Page:The further side of silence (IA furthersideofsil00clifiala).pdf/261

 quickly lost his bearings, and was presently glad to stumble back to his fire again, torn with brambles and sweating profusely.

All through that night Kulop of the Harclip strove to drive away sleep from his heavy eyes. He had been tramping all day, and his whole being was clamouring for rest. The hours were incredibly long, and he feared that the dawn would never come. During every minute he was engaged in an active and conscious battle with physical exhaustion. At one moment he would tell himself that he was wide awake, and a second later a rustle in the underwood startled him into a knowledge that he had slept. His waking nightmare merged itself inextricably into the nightmare of dreams. Over and over again, in an access of sudden panic, he leaped to his feet, and yelled the war-cry, though his dazed brain hardly knew whether he was defying the Sâkai be- setting him or the spectres which thronged his sleep- drugged fancy; but each time the patter of feet and the snapping of twigs told him that those who watched him were stampeding. While he remained awake and on guard the Sâkai feared him too much to attack him. His previous escape from the dart which they had seen pierce his side had originated in their minds the idea that he was invulnerable, and proof against the ipoh poison, so they no longer tried to kill him with their blowpipes. That they dared not fall upon lint unless he slept very soon became evident to Kulop himself. Sleep was the ally of the Sakai and his most dangerous enemy; but fear