denly blurted out this immemorial defiance, which he had never heard said, in which he had never been coached, and which, therefore, he must have arrived at independently and instinctively in the crisis.
"Bravo!!!" a howl like that of wolves and jackals rose from the multitude.
As the cart rolled on amidst the applause. Ah Q cast another glance at Wu-ma. She did not appear to have seen him at all, but was lost in gazing at the guns carried by the soldiers.
Ah Q turned his glance upon the applauders.
Suddenly a scene from the past flashed through his mind. Four years ago he had met a famished wolf at the foot of the hills; it had followed him with dogged persistence, never too near and never too far, its mouth watering for his flesh. He was scared to death, but fortunately he had with him a woodcutter's axe and with it he was able to keep off the wolf and reach home. But he could never forget those eyes of the famished wolf, fierce and yet slinking, weird and hair-raising like jack-o-lanterns, as though piercing right through his skin and flesh. Now he beheld eyes even more horrible than those of the wolf. These were dull and lusterless eyes that yet seemed to glint with greediness, to relish his bravado and to be waiting for something that they would relish even more; and like the wolf they followed him, never too near, and never too far.
The myriad eyes seemed to merge into one, boring and gnawing relentlessly at his soul.
"Help!"
But before he had time to utter the word, all became black before his eyes, his ears rang, and his body seemed to break into tiny specks of dust.
