For those words I would gladly have laid down my life. Here again was still another Duare. I had expected nothing like this, for I did not feel that she owed me any such loyalty. It was not as though she had loved me; one might expect such self-sacrifice on the part of a woman for the man she loves. I was swept completely from my feet, but only for an instant. The enemy, if such it were, must by now be almost to the summit of the cliff, in a moment they would be upon us, and even as the thought touched my mind, I saw the first of them running toward us.
'Take her!' I cried to the angan. 'There is no time to waste now.'
He reached for her, but she attempted to elude him; and then I caught her, and as I touched her, all my good resolutions were swept away, as I felt her in my arms. I pressed her to me for an instant; I kissed her, and then I gave her over to the birdman.
'Hurry!' I cried. 'They come!'
Spreading his powerful wings, he rose from the ground, while Duare stretched her hands toward me. 'Do not send me away from you, Carson! Do not send me away! I love you!'
But it was too late; I would not have called her back could I have done so, for the armed men were upon me.
Thus I went into captivity in the land of Noobol an adventure that is no part of this story; but I went with the knowledge that the woman I loved, loved me, and I was happy.
THE END
