"'If I could only see your hidden face!' roared Juon, throwing himself
with all his might on Black Mask. 'You devil, you, I'll tear your
mummery off for you!'--and he gnashed at his opponent's face with his
teeth, trying to snap his mask off.
"This attempt seemed to redouble Fatia Negra's fury. He too now began
roaring like a wounded bear, struggling with a huntsman. It was no
longer a struggle between men, but a ravening of two beasts. The
combatants had now rolled far away from the hut. Their savage yells
resounded through the still pastures. We, watching them from the hut,
could see that they were drawing near the edge of a steep abyss with a
sheer descent of many fathoms, at the bottom of which are the sources of
the little mountain streams.
"'Take care, Juon!' cried Mariora despairingly. But her voice was
unheard. Both of them were deaf and blind. The next moment Juon gave his
adversary a fierce shake and instantly the pair of them plunged head
over heels into the gulf below.
"We both rushed after them, and on reaching the edge of the abyss
perceived one shape lying motionless among the rocks of the stream, and
another limping painfully towards the further shore. This second figure
was Fatia Negra."
"Surely Juon was not dead?" cried Henrietta, horrified.
"No; only crippled by the fall. He fell undermost, the other on top. Yet
the other must have suffered severely.
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