"But I didn't mean to interrupt you."
"Our creatures move in a trance of panic, straight away from the coming rains. I say a trance, because they appear to be oblivious of each other; hunter and hunted go side by side, without noticing."
The drive of Skag's life-quest was working in him, as if nothing had ever given it pause.
"Do they go fast?"
"The timid and lumbering come out first, hurrying; they increase in numbers, all sorts, and run faster till those near the end go at top speed—it's a thing to see. Bhanah will tell you when and where to watch it; but be careful and get under good roofing in time. And then, after the tracks are set right, if you must reach Hurda in order to come back with Carlin . . . Man, God help you if you do not give my sister the best of your gifts!"
"Why, I belong to her—"
Their hands met; and Skag's soul rose up without words, to answer a white flame in the inscrutable eyes.
Early the following morning, Sanford Hantee Sahib said to his servant:
"Bhanah, what do you know about cheetahs?"
"Such little things as a man may know, Sahib."