At once a terrified outcry arose from the savages, and they turned to flee from the dread presence of their sacred beast. But grim Nemesis was upon their track. They who had watched Chenobi’s brother—ay, and many a score more of the same race—go to their deaths beneath the jaws of the terrible Rahee, were about to meet the same fate themselves. Had they stood their ground, a few spear-thrusts would quickly have settled the matter; but their superstitious terror at the close proximity of the horrible brute sapped all their savage courage.
They broke and fled before Rahee’s advance in an utterly disorganised mob, seeking to escape from the fearful gnashing jaws of the giant spider, priests and wolf-men alike sharing the panic.
Ere long the floor of the temple was littered with the bodies of the slain. Up and down the great amphitheatre Rahee raged in a paroxysm of devilish fury. With a shudder at the ghastly success of his own idea, Seymour once more closed the gate and mounted to the ledge.
“Rahee is working out our vengeance,” cried Chenobi. “It is well. Perchance the wolf-people will destroy him after this lesson. Ye did well to turn him loose among them, Fairhair. ’Twas a counter-stroke they expected not. Come; we will move forward.”
“What of Rahee?” Seymour asked. “Are you minded to destroy him ere you go?”
“Nay,” was the reply; “I will forego my vengeance on the sacred beast because he hath aided you;” and, with that, Chenobi picked up the still senseless priest and strode into the tunnel.
“Heaven grant we have seen the last of these savages!” murmured Wilson, as he and Seymour followed.
“Amen!” the baronet responded fervently; “yet somehow I doubt it, lad. Nordhu seems to have a great hold upon them, and you may take it for granted they will not give him up without some attempt at a rescue. When the brutes recover from the panic into which Rahee has thrown them, they will take our trail like a pack of wolves. What’s that?”
A dark figure had appeared in the passage just ahead of them.
On the alert in an instant for a possible enemy, the baronet stepped before Chenobi, weapon raised, and bawled out a challenge in Ayuti.