Page:Rowland--The Mountain of Fears.djvu/247

This page needs to be proofread.

TWO GENTLEMEN

gust, certainly not in anger, for of this emotion there was no trace in the quiver of a lip, the echo of a growl, nor in the gleam of the beautiful, lustrous eyes. Bather it was a sense of deepest shame—a shame for his master's race!

"And then the brute in the man tore through the thin envelope; he screamed like a cat and threw himself at the dog, only to sprawl his length on the sand. He sprang to his feet and ran braying at the animal, who fled down the beach as silently and with the even interval of the man's own sinister shadow, until Deshay, his strength utterly gone, fell face downward on the sand, screaming obscenities. Ach! never have I seen a thing more disgusting.

" 'Dixie will take care of himself,' said I to Claud. 'He will not be caught napping.'

"From that time, Doctor, there began a series of psychological phenomena of which I was more appreciative afterwards. Up to the moment of this shocking outburst of De-

[ 231 ]