My tongue clave to the roof of my mouth.

I sprang forward pursuing the beast.

But in a moment the spot I made for was far behind it.
"It was well," I thought, "that I could not cry out: if she had risen, the monster would have been upon her!" But when I reached the place, no lady was there; only the garments she had dropped lay dusk in the moonlight.
I stood staring after the second beast.

It tore over the ground with yet greater swiftness than the former--in long, level, skimming leaps, the very embodiment of wasteless speed.

It followed the line the other had taken, and I watched it grow smaller and smaller, until it disappeared in the uncertain distance.
But where was the lady?
Had the first beast surprised her, creeping upon her noiselessly?
I had heard no shriek! and there had not been time to devour her! Could it have caught her up as it ran, and borne her away to its den?
So laden it could not have run so fast! and I should have seen that it carried something! Horrible doubts began to wake in me.