fifi THE PURSUIT "/ knoiv HOTV that you are a gentleman," she saiJ simply FRONTISPIECE. See page 109 THE PURSUIT BY FRANK S A VILE Author of "Beyond the Great South Wall," etc. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY HERMAN PFEIFER BOSTON LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 1910 Copyright, 1909, 1910, BY LITTLE, BROWW, AKD COMPAHY. All rightt raerved Published, June, 1910 THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE. U.S.A. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. THE LADY OF THE PIER 1 II. AT THE TENT CLUB 15 III. THE SHADOW OF A NAME 26 IV. DESPARD EXPLAINS 36 V. MR. MILLER 47 VI. LANDON'S NEW PROFESSION 58 VII. VILLA EULALIA ... 69 VIII. THE FIRST TRICK is LOST 83 IX. AYLMER is EXPLICIT 93 X. BY FAVOR OF THE FOG 105 XI. RATTIER LOSES HIS CALM 117 XII. THE AMBUSH OF THE BROOM 127 XIII. THE TRAP 143 XIV. ONE SIDE OF A BARGAIN 155 XV. PERINAUD'S NEWS 166 XVI. AT MELILLA 177 XVII. MUHAMMED SCORES TWICE 190 XVIII. THE SANTA MARGARITA'S LAZARET . . . 201 XIX. MILLER is STILL IMPERTURBABLE . 214 2138151 ' vi CONTENTS CHAPTER PAOE XX. AYLMER CLIMBS AND FALLS .... 225 XXL FATE STAYS HER HAND 236 XXII. THE PRISON 247 XXIII. PADRE SIGISMONDI 258 XXIV. LUIGI'S HOSPITALITY 269 XXV. FATE'S FINAL WORD 281 XXVI. DAWN COMES 291 XXVII. SHADOWS Go 308 XXVIII. FATE SMILES AT LAST 316 ILLUSTRATIONS " I know now that you are a gentleman," she said simply FRONTISPIECE " You saved the boy ! " she said, in a quick, panting whisper Page 24 " Mademoiselle, I am Sergeant Perinaud " . . " 167 She gripped the protecting hand between her fingers " 260 THE PURSUIT CHAPTER I THE LADY OF THE PIER IT was not the muleteer's shove, slight but signifi- cant though it was, which produced John Aylmer's shrug of irritation. His resentment was directed at himself. He realized that he had been guilty of a gaucherie. For thirty seconds he had been standing halted in the main street of Tangier, a rock of obstruc- tion to all the rabble traffic which passes between the Bab al Marsa and the Bab al Sok, staring at what ? At a pretty woman. He reddened under his tan. The muleteer's shoul- der had displaced him for purely practical reasons, for, indeed, almost benevolent ones, for the mules would have been capable of obtaining with their teeth what their guardian had obtained by mere weight of his body. But Aylmer felt that by accepted social standards a kick would not have been more than his due. Had he not been behaving like some cub of a cockney clerk at an Earl's Court Exhibition? His lips moved. He was muttering excuses of himself to himself, and knew that they were valid, but that an onlooker would have had no clue to them. For it was not her prettiness which had drawn his attention to the girl. It took no second glance to as- 1 2 THE PURSUIT sure him that she was no countrywoman of his, but an American. Her features had the clean regularity, her complexion the pale, unfurrowed smoothness which is kept intact on the western side of the Atlantic and there alone. The Moroccan sunlight was proving in a dozen places the mistake the shadows made when they dulled the gold of her hair to brown. Her eyes matched the waters of the unrippled bay. Though he recognized these things, they had not, in the first place, attracted Aylmer's attention. Amer- ican girls pretty American girls are no rarity in Tangier since Mr. Cook threw over Moghreb-al-Aksa the ffigis of his protection. Under ordinary circum- stances he would have looked, approved, and, without altering his stride, passed on. But here was some- thing which appealed to the inherited instincts of a gentleman. What was it? Apprehension. He felt no reasonable doubt on the subject Among this girl's natural attributes, he told himself, were placidity, content, self-reliance. The first two were wanting. The third was strained. There was almost a sense of furtiveness in the glances which she turned to throw not only about but, occasionally, behind her. Frankly, she was afraid. His interest fed upon observation. He glanced at her more narrowly, he observed her surroundings. He drew aside out of the mid-street traffic, and under pretence of lighting a cigarette, halted again in the shadow of an awning. She was not alone. She held by the hand a small, alert-looking child a boy, who watched the passers-by with the happy, unconcentrated interest of childhood. THE LADY OF THE PIER 3 His eyes reviewed his surroundings without any of the surprise of unaccustomedness ; obviously the scene was not strange to him. He smiled at Jew and Mos- lem, Christian and Infidel, with a pleasant patronage which one or two itinerant pedlars and shop touts returned with obsequious affability. One man, indeed, a bronzed, hawk-nosed specimen of the desert Arab clad in a ragged djeldb of brown, laughed gaily, plucked a carnation from behind his ear, and flung it to his small admirer as he passed. The child gave a little cackle of delight as he picked it up. The girl looked down as he did so and frowned. " Who was that, Selim ? " she asked quickly, and Aylmer saw that the question was addressed to a stout, muscular Moor who was in attendance. The man lifted his shoulders in deprecation and darted a suspicious glance towards the crowd which had already closed upon the djeldb of brown. " Some desert dog," he answered sullenly. " But indeed Sidi Jan encourages all the rabble of the Sok to take these liberties. He smiles, and the jackals think they have license to smile back." The object of these reproaches thrust the carnation carelessly behind his own small ear. " I have seen him before once, twice, many times," he explained. " He laughs ; he is not gray and dull like Selim. I would like to have him for my kavass." " I drown in perspiration three shirts a day while I wait on thee," affirmed the fat man reproachfully. " Is this thy gratitude ? " " I do not wish to be waited on ; I wish to be played with," said the child. " I should like to go 4 THE PURSUIT to the sands where the Raid's horses are galloped, and play with the brown man. We would paddle and I would throw the water over him. He has promised me this." The girl started and gave a convulsive little grip of the fingers which lay in hers. " He has spoken to you ? " she cried. " When where?" The boy nodded his yellow mop of hair importantly. " Yesterday as I rode through the Sok," he an- swered. " He walked beside my donkey and told me that I was a horseman already made, and should be on the back of a black barb like Sid' Abdullah's. Then I, too, could race upon the sands." The girl looked stonily at the Moor. " How was this, Selim ? " she asked coldly. " Where was your watchfulness ? " The man spread out his hands. " Am I a prophet am I Allah Himself ? " he cried aggrievedly. " There was a crowd a press in the Sok yesterday, wherein one had scarcely room to take breath. And you have seen for yourself. Sidi Jan snatches at familiarities from such as that one; the nearer the gutter he finds his friends the better is he pleased." She looked down at the delinquent, who, without being disconcerted, grinned back. " John," she admonished him gravely, " you are never to speak or listen to strangers in the Sok, or anywhere else." John wriggled and pouted. " I love the brown man," he answered defiantly. " He 's probably a wicked, wicked man," said his THE LADY OF THE PIER 5 monitress. " Instead of playing with you on the sands, he 'd very likely bite you like a camel." The eyes beneath the yellow mop grew round with interest. " Would he ? " he asked breathlessly. " That would would be fun ! " Do what he could to restrain it, a smile broadened across Aylmer's face, and in that moment the girl, looking up, met his eye. He reddened slightly again, hastily struck and put a match to his still unlit cigar- ette. But in that instant he had read surprise first in her glance, then the knowledge that she had been overheard, and lastly yes, there was no doubt about it fear. Not the apprehension of the unknown and unexpected this time, but the thrill of distrust ex- perienced by one seeing peril looming unveiled before her. She was afraid of him, John Aylmer! Her apprehension was no longer vague; he had become the target of it. She dropped her eyes, made a sign to the Moor, and swung quickly towards the nearest shop. And Aylmer, in the midst of the mental disturbance caused by the incident, barely repressed a smile. For the booth, it was little more, was stored with the coarse calicoes and prints which appeal to the dwellers in the desert ; there was certainly nothing there to please the tourist or hunter of curios. No hunted, she had turned instinctively to the nearest shelter. Undoubtedly she had fled from him. He wheeled quickly and strode off down the hill towards the Bab-al-Marsa. Explanation eluded him; he felt baffled. At the same time he was conscious of a sense of relief. Instinct had brought him to a halt, 6 THE PURSUIT the instinct which bids the normal man stop to offer help to the helpless even before that help is claimed. He had discovered, or thought he had discovered, fear in the girl's attitude, and almost inadvertently had stayed to rout it. And now? What fear could have a stable foundation which made him, an absolute stranger, its sudden focus? He shook his head regretfully. To what could not neurasthenia or some such fashionable derangement of the nerves bring a woman in these days of fashionable stress? And yet? Her bearing had not been that of a neurotic. And she was young, three and twenty at the outside. Her face was unlined, her eyes clear, yet, after a moment's scrutiny, she had fled from him. He could not dismiss the problem ; he carried it with him out of the Marsa gate, along the wooden pier. Be- hind the toll bar he sat upon a timber balk and studied it. It gave him a sense of physical pain to remember the expression in those eyes, of which the sea was one vast reminder. A minute or two later, with a petulant shrug, he dismissed the matter or tried to from his thoughts. After all, mystery though it was, the affair had no real significance for him. He had, inadvertently, frightened a lady. But no real responsibility was his. He had looked at her keenly ; too keenly, perhaps, but with no shadow of offence. She had chosen to interpret his scrutiny as menacing. They would probably not meet again why, indeed, should they? And yet, this decision was mentally addressed to a possibly listening Fate to disarm it. Without defining the desire even to himself, he knew that it was there. He wanted to meet her again; he wanted it badly. THE LADY OF THE PIER 7 It was with this desire still at the back of his mind that he turned his eyes seaward on the mission which had brought him to the harbor. The Diomdde? Was she in ? Would her commander, Paul Rattier, be in time to join him in riding out to the Tent Club that evening, or would they have to post- pone their expedition to the early hours of daylight ? He strained his glance northward where the gray bulk of Gibraltar was hidden by floating clouds of Mediterranean mist. Two French men-of-war lay far out in the bay. A trail of black smoke showed where another steamed eastward with invalids from Casablanca to Oran. But neither of the three was the Diomdde; he knew her squat turrets among a thousand. He gave a pessimistic little sigh. Instead of the jovial evening out at Awara under canvas, they would have the hot discomforts of an hotel and a fifteen-mile ride in the dawning to sap their energies before the day's sport began. He looked up with discon- tent at the westering sun. It appeared to be sinking towards the horizon with almost indecent haste. He pulled out another cigarette and lounged lazily along the plank, watching the traffic of the pier and shore in blase indifference. Just below him half a dozen bar- casses were being filled with stout, squat little cattle, destined for food for the weary troops of Ber Rechid and El Setat. The bullocks were being goaded up an incline of planks and tumbled roughly into the unwieldy lighters, and as these were filled a little tug fussed up and towed them by threes to the waiting steamer of the Compagnie Mixte. And here the sufferings of the bullocks deepened from mere discomfort to the fine edge of tragedy. In twos they were lassoed round the horns. The steam 8 THE PURSUIT winch aboard the steamer crashed, and with straining necks and starting eyes the unfortunate beasts were rushed up through the air and swung with terrifying speed down into the hold. They were near enough for him to see through his binoculars the strained mute agony of fear in the eyes of each brute as it swung. And there was a dog on board. Each time as the living load passed within reach of its leap, it sprang into the air and made its teeth meet in the helpless flesh. And the stevedores applauded and goaded him to further efforts. Finally the horns of one struggling animal broke. There was a hoarse laugh as it fell, to break other bones, no doubt, in the depths of the hold, or to mutilate some former comrade below. Aylmer turned away with a shrug of sickened disgust. What a land of cruelty it was, of grind- ing cruelty which spared neither man, woman, nor child, and certainly no beast 1 He turned his glance shore- wards to avoid seeing the tragedy of the bullocks repeat itself. As he did so he gave a start of suddenly aroused in- terest. Rapidly nearing him was a man whom he rec- ognized. He was the hawk-nosed, swarthy son of the desert who had flung the carnation at the American child's feet. He was walking rapidly, smiling, talking in a quick undertone to another child, one who trotted at his side happily enough born of his own people, this a little Moor, clad in a tiny bournous and a hooded djelab of brown. They were making for the steps which led down from Aylmer's side to the huddle of rowboats which awaited chance fares below. Suddenly Aylmer's attention, which had been aroused merely by the fact that the sight of the man led his THE LADY OF THE PIER g thoughts back to the interest of an hour before, became concentrated. The Moorish child babbled in English ! "A black stallion!" he said impressively. "One that will arch his neck like the dome of the mosque, and carry me past all the other horses on the sands?" "It shall be as you desire, little lord," answered the man, easily. "We have but to take a boat from among the many below and row across to the beach. There the horse of thy desires awaits thee. Look carefully. Per- chance thou canst see it even now. Thou hast the eyes of a hawk; I know it." And then Aylmer understood. He saw that below the child's ears and along the line of his hair a dye had been applied. The golden curls had been stuffed back into the hood of the djelab, shoes and stockings flung away, and little dye-stained feet thrust into yellow slippers. The folds of the bournous covered all else. It was the child of the street encounter, the child himself ! Aylmer's instincts, rather than any formed purpose, brought him to his feet and in front of the man, as the latter was about to descend the stairs. "Where did you gain authority over this?" he asked curtly in Arabic, pointing down at the boy. The man eyed him with stony imperturbability. "Is Tangier come to such a pass that we of the Faith have to justify to Nazarenes our authority over our own children?" he asked. "Keep to thine own affairs, Kaffirbillah." Aylmer did not unbar the road of the steps. He leaned down and spoke directly to the child, who was regarding him with half timid curiosity. "Is this man your kavass?" he said gently. "Is he in your parents' service?" io THE PURSUIT The red flush of guilt rose under the brown dye. A bright yellow curl fell from out of the djelab hood as the small head was shaken. "He promised me a horse," said lips which had begun to have a distinct semblance of trembling. "They have only given me a donkey so far only a gray donkey." "Then they do not know that you are with this man; they would not allow it?" pursued Aylmer. The Moor broke in angrily. "Do not be questioned, little lord!" he cried. "This is a son of infinite shame and wickedness, who has no rights over thee ! " "As many, at least, I suspect, as thou," returned Aylmer. "This is a matter for investigation. We will come to the post of the Spanish police at the pier head." "We!" The man's eyes flashed wickedly. "I come not, nor this, my charge." Aylmer shrugged his shoulders. "That is a matter within your discretion, for yourself." He laid his hand upon the child's shoulder. "But this one goes with me." A grin of rage flashed across the Moor's features. With one hand he made a quick clawing snatch at the child's arm; the other he plunged into his bosom. As it reap- peared a knife blade flashed in the sun. Mere instinct made Aylmer throw up his arm in de- fence. Experience and presence of mind bade him fling himself to one side without removing his knee from the path of his assailant. Matters followed the usual course when this old trick of the desert is put in action. The fellow tripped, plunged forward over the outsprawled limb, and fell crashingly upon his elbows. Aylmer's first thought was for the knife which gleamed THE LADY OF THE PIER n upon the planking half a dozen yards away. He scram- bled to his feet and, without troubling to bend, gravely kicked it into the sea. At the same time he was aware of a commotion behind him. The small child's voice was raised in anger. "I hate you I hate you!" he declaimed. "Now Selim will get me ! " There was a reason for his wrath. Panting, blowing, and, to be frank, looking uncommonly like an over- driven buffalo, the Moor attendant was speeding down the pier with outstretched arms furiously gesticulating. The flap of his slippers slammed upon the boards, boat hoys jeered, hotel touts made comments which no Bowdler could render into reputable English. And a few yards behind him Aylmer's heart gave a queer little leap at the sight ran totteringly the white-clad lady, his mistress. The child made an angry gesture of repulse. " I won't go back ! " he shrilled. " I won't, I won't 1 " He looked round towards his new-found friend, who was scrambling to his feet. He ran towards him. Aylmer stretched out a hand and whirled the child up, facing towards the Moor. The latter hesitated, looked towards the advancing figures, and hesitated no longer. Behind the lady ran a couple of the newly raised Spanish police. He swerved swiftly aside, dashed down the steps, and passed rapidly from boat to boat across the gunwales till he had gained one on the outskirt of the press. He shouted fiercely to the boy who held the oars, and the latter bent to his work. The tide was with them and they passed rapidly across the harbor mouth towards the yellow sands outside the town. ia THE PURSUIT The child struggled and shouted in Aylmer's arms, stretching out his hands as he saw his friend disappear in the direction of the, to him, still credible black stallion and other promised delights. He struck out passionately at Selim as the latter's hand closed upon him like the grip of an embodied Fate. "I want my horse, my horse!" he wailed. "I don't want a donkey; I hate it, hate it !" Aylmer surrendered him, nothing loath, into his attendant's arms and then stood expectant, hat in hand. As she saw Selim again in full command of his responsi- bilities, the girl dropped from a run into a rapid walk. She panted, she held her hand upon her breast as she joined them. The two khaki-clad police inspected Aylmer with something of mistrust in their gaze. For a moment her breath failed her ; she could only look at the captive with half resentful, half satisfied eyes. Then she shook her finger at him. "You wicked child!" she cried. "You wicked, wicked child ! " The small sinner laughed defiantly. "The brown man beckoned me from the door of the mosque," he boasted. "I did see him and ran behind the mule that passed, and in at the door, and the brown man caught me up and smeared brown stuff on my face, and ran with me through the other door and out into the other street and covered me with this." He indicated the djelab with pride. "And Selim did not find me. Ho! Ho! I saw fat Selim jumping like a jerboa as we passed the harbor gate ! " Aylmer inspected him gravely. "I have a bamboo cane at home which would meet your case, young man," he said quietly. "Would the THE LADY OF THE PIER i3 loan of it be a boon ? " he asked suddenly, looking at the girl. There was no answering smile in her eyes. She shook her head. "Thank you for your intervention," she said quickly. "No, we never beat children in America; we we respect them." Aylmer nodded. "In England our plan is to make them respect them- selves," he answered. "I dare say both methods have their advantages." He made a gesture towards the town. "Can I have the pleasure of escorting you back?" he asked. "Have you any further attempts to fear?" There was an obvious desire for information in the question and in his eyes. She made no attempt to satisfy it. She shook her head again. "Thank you, no," she answered. "John will have no further opportunities to escape us; we have had our lesson. I can only thank you again and say good morning." He raised his cap in answer to her bow. He watched her turn and walk after Selim, who held his prisoner en- folded in an embrace that gave no loophole for a second escape, little, indeed, for any movement at all. Expres- sion gave place to expression on Aylmer's face. Irritation succeeded surprise and that was quickly followed by amusement. Finally he seemed to dismiss the subject with a shrug which was all bewilderment. "She thanked me," he reminded himself. "She thanked me, but her manner suggested that she would i 4 THE PURSUIT rather have flung me a sovereign to get decently rid of me." He nodded his head with decision. "She 's afraid of me, that 's the truth. Why in the name of all that 's sensible Why?" Echo supplied no answer. CHAPTER II AT THE TENT CLUB AYLMER tightened the reins, touched the rowels against the mare's flank, and lifted her out of her easy amble into something like a canter. He called to his companion and pointed up the slope at a gleam of white set in the dun green of the cork woods. "The camp !" he said, and gave a little sigh of relief. Through the fifteen miles which separate Tangier from Awara the two had halted no longer than sufficed to tighten a girth or light a cigarette. The horses were white with lather, the men stained with dust. Commandant Rattier looked, nodded, and smiled. For a sailor, people were apt to consider him taciturn at first; but they soon discovered that his was a taci- turnity which spoke. His brown eyes could gleam with many lights which were whimsically expressive. A little sidelong jerk of his neatly trimmed beard told more than many elaborated sentences. Reputations had tottered and scandals had been abashed before a single gesture of his neatly gloved hands. For the moment his nod suggested content, anticipation, and unruffled good humor. A minute later surprise overcame his reticence. Half a dozen dull, half-muffled explosions throbbed in the distant jungle of broom and wild olive. The com- mandant's eyebrows rose in arcs of amazement. 16 THE PURSUIT "Do they then shoot the boar as well as impale it?" he asked. Aylmer smiled. "The beaters," he explained. "They are driving towards the plain behind the marsh. They are firing blank charges." The Frenchman gave a little laugh. "In all these matters you must remember that I am of an ignorance the most profound. And my impudence, also, must appear to you colossal. I am to allow myself to charge with a spear I, who, till to-day, have never seen a wild pig save, perhaps, as bacon ! " Aylmer dropped the reins upon the mare's neck, lifted his hand, and wiped his forehead. "All things must have a beginning, my friend," he said. "You have the sailor's eye and, no doubt, the sailor's steady hand. And, above all, you ride as sailors do not always ride. I have every reason to believe that I shall be proud of you before the day is out." Rattier lifted his shoulders with a little shrug. He did not speak, but he left the impression that he depre- cated this point of view, found the arguments futile, and disposed of the question finally. The attention of the riders was suddenly drawn elsewhere. A couple of men emerged into view from behind a clump of argans. They held two horses by the bridles. One of them signalled with outstretched hand. As Aylmer reined in the mare almost upon her haunches the man dropped his hand, relinquished the horse he held into the care of his companion, and approached. He made a dignified gesture of welcome and pointed to a basket on the ground. "Sid' Anstruther sends breakfast, Sidi. They drive AT THE TENT CLUB 17 the bush beyond the hill and the marsh. If you will refresh yourselves here you will avoid climbing the hill to the camp. You can then take these horses and join the spears who wait at the tongue of the jungle in the plain." Aylmer slid to the ground. " It is well thought of, Absalaam," he said, and turned to explain matters to his companion. The Moor beck- oned forward his underling, who quickly tethered the fresh horses to a broom stump and then led away the other two in the direction of the tents which gleamed white upon the slope a mile or so above them. Absalaam, meanwhile, was deftly setting out the meal in the shadow of the argan branches. The two began to eat and drink with appreciation but quickly. They did not exchange much conversation; their attention, indeed, seemed concentrated on matters outside sight but within hearing. For the muffled ex- plosions continued and to them was added the sound of chorussed and intermittent yells. But these last had not risen to any great pitch of excitement; no pig, or, at any rate, no boar, had as yet been sighted or had broken cover. Absalaam flitted to and fro handing dishes, changing plates, expressing by the vigilance of his attitude and actions the fact that he, too, appreciated the need for haste. His dark eyes beamed a sort of intensity of vigor ; the pose of his head seemed to indicate that his ears were critically alert to the purport of those distant shouts. But he offered no comment till Aylmer pushed aside his plate and rose to his feet. "Your station, oh Sidis, will be at the far side of the point of jungle, between the marsh and the forest." 2 i8 THE PURSUIT Aylmer nodded, explained to Rattier, and swung him- self into the saddle. "How many spears?" he asked laconically. The Moor held up the open fingers of one hand. " Four," he answered, "and a lady, who rides but does not carry a spear. It will be difficult with so few, but the Sidis will find the horses of good mettle and capable. Have I now your leave to go, oh Sidis? It is desirable that I join the beaters." Aylmer made a curt motion of consent and looked round, with a tinge of impatience, for his companion. Rattier was daintily flicking a crumb or two from his khaki tunic and flapping his handkerchief at the dust on his overalls. He mounted, at last, with a self-satisfied little shrug. He was prepared to meet the world's criti- cism, or this, at any rate, was the implication his shoul- ders conveyed. With an air that was deferential without being obse- quious the Moor handed each rider a long "under-arm" spear. The next instant they had disappeared down the ragged track through the mimosa at a gallop. As they emerged into the open plain beyond the stretch of forest land, the yells in the jungle combined into a sten- torian chorus. The hidden men shrieked, hollaed, rat- tled their staves, and in one or two instances performed excited fantasias with empty sardine tins. Up on the slope a furlong or two above Aylmer and his companion, a woman came suddenly into view, riding a dappled gray, and waving a handkerchief. They turned towards her as another rider, as yet unseen, cantered round a thicket of broom in the same direction. The handkerchief was waved excitedly and the canter became a gallop. AT THE TENT CLUB 19 The mimosa crashed; the sun-dried lop of wild olive was splintered. Something dark, unwieldy, menacing, burst out of the undergrowth with a speed which seemed preposterously out of proportion to its bulk. It fled across the interval of sand which lay between the strip of forest behind it and the one from which Aylmer and Rattier had just emerged. Emotion perforated the latter's imperturbability. Speech escaped him. "But this is a monster!" he exclaimed. "The near relation of a hippopotamus ! " The boar may have heard and certainly seemed to resent the criticism. He jinked, wheeled from the direc- tion which would have taken him slantingly towards the other rider, and charged the commandant. Nothing daunted, the latter lowered his spear and galloped steadily forward. He did not attempt to lessen his speed to receive the shock. Had his skill, indeed, been equal to his spirit, the result would never have been in doubt. But he held his spear at a "dropping" angle, which discounted the force of speed behind it. The point, instead of meeting the boar's chest in a line almost parallel with the ground, grazed his jaw, brushed past his shoulder, and cut a shallow groove in his quarter. It turned the charge, but not far enough. The wicked eight-inch tusks flashed out in passing and gashed the horse's pastern. The gallop slowed into a canter, blundered into a trot, and became a halting limp. The boar jinked again and Aylmer spurred in pur- suit, hearing the hoofs of his rival's horse thundering jealously behind. He increased his speed, diminished the distance yard by yard, lowered his spear, thrust, and was nearly spilled from the saddle. With incredible 20 THE PURSUIT quickness the huge body had wheeled again as if on a pivot. The pursuers made a chorus of their vexation. Their impetuosity carried them a full forty yards past the line of the boar's retreat. They reined in jerkily, and turned to see their quarry in full retreat up the hill. By good horsemanship Aylmer maintained and in- creased his lead, but without much hope of overhauling the chase before the thicket gave it shelter. The mimosa covert was a bare two furlongs distant. The only chance lay in the boar being headed, and all the spears were, apparently, behind it. There remained nothing to do but to ride and ride hard. His horse responded bravely to the touch of the spur but the sand was loose and deep. He decreased very slightly the distance between pursuer and pursued, fal- tered once or twice, and began to show distress in his breathing. Aylmer told himself that, for the moment, the game was up. And then, with a whirl of flying drapery and gesticu- lating arms, a new rider shot into view on the brow of the slope. Absalaam, calling down innumerable male- dictions upon the ancestry of all jungle pigs, galloped a tent pony between the boar and his refuge. His tactics were successful, but not in the direction which he had desired. The brute wheeled, not down- hill towards the other riders, but slanting back and still upwards in the direction of Awara and the camp. As Aylmer swerved to follow, a cry startled him. He was suddenly aware that the lady in white was riding slightly behind, but almost abreast of him. She was swathed in a sand veil, but her eyes were uncovered and the expression in them was arresting. She was AT THE TENT CLUB ai staring up the hill. Her glance told of anxiety, or even horror. He followed the direction of her gaze. Two figures appeared, both exactly in the line of the hunt. One, also white clad, and running with uncertain feet, was evidently a child a boy of six or seven years. He had distanced his pursuer, a fat and middle-aged Moor, who was menacing him with gesticulations of wrath and at the same time emitting supplicating cries. The youngster answered him with triumphant little jeers, and continued his escape. At the same moment both of them saw the approaching danger. The child halted, hesitated, and seemed to debate upon his action. Not so the Moor. With a howl of dis- may he fled towards the undergrowth, his yellow slippers twinkling against the dun background of the sand. And he continued to yell with whole-hearted despair; he woke the echoes with his shrieks. About fifty yards separated Aylmer from the boar. The child was a full furlong distant. A sudden chill pulsed into, and gripped, the man's heart as he realized the situation. Again the woman called aloud and smote her horse furiously across the withers as she strove to urge it on. Taken by surprise the gray changed step, stumbled, and nearly came down. With lowered spear Aylmer shot ahead. The horse responded nobly to the need. The interval decreased. The boar was thirty yards ahead twenty now no more than ten. The wicked little eyes flung glances sideways; the bristling withers showed that al- most imperceptible rippling motion which presages a "jink." 22 THE PURSUIT Aylmer leaned down across his saddle, holding out the spear before him almost by the butt. He was yet too far to get in a thrust. He could only hope to divert the brute's attention by a short, pricking stab. For the child, now running with short, terrified strides, was immediately in front of the gleaming tusks. Aylmer lunged out. The point reached and entered the boar's flank. It squealed savagely, turned, blundered, and fell beneath the horse's hoofs. Aylmer felt the shock, the agonizing effort at recovery, the final thud of the fall. The horse tripped and rolled over; the spear was torn from the rider's grip. Aylmer ploughed a groove in the sand which landed him far out beyond the huddle of flying limbs in which the white tusks were already working viciously. He scrambled first to his knees and then to his feet. He looked around. The child was close to him, running now towards him. His hands were outstretched; he gave little panting cries. And then Aylmer experienced that curious cold sense of relaxation which comes to some men when the situation calls for instant effort. He saw the child; he saw also the boar, slashing relentlessly a way out from the tangle of his horse's legs ; he saw the horsewoman whose reins were tightening not twenty yards away. But here was no cause for hesitation or bewilderment. His mind, to himself, worked with a certain sense of leisure. He stooped, caught up the child, placed him in the woman's arms, and gave her horse a thrust of dismissal with his fist. As the flying hoofs scattered the sand upon his tunic, he turned to confront his own plight without fear, with, indeed, nothing less than relief. The absorbing AT THE TENT CLUB 23 objective of the last two minutes being achieved, his mind had not had time to review and interpret his own danger. The boar shook itself free of entanglement, snapped around at the wound in its flank, swayed a little and sud- denly, malignantly, focussed its gaze upon Aylmer. It gave a grunt of satisfaction, as it seemed. As if the tension of a hidden spring was released, it bounded forward. Aylmer looked at it as one looks at, and appraises, a picture. The sense of his own peril was in his mind, but latently. He understood the consequences if the boar reached him, but, owing to some perverse enravelment of the brain, details absorbed him to the veiling of all else. He noted with what excellent effect the crimson smear upon the dark flank shone out against the dull back- ground of the sand. He recognized the abnormal curl of the tusks, and debated to what angle the jaw must be slanted to deliver the ripping undercut which experience told him he would receive within a couple of seconds. He saw with a pang of regret that the shaft of his spear was broken; the splintered end protruded from below the withers of the still struggling horse. Thus the picture which engrossed him. And then it was gone, blotted out. The thunder of hoofs, a rising cloud of sand, a dark, struggling mass, which was the boar upon its back. The rider whom he had distanced had passed and the spear had got home. Red was the central spot of this picture, also, but no longer on the dark flank. It welled from the dying animal's chest in torrents. As he watched its struggles, the sense of hazard escaped came home to him. Fear found room in his brain. He 24 THE PURSUIT ran towards the broken spear, grasped it, turned to con- front a peril which no longer menaced. A shudder shook the swaying body, the great thews re- laxed. The boar panted violently once twice. Then with a single sigh, very gently, very languidly, it sank upon the earth. And so lay still. As he stood staring down at it, a reaction against his tinge of panic moved Aylmer to laughter. He began to giggle in little bubbling gasps of mirth which were near relations of hysteria. Matters had gone so quickly that his sense of proportion had been displaced. First per- fect equanimity, then sudden and unfounded appre- hension, now recoil. One short minute had made ample room for all these among his emotions. He found laugh- ter the only balm to his self-respect, for he was shivering with a Briton's uneasy sense of having been guilty of melodrama. His introspection was so intent that he failed to ob- serve the return of the lady in white till her horse spurned the sand upon his riding boots. Then he wheeled alertly and looked up in her face. Her veil had dropped. She was clasping the child to her with the hand in which she gripped the reins. The other she held out to him. " You saved the boy ! " she said, in a quick, panting whisper. " You saved him ! " Aylmer took the proffered hand, lifted his hat, smiled, and recognized the lady of the pier. He hesitated a moment. He shrugged his shoulders. "No," he deprecated, and pointed to the other spear- man who was already wheeling to inspect his trophy. " Your thanks are due to our friend Despard, if any- where." " You saved the boy /" /A^ j/