Again the leopardess rushed to the attack, but found nothing.

At a third monster she darted with like fury, and like failure--then sullenly ceased to heed the phantom-horde.

But I understood the peril and hastened the crossing--the rather that the moon was carrying herself strangely.

Even as she rose she seemed ready to drop and give up the attempt as hopeless; and since, I saw her sink back once fully her own breadth.

The arc she made was very low, and now she had begun to descend rapidly.
We were almost over, when, between us and the border of the basin, arose a long neck, on the top of which, like the blossom of some Stygian lily, sat what seemed the head of a corpse, its mouth half open, and full of canine teeth.