She turned like a flash with a beastly snarl, teeth and eyes
gleaming again. Her axe shone, on the upstroke, on the downstroke,
as she hacked at his hand. She had lopped it off at the wrist, but
that he parried with the bear-spear. Even then, she shore through
the shaft and shattered the bones of the hand at the same blow, so
that he loosed perforce.

Then again they raced on as before, Christian not losing a pace,
though his left hand swung useless, bleeding and broken.

The snarl, indubitable, though modified from a woman's organs, the
vicious fury revealed in teeth and eyes, the sharp arrogant pain
of her maiming blow, caught away Christian's heed of the beasts
behind, by striking into him close vivid realisation of the
infinitely greater danger that ran before him in that deadly
Thing.

When he bethought him to look behind, lo! the pack had but reached
their tracks, and instantly slunk aside, cowed; the yell of
pursuit changing to yelps and whines. So abhorrent was that fell
creature to beast as to man.

She had drawn her furs more closely to her, disposing them so
that, instead of flying loose to her heels, no drapery hung lower
than her knees, and this without a check to her wonderful speed,
nor embarrassment by the cumbering of the folds. She held her head
as before; her lips were firmly set, only the tense nostrils gave
her breath; not a sign of distress witnessed to the long
sustaining of that terrible speed.

But on Christian by now the strain was telling palpably. His head
weighed heavy, and his breath came labouring in great sobs; the
bear spear would have been a burden now. His heart was beating
like a hammer, but such a dulness oppressed his brain, that it was
only by degrees he could realise his helpless state; wounded and
weaponless, chasing that terrible Thing, that was a fierce,
desperate, axe-armed woman, except she should assume the beast
with fangs yet more formidable.

And still the far slow stars went lingering nearly an hour from
midnight.

So far was his brain astray that an impression took him that she
was fleeing from the midnight stars, whose gain was by such slow
degrees that a time equalling days and days had gone in the race
round the northern circle of the world, and days and days as long
might last before the end--except she slackened, or except he
failed.

But he would not fail yet.

How long had he been praying so? He had started with a
self-confidence and reliance th