,
shooting out straight at the cat's glaring eyes, and saw--greatest
miracle of all the lot--Pharaoh dodge his head aside in the twentieth
of a second, and blink, letting the blow that spelt death whiz by.

And only those same owl's ears--sharpest of all the ears of the
wild--heard the diabolical yell of Pharaoh as the long, sharp beak
pierced through the loose skin of his shoulders, and, thanks to that
same looseness, came out again an inch or two farther on, transfixing
him; or listened to the devilish noise of the "worry," as the cat
turned in agony on himself and buried his fangs where he could behind
those expressionless green reptilian eyes; or caught the stupendous
flurry and whirl of wings and fur and gripping claws and scaly legs, as
a cloud put out the moon and darkness fell with silence, like the
falling curtain that ends a play.

* * * * * *

The very last pale rays of a watery setting sun slid bar-like through
the cottage window, and fell, twirling, aslant the floor.

A late spider had spun a web across the fireplace, and the one last fly
that always lingers sat in the sunbeam. It was Hawkley's cottage,
dismantled and derelict.

Something like a furry round hassock, lying motionless in a far corner,
moved at the sound of rain, and lifted a round head with round eyes
that glared with so terrible an expression that one caught one's
breath. There was blood--dried blood--by the furry shape, and drops of
dried blood across the floor from the window in the next room, that it
had been nobody's business to shut.

The day went out in gloom and howling rain-rushes. Darkness took
possession of the room. And--_the gate clicked_.

Truly, it might only have been the wind, but--Pharaoh was on his feet
in a flash, growling, and there was a glint of green-yellow light as
his eyes whipped round.

Followed a pause. Then, in a lull, once, twice, the unmistakable
crunch of a shod foot on gravel.

Another pause. Pharaoh was crouching close now, trembling from head to
foot.

"Pharaoh! Pharaoh! Pharaoh, old cat, are--are you in there?"

The voice, strained and husky, came in at the open window. In the last
lingering afterglow of dying day, a face, haggard and set, showed
there, framed in the lead casement.

"Phar---- Ah!"

Pharaoh was up. Pharaoh had given a strange, coaxing little cry, such
as a she-cat gives to her kittens. Pharaoh, lame and stiff, but with
tail straig