eet;
then again the arras lifted and in poured a horde of Ar-hap's
men-at-arms. The moment they caught sight of us about a dozen of them,
armed with bows, drew the thick hide strings to their ears and down the
hall came a ravening flight of shafts. One went through my cap, two
stuck quivering in the throne, and one, winged with owl feather, caught
black Hath full in the bosom.

He had stood out boldly at the first coming of that onset, arms crossed
on breast, chin up, and looking more of a gentleman than I had ever
seen him look before; and now, stricken, he smiled gravely, then
without flinching, and still eyeing his enemies with gentle calm, his
knees unlocked, his frame trembled, then down he went headlong, his red
blood running forth in rivulets amongst the wine of oblivion he had
just poured out.

There was no time for sentiment. I shrugged my shoulders, and turning
on my heels, with the woodmen close after me, sprang through the near
doorway. Where was Heru? I flew down the corridor by which it seemed
she had retreated, and then, hesitating a moment where it divided in
two, took the left one. This to my chagrin presently began to trend
upwards, whereas I knew Heru was making for the river down below.

But it was impossible to go back, and whenever I stopped in those
deserted passages I could hear the wolflike patter of men's feet upon
my trail. On again into the stony labyrinths of the old palace, ever
upwards, in spite of my desire to go down, until at last, the pursuers
off the track for a moment, I came to a north window in the palace
wall, and, hot and breathless, stayed to look out.

All was peace here; the sky a lovely lavender, a promise of coming
morning in it, and a gold-spangled curtain of stars out yonder on the
horizon. Not a soul moved. Below appeared a sheer drop of a hundred
feet into a moat winding through thickets of heavy-scented convolvulus
flowers to the waterways beyond. And as I looked a skiff with half a
dozen rowers came swiftly out of the darkness of the wall and passed
like a shadow amongst the thickets. In the prow was all Hath's wedding
plate, and in the stern, a faint vision of unconscious loveliness, lay
Heru!

Before I could lift a finger or call out, even if I had had a mind to
do so, the shadow had gone round a bend, and a shout within the palace
told me I was sighted again.

On once more, hotly pursued, until the last corridor ended in two doors
leading into a hal