Adjusting the rope to his saddle-horn he mounted and sat for a moment debating his next move.
Then Diada emerged from the jungle and stood at the edge of the clearing, looking curiously at the troop of men.
Gaitskill rode slowly forward, holding out his hand in a gesture of friendliness about as one would approach to catch a horse. But Diada moved slowly backward, keeping in the cleared space, always just one leap distant from the jungle.
Twice they circled the clearing in this ridiculous fashion, Gaitskill repeating in most wheedling and coaxing tones every expression of fondness and endearment with which he was acquainted.
“Dat chin-music ain’t gittin’ Marse Tom _nothin’_,” Vinegar Atts declared, watching the elusive Diada. “Me ’n’ Hitch’s done tried dat!”
Finally Gaitskill abandoned that plan, and quietly loosened his rope and got ready to throw.
Riding back a few feet he gave the rope a quick swing, and the noose settled prettily around the arms of the giant woman just above her elbows. There was not a trace of fear in her face, and she moved slowly backward until the rope was taut. To the interested negroes it looked like the simple, peaceable game of “playing horse.”
Then Gaitskill spurred his horse to one side and gave the rope a sharp jerk. Instantly a long-bladed butcher-knife flashed in Diada’s hand, and the severed rope trailed loosely upon the ground, while the now harmless noose slipped down over her hands and was lightly tossed aside.
“Dar now!” Hitch Diamond exclaimed in tragic tones. “Dat fish is done unbit an’ div!”
Gaitskill slowly drew in the rope and was busy making another noose, when there was a warning shout from the negroes.
Diada was coming across the clearing toward Gaitskill, leaping like a deer. There was no trace of anger in her manner, and no sign of danger except the long-bladed knife in her powerful hand.
Gaitskill’s nervous horse shied at that monstrous woman with her fluttering, ragged garments, and wheeled and bolted, snorting with terror.
The jungle kept the horse in the clearing as effectively as a barbed-wire fence, but the animal had two acres of level ground to run on and he proceeded to cover that ground in record-breaking time. Gaitskill might have quieted the animal very quickly, except for the fact that this performance seemed to please Diada, and she continued her pursuit, chasing Colonel Gaitskill all around the lot.