein to his savagery.
And again and yet again, holding her crushed to him, he kissed her
shrinking face. He was as a man possessed, and once he laughed--a
devilish laugh--at the weakness of her resistance.

And then quite suddenly she felt his grip relax. He let her go abruptly,
so that she tottered and almost fell, only saving herself by one of the
pillars of the arbour.

A great surging was in her brain, a surging that nearly deafened her.
She was too spent, too near to swooning, to realise what it was that had
wrought her deliverance. She could only cling gasping and quivering to
her support while the tumult within her gradually subsided.

It was several seconds later that she began to be aware of something
happening, of some commotion very near to her, of trampling to and fro,
and now and again of a voice that cursed. These things quickly goaded
her to a fuller consciousness. Exhausted though she was, she managed to
collect her senses and look down upon the spectacle below her.

There, on the edge of the fountain, two figures swayed and fought. One
of them she saw at a glance was Fletcher. She had a glimpse of his face
in the uncanny gloom, and it was set and devilish, bestial in its
cruelty. The other--the other--she stared and gasped and stared
again--the other, beyond all possibility of doubt, was the ancient
snake-charmer of Farabad.

Yet it was he who cursed--and cursed in excellent English--with a
fluency that none but English lips could possibly have achieved. And the
reason for his eloquence was not far to seek. For he was being thrashed,
thrashed scientifically, mercilessly, and absolutely thoroughly--by the
man whom he had dared to thwart.

He was draped as before in his long native garment--and this, though it
hung in tatters, hampered his movements, and must have placed him at a
hopeless disadvantage even had he not been completely outmatched in the
first place.

Standing on the steps above them, Beryl took in the whole situation, and
in a trice her own weakness was a thing of the past. Amazed,
incredulous, bewildered as she was, the urgent need for action drove all
questioning from her mind. There was no time for that. With a cry, she
sprang downwards.

And in that i