But not a whimper or a growl escaped him.
[Illustration: "Not another blow!"] And then, suddenly, his mistress ran forward and caught the whip poised above Thorpe's head.
"Not another blow!" she cried, and something in her voice held him from striking.

McCready did not hear what she said then, but a strange look came into Thorpe's eyes, and without a word he followed his wife into their tent.
"Kazan did not leap at me," she whispered, and she was trembling with a sudden excitement.

Her face was deathly white.

"That man was behind me," she went on, clutching her husband by the arm.

"I felt him touch me--and then Kazan sprang.