By subtle temptings she gave him to understand that plenty lay
beyond the dark waters, and quickly swinging herself to his back she
started to ride him up and down along the edge of the lagoon, petting
and whispering to him of good things beyond. Slowly her eyes grew wide;
she seemed to be riding out of dreamland on some hobgoblin beast.
Deeper and deeper they penetrated into the dark waters. Now they entered
the slime; now they stumbled on hidden roots; but deeper and deeper they
waded until at last, turning the animal's head with a jerk, and giving
him a sharp stroke of the whip, she headed straight for the island. A
moment the beast snorted and plunged; higher and higher the black still
waters rose round the girl. They crept up her little limbs, swirled
round her breasts and gleamed green and slimy along her shoulders. A
wild terror gripped her. Maybe she was riding the devil's horse, and
these were the yawning gates of hell, black and sombre beneath the cold,
dead radiance of the moon. She saw again the gnarled and black and
claw-like fingers of Elspeth gripping and dragging her down.
A scream struggled in her breast, her fingers relaxed, and the big
beast, stretching his cramped neck, rose in one mighty plunge and
planted his feet on the sand of the island.
* * * * *
Bles, hurrying down in the morning with new tools and new determination,
stopped and stared in blank amazement.
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