Ay, you fear the dark, Noma; yet did I command you to rise and go stand alone through the long night yonder in the burying-place of kings, why, you must obey.

Come, I command you--go!" "Nay, nay!" she wailed in an extremity of terror.

Yet she rose and went towards the door sideways, for her hands were outstretched in supplication to him.
"Come back," he said, "and listen: If a hunter has nurtured up a fierce dog, wherewith alone he can gain his livelihood, he tries to tame that dog by love, does he not?
And if it will not become gentle, then, the brute being necessary to him, he tames it by fear.

I am the hunter and, Noma, you are the hound; and since this curse is on me that I cannot live without you, why I must master you as best I may.

Yet, believe me, I would not cause you fear or pain, and it saddens me that you should be haunted by these sick fancies, for they are nothing more.