a
scream of horror and protest forming in her throat; but before it could
find utterance; Sadu swung his head back to the corpse and settled down
to feed.

Alurna felt a wave of relief so intense she nearly fainted; it required
several minutes to beat down her weakness sufficiently to think of
escape.

* * * * *

Some twenty paces to her left towered a mighty tree, its wide branches
offering a secure haven could she but reach them. Only half that
distance, however, separated her and the lion; and if she made a break
for the tree, Sadu could be upon her before she had taken half a dozen
steps.

But the beast might not try to stop her. The princess Alurna knew
nothing of lions and their habits. Only in the arena during the Games
had she seen a live one and then always from a distance. And so she
resolved to lie quiet and wait for the animal to be done with its
feeding. Perhaps then it would rise and stalk back into the jungle,
leaving her unmolested.

The young woman lay perfectly still, trying to close her ears to sounds
of grinding teeth and splintering bones. Once she shut her eyes on the
revolting picture of Sadu at dinner, but opened them at once. To watch
fragments of Mog disappearing into that monstrous maw was bad enough;
but to see nothing, while an overwrought imagination sent the beast
slinking toward her, was more than human nerves could endure.

Suddenly Sadu rose from the Neanderthal's body and gave voice to a low
ominous growl. Alurna saw that the cat's attention was fixed on
something beyond her, and she cautiously turned her head toward the
cliff.

A few feet below the upper edge were several man-like figures clinging
to the vertical surface. Carefully, each inched its way downward,
testing each foot-and hand-hold before continuing on.

For a brief, ecstatic moment the girl took them to be warriors from
Sephar; but then she saw they were creatures identical to her late
captor, and suddenly heightened hopes plunged to a new depth of misery.

Sadu stood as a statue of bronze, the lazy jungle breeze ruffling his
tawny mane, narrowed eyes intent on the slow-moving figures. For several
minutes he stood thus, then lowering his head he seized the corpse of
Mog by one arm and dragged it from sight deep into the luxurious growth
of vegetation beside the trail. Not once during this change of position
did he glance toward the watching girl.

The moment Sadu disappeared f