On the morrow of our arrival the Khania Atene sent us two beautiful
white horses of pure and ancient blood, and at noon we mounted them and
went out to ride with her accompanied by a guard of soldiers. First she
led us to the kennels where the death-hounds were kept, great flagged
courts surrounded by iron bars, in which were narrow, locked gates.
Never had I seen brutes so large and fierce; the mastiffs of Thibet were
but as lap-dogs compared to them. They were red and black, smooth-coated
and with a blood-hound head, and the moment they saw us they came
ravening and leaping at the bars as an angry wave leaps against a rock.
These hounds were in the charge of men of certain families, who had
tended them for generations. They obeyed their keepers and the Khan
readily enough, but no stranger might venture near them. Also these
brutes were the executioners of the land, for to them all murderers and
other criminals were thrown, and with them, as we had seen, the Khan
hunted any who had incurred his displeasure. Moreover, they were used
for a more innocent purpose, the chasing of certain great bucks which
were preserved in woods and swamps of reeds. Thus it came about that
they were a terror to the country, since no man knew but what in the
end he might be devoured by them. "Going to the dogs" is a term full
of meaning in any land, but in Kaloon it had a significance that was
terrible.
Pages:
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162