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Brant sprang forward, all doubt regarding this young woman instantly

dissipated by those final words ofwith him as unconcernedly as if he were a

But pursuit proved useless Like a phanto hihed outright, a clear burst of girlish h the silence, and he leaped desperately forward, hoping to

intercept her flight His incautious foot slipped along the steep edge

of the shelving bank, and he went down, half stu,

until he came to a sudden pause on the brink of the little stream The

chase was ended, and he sat up, confused for thethe evidence of his own eyes

A sainst the slope

of earth dohich he had plunged Its flap flung aside revealed

within a pile of disarranged blankets, together with so apparel, while just before the opening, his back

pressed against the supporting pole, an inverted pipe between his

yellow, irregular teeth, sat a hideous looking e was not to be guessed, having a skin as

yellow as parchht to the bones like that of a mummy,

his eyes deep sunken like wells, and his head totally devoid of hair,

although about his lean throat there was a copious fringe of iron-gray

beard, untriy Down the entire side of one cheek ran a