rom view, Alurna sprang to her feet and
plunged blindly into the jungle at a point farthest removed from the
beast. Her only thought was to put all the distance possible between
Sadu and herself. She dared not take to the open for fear the Hairy Men
would catch sight of her and hunt her down.

For nearly two hours she struggled on, tearing her way through a tangled
confusion of creepers, trees, ferns, broken branches and bushes. Several
times she tripped and fell headlong, only to rise and stumble onward.
Her tunic was stained and torn, thorns and branches having ripped the
material in many places.

At last, after unwittingly changing her course many times, she sank to
the ground beside the hole of a great tree in the center of a small
clearing deep within the heart of the primeval forest.

Completely exhausted she lay half-conscious on the soft carpet of
grasses, her tortured lungs laboring to bring oxygen to an overtaxed
heart. Gradually her eyes closed, her heart slowed its mad tempo, she
breathed more calmly as fear left her. As from a great distance came the
low monotonous hum of insects, the subdued twitter of birds and
rustlings from many leaves. Alurna slept....

* * * * *

When she sat up, several hours later, the glade was filled with the
half-light that presages nightfall. She stood up and looked about, aware
of the danger she had courted by sleeping on the ground in a territory
where savage animals were so plentiful.

Abruptly the fading dusk deepened into darkness. The girl's tiny supply
of courage fled with the light, leaving a frightened child to grope her
way to the base of the lofty tree, where she managed to climb among the
branches.

Here she found two thick boughs close together and extending
horizontally outward in about the same plane. Sitting with her back
against the rough trunk, she stretched tired legs along the two branches
and composed herself to wait for the dawn.

Scarcely was she settled than the scream of a great cat sounded beneath
her, and she heard the animal on the ground at the foot of the tree. For
a short time it circled the clearing, then came the sound of rustling
undergrowth and Jalok, the panther, was gone.

That night was the longest Alurna had ever known. The chill dampness of
the nocturnal jungle penetrated to the innermost parts of her body until
she was certain she would never again be warm. The single thin garment
she was wearing