By-and-bye they all stopped, out of breath, and noticed, for the first time, how near to the foot of the mountains their long hunt had taken them.
They felt tired, and the weather had now changed. Misty clouds, drizzling faintly, had come driving up on the wind, and had so wrapped themselves round the heights as almost to hide them. But now and then, when the wind tore the fleecy mist, Baby Jane could see a jagged mountain-top appear high up in the sky, where she had never expected it. These were the mysterious Black Mountains to which the Light-Horse had referred a little while ago. As they all looked, they recalled her words of warning, 'All the worst characters of the Desert are there.'
The lower slopes of the mountains were only dimmed and made grey by the drizzle.
There was something strange about them. Was that movement only the passing of the wind over the long grass? But the rivers of movement that flash across the grass go one way—the way of the wind—and in the strange greyness that clothed the hillside, there was a troubled swaying and eddying every way.
Then the wind held its breath for a moment, as if it, too, had caught sight of the strange thing, and out of the mountains a draught came creeping back, and bore with it the mingled wail and shriek and yell of ten thousand savage animals.
As they watched with their blood running cold and their hearts thumping heavily, the swirling greyness began to slide down the hillside towards them, and then a misty cloud dipped lower and hid it.
Most of the creatures were too frightened to know what to do—only the Lion, the Bear, and the Light-Horse remained calm. The Light-Horse, indeed, even took a gloomy pleasure in having prophesied truly.
As for Baby Jane, she squeezed herself close to the Bear, and, hiding her face in his fur, trembled and sobbed. She did not want to be a Princess any more. She wanted only to be protected.
'Bear,' said the Lion sharply, 'take her home. You others, keep round him. I'll come on behind. Now, with all your might, gallop!'
And so they went flying home, the Light-Horse with all the twelve nephews and nieces crowded upon her back.