The Wieroo
wheeled and dropped almost to sea-level, and then raced southward
in an effort to outdistance our pursuers. The great creatures,
notwithstanding their enormous weight, are swift on their wings;
but the Wieroo are swifter. Even with my added weight, the creature
that bore me maintained his lead, though he could not increase it.
Faster than the fastest wind we raced through the night, southward
along the coast. Sometimes we rose to great heights, where the
air was chill and the world below but a blur of dim outlines; but
always the jo-oos stuck behind us.
"I knew that we had covered a great distance, for the rush of
the wind by my face attested the speed of our progress, but I had
no idea where we were when at last I realized that the Wieroo was
weakening. One of the jo-oos gained on us and succeeded in heading
us, so that my captor had to turn in toward the coast. Further
and further they forced him to the left; lower and lower he sank.
More labored was his breathing, and weaker the stroke of his once
powerful wings. We were not ten feet above the ground when they
overtook us, and at the edge of a forest. One of them seized the
Wieroo by his right wing, and in an effort to free himself, he
loosed his grasp upon me, dropping me to earth. Like a frightened
ecca I leaped to my feet and raced for the sheltering sanctuary of
the forest, where I knew neither could follow or seize me.
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