Out of the Triangle: A Story of the Far East

f satisfaction. His tail began to sweep

turned, and proceeded along another. They turned again, and passed the third. Now they turned, and this wall was the one that Timokles

mokles' pale lips,

his death-trap, and be torn to pieces! It must not be! He did not regret that he had avowed his belief in Christ. He would do

e! Deliver me!" w

eisurely, but steadily. Softly the footsteps of Timokles and the beast sounded in the room, one footfall answering another. Backward, backward, went Timokles-now a turn of a corner-backward, backward. Another corner. This was the wall by which the leopard had slept. Backward, backward! The lad could not pause, but now, as he neared

king of the roof, the palm branches had no doubt been securely fastened, and now this portion of a branch which hung down was still attached to the top of the outer wall of the building, bu

have borne the leopard's weight. Probably the animal had tried to clu

ear my weight?" qu

felt certain that if he should turn his back, the leopard would spring immedi

ing, and Timokles, with a wild cry, fled across the ro

ther brought a handful of frayed bark down. He caught hold of th

enveloping them in a cloud of blinding dust. The lad clung to the branch with desperate strength, though his support was

branch tightly. From the swaying motion and the sound of a slight, th

d beside himself. He leaped and rushed hither a

He was alarmed lest the old palm branch should break or should loosen from the wall. If

hat the branch was partly broken, up next the roof. He hardly dared climb much higher for fear of breaking it entirely off. So he lay along the branch, clasping it with his arm

ve to overcome this faintness. He knew his arm had been bleeding a little, but he had not before this feared unconsciousness.

roof. There was a cracking sound, such as he had heard, before. The leopard moved vehemently. Suddenly

-covered, rotten mat that he grasped broke through his fingers, and the dust descended into his face. H

t handfuls. He could hardly see, for the descending dust. He grasped blindly, desperately. He felt something firm! I

anch. With one final, cracking sound it parted! Timokles' one hand grasped the top of the wall; his other ha

de of the roof. His foot plunged through a mat. He recovered himself, and crawling to a little distance from t

he west. Far overhead sailed the sacred hawk of Egypt, and the bird's piercing cry, full of me

es reverently, "Thou west D

in the dark, heard a sound beside

of's edge farthest from

oof, for he was very cautious in his movements, and tested every step he took. He carefully

s tones, Timokles recogni

f the building, "livest thou? Ill shall I fare

was si

e the shining of the brute's eyes, or hear his uneasy stepping

ed. "I have heretofore done no injury to men who hon

e. Timokles was moved with compassion for h

he shall be beset in some other place by those who hate

waited a mo

again, "I have been righteo

eak place in the mats. He shrieked aloud at the fear of falling through into the room below. Hurrying forward, he disappeared down

ticed lying near the roof's edge, the fruit having fallen from a date palm and having lain there till nearly as dry as

eached by him. The palm's straight trunk shot up twenty cubits above the roof's level, an

ur climb?" tho

trees he had noticed here and there in forest-like clumps throughout the oasis. Timokles found no difficulty in descending with the doum palms' help, and he reflected that perhaps food for th

s feet. Timokles dropped upon his knees, and with thankfulness drank of the refreshing water. How he had longed for some, as he ha

building. Then he turned from the direction in which the vill

s small skin bottle. As the morning went by, Timokles saw a few desert hares, but otherwise he was alone. Toward evening, being compelled to find some

a startled suspicion in her eyes, as she gazed at him. She held a young gazelle that had strayed away