The balance of the herd sprang quickly away;
but the hurt doe lagged, and in a moment Nobs was beside her and
had leaped at her throat. He had her down when I came up, and I
finished her with my spear. It didn't take me long to have a fire
going and a steak broiling, and while I was preparing for my own
feast, Nobs was filling himself with raw venison. Never have I
enjoyed a meal so heartily.
For two days I searched fruitlessly back and forth from the inland
sea almost to the barrier cliffs for some trace of Ajor, and always
I trended northward; but I saw no sign of any human being, not even
the band of Galu warriors under Du-seen; and then I commenced to
have misgivings. Had Chal-az spoken the truth to me when he said
that Ajor had quit the village of the Kro-lu? Might he not have
been acting upon the orders of Al-tan, in whose savage bosom might
have lurked some small spark of shame that he had attempted to do
to death one who had befriended a Kro-lu warrior--a guest who had
brought no harm upon the Kro-lu race--and thus have sent me out
upon a fruitless mission in the hope that the wild beasts would do
what Al-tan hesitated to do? I did not know; but the more I thought
upon it, the more convinced I became that Ajor had not quitted the
Kro-lu village; but if not, what had brought Du-seen forth without
her? There was a puzzler, and once again I was all at sea.
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