Two in advance held lighted torches in
their left hands and ready spears in their right. They held back
timorously against those behind, who were pushing them forward.
The shrieks of the panther's victim, mingled with those of the
great cat, had wrought mightily upon their poor nerves, and now
the awful silence of the dark interior seemed even more terribly
ominous than had the frightful screaming.
Presently one of those who was being forced unwillingly within hit
upon a happy scheme for learning first the precise nature of the
danger which menaced him from the silent interior. With a quick
movement he flung his lighted torch into the centre of the hut.
Instantly all within was illuminated for a brief second before the
burning brand was dashed out against the earth floor.
There was the figure of the white prisoner still securely bound as
they had last seen him, and in the centre of the hut another figure
equally as motionless, its throat and breasts horribly torn and
mangled.
The sight that met the eyes of the foremost savages inspired more
terror within their superstitious breasts than would the presence
of Sheeta, for they saw only the result of a ferocious attack upon
one of their fellows.
Not seeing the cause, their fear-ridden minds were free to attribute
the ghastly work to supernatural causes, and with the thought
they turned, screaming, from the hut, bowling over those who stood
directly behind them in the exuberance of their terror.
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