he ladder. The door of the hut yielded to it, and
a minute after it again emerged and bore with it the terrified Kachyen.
We crept after it as it dragged its captive down the avenue, striving
our utmost to make out its shape. One thing we could tell, which was
that the creature was not upright; but our movement behind it was
apparently known, for it struggled to move quicker over the ground with
its human burden.

[Illustration: "IT AGAIN EMERGED."]

"Shall I shoot it?" I whispered to Denviers, as my nerves seemed to be
almost unstrung at the unknowableness of the creeping thing.

"You would more likely kill the man," he responded. "Follow as
noiselessly as you can--it will not let its prey escape, be sure of
that. Once we track it to its haunt we will soon dispatch it, big and
fierce as it seems."

We drew nearer and nearer to it, until it had passed half-way down the
avenue, then it seemed to become lost to our view, although we were, as
we knew, close to it. I felt Denviers' hand upon my shoulder, and then
he whispered:--

"The Kachyen is being dragged up a tree just in front--look!" I could
just distinguish something moving up the trunk, when suddenly the
captive, who had hitherto been apparently paralyzed with terror, uttered
a cry and then must have succeeded in disengaging himself from the
dreadful thing that had held him, for the noise of someone falling to
the ground was heard, and a minute after we distinguished the form of a
man rushing headlong back to the village for safety.

We did not anticipate such an event, and were contemplating a search for
the captor of the Kachyen, when a cold sweat broke out upon me, for the
clammy claws of the man-hunter had touched me! The sensation which
seized me was only of short duration, for I felt myself released just as
Denviers said:--

"Harold, the Kachyen has fled, and his captor, determined to secure its
prey, has betaken its crawling body after him. If only we had a light! I
saw something like a black shadow moving onwards; get your pistol ready
and follow." I just distinguished Denviers as he passed on in front of
me, Hassan coming last. When we reached the hut of the Maw-Sayah we
stopped at once, for, from the cry which came from it, we rightly
surmised that the terrible seeker for human prey had made for this
place, thinking, in its dull intelligence, that its captive had
returned. We thrust ourselves into the hut, and saw by the red firelight
a sanguinar