but warily; and the last man's eyes looked ever backward, for many
a sneaking enemy might have seen them and have judged a stern chase
worth while.

In the "Hills" the hunter has all the best of it, and the hunted needs
must run. The accepted rule is to stalk one's enemy relentlessly and
get him first. King happened to be bunting, although not for human
life, and he felt bold, but the men with him dreaded each upstanding
crag, that might conceal a rifleman. Armed men behind corners mean
only one thing in the "Hills."

The animals grew weary to the verge of dropping, for the "road"
had been made for the most part by mountain freshets, and where
that was not the case it was imaginary altogether. They traveled
upward, along ledges that were age-worn in the limestone--downward
where the "hell-stones" slid from under them to almost bottomless
ravines, and a false step would have been instant death--up again
between big edged boulders, that nipped the mule's pack and let
the mule between--past many and many a lonely cairn that hid the
bones of a murdered man (buried to keep his ghost from making trouble)--
ever with a tortured ridge of rock for sky-line and generally leaning
against a wind, that chilled them to the bone, while the fierce sun
burned them.

At night and at noon they slept fitfully at the chance-met shrine
of some holy man. The "Hills" are full of them, marked by fluttering
rags that can be seen for miles away; and though the Quran's meaning
must be stretched to find excuse, the Hillmen are adept at stretching
things and hold those shrines as sacred as the Book itself. Men who
would almost rather cut throats than gamble regard them as sanctuaries.