she pulled herself together, dragging her horse's head round and urged
him back along the track which she had just left, and behind her raced
Ahmed Ben Hassan, spurring the great, black stallion as he had never
done before. With ashy face and wild, hunted eyes Diana crouched
forward on the grey's neck, saving him all she could and riding as she
had never ridden in her life. Utterly reckless, she urged the horse to
his utmost pace, regardless of the rough, dangerous track. Perhaps she
could still shake off her pursuer among the tortuous paths of the
hills. Nothing mattered but that. Better even an ugly toss and a broken
neck than that he should take her again. Panic-stricken she wanted to
shriek and clenched her teeth on her lips to keep back the scream that
rose in her throat. She dared not look behind, but straight ahead
before her, riding with all her skill, hauling the grey round perilous
corners and bending lower and lower in the saddle to aid him. In her
terror she had forgotten what a little distance the hills stretched
from where she had entered them, and blindly she turned into the track
by which she had come, leaving the main hills on her right hand and
emerging on to the open desert on the south side of the range. There
was nothing now but the sheer speed of her horse to save her, and how
long could she count on it? Then with a little glimmer of hope she
remembered that the Sheik was riding The Hawk, own brother to the grey,
and she knew that neither had ever outpaced the other. She had ridden
hard all day, but it was probable that Ahmed Ben Hassan had ridden
harder; he never spared his horses, and his weight was considerably
greater than hers. Would it not be possible for Silver Star, carrying
the lighter burden, to outdistance The Hawk? It was a chance. She would
take it, but she would never give in. The perspiration was rolling down
her face and her breath was coming laboriously. Suddenly, a few minutes
after she had left the hills behind, the Sheik's deep voice came
clearly across the space between them.