"Don't make it harder for me!" Ian said fiercely. "He belongs to you—Carlin, too, of course—no resistance of mine left. A man sees differently—toes up."
Carlin pressed Skag's arm.
The American bowed. Ian Deal straightened.
"That's better," he breathed. "You'll see to the mount? I'd do it for you, but I need an hour—in here among the trees, you know, alone. . . . If it isn't quite clear to me, I'll cock one foot up in the crotch of a tree—until it's straight again. . . . But it's clear, Hantee," he added. "I'm seeing now—the man she sees—or something like!"
Ian turned toward the deeper growths. . . . They walked in silence. The untellable thing—for Skag alone—lingered in Carlin's eyes, in the pallor of her face. She was the one who spoke:
"It is terrible—terribly dear, like a blending of two souls in a white heat together—those moments at the play-house and now—as you held Kala Khan—"
"It was not one alone," he answered strangely. "Something from you was with me—half, with mine."
CHAPTER XIII
Neela Deo, King of All Elephants
This is the story of Neela Deo, King of all elephants! Protector of the Innocent! Defender of Defenders! Equitable King!