As the last man went down, I heard the running of many feet approaching
us from the direction of the plaza. To be captured now would mean
death; yet I could not attempt to leave the village without first
ascertaining the whereabouts of Ajor and releasing her if she were
held a captive. That I could escape the village I was not at all
sure; but of one thing I was positive; that it would do neither
Ajor nor myself any service to remain where I was and be captured;
so with Nobs, bloody but happy, following at heel, I turned down
the first alley and slunk away in the direction of the northern
end of the village.
Friendless and alone, hunted through the dark labyrinths of this
savage community, I seldom have felt more helpless than at that
moment; yet far transcending any fear which I may have felt for my
own safety was my concern for that of Ajor. What fate had befallen
her? Where was she, and in whose power? That I should live to
learn the answers to these queries I doubted; but that I should
face death gladly in the attempt--of that I was certain. And why?
With all my concern for the welfare of my friends who had accompanied
me to Caprona, and of my best friend of all, Bowen J. Tyler, Jr.,
I never yet had experienced the almost paralyzing fear for the
safety of any other creature which now threw me alternately into a
fever of despair and into a cold sweat of apprehension as my mind
dwelt upon the fate on one bit of half-savage femininity of whose
very existence even I had not dreamed a few short weeks before.
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