"Stay a moment, comrades," said Leo, "and, chief, give me your arm;
my scratch grows stiff; I cannot walk fast. We will finish this hunt
together."
"What doest thou? Art mad?" asked Ayesha.
"I know not whether I am mad," he answered, "but I know that thou
art wicked and unjust. Look now, than these hunters none braver ever
breathed. That man"--and he pointed to the one whom the leopard had
struck down--"took my place and went in before me because I ordered that
we should attack the creature, and thus was felled. As thou seest all,
thou mightest have seen this also. Then it sprang on me, and the rest of
these, my friends, ran round waiting a chance to strike, which at first
they could not do unless they would have killed me with it, since I
and the brute rolled over and over in the snow. As it was, one of them
seized it with his bare hands: look at the teeth marks on his arm. So if
they are to perish on the Mountain, I, who am the man to blame, perish
with them."
Now, while the hunters looked at him with fervent gratitude in their
eyes, Ayesha thought a little, then said cleverly enough--"In truth,
my lord Leo, had I known all the tale, well mightest thou have named
me wicked and unjust; but I knew only what I saw, and out of their own
mouths did I condemn them. My servants, my lord here has pleaded for
you, and you are forgiven; more, he who rushed in upon the leopard and
he who seized it with his hands shall be rewarded and advanced.
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