Текст книги "Tiger Prince "

Автор книги: Iris Johansen

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"Unless you'd care to give me directions on how to get here," Ruel added.

"I'll bring you."

"I thought that would be your choice," Ruel said. "You'd be much more comfortable out of the rain in your cozy little bungalow."

"No, I wouldn't." She shivered and drew closer to the brazier. "Though it's much chillier in here than out in that warm rain. This fire is dying down. We need more wood, Li Sung."

"Soon. First you need to dry off." Li Sung got up and limped toward the cot in the corner. "I'll get a towel."

"I don't have time. I've wasted half a day already," she said. "And when I get back to Kasanpore, I need to go to the site and—"

"Make sure Patrick is doing his job," Li Sung finished for her as he grabbed a towel and came back toward her. "Do you intend to spy on him every day?"

"I'm not going to spy on him. I want only to make sure the job is going smoothly and he knows everything I've been doing."

"And that he is truly working and not sitting under a tree guzzling whiskey." He knelt beside her and brusquely wiped her face before shifting to a position behind her. He lifted her heavy braid and closed it between folds of the towel to dry it. "It's a wasted effort. You can do little if he chooses that course."

"It's different this time." She started to turn her head to look at him. "He really is—"

"Sit still. How can I dry this ugly hair if you keep swiveling your head about?"

"I didn't ask you to dry my hair." She looked forward again. "And this is foolish. It will only get wet again when I leave."

"That is true, but it will make you feel better and I will know I did the proper thing." He continued to dry her hair. "Now be quiet and let me behave foolishly if I wish."

Ruel felt a queer pang as he gazed at them across the fire. The bond of affection between them could not be mistaken. Affection . . . and trust. Christ, what was wrong with him? For some reason the sight of them together filled him with anger and rejection. What did he care if she gave the Chinese boy the trust he had forfeited? Yet, he did care.

"No, you're no sodomite." Kartauk dropped down next to him.

Ruel turned to see the sculptor studying him again and was immediately on guard. "I told you that."

Kartauk spoke softly so the two across the fire would not hear. "You did not tell me you lusted after my friend Jane."

He felt a ripple of shock. "And if I had told you?"

"I would have warned you to take care. She has done much for me and I will not have her destroyed."

"I have no desire to destroy her."

"Desire and carelessness are two different things." He shrugged his massive shoulders. "But she is on her guard with you. Perhaps I will not have to act."

"Thank you," Ruel said dryly. His gaze returned to Jane and Li Sung across the fire. That nagging dissatisfaction was growing within him with every passing minute.

"They are very close," Kartauk commented. "It's natural that they take care of each other."

"So I see."

"It disturbs you."

"Why should it disturb me? God knows, she needs someone to look after her. Reilly appears to make a poor job of it." He changed the subject. "Why do you enjoy working in gold?"

"It's the metal of the gods, the only one fit for a great artist. That's why I stayed so long at the palace. Not many patrons can afford to furnish such rare materials."

"Then why did you leave?"

"I thought where my work was concerned the end always justified the means." He shrugged. "I was mistaken. To my infinite horror I found I possessed a conscience."

"What do you mean?"

"Abdar wished me to perform certain tasks I found distasteful. I refused him."

"And he was angry?"

"Extremely. He threatened to cut off my hands if I did not obey him. Naturally, I could not permit such sacrilege. When I left, he persuaded my weasel of an apprentice, Benares, to do what he wished, but Abdar knows there is no comparison." He raised his voice and called across the flames in the brazier. "I hope you brought something in that knapsack other than rice, Jane. I've eaten so much rice my eyes are starting to slant like Li Sung's."

"What a fortunate miracle," Li Sung murmured. "That is how all eyes should be shaped."

"I brought beef and beans." Jane smiled at Kartauk. "I hope by the time they're gone, you will be too."

"But where?" Kartauk grimaced. "Great artists must have patrons, and patrons enjoy displaying their treasures. Inevitably, Abdar will hear of one of my magnificent creations and find me."

"Yes, where?" Jane turned and challenged Ruel. "You said you'd find a safe haven for him."

"Which now includes a patron who keeps his work secret," Ruel said testily.

"You're the one who said you'd give me anything I wanted."

His lips tightened. "And I will." He turned to Kartauk. "What about returning to your home in Turkey?"

"I left only jealousy behind when I left. It's no safer than anywhere else for me."

Ruel frowned. "Then I'll have to think about it."

"Think first about how to get him out of here," Jane said.

"I've already decided about that."

Her eyes widened. "You have?"

"The trial run to Narinth the night before you officially turn the railroad over to the maharajah. We station Kartauk on the line somewhere outside Kasanpore, pick him up when we're out of the city, and hide him on the train. We deboard him before we reach Narinth and from there he can make his way to the coast."

Kartauk chuckled. "Very clever. I can see why you decided to let him help us, Jane."

"It might work," she said slowly. "If Abdar doesn't suspect anything."

"Oh, he probably will suspect. It's our job to misdirect those suspicions."

"How?"

"I'll think of something. I'll have plenty of time to meditate while Kartauk is baring my soul." He stood up and reached for his slicker. "In the meantime, I think we'd better start on our way back to Kasanpore." Ruel smiled. "And not so I can rush immediately to the palace and reveal our friend Kartauk's whereabouts to Abdar. I thought I'd go see if Patrick is tending to duty."

"But I was going to—"

"And now I'm going instead." He picked up her slicker and put it over her head. "Call it a penance. Don't you think I deserve a penance?"

"Oh, yes, I'm sure you deserve anything anyone could think of to—"

He interrupted. "Then send me out in the rain after our charming Patrick." He picked up her wide-brimmed hat and put it on her head, carefully tying the cords beneath her chin. The service gave him an odd, deep, primitive sense of satisfaction, soothing the abrasive unrest he had known. Suddenly he realized Kartauk was not as perceptive as he believed himself to be. It hadn't been lust ripping at him this time. This was what he wanted when he had watched her with Li Sung. He had been fiercely resentful of the bond of affection and trust that allowed Li Sung to perform those services instead of him. He quickly turned away and said gruffly, "Besides, I'll get a chance to look over the terrain and decide on the best place to hide Kartauk while waiting for the train."

"How did Jane find you?" Ruel asked Kartauk.

"Hold your head still." The goldsmith carefully shaved the plane of the cheek of the wooden statue on the table in front of him. "She didn't find me. I found her. I was hiding in the bazaar at the time and, when I heard she was inquiring about a goldsmith to execute the door, I went to her bungalow."

"You took a big chance."

"I was desperate," he said simply. "I hadn't been able to work for nearly three weeks and I felt as if I were starving to death. I'd had to leave my tools at the palace when I bolted and couldn't carve so much as a chess piece. I couldn't stand it any longer." He turned the model so more light would fall on the left side of the statue. "I might have been able to resist if the door was to be anything but gold. Jane tells me your passion for gold equals my own."

"What else did she tell you?"

"That you're ambitious, ruthless, and self-serving."

"True."

Kartauk laughed. "And honest."

"Did she say that?"

"No, that's my own judgment." Kartauk's gaze wandered across the chamber to where Jane and Li Sung sat on the floor playing cards. "She appears to be having trouble accepting you might also have a virtue or two. I didn't disabuse her. She's much safer believing only in your satanic qualities."

"You told her Abdar was searching for you and she still let you do the door?"

He nodded. "I didn't intend to tell her, but after we met and I realized what she was, I decided the best course would be to throw myself on her mercy."

"And what is she?"

"A caretaker. She can't help herself from nurturing and caring for those in need. Didn't you realize that?"

"I've never thought about it."

Kartauk shot him a shrewd glance. "Or never permitted yourself to think about it?" He didn't wait for a reply. "Anyway, I cast myself under her wing and let her care for my needs in return for my labor on the door."

Ruel frowned. "You didn't care that your presence would endanger her?"

"I cared, but I had to work. I couldn't let anything stand in the way of that." Kartauk lifted his head. "You should understand. I'd judge you're also a driven man where your Cinnidar is concerned."

"Yes." His resentment and condemnation of Kartauk was completely unreasonable, but then, nothing about his attitude toward Jane made any sense. "Li Sung said you were the one who chose this temple as a hiding place."

"I found it suitable. A temple should always shelter beauty and greatness. Besides, I knew I could dismantle one of the interior walls for my furnace."

Ruel's eyes widened. "You tore down one of the temple walls?"

For the first time Kartauk's tone became defensive. "It had fine square stones and I needed a furnace to cast the door. No one ever comes here to worship anymore, and it's much better I put the wall to good use."

Ruel chuckled. "I'm sure it is." His smile faded as his gaze was drawn to Jane, as it had constantly been during the past days. He had told her he was going to try to think of her as a child, but that intention had gone up in smoke that first day at the temple. What the hell was wrong with him? It had never been like this with any other woman. He couldn't keep his eyes away from her. He wanted to touch her.

Jane's plaited hair shone deep red in the firelight, and an odd tingling started in his fingertips. He wanted to loosen the heavy braid, comb his fingers through the silken mass until it flowed wildly about her shoulders. He wanted to see her as naked and abandoned as she had been beneath him on the floor of the railway car. A surge of heat tore through him as he readied, thickening until he ached with the weight of it.

She stiffened and he knew she was aware he was watching her. She kept her gaze fixed on the cards in her hand but she knew, dammit. She reached up nervously to smooth a tendril of hair back from her temple, and the sleeve of her shirt fell back, revealing the smooth symmetry of her forearm. Another bolt of heat wrenched through him, bringing anger and frustration in its wake. All right, he would somehow keep himself from raping her, but he would not be alone in this. Look at me, he willed her. See what I'm feeling. Admit what we're feeling.

She darted him a flickering glance from the corner of her eye. Her spine went rigid as she met his gaze. Oh yes, she knew, he thought grimly. Her eyes widened and then her head snapped back around and she was once more staring down at her cards, deliberately ignoring him again.

He wished he could do the same. Christ, why the hell couldn't he look away from her?

"Yes, she's much safer believing you're Lucifer incarnate," Kartauk murmured. "It's getting worse, isn't it?"

Ruel jerked his gaze away from Jane. "I don't know what you mean."

Kartauk smiled. "I mean that if I were doing a full statue instead of a head, I might be forced to employ an extraordinary multitude of fig leaves to mask a certain portion of your anatomy."

Ruel carefully kept himself from glancing back at Jane. "Then it's fortunate you've confined yourself to a limited area."

"Particularly since the transformation occurs so frequently. At first I wondered if I should send her away." His attention returned to the statue. "The signs of desire aren't confined only to the nether parts, you know. The jaw tightens, the nostrils flare slightly, the mouth—"

"I regret to have caused you artistic difficulties."

"Oh, no difficulty. I would not have permitted that to happen. Actually, your lust gave the work an added shading of primitive beauty."

"And, of course, that's worth any amount of discomfort I might experience."

"Any discomfort," Kartauk agreed.

Ruel shifted restlessly on the stone block on which he was sitting. "When will you be finished with that blasted head?"

"Tomorrow." Kartauk added wistfully, "It's quite wonderful, one of the best pieces I've ever done. I'm truly magnificent. If I only had—"

"Gold." Ruel chuckled. "I'm beginning to think your passion may be even greater than mine."

"I have no doubt it is. To me, gold means beauty, to you, power; but beauty always triumphs in the end. Kings fall, empires fade, but art and beauty endure." He paused and then sighed. "I suppose you wish your reward?"

"It seems a small price to ask for contributing to your greater glory."

"Do I discern a note of disrespect?"

"You wouldn't recognize it if you did."

Kartauk's laugh boomed out. "I would recognize it. I'd just lose faith in your judgment." He went back to work. "Toys."

"What?"

"Send the maharajah a toy."

Ruel gazed at him blankly. "What kind of toy?"

"A child's toy. Trust me."

"I'm to give one of the wealthiest maharajahs in India a child's toy?"

"He is a child. That's the whole point of the matter. How do you think I survived his eccentricities for six years? He would have driven me mad if I hadn't learned how to distract him when I needed to send him off in another direction." Kartauk saw Ruel's doubtful expression and continued impatiently. "It's true. The maharajah has the mind of a child. The Savitsars are Hindu and have adhered strictly to the caste system for hundreds of years. Since there are not that many choices in the upper castes, they've been forced to inbreed. It's no wonder the maharajah and Abdar's minds are not what they should be."

"Abdar doesn't have the mind of a child."

"No." He smiled sardonically. "But I assure you, there is no one more twisted."

"Toys . . . you make it sound simple."

"Not simple, but possible. Go to Namir on the Street of the Palms, a brilliant craftsman. Tell him to sell you a toy like the ones he occasionally made for Kartauk. Maybe something with an elephant. The maharajah's mad about elephants."

Was it possible Kartauk was right about the maharajah? Eagerness began to surge through Ruel as he remembered what he had heard about the monarch's unreasonable demands, his tantrums and idiosyncracies.

He's not interested in anything but his toy of a railroad.

He likes a bit of flash.

Everything he had heard about the maharajah substantiated Kartauk's claim. The maharajah's self-indulgent behavior and unreasonable demands could certainly have been that of a child.

"Why isn't anyone else aware of this?"

"Perhaps they are, but it's not wise to question the sanity of a ruler who has the power of life and death. It's safer to assume he's merely spoiled than feeble-minded. Besides, not everyone has my great powers of perception."

"If I do send the maharajah a toy, what guarantee will I have he won't merely accept it and then forget I exist?"

"No guarantee. I gave you the key, it's your task to unlock the door. I'll be interested to see how you accomplish it." He scowled. "And stop frowning. I knew I should have waited until tomorrow to tell you. Now you'll be plotting and planning and I'll have a much harder time getting the forehead right."

Chapter 7

I've decided the toy has to be in two parts," Ruel told Ian. "I owe one more day to Kartauk, so will you go to see this Namir tomorrow? I want one of the figures of the toy to be a maharajah, the other an elephant. Tell him he may use his own judgment for the rest as long as the first part of the toy is fascinating enough to intrigue and yet still whet the appetite for the second half."

"Quite a challenge. How much time will he have?"

"Three days. The tracks are due to be joined in another six, and I don't want excitement over the completion of the maharajah's big toy to distract from his interest in this one."

"Isn't it dangerous to withhold something he wants from the maharajah?"

"Probably, but I'm counting on him wanting the other half of the toy more than feeding me to the crocodiles. Besides, he likes the British and I'll make sure to involve Colonel Pickering in the final negotiations."

Ian nodded. "Very well, I'll go see Namir in the morning. I imagine you'll have to pay him fairly well."

"Anything he wants. Who knows? I may not have to. pay the maharajah as much as I thought for Cinnidar. Kartauk had some interesting insights into his character."

"You like Kartauk?"

"He's a keen judge of character. I don't have to like him to appreciate his astuteness."

"But you do like him?" Ian persisted.

"Ian, dammit, I told you—yes, I like him."

"Good. And you like this Li Sung?"

"Well enough." He scowled. "All right, I'm positively brimming with warm and felicitous feelings. Satisfied?"

"Oh, yes, things are going quite nicely."

"I wouldn't have thought you'd be so overjoyed at the prospect of my possible success with the maharajah. If I persuade him to sell me Cinnidar, you know I won't go back to Glenclaren."

"If Cinnidar is best for you, then that's what I want." Ian smiled gently. "Lately I've begun to suspect there's more than gold waiting for you on Cinnidar. I'm not sure it's even the gold you really want. You need roots and a home that you'll love as much as I love Glenclaren. That's all I've ever wanted for you, Ruel."

Christ, Ruel felt as if something hard and tight were breaking up inside him as he looked at his brother. He wanted to reach out and touch him, clap him affectionately on the shoulder as he had done when they were boys together. Everything seemed to be shifting, changing around him since he had come to Kasanpore.

Or was Ian right and it was Ruel who was changing?

No, he couldn't accept that the lessons of a lifetime could be so easily discarded. He may have allowed Jane and Ian to touch him on a certain level, but once he had paid his debt he'd be able to dismiss them from his thoughts and go about his own business.

"I'm glad you're not disappointed," he said in a reserved tone. "Good night, Ian."

Ian smiled again. "Good night, Ruel."

"In four more days we'll be joining the rails," Patrick said. "Lord, and it's about time. I'D be glad to see the last of this foul country. This last week has almost killed me."

"I could come tomorrow and help you," Jane offered.

"I wouldn't think of it," Patrick said. "You just stay here and let me do the work for a change." He stood up and stretched. "I've got to get to bed. I'd forgotten how tired a man gets working the rails."

"But I really want to help, Patrick," she said eagerly. "Remember how it was in the beginning when we worked together in Salisbury?"

"You've done your share. Now let me do mine."

She was disappointed but reluctantly decided not to insist. Patrick had cut his drinking down to less than a quarter of a bottle a day since he had taken over the site from her. If it was responsibility that had made this change in him, she would be foolish to rob him of it. "Well, if you change your mind—" She paused and then said casually, "Since you won't let me help with the construction, I hope you won't mind if I make the trial run to Narinth?"

"Why should I mind?" Patrick yawned. "I'll be glad to stay home and rest my bones after the last week. I've got to take the maharajah and all those highbrow nabobs to Narinth the next day, and he'll probably find a hundred things wrong."

She hadn't expected any other answer but still felt relieved. "Then it's settled. I'll bring Li Sung from Narinth to engineer and I'll ride the fireman seat."

"Whatever you like." Patrick moved toward the bedroom. "It's about time Li Sung came back and did some real work for a change. I bet he's not out in the rain working the rails." He glanced back over his shoulder. "And I noticed our friend MacClaren quit us the minute the rains started. I keep telling him I'm the only one who has the gumption to put up with this foul weather."

"You do? When did you last see him?" she asked with careful casualness.

"Oh, he drops in at the site every day or so for a cup of coffee or a word."

She hadn't known Ruel had gone back to the site after that first afternoon and for an instant felt a completely unreasonable flicker of gratitude. After all, Ruel was not keeping an eye on Patrick for her sake. He wanted the railway completed as fast as possible so that he could get Kartauk out of Kasanpore.

Ruel staring at her across the temple, his gaze searing, demanding, holding.

"Your cheeks are flushed," Patrick said idly. "Are you coming down with something?"

Her discomposure must be blatantly evident if Patrick, who never noticed anything about her, commented on it, she thought in exasperation. "No, I'm just feeling the heat. It seems worse since the rains came." She jumped up from her chair and bid Patrick good night.

She would get over this craving, she thought desperately. She was not an animal.

Yet her body's response to Ruel was like that of an animal in heat. There was not a moment in his presence she was not aware of him. When she had met his gaze in the temple she had felt a melting, a yielding that had frightened her.

She would ignore it and eventually this hunger would go away.

Dear God, it had to go away.

. . .

Ruel carefully placed the toy in a large box and then wrapped the package in bright crimson velvet and tied it with a flamboyant white satin bow.

An hour later he handed the package to the head footman at the palace, together with an extravagant bribe and the promise of an even bigger one if the maharajah received the gift at once.

He then went back to the hotel to wait for events to take their course.

The message came the next morning in the form of a summons from the palace to appear immediately for an audience with the Maharajah Dulai Savitsar.

An hour later he was ushered into the reception chamber to find the maharajah kneeling on the floor, the toy board on the carpet before him. The maharajah's small, plump frame was garbed in a brilliant red brocade tunic and white silk trousers, and he bore little resemblance to his son, Abdar. Gray peppered the ruler's bushy mustache and sleek black hair and, at that moment, there was no trace of Abdar's blank impassiveness about his father's demeanor. He was clearly displeased.

"You're this Ruel MacClaren?" The maharajah didn't wait for an answer but went on peevishly. "I'm very angry with you. It does not work There's something wrong with it."

The four-foot board at which he was staring was a representation of a jungle with each tree, bush, flower, and animal exquisitely crafted and amazingly lifelike. The central figure on the board was a tiny maharajah wearing a gold tunic and tiny bejeweled crown. Ian had told Ruel that Namir had worked a year creating this elaborate toy and had found it necessary to substitute only a few of the figures to suit Ruel's requirements.

"You see?" The maharajah pressed the mechanism.

A lion sprang at the tiny crowned figure, appeared to just miss him, but really triggered another mechanism, causing the maharajah to rise in the air and be lost to view behind the foliage of the branches of a tree. This action in turn triggered another mechanism that caused a figure identical to the first maharajah to spring down on the other side of the tree to stand before a rhinoceros. The rhinoceros charged and the second royal figure rose to be lost to view in the next tree. The motion of attack and evasion continued across the board, using various animals and reptiles with the tiny maharajah always evading the threat until he reached the edge of the board which resembled a high cliff. The final mechanism sent the maharajah hurtling into the air and then stopped, suspended over the abyss.

"Look at that. He just hangs there like an overripe pomegranate," the maharajah complained. "Everyone knows a maharajah must always triumph against fate. It is most unsatisfying."

"That's because you don't have the other part of the toy."

The maharajah looked up quickly. "What other part?"

Ruel pointed to the almost invisible slots in the side of the toy. "The second half of the toy slides in here. The maharajah survives the fall from the cliff and lands before a tiger, then springs into another tree and then lands on the back of a magnificent white elephant, where he is safe at last."

The maharajah's eyes brightened. "An elephant?"

"A white elephant. What other animal is worthy to bear a maharajah?"

"That's what I told my High Adviser, but they cannot find a real one for me. They keep making excuses." He frowned with dissatisfaction at the figure hanging over the cliff. "I must have the other part of the toy. What kind of man are you to give me only half a gift?"

"But an extraordinary gift, one worthy of Your Majesty's cleverness. I saw it in the shop and knew instantly it was fit only for a man of your taste and intelligence."

"But I need the other part."

"I'm searching for it now. Unfortunately, I seem to have misplaced it."

The maharajah's gaze narrowed on Ruel's face. "And what would it take to help you find it?" He sighed. "I suppose you wish me to give you a present in return? Everyone wants something from me. What do you want me to give you?"

"Sell, not give. You own a small island in the Indian Ocean called Cinnidar I wish to purchase. I'll give you forty thousand pounds for it."

"Cinnidar? I do not recall . . ." He impatiently waved a plump, dimpled hand. "It cannot be very important if I don't remember the place. I will ask my adviser if you offer a fair price. Meanwhile, you will continue to look for the other half of the toy?"

"Diligently. May I call on you tomorrow with word of my progress?"

"Yes, yes." The maharajah turned back to the jungle board, pressed the button to reset the mechanism, and watched enraptured as the lion rose in the air. "Tomorrow."

Hallelujah, Ruel thought jubilantly as he walked down the palace steps. It was only the first step but a damn big one. All the prospects looked bright. Even the rain that had been pouring down when he entered the palace had temporarily stopped. The murky sky would no doubt soon open up again, but it was still a good sign.

"The hotel, sahib?" the bearer asked as he climbed into the ricksha.

"Yes." Then on impulse he said, "No." He was brimming with hope he wanted to share but suddenly he knew it was not with Ian he wanted to share it. "Take me to the bungalow of Sahib Reilly."

The cobra wove back and forth, his onyx eyes fixed malevolently on the dog excitedly darting back and forth directly in front of him.

Dear God, don't let him strike, Jane prayed as she edged inside the stable door. She carefully set the bowl of scraps she'd brought for Sam on the floor and reached for the knife in her boot.

The snake was coiled in the middle of the stable directly in front of Bedelia's stall. If he didn't strike at the yapping dog dancing in front of him, he might turn on the mare.

"For God's sake, hush, Sam," she breathed.

The idiotic dog paid no attention to her, of course. His barking grew more shrill as the snake suddenly arched to a height of nearly four feet.

The blasted cobra must be at least ten feet long. If he launched that length at Sam, the dog would never be able to evade him. She glanced impatiently down at the knife in her hand and tossed it aside. A dagger would be no good as a weapon against the snake. To use it she would have to be too close. That pitchfork propped against the wall would be much more effective.

She froze as the snake's head swiveled in her direction. Her heart was thundering so hard it seemed louder than the uproar Sam was making. Though she was beyond the cobra's reach, fear still iced through her as she was pinned by those beady eyes.

Sam bounced to one side and the cobra's head swung toward him.

Jane's hand closed on the handle of the pitchfork

"Back, Sam!" she cried desperately. "For heaven's sake, stop teasing him." She moved slowly in a circle until she was behind the snake.

"What the bell are you doing?"

She pulled her gaze from the cobra to see Ruel standing in the doorway. His skin was death-pale and gleaming with sweat. "Get away from him."

"Be quiet!" Jane said sharply, her gaze shifting back to the snake. "And stand perfectly still. If you scare him, he might strike at Sam."

"I don't give a damn about Sam," he said hoarsely. "Get away from that goddamn snake before he kills you."

Jane ignored him and took a step closer. Four yards from the cobra. Three yards.

Ruel muttered an obscenity. "All right, I'll get that crazy hound." He took a step toward the dog. "Just get out of here!"

The cobra caught the motion and reared higher, hissing.

"Don't move," Jane whispered.

Ruel froze.

The snake was confused, his attention divided between Sam and Ruel. He had forgotten about her. If she were quick, she might be able to—

She dashed forward, holding the pitchfork out in front of her. She caught the snake's body between the tines and slung it across the stable. His long body struck the wall. Stunned, he fell writhing to the floor.

Sam immediately darted after it.

"No!" she screamed.

Ruel cursed steadily as he ran after the dog and scooped him up only a scant foot away from the serpent.

"Hold him!" Jane pushed Ruel aside and brought the wooden handle of the pitchfork down on the snake's puffed head with all her strength. She struck again and again and again. . . .

She stopped, breathless, as she realized the snake was no longer moving. "I ... think he's . . . dead."

Ruel didn't answer.

She poked at the snake with the pitchfork. No response. "It's safe to let Sam down now." She turned to look at Ruel. "He was a big one, wasn't he? I don't remember ever seeing one that size around here. They're usually much– Let me go!"

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