As the lion sprang, the heart of Huzim was like to stop its beat in
fear. With a cry of anguish from above he plunged down the steep
declivity, heedless of stones and thorns that tore his flesh as he
rended a pathway through the interwoven shrubberies. He saw his
mistress crouch, and brace the butt of her hunting spear behind her on
the earth. He saw a tawny body hurtling through the air, to land on the
waiting spear point which, by reason of the brute's own weight, sank
deep into his neck; then the monster shot in a curve above the woman's
head and, snarling, fell among the rocks. With all her strength the
huntress clung to her weapon's haft, striving to hold her prey upon his
back, while the cautious Habal, with that over-plus of noise which
sometimes covers a lack of pluck, snapped viciously at the brush of the
lion's tail.