forward his legs one after another slowly, the while
he held his eyes turned away, as if he were wholly
absorbed in the vastness of the desert reaches.
This was but a mere feint, as Pat understood it,
and yet he waited, curious to know the outcome,
still holding himself rigidly on guard. Closer
came the gray, closer still, until he was almost
beside him. Pat heard the whistle of his breath
and saw the wild light in his eyes, and for an
instant feared him. Yet there was no attack.
The gray calmly gained a point immediately alongside
and stopped, head to Pat's rump, separated
from him by not more than half his length. Yet
he did not attack; but Pat did not relax. And again
they stood, end to end now and side by side, until
Pat, coming finally to think, against his better
judgment, that this was, after all, only a friendly
advance, became less watchful. Then the blow
fell. With a shrill scream that chilled Pat's heart
the gray leaped sideways with a peculiar broadside
lunge intended to hurl him off his feet. It
was a form of attack new to Pat, and therefore
never known to his ancestors, and before he could
brace himself to meet it he found himself rolling
over and over frantically in the sand.

He sprang up, screaming with rage, while the
gray was trampling him with fiendish hoofs. He
steadied himself, resisted the onslaught, took the
offensive himself. He lunged with bared teeth,
sank them into yielding flesh, and wheeled away
quickly. But not fast enough. The gray slashed
his rump. He turned back, tore the gray's shoul-

[[273]]

p272 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p273w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p274

v?