On she went around the ring, unable to control her terror-stricken team. It was the whip laid on their tender backs for the second time which rendered them unmanageable.
“Hold them steady until they calm down,” advised the cazique, galloping beside her.
Setos and Alcamayn hastened to Ildiko, assisting her to alight, while Ben Hu Barabe carried his wife through the crowd and set her down in safety before turning his attention to Kerœcia.
“Ho, Saphis! Ho, Phoda! Fear not, little ones! Thou hast done nobly! Steady! Steady now! Ho! Ho!”
She had braced herself against the front of the chariot and was pulling back with all her might. With a quick, sharp turn, the cazique reined up in front of the vehicle just as Yermah caught the bit of one of the caribou.
The sudden stop threw Kerœcia across the dashboard. She quickly recovered her footing, bruised and shaken, but much more concerned for the steaming, panting, high-strung winners than for herself. She spoke soothingly to the animals, as she stroked their ugly proboscis-like snouts, while they champed their foam-flecked bits and gazed at her with still a gleam of terror in their eyes.
As soon as the ring was cleared, the people settled themselves back and looked expectant. Familiar as they were with a mammoth elephant there was always something fascinating in its unwieldly bulk.
The crowd had waited all day with characteristic patience to see the tricks of some performing elephants, brought down by the Mazamas from the far north, especially to honor Kerœcia.
Zoyara, Cezardis and Zombra came through the entrance dressed in black skin-tight garments ablaze with mica spangles and barbaric jewels. They wore gayly striped sashes around their waists, and ostrich feathers in the silver headbands, while their arms and ankles jingled with bracelets and bells.
Back of them came two keepers leading a pair of tremendously large rusty-black, shaggy-coated elephants, with long, ivory tusks, which curved out and curled up viciously. Zombra and Zoyara stepped to one side. Cezardis called: