Kathlyn reached for the revolver she carried and fired at the animals,
not expecting to hit one of them, but hoping that the noise of the
firearm would swerve them into the passage across the way. Instead,
they came straight to where she stood.
She stepped inside and slammed the door, holding it and feeling about
in vain for lock or bolt.
She then espied a ladder which gave to the roof top, and up this she
climbed. They could not possibly follow her up the ladder, and as she
reached the top and it turned back at her pressure, she knew that for
the present she had nothing to fear from the lions.
Then, round the passage she saw a palanquin, carried by slaves. She
leaned far over.
"Help!" she cried. "Help!"
The bearers paused abruptly, and the curtain of the palanquin was swept
back. The dark sinister visage of Umballa was revealed.
Umballa left the palanquin, opened the door of the house, espied the
rubbish in the hall; was in the act of mounting the first steps when
one of the lions roared again. Drunk as he was, filled with a
drunkard's courage, Umballa started back. The lions! Out into the
street he went. He turned to the bearers and ordered them to fire the
inflammables in the hall. But they refused, for they recognized the
chain armor. Mad with rage Umballa struck at them, entered the hall
again, and threw a lighted match into the rubbish.