the darkness in the direction of the next gorge which cut the
mountain-side a mile beyond Kor-ul-ja. It was the Gorge-of-water,
Kor-ul-lul, to which her father and two brothers had been sent by
Es-sat ostensibly to spy upon the neighboring tribe. There was a
chance, a slender chance, that she might find them; if not there
was the deserted Kor-ul-gryf several miles beyond, where she might
hide indefinitely from man if she could elude the frightful monster
from which the gorge derived its name and whose presence there had
rendered its caves uninhabitable for generations.

Pan-at-lee crept stealthily along the rim of the Kor-ul-lul.
Just where her father and brothers would watch she did not know.
Sometimes their spies remained upon the rim, sometimes they watched
from the gorge's bottom. Pan-at-lee was at a loss to know what to
do or where to go. She felt very small and helpless alone in the
vast darkness of the night. Strange noises fell upon her ears. They
came from the lonely reaches of the towering mountains above her,
from far away in the invisible valley and from the nearer foothills
and once, in the distance, she heard what she thought was the bellow
of a bull gryf. It came from the direction of the Kor-ul-gryf. She
shuddered.

Presently there came to her keen ears another sound. Something
approached her along the rim of the gorge. It was coming from above.
She halted, listening. Perhaps it was her father, or a brother.
It was coming closer. She strained her eyes through the darkness.
She did not move--she scarcely breathed. And then, of a sudden,
quite close it seemed, there blazed through the black night two
yellow-green spots of fire.