CHAPTER XXIV. THE WHITE LEOPARDESS
At the foot of the stair lay the moonlit street, and I could hear theunwholesome, inhospitable wind blowing about below. But not a breath ofit entered my retreat, and I was composing myself to rest, when suddenlymy eyes opened, and there was the head of the shining creature I hadseen following the Shadow, just rising above the uppermost step! Themoment she caught sight of my eyes, she stopped and began to retire,tail foremost. I sprang up; whereupon, having no room to turn, she threwherself backward, head over tail, scrambled to her feet, and in a momentwas down the stair and gone. I followed her to the bottom, and lookedall up and down the street. Not seeing her, I went back to my hardcouch.
There were, then, two evil creatures prowling about the city, one with,and one without spots! I was not inclined to risk much for man or womanin Bulika, but the life of a child might well be worth such a poorone as mine, and I resolved to keep watch at that door the rest of thenight.
Presently I heard the latch move, slow, slow: I looked up, and seeingthe door half-open, rose and slid softly in. Behind it stood, not thewoman I had befriended, but the muffled woman of the desert. Without aword she led me a few steps to an empty stone-paved chamber, and pointedto a rug on the floor. I wrapped myself in it, and once more lay down.She shut the door of the room, and I heard the outer door open and closeagain. There was no light save what came from the moonlit air.
As I lay sleepless, I began to hear a stifled moaning. It went on fora good while, and then came the cry of a child, followed by a terribleshriek. I sprang up and darted into the passage: from another door in itcame the white leopardess with a new-born baby in her mouth, carryingit like a cub of her own. I threw myself upon her, and compelled her todrop the infant, which fell on the stone slabs with a piteous wail.
At the cry appeared the muffled woman. She stepped over us, the beastand myself, where we lay struggling in the narrow passage, took up thechild, and carried it away. Returning, she lifted me off the animal,opened the door, and pushed me gently out. At my heels followed theleopardess.
"She too has failed me!" thought I; "--given me up to the beast to besettled with at her leisure! But we shall have a tussle for it!"
I ran down the stair, fearing she would spring on my back, but shefollowed me quietly. At the foot I turned to lay hold of her, butshe sprang over my head; and when again I turned to face her, she wascrouching at my feet! I stooped and stroked her lovely white skin;she responded by licking my bare feet with her hard dry tongue. Then Ipatted and fondled her, a well of tenderness overflowing in my heart:she might be treacherous too, but if I turned from every show of lovelest it should be feigned, how was I ever to find the real love whichmust be somewhere in every world?
I stood up; she rose, and stood beside me.
A bulky object fell with a heavy squelch in the middle of the street, afew yards from us. I ran to it, and found a pulpy mass, with just formenough left to show it the body of a woman. It must have been thrownfrom some neighbouring window! I looked around me: the Shadow waswalking along the other side of the way, with the white leopardess againat his heel!
I followed and gained upon them, urging in my heart for the leopardessthat probably she was not a free agent. When I got near them, however,she turned and flew at me with such a hideous snarl, that instinctivelyI drew back: instantly she resumed her place behind the Shadow. AgainI drew near; again she flew at me, her eyes flaming like live emeralds.Once more I made the experiment: she snapped at me like a dog, andbit me. My heart gave way, and I uttered a cry; whereupon the creaturelooked round with a glance that plainly meant--"Why WOULD you make me doit?"
I turned away angry with myself: I had been losing my time ever sinceI entered the place! night as it was I would go straight to the palace!From the square I had seen it--high above the heart of the city,compassed with many defences, more a fortress than a palace!
But I found its fortifications, like those of the city, much neglected,and partly ruinous. For centuries, clearly, they had been of no account!It had great and strong gates, with something like a drawbridge to themover a rocky chasm; but they stood open, and it was hard to believe thatwater had ever occupied the hollow before them. All was so still thatsleep seemed to interpenetrate the structure, causing the very moonlightto look discordantly awake. I must either enter like a thief, or break asilence that rendered frightful the mere thought of a sound!
Like an outcast dog I was walking about the walls, when I came to alittle recess with a stone bench: I took refuge in it from the wind, laydown, and in spite of the cold fell fast asleep.
I was wakened by something leaping upon me, and licking my face withthe rough tongue of a feline animal. "It is the white leopardess!" Ithought. "She is come to suck my blood!--and why should she not haveit?--it would cost me more to defend than to yield it!" So I lay still,expecting a shoot of pain. But the pang did not arrive; a pleasantwarmth instead began to diffuse itself through me. Stretched at my back,she lay as close to me as she could lie, the heat of her body slowlypenetrating mine, and her breath, which had nothing of the wild beast init, swathing my head and face in a genial atmosphere. A full convictionthat her intention toward me was good, gained possession of me. Iturned like a sleepy boy, threw my arm over her, and sank into profoundunconsciousness.
When I began to come to myself, I fancied I lay warm and soft in my ownbed. "Is it possible I am at home?" I thought. The well-known scents ofthe garden seemed to come crowding in. I rubbed my eyes, and looked out:I lay on a bare stone, in the heart of a hateful city!
I sprang from the bench. Had I indeed had a leopardess for my bedfellow,or had I but dreamed it? She had but just left me, for the warmth of herbody was with me yet!
I left the recess with a new hope, as strong as it was shapeless. Onething only was clear to me: I must find the princess! Surely I had somepower with her, if not over her! Had I not saved her life, and had shenot prolonged it at the expense of my vitality? The reflection gave mecourage to encounter her, be she what she might.