Away we sped through the gathering darkness, heading straight for the Peak.  While we went I calculated our chances.  Our horses, as good as any in the land, were still strong and fresh, for although we had ridden far we had not over-pressed them, and their condition was excellent.  But doubtless the death-hounds were fresh also, for, meaning to run us down at night when he thought that he might catch us sleeping, Rassen would have brought them along easily, following us by inquiry among the peasants and only laying them on our spoor after the last village had been left behind.

Also he had two mounts, and for aught we knew—­though afterwards this proved not to be the case, for he wished to work his wickedness alone and unseen—­he might be followed by attendants with relays.  Therefore it would appear that unless we reached some place whither he did not dare to follow, before him—­that is the slopes of the Peak many miles away, he must run us down.  There remained the chance also that the dogs would tire and refuse to pursue the chase.

This, however, seemed scarcely probable, for they were extraordinarily swift and strong, and so savage that when once they had scented blood, in which doubtless our horses’ hoofs were steeped, they would fall dead from exhaustion sooner than abandon the trail.  Indeed, both the Khania and Simbri had often told us as much.  Another chance—­they might lose the scent, but seeing its nature, again this was not probable.  Even an English pack will carry the trail of a red herring breast high without a fault for hours, and here was something stronger—­a cunning compound of which the tell-tale odour would hold for days.  A last chance.  If we were forced to abandon our horses, we, their riders, might possibly escape, could we find any place to hide in on that great plain.  If not, we should be seen as well as scented, and then——­No, the odds were all against us, but so they had often been before; meanwhile we had three miles start, and perhaps help would come to us from the Mountain, some help unforeseen.  So we set our teeth and sped away like arrows while the light lasted.

Very soon it failed, and whilst the moon was hidden behind the mountains the night grew dark.

Now the hounds gained on us, for in the gloom, which to them was nothing, we did not dare to ride full speed, fearing lest our horses should stumble and lame themselves, or fall.  Then it was for the second time since we had dwelt in this land of Kaloon that of a sudden the fire flamed upon the Peak.  When we had seen it before, it had appeared to flash across the heavens in one great lighthouse ray, concentrated through the loop above the pillar, and there this night also the ray ran far above us like a lance of fire.  But now that we were nearer to its fount we found ourselves bathed in a soft, mysterious radiance like that of the phosphorescence on a summer sea, reflected downwards perhaps from the clouds and massy rock roof of the column loop and diffused by the snows beneath.