ilk or cotton with which to hold the hawk. "See, she is well
reclaimed, being tame and gentle and altogether amiable. When thrown,
she is as a bullet from a rifle, binding her quarry in high air even as
a man holds his woman to his heart upon the roof-top under the stars.
She is full summed"--and he ran his slender fingers through the new
feathers, full and soft after moulting; "she is keen as the winter
wind--behold the worn and blunted nails; she will not give up, my
master, yet will she come to the lure as quickly, as joyfully as a maid
to her lover."

Hugh Carden Ali, the greatest authority after Abdul on the _shahin_,
took the bird upon his fist, looked at the sunken, piercing eyes which
were partially seeled; ran his hand over the narrow body, short tail
and black back, and a finger over the large beak and deep mouth; held
up the ugly face to the light, examined the flight-feathers and, moving
his hand quickly up and down, caused the bird to flutter its wings--and
so give him a chance of measuring the distance of the wings from the
body. Finding her altogether lovely, he nodded and handed her back to
the delighted falconer of Shammar, just as with a decisive pat the
jaguar landed, its huge paw upon the strutting pigeon, which had
forgotten to keep its distance.

For a moment the attention of the spectators, who were mostly squatting
on their heels, was diverted from the master and the falconer. They
laughed, they moved, whilst some in the back row stood up to see the
fun, leaving for one second an open space through which Damaris could
see the fluttering white bird.

"Ah!" she cried, heartbroken at the sight; then, "Fetch!" she commanded
the dog, pointing across the square.

Now, the dog, who had dispensed with his spiked collar on account of
the heat, had no more idea than the man in the moon what he had to
fetch for his beloved mistress; but, restless from prolonged inactivity
and the smell of strange beasts, he hurled himself in the direction
pointed; and his speed, once he got going, was as surprising as that of
the elephant or rhinoceros and other clumsy-looking animals, and in
very truth, his appearance was just as terrifying.

He crashed head-foremost into the back row of spectators, which, as one
man, yelled and fled; tore along the path made clear for him, and
sensing an enemy in the growling jaguar, was at its throat like a
thrown spear; missing it by an inch as the black beast flung itself
bac