ened,--I do not know what,
to this day. I heard a short, sharp cry behind me, a fall,
and turning saw an awful face rushing upon me,--not human,
not animal, but hellish, brown, seamed with red branching scars,
red drops starting out upon it, and the lidless eyes ablaze.
I threw up my arm to defend myself from the blow that flung
me headlong with a broken forearm; and the great monster,
swathed in lint and with red-stained bandages fluttering about it,
leapt over me and passed. I rolled over and over down the beach,
tried to sit up, and collapsed upon my broken arm. Then Moreau appeared,
his massive white face all the more terrible for the blood that
trickled from his forehead. He carried a revolver in one hand.
He scarcely glanced at me, but rushed off at once in pursuit of
the puma.

I tried the other arm and sat up. The muffled figure in front ran
in great striding leaps along the beach, and Moreau followed her.
She turned her head and saw him, then doubling abruptly made
for the bushes. She gained upon him at every stride. I saw her
plunge into them, and Moreau, running slantingly to intercept her,
fired and missed as she disappeared. Then he too vanished
in the green confusion. I stared after them, and then the pain
in my arm flamed up, and with a groan I staggered to my feet.
Montgomery appeared in the doorway, dressed, and with his revolver in
his hand.

"Great God, Prendick!" he said, not noticing that I was hurt,
"that brute's loose! Tore the fetter out of the wall!
Have you seen them?" Then sharply, seeing I gripped my arm,
"What's the matter?"

"I was standing in the doorway," said I.

He came forward and took my arm. "Blood on the sleeve,"
said he, and rolled back the flannel. He pocketed his weapon,
felt my arm about painfully, and led me inside. "Your arm
is broken," he said, and then, "Tell me exactly how it
happened--what happened?"

I told him what I had seen; told him in broken sentences,
with gasps of pain between them, and very dexterously and swiftly
he bound my arm meanwhile. He slung it from my shoulder,
stood back and looked at me.

"You'll do," he said. "And now?"

He thought. Then he went out and locked the gates of the enclosure.
He was absent some time.

I was chiefly concerned about my arm. The incident seemed merely
one more of many horrible things. I sat down in the deck chair,
and I must admit swore heartily at the island. The first dull
feeling of injury