ke wings that supported it in midair had a spread of fully
thirty. Its gaping jaws were armed with long, sharp teeth, and its
claw equipped with horrible talons.

The hissing noise which had first attracted my attention was issuing
from its throat, and seemed to be directed at something beyond and
below me which I could not see. The ledge upon which I stood
terminated abruptly a few paces farther on, and as I reached the end I
saw the cause of the reptile's agitation.

Some time in past ages an earthquake had produced a fault at this
point, so that beyond the spot where I stood the strata had slipped
down a matter of twenty feet. The result was that the continuation of
my ledge lay twenty feet below me, where it ended as abruptly as did
the end upon which I stood.

And here, evidently halted in flight by this insurmountable break in
the ledge, stood the object of the creature's attack--a girl cowering
upon the narrow platform, her face buried in her arms, as though to
shut out the sight of the frightful death which hovered just above her.

The dragon was circling lower, and seemed about to dart in upon its
prey. There was no time to be lost, scarce an instant in which to
weigh the possible chances that I had against the awfully armed
creature; but the sight of that frightened girl below me called out to
all that was best in me, and the instinct for protection of the other
sex, which nearly must have equaled the instinct of self-preservation
in primeval man, drew me to the girl's side like an irresistible magnet.

Almost thoughtless of the consequences, I leaped from the end of the
ledge upon which I stood, for the tiny shelf twenty feet below. At the
same instant the dragon darted in toward the girl, but my sudden advent
upon the scene must have startled him for he veered to one side, and
then rose above us once more.

The noise I made as I landed beside her convinced the girl that the end
had come, for she thought I was the dragon; but finally when no cruel
fangs closed upon her she raised her eyes in astonishment. As they
fell upon me the expression that came into them would be difficult to
describe; but her feelings could scarcely have been one whit more
complicated than my own--for the wide eyes that looked into mine were
those of Dian the Beautiful.

"Dian!" I cried. "Dian! Thank God that I came in time."

"You?" she whispered, and then she hid her face again; nor could I tell
whether she were glad