each it was
only checked for a moment and then resumed its charge. It was so near
now that I could aim with some confidence at the eye; and if, as I
suspected, the previous shots had failed to pierce the hide, no other
aim was likely to avail. I levelled, therefore, as steadily as I could
at its blazing eyeballs and fired three or four shots, still without
doing more than arrest or rather slacken its charge, each shot
provoking a fearful roar of rage and pain. I fired my last within
about twenty yards, and then, before I could draw my sword, was dashed
to the ground with a violence that utterly stunned me. When I
recovered my senses Ergimo was kneeling beside me pouring down my
throat the contents of a small phial; and as I lifted my head and
looked around, I saw the enormous carcass from under which I had been
dragged lying dead almost within reach of my hand. One eye was pierced
through the very centre, the other seriously injured. But such is the
creature's tenacity of life, that, though three balls were actually in
its brain, it had driven home its charge, though far too unconscious
to make more than convulsive and feeble use of any of its formidable
weapons. When I fell it stood for perhaps a second, and then dropped
senseless upon my lower limbs, which were not a little bruised by its
weight. That no bone was broken or dislocated by the shock, deadened
though it must have been by the repeated pauses in the kargynda's
charge and by its final exhaustion, was more than I expected or could
understand. Before I rose to my feet, Ergimo had peremptorily insisted
on the abandonment of the further excursion we had intended, declaring
that he could not answer to his Sovereign, after so severe a lesson,
for my exposure to any future peril. The Campta had sent him to bring
me into his presence for purposes which would not be fulfilled by
producing a lifeless carcass, or a maimed and helpless invalid; and
the discipline of the Court and central Administration allowed no
excuse for disobedience to orders or failure in duty. My protest was
very quickly silenced. On attempting to stand, I found myself so
shaken, torn, and shattered that I could not again mount a _caldecta_
or wield a weapon; and was carried back to Askinta on a sort of
inclined litter placed upon the carriage which had conveyed our booty.

I was mortified, as we approached the place where our vessel lay, to
observe a veiled female figure on the deck. Eveena's qui