upon one side listening to what passed. At a little distance behind were
a dozen or more of the temple guards, men armed with swords and picked
for their strength and stature.

Ayesha, in her sweetest voice, was questioning the men as to how the
leopard, of which the skin lay before her, had come to attack Leo. The
chief answered that they had tracked the brute to its lair between two
rocks; that one of them had gone in and wounded it, whereon it sprang
upon him and struck him down; that then the lord Leo had engaged it
while the man escaped, and was also struck down, after which, rolling
with it on the ground, he stabbed and slew the animal. That was all.

"No, not all," said Ayesha; "for you forget, cowards that you are,
that, keeping yourselves in safety, you left my lord to the fury of this
beast. Good. Drive them out on to the Mountain, there to perish also at
the fangs of beasts, and make it known that he who gives them food or
shelter dies."

Offering no prayer for pity or excuse, the chief and his followers rose,
bowed, and turned to go.

"Stay a moment, comrades," said Leo, "and, chief, give me your arm;
my scratch grows stiff; I cannot walk fast. We will finish this hunt
together."

"What doest thou? Art mad?" asked Ayesha.

"I know not whether I am mad," he answered, "but I know that thou
art wicked and unjust. Look now, than these hunters none braver ever
breathed. That man"--and he pointed to the one whom the leopard had