midnight
whispered Kali . There was something so horrible in this night attack , in the superior force of the monsters , and in the sudden slaughter of the defenseless animals that Stas for a time was struck with consternation , and forgot about the rifle . What , after all , would it have availed him to shoot in such darkness ? Unless for this , that those midnight assassins , if the flash and report should frighten them , would abandon the horses already killed , and start after those which were scared away and had run from the camp as far as their fettered legs would permit them . Stas ' flesh began to creep at the thought of what would have happened if they had remained below . Nell , nestling close to him , shook as if she already were suffering the first attack of fever , but the tree at least protected them from an attack of lions . Kali plainly had saved their lives .