With Stampede at his side
he would have welcomed such an opportunity of matching rifles with their
enemies, for there were many vantage points in the open tundra from
which they might have defied assault. But the nearness of the girl
frightened him. She, after all, was the hunted thing. He was only an
incident. From him could be exacted nothing more than the price of
death; he would be made to pay that, as Sokwenna had paid. For her
remained the unspeakable horror of Graham's lust and passion. But if
they could reach the kloof, and the hiding-place in the face of the
cliff, they could laugh at Graham's pack of beasts while they waited for
the swift vengeance that would come with Stampede and the herdsmen.
He watched the sky. It was clearing steadily. Even the mists in the
hollows were beginning to melt away, and in place of their dissolution
came faintly rose-tinted lights. It was the hour of dawn; the sun sent a
golden glow over the disintegrating curtain of gloom that still lay
between it and the tundras, and objects a hundred paces away no longer
held shadow or illusionment.
The girl did not pause, but continued to run lightly and with surprising
speed, heeding only the direction which he gave her. Her endurance
amazed him. And he knew that without questioning him she had guessed the
truth of what lay behind them.
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