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heavy drape that covered the doorway behind them, but as he did so, something came leaping out from within, tearing down the curtain and smashing headlong into Cornelius, tipping him backwards. The crossbow went spinning out of his grasp and he fell, crashing onto Max's swaying rump. The panther, still entangled in the curtain, came down on top of him with a terrible roar. Sebastian looked down helplessly. He desperately tried to pull Max to a halt but the buffalope was so terrified by the sensation of two figures fighting on his back, he wouldn't slow his pace, and the caravan raced on along the narrow track.
     
Cornelius was in danger of slipping sideways off Max and being trampled by the wheels, but he managed to cling on somehow, gripping the harness while using his feet to try to fend off the cat, which was still struggling to escape from the curtain, its claws shredding the heavy fabric.
     
At first Sebastian sat there in a sheer funk, not knowing what to do. Then, realizing he had to do something, he abandoned the reins and clambered through the doorway into the swaying, rattling interior of the caravan. He started searching frantically for a weapon.
     
He saw a longbow hanging on the wall but realized that he couldn't use that for fear of hitting Cornelius or Max. Then his gaze fell on a long coil of rope and, unwilling to waste any more time, he grabbed it and clumsily fashioned the end into a noose. He stumbled back through the doorway and saw that Cornelius was still spread-eagled across Max's back. The panther was virtually free of the curtain now, and the
     

     
Golmiran was desperately trying to fend off its teeth and claws which, had it not been for the protection of his breastplate and chain-mail jerkin, would have ripped into his flesh by now.
     
Sebastian started twirling the rope above his head to try and generate some momentum. 'Get its head up!' he yelled, and Cornelius must have heard him, because he did his best to comply. He got his little legs in under the cat's chest and began to push with all his strength, raising the beast's torso and great snarling head. Sebastian flung the rope and, more by good fortune than good aim, the noose dropped around the panther's neck.
     
Now Sebastian braced himself and pulled with all his might. The cat's guttural sounds turned abruptly to a shriek of alarm as it was yanked backwards, and it began to lose its grip. It made a desperate attempt to bury its claws in Max's haunches, causing bellows of pain from the buffalope. Sebastian jerked with all his strength, and the big cat slipped and fell, tumbling under the caravan. There was a terrible crunch as the wheels passed over its body, and then it was gone in a flurry of dust, the rope paying out behind it. At the last moment Sebastian remembered to let go.
     
He looked towards Cornelius and was rewarded with a grim thumbs-up from the little warrior. Reassured, he took up the reins again and began to heave on them. This time, freed from the terror of having a cat's claws locked into his flesh, Max reacted and began to slow his pace. He dropped back to a canter, a trot, a walk, and then finally came to a halt, his great head lowered, his breath snorting from his nostrils in loud gasps.
     
Sebastian jumped down from the caravan and ran to Cornelius, who was scratched and bloodied but seemed to have escaped serious injury.
     
'Are you all right?' Sebastian asked him.
     
Cornelius grimaced. 'I lost my crossbow back there,' he complained.
     
'Never mind about that. The main thing is that you're not badly hurt. Max, what about you?'
     
Max was still fighting to recover his breath. 'For somebody . . . who's just had a panther . . . and a Golmiran . . . fighting to the death on his backside . . . I'm in surprisingly good shape,' he panted.
     
Cornelius jumped down off Max's haunches. 'What about the other cat?' he wanted to know. He and Sebastian walked round the side of the wagon to look back along the trail. A