His lip curled in the fighting snarl that exposed his long-unused canine fangs. He forgot sword and shield and spear. He was no longer a man, but a terrible beast; and the hairy brute that witnessed the metamorphosis blanched and shrank back in fear. But he could not escape the fury of that mad charge or the raging creature that sought his throat. For a moment they struggled in a surging, swaying embrace, and then toppled to the ground--the hairy one beneath. Rolling, tearing, and biting, they battled--each seeking a death hold upon the other. Time and again the gleaming teeth of the once-fastidious Bostonian sank into the breast and shoulder of his antagonist, but it was the jugular his primal instinct sought. The girl and the old man had drawn away where they could watch the battle in safety. Nadara's eyes were wide in fascination. Her slim, brown hands were tight pressed against her rapidly rising and falling breasts as she leaned a little forward with parted lips, drinking in every detail of the conflict between the two beasts. Ah, but was the yellow-haired giant really fighting for possession of her, or merely in protection, because she was a woman? She could readily conceive from her knowledge of him that he might be acting now solely from some peculiar sense of duty which she realized that he might entertain, although she could not herself understand it. Yes, that was it, and when he had conquered his rival he would run away again, as he had months before. At the thought Nadara felt herself flush with mortification. No, he should never have another opportunity to repeat that terrible affront. As she allowed her mind to dwell on the humiliating moment that had witnessed the discovery that Thandar had fled from her at the very threshold of her home Nadara found herself hating him again as fiercely as she had all these long months--a hatred that had almost dissolved at sight of him as he rushed out of the underbrush a moment before to wrest her from the clutches of her hideous tormentor. Waldo and his antagonist were still tearing futilely at one another in mad efforts to maim or kill. The giant muscles of the cave man gave him but little if any advantage over his agile, though slightly less-powerful, adversary. The hairy one used his teeth to better advantage, with the result that Waldo was badly torn and bleeding from a dozen wounds. Both were weakening now, and it seemed to the girl who watched that the younger man would be the first to succumb to the terrific strain under which both had been. She took a step forward and, stooping, picked up a stone. Her small strength would be ample to turn the scales as she might choose--a sharp blow upon the head of either would give his adversary the trifling advantage that would spell death for the one she struck. The two men had struggled to their feet again as she approached with raised weapon.