The People That Time Forgot

Edgar Rice Burroughs

Chapter 1

I am forced to admit that even though I had traveled a long distance to

place Bowen Tyler's manuscript in the hands of his father, I was still

a trifle skeptical as to its sincerity, since I could not but recall

that it had not been many years since Bowen had been one of the most

notorious practical jokers of his alma mater. The truth was that as I

sat in the Tyler library at Santa Monica I commenced to feel a trifle

foolish and to wish that I had merely forwarded the manuscript by

express instead of bearing it personally, for I confess that I do not

enjoy being laughed at. I have a well-developed sense of humor--when

the joke is not on me. Mr. Tyler, Sr., was expected almost hourly. The last steamer in from

Honolulu had brought information of the date of the expected sailing of

his yacht _Toreador_, which was now twenty-four hours overdue. Mr. Tyler's assistant secretary, who had been left at home, assured me that

there was no doubt but that the _Toreador_ had sailed as promised, since

he knew his employer well enough to be positive that nothing short of

an act of God would prevent his doing what he had planned to do. I was

also aware of the fact that the sending apparatus of the _Toreador_'s

wireless equipment was sealed, and that it would only be used in event

of dire necessity. There was, therefore, nothing to do but wait, and

we waited. We discussed the manuscript and hazarded guesses concerning it and the

strange events it narrated. The torpedoing of the liner upon which

Bowen J. Tyler, Jr., had taken passage for France to join the American

Ambulance was a well-known fact, and I had further substantiated by

wire to the New York office of the owners, that a Miss La Rue had been

booked for passage. Further, neither she nor Bowen had been mentioned

among the list of survivors; nor had the body of either of them been

recovered. Their rescue by the English tug was entirely probable; the capture of

the enemy _U-33_ by the tug's crew was not beyond the range of

possibility; and their adventures during the perilous cruise which the

treachery and deceit of Benson extended until they found themselves in

the waters of the far South Pacific with depleted stores and poisoned

water-casks, while bordering upon the fantastic, appeared logical

enough as narrated, event by event, in the manuscript. Caprona has always been considered a more or less mythical land, though

it is vouched for by an eminent navigator of the eighteenth century;

but Bowen's narrative made it seem very real, however many miles of

trackless ocean lay between us and it. Yes, the narrative had us

guessing. We were agreed that it was most improbable; but neither of

us could say that anything which it contained was beyond the range of

possibility. The weird flora and fauna of Caspak were as possible

under the thick, warm atmospheric conditions of the super-heated crater

as they were in the Mesozoic era under almost exactly similar

conditions, which were then probably world-wide. The assistant

secretary had heard of Caproni and his discoveries, but admitted that

he never had taken much stock in the one nor the other. We were agreed

that the one statement most difficult of explanation was that which

reported the entire absence of human young among the various tribes

with which Tyler had had intercourse. This was the one irreconcilable

statement of the manuscript. A world of adults!

It was impossible. We speculated upon the probable fate of Bradley and his party of

English sailors. Tyler had found the graves of two of them; how many

more might have perished!

And Miss La Rue--could a young girl long

have survived the horrors of Caspak after having been separated from

all of her own kind?

The assistant secretary wondered if Nobs still

was with her, and then we both smiled at this tacit acceptance of the

truth of the whole uncanny tale:

"I suppose I'm a fool," remarked the assistant secretary; "but by

George, I can't help believing it, and I can see that girl now, with

the big Airedale at her side protecting her from the terrors of a

million years ago. I can visualize the entire scene--the apelike

Grimaldi men huddled in their filthy caves; the huge pterodactyls

soaring through the heavy air upon their bat-like wings; the mighty

dinosaurs moving their clumsy hulks beneath the dark shadows of

preglacial forests--the dragons which we considered myths until science

taught us that they were the true recollections of the first man,

handed down through countless ages by word of mouth from father to son

out of the unrecorded dawn of humanity."

"It is stupendous--if true," I replied. "And to think that possibly

they are still there--Tyler and Miss La Rue--surrounded by hideous

dangers, and that possibly Bradley still lives, and some of his party!

I can't help hoping all the time that Bowen and the girl have found the

others; the last Bowen knew of them, there were six left, all told--the

mate Bradley, the engineer Olson, and Wilson, Whitely, Brady and

Sinclair. There might be some hope for them if they could join forces;

but separated, I'm afraid they couldn't last long."

"If only they hadn't let the German prisoners capture the _U-33_!

Bowen

should have had better judgment than to have trusted them at all. The

chances are von Schoenvorts succeeded in getting safely back to Kiel

and is strutting around with an Iron Cross this very minute. With a

large supply of oil from the wells they discovered in Caspak, with

plenty of water and ample provisions, there is no reason why they

couldn't have negotiated the submerged tunnel beneath the barrier

cliffs and made good their escape."

"I don't like 'em," said the assistant secretary; "but sometimes you

got to hand it to 'em."

"Yes," I growled, "and there's nothing I'd enjoy more than _handing it

to them_!" And then the telephone-bell rang. The assistant secretary answered, and as I watched him, I saw his jaw

drop and his face go white. "My God!" he exclaimed as he hung up the

receiver as one in a trance. "It can't be!"

"What?" I asked. "Mr. Tyler is dead," he answered in a dull voice. "He died at sea,

suddenly, yesterday."

The next ten days were occupied in burying Mr. Bowen J. Tyler, Sr., and

arranging plans for the succor of his son. Mr. Tom Billings, the late

Mr. Tyler's secretary, did it all. He is force, energy, initiative and

good judgment combined and personified. I never have beheld a more

dynamic young man. He handled lawyers, courts and executors as a

sculptor handles his modeling clay. He formed, fashioned and forced

them to his will. He had been a classmate of Bowen Tyler at college,

and a fraternity brother, and before that he had been an impoverished

and improvident cow-puncher on one of the great Tyler ranches. Tyler,

Sr., had picked him out of thousands of employees and made him; or

rather Tyler had given him the opportunity, and then Billings had made

himself. Tyler, Jr., as good a judge of men as his father, had taken

him into his friendship, and between the two of them they had turned

out a man who would have died for a Tyler as quickly as he would have

for his flag. Yet there was none of the sycophant or fawner in

Billings; ordinarily I do not wax enthusiastic about men, but this man

Billings comes as close to my conception of what a regular man should

be as any I have ever met. I venture to say that before Bowen J. Tyler

sent him to college he had never heard the word _ethics_, and yet I am

equally sure that in all his life he never has transgressed a single

tenet of the code of ethics of an American gentleman. Ten days after they brought Mr. Tyler's body off the _Toreador_, we

steamed out into the Pacific in search of Caprona. There were forty in

the party, including the master and crew of the _Toreador_; and Billings

the indomitable was in command. We had a long and uninteresting search

for Caprona, for the old map upon which the assistant secretary had

finally located it was most inaccurate. When its grim walls finally

rose out of the ocean's mists before us, we were so far south that it

was a question as to whether we were in the South Pacific or the

Antarctic. Bergs were numerous, and it was very cold. All during the trip Billings had steadfastly evaded questions as to how

we were to enter Caspak after we had found Caprona. Bowen Tyler's

manuscript had made it perfectly evident to all that the subterranean

outlet of the Caspakian River was the only means of ingress or egress

to the crater world beyond the impregnable cliffs. Tyler's party had

been able to navigate this channel because their craft had been a

submarine; but the _Toreador_ could as easily have flown over the cliffs

as sailed under them. Jimmy Hollis and Colin Short whiled away many an

hour inventing schemes for surmounting the obstacle presented by the

barrier cliffs, and making ridiculous wagers as to which one Tom

Billings had in mind; but immediately we were all assured that we had

raised Caprona, Billings called us together. "There was no use in talking about these things," he said, "until we

found the island. At best it can be but conjecture on our part until

we have been able to scrutinize the coast closely. Each of us has

formed a mental picture of the Capronian seacoast from Bowen's

manuscript, and it is not likely that any two of these pictures

resemble each other, or that any of them resemble the coast as we shall

presently find it. I have in view three plans for scaling the cliffs,

and the means for carrying out each is in the hold. There is an

electric drill with plenty of waterproof cable to reach from the ship's

dynamos to the cliff-top when the _Toreador_ is anchored at a safe

distance from shore, and there is sufficient half-inch iron rod to

build a ladder from the base to the top of the cliff. It would be a

long, arduous and dangerous work to bore the holes and insert the rungs

of the ladder from the bottom upward; yet it can be done. "I also have a life-saving mortar with which we might be able to throw

a line over the summit of the cliffs; but this plan would necessitate

one of us climbing to the top with the chances more than even that the

line would cut at the summit, or the hooks at the upper end would slip. "My third plan seems to me the most feasible. You all saw a number of

large, heavy boxes lowered into the hold before we sailed. I know you

did, because you asked me what they contained and commented upon the

large letter 'H' which was painted upon each box. These boxes contain

the various parts of a hydro-aeroplane. I purpose assembling this upon

the strip of beach described in Bowen's manuscript--the beach where he

found the dead body of the apelike man--provided there is sufficient

space above high water; otherwise we shall have to assemble it on deck

and lower it over the side. After it is assembled, I shall carry

tackle and ropes to the cliff-top, and then it will be comparatively

simple to hoist the search-party and its supplies in safety. Or I can

make a sufficient number of trips to land the entire party in the

valley beyond the barrier; all will depend, of course, upon what my

first reconnaissance reveals."

That afternoon we steamed slowly along the face of Caprona's towering

barrier. "You see now," remarked Billings as we craned our necks to scan the

summit thousands of feet above us, "how futile it would have been to

waste our time in working out details of a plan to surmount those." And

he jerked his thumb toward the cliffs. "It would take weeks, possibly

months, to construct a ladder to the top. I had no conception of their

formidable height. Our mortar would not carry a line halfway to the

crest of the lowest point. There is no use discussing any plan other

than the hydro-aeroplane. We'll find the beach and get busy."

Late the following morning the lookout announced that he could discern

surf about a mile ahead; and as we approached, we all saw the line of

breakers broken by a long sweep of rolling surf upon a narrow beach. The launch was lowered, and five of us made a landing, getting a good

ducking in the ice-cold waters in the doing of it; but we were rewarded

by the finding of the clean-picked bones of what might have been the

skeleton of a high order of ape or a very low order of man, lying close

to the base of the cliff. Billings was satisfied, as were the rest of

us, that this was the beach mentioned by Bowen, and we further found

that there was ample room to assemble the sea-plane. Billings, having arrived at a decision, lost no time in acting, with

the result that before mid-afternoon we had landed all the large boxes

marked "H" upon the beach, and were busily engaged in opening them. Two days later the plane was assembled and tuned. We loaded tackles

and ropes, water, food and ammunition in it, and then we each implored

Billings to let us be the one to accompany him. But he would take no

one. That was Billings; if there was any especially difficult or

dangerous work to be done, that one man could do, Billings always did

it himself. If he needed assistance, he never called for

volunteers--just selected the man or men he considered best qualified

for the duty. He said that he considered the principles underlying all

volunteer service fundamentally wrong, and that it seemed to him that

calling for volunteers reflected upon the courage and loyalty of the

entire command. We rolled the plane down to the water's edge, and Billings mounted the

pilot's seat. There was a moment's delay as he assured himself that he

had everything necessary. Jimmy Hollis went over his armament and

ammunition to see that nothing had been omitted. Besides pistol and

rifle, there was the machine-gun mounted in front of him on the plane,

and ammunition for all three. Bowen's account of the terrors of Caspak

had impressed us all with the necessity for proper means of defense. At last all was ready. The motor was started, and we pushed the plane

out into the surf. A moment later, and she was skimming seaward. Gently she rose from the surface of the water, executed a wide spiral

as she mounted rapidly, circled once far above us and then disappeared

over the crest of the cliffs. We all stood silent and expectant, our

eyes glued upon the towering summit above us. Hollis, who was now in

command, consulted his wrist-watch at frequent intervals. "Gad," exclaimed Short, "we ought to be hearing from him pretty soon!"

Hollis laughed nervously. "He's been gone only ten minutes," he

announced. "Seems like an hour," snapped Short. "What's that?

Did you hear that?

He's firing!

It's the machine-gun!

Oh, Lord; and here we are as

helpless as a lot of old ladies ten thousand miles away!

We can't do a

thing. We don't know what's happening. Why didn't he let one of us go

with him?"

Yes, it was the machine-gun. We would hear it distinctly for at least

a minute. Then came silence. That was two weeks ago. We have had no

sign nor signal from Tom Billings since. Chapter 2

I'll never forget my first impressions of Caspak as I circled in, high

over the surrounding cliffs. From the plane I looked down through a

mist upon the blurred landscape beneath me. The hot, humid atmosphere

of Caspak condenses as it is fanned by the cold Antarctic air-currents

which sweep across the crater's top, sending a tenuous ribbon of vapor

far out across the Pacific. Through this the picture gave one the

suggestion of a colossal impressionistic canvas in greens and browns

and scarlets and yellows surrounding the deep blue of the inland

sea--just blobs of color taking form through the tumbling mist. I dived close to the cliffs and skirted them for several miles without

finding the least indication of a suitable landing-place; and then I

swung back at a lower level, looking for a clearing close to the bottom

of the mighty escarpment; but I could find none of sufficient area to

insure safety. I was flying pretty low by this time, not only looking

for landing places but watching the myriad life beneath me. I was down

pretty well toward the south end of the island, where an arm of the

lake reaches far inland, and I could see the surface of the water

literally black with creatures of some sort. I was too far up to

recognize individuals, but the general impression was of a vast army of

amphibious monsters. The land was almost equally alive with crawling,

leaping, running, flying things. It was one of the latter which nearly

did for me while my attention was fixed upon the weird scene below. The first intimation I had of it was the sudden blotting out of the

sunlight from above, and as I glanced quickly up, I saw a most terrific

creature swooping down upon me. It must have been fully eighty feet

long from the end of its long, hideous beak to the tip of its thick,

short tail, with an equal spread of wings. It was coming straight for

me and hissing frightfully--I could hear it above the whir of the

propeller. It was coming straight down toward the muzzle of the

machine-gun and I let it have it right in the breast; but still it came

for me, so that I had to dive and turn, though I was dangerously close

to earth. The thing didn't miss me by a dozen feet, and when I rose, it wheeled

and followed me, but only to the cooler air close to the level of the

cliff-tops; there it turned again and dropped. Something--man's

natural love of battle and the chase, I presume--impelled me to pursue

it, and so I too circled and dived. The moment I came down into the

warm atmosphere of Caspak, the creature came for me again, rising above

me so that it might swoop down upon me. Nothing could better have

suited my armament, since my machine-gun was pointed upward at an angle

of about 45 degrees and could not be either depressed or elevated by the

pilot. If I had brought someone along with me, we could have raked the

great reptile from almost any position, but as the creature's mode of

attack was always from above, he always found me ready with a hail of

bullets. The battle must have lasted a minute or more before the thing

suddenly turned completely over in the air and fell to the ground. Bowen and I roomed together at college, and I learned a lot from him

outside my regular course. He was a pretty good scholar despite his

love of fun, and his particular hobby was paleontology. He used to

tell me about the various forms of animal and vegetable life which had

covered the globe during former eras, and so I was pretty well

acquainted with the fishes, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals of

paleolithic times. I knew that the thing that had attacked me was some

sort of pterodactyl which should have been extinct millions of years

ago. It was all that I needed to realize that Bowen had exaggerated

nothing in his manuscript. Having disposed of my first foe, I set myself once more to search for a

landing-place near to the base of the cliffs beyond which my party

awaited me. I knew how anxious they would be for word from me, and I

was equally anxious to relieve their minds and also to get them and our

supplies well within Caspak, so that we might set off about our

business of finding and rescuing Bowen Tyler; but the pterodactyl's

carcass had scarcely fallen before I was surrounded by at least a dozen

of the hideous things, some large, some small, but all bent upon my

destruction. I could not cope with them all, and so I rose rapidly

from among them to the cooler strata wherein they dared not follow; and

then I recalled that Bowen's narrative distinctly indicated that the

farther north one traveled in Caspak, the fewer were the terrible

reptiles which rendered human life impossible at the southern end of

the island. There seemed nothing now but to search out a more northerly

landing-place and then return to the _Toreador_ and transport my

companions, two by two, over the cliffs and deposit them at the

rendezvous. As I flew north, the temptation to explore overcame me. I

knew that I could easily cover Caspak and return to the beach with less

petrol than I had in my tanks; and there was the hope, too, that I

might find Bowen or some of his party. The broad expanse of the inland

sea lured me out over its waters, and as I crossed, I saw at either

extremity of the great body of water an island--one to the south and

one to the north; but I did not alter my course to examine either

closely, leaving that to a later time. The further shore of the sea revealed a much narrower strip of land

between the cliffs and the water than upon the western side; but it was

a hillier and more open country. There were splendid landing-places,

and in the distance, toward the north, I thought I descried a village;

but of that I was not positive. However, as I approached the land, I

saw a number of human figures apparently pursuing one who fled across a

broad expanse of meadow. As I dropped lower to have a better look at

these people, they caught the whirring of my propellers and looked

aloft. They paused an instant--pursuers and pursued; and then they

broke and raced for the shelter of the nearest wood. Almost

instantaneously a huge bulk swooped down upon me, and as I looked up, I

realized that there were flying reptiles even in this part of Caspak. The creature dived for my right wing so quickly that nothing but a

sheer drop could have saved me. I was already close to the ground, so

that my maneuver was extremely dangerous; but I was in a fair way of

making it successfully when I saw that I was too closely approaching a

large tree. My effort to dodge the tree and the pterodactyl at the

same time resulted disastrously. One wing touched an upper branch; the

plane tipped and swung around, and then, out of control, dashed into

the branches of the tree, where it came to rest, battered and torn,

forty feet above the ground. Hissing loudly, the huge reptile swept close above the tree in which my

plane had lodged, circled twice over me and then flapped away toward

the south. As I guessed then and was to learn later, forests are the

surest sanctuary from these hideous creatures, which, with their

enormous spread of wing and their great weight, are as much out of

place among trees as is a seaplane. For a minute or so I clung there to my battered flyer, now useless

beyond redemption, my brain numbed by the frightful catastrophe that

had befallen me. All my plans for the succor of Bowen and Miss La Rue

had depended upon this craft, and in a few brief minutes my own selfish

love of adventure had wrecked their hopes and mine. And what effect it

might have upon the future of the balance of the rescuing expedition I

could not even guess. Their lives, too, might be sacrificed to my

suicidal foolishness. That I was doomed seemed inevitable; but I can

honestly say that the fate of my friends concerned me more greatly than

did my own. Beyond the barrier cliffs my party was even now nervously awaiting my

return. Presently apprehension and fear would claim them--and they

would never know!

They would attempt to scale the cliffs--of that I

was sure; but I was not so positive that they would succeed; and after

a while they would turn back, what there were left of them, and go

sadly and mournfully upon their return journey to home. Home!

I set

my jaws and tried to forget the word, for I knew that I should never

again see home. And what of Bowen and his girl?

I had doomed them too. They would

never even know that an attempt had been made to rescue them. If they

still lived, they might some day come upon the ruined remnants of this

great plane hanging in its lofty sepulcher and hazard vain guesses and

be filled with wonder; but they would never know; and I could not but

be glad that they would not know that Tom Billings had sealed their

death-warrants by his criminal selfishness. All these useless regrets were getting me in a bad way; but at last I

shook myself and tried to put such things out of my mind and take hold

of conditions as they existed and do my level best to wrest victory

from defeat. I was badly shaken up and bruised, but considered myself

mighty lucky to escape with my life. The plane hung at a precarious

angle, so that it was with difficulty and considerable danger that I

climbed from it into the tree and then to the ground. My predicament was grave. Between me and my friends lay an inland sea

fully sixty miles wide at this point and an estimated land-distance of

some three hundred miles around the northern end of the sea, through

such hideous dangers as I am perfectly free to admit had me pretty well

buffaloed. I had seen quite enough of Caspak this day to assure me

that Bowen had in no way exaggerated its perils. As a matter of fact,

I am inclined to believe that he had become so accustomed to them

before he started upon his manuscript that he rather slighted them. As

I stood there beneath that tree--a tree which should have been part of

a coal-bed countless ages since--and looked out across a sea teeming

with frightful life--life which should have been fossil before God

conceived of Adam--I would not have given a minim of stale beer for my

chances of ever seeing my friends or the outside world again; yet then

and there I swore to fight my way as far through this hideous land as

circumstances would permit. I had plenty of ammunition, an automatic

pistol and a heavy rifle--the latter one of twenty added to our

equipment on the strength of Bowen's description of the huge beasts of

prey which ravaged Caspak. My greatest danger lay in the hideous

reptilia whose low nervous organizations permitted their carnivorous

instincts to function for several minutes after they had ceased to live. But to these things I gave less thought than to the sudden frustration

of all our plans. With the bitterest of thoughts I condemned myself

for the foolish weakness that had permitted me to be drawn from the

main object of my flight into premature and useless exploration. It

seemed to me then that I must be totally eliminated from further search

for Bowen, since, as I estimated it, the three hundred miles of

Caspakian territory I must traverse to reach the base of the cliffs

beyond which my party awaited me were practically impassable for a

single individual unaccustomed to Caspakian life and ignorant of all

that lay before him. Yet I could not give up hope entirely. My duty

lay clear before me; I must follow it while life remained to me, and so

I set forth toward the north. The country through which I took my way was as lovely as it was

unusual--I had almost said unearthly, for the plants, the trees, the

blooms were not of the earth that I knew. They were larger, the colors

more brilliant and the shapes startling, some almost to grotesqueness,

though even such added to the charm and romance of the landscape as the

giant cacti render weirdly beautiful the waste spots of the sad Mohave. And over all the sun shone huge and round and red, a monster sun above

a monstrous world, its light dispersed by the humid air of Caspak--the

warm, moist air which lies sluggish upon the breast of this great

mother of life, Nature's mightiest incubator. All about me, in every direction, was life. It moved through the

tree-tops and among the boles; it displayed itself in widening and

intermingling circles upon the bosom of the sea; it leaped from the

depths; I could hear it in a dense wood at my right, the murmur of it

rising and falling in ceaseless volumes of sound, riven at intervals by

a horrid scream or a thunderous roar which shook the earth; and always

I was haunted by that inexplicable sensation that unseen eyes were

watching me, that soundless feet dogged my trail. I am neither nervous

nor highstrung; but the burden of responsibility upon me weighed

heavily, so that I was more cautious than is my wont. I turned often

to right and left and rear lest I be surprised, and I carried my rifle

at the ready in my hand. Once I could have sworn that among the many

creatures dimly perceived amidst the shadows of the wood I saw a human

figure dart from one cover to another, but I could not be sure. For the most part I skirted the wood, making occasional detours rather

than enter those forbidding depths of gloom, though many times I was

forced to pass through arms of the forest which extended to the very

shore of the inland sea. There was so sinister a suggestion in the

uncouth sounds and the vague glimpses of moving things within the

forest, of the menace of strange beasts and possibly still stranger

men, that I always breathed more freely when I had passed once more

into open country. I had traveled northward for perhaps an hour, still haunted by the

conviction that I was being stalked by some creature which kept always

hidden among the trees and shrubbery to my right and a little to my

rear, when for the hundredth time I was attracted by a sound from that

direction, and turning, saw some animal running rapidly through the

forest toward me. There was no longer any effort on its part at

concealment; it came on through the underbrush swiftly, and I was

confident that whatever it was, it had finally gathered the courage to

charge me boldly. Before it finally broke into plain view, I became

aware that it was not alone, for a few yards in its rear a second thing

thrashed through the leafy jungle. Evidently I was to be attacked in

force by a pair of hunting beasts or men. And then through the last clump of waving ferns broke the figure of the

foremost creature, which came leaping toward me on light feet as I

stood with my rifle to my shoulder covering the point at which I had

expected it would emerge. I must have looked foolish indeed if my

surprise and consternation were in any way reflected upon my

countenance as I lowered my rifle and gazed incredulous at the lithe

figure of the girl speeding swiftly in my direction. But I did not

have long to stand thus with lowered weapon, for as she came, I saw her

cast an affrighted glance over her shoulder, and at the same moment

there broke from the jungle at the same spot at which I had seen her,

the hugest cat I had ever looked upon. At first I took the beast for a saber-tooth tiger, as it was quite the

most fearsome-appearing beast one could imagine; but it was not that

dread monster of the past, though quite formidable enough to satisfy

the most fastidious thrill-hunter. On it came, grim and terrible, its

baleful eyes glaring above its distended jaws, its lips curled in a

frightful snarl which exposed a whole mouthful of formidable teeth. At

sight of me it had abandoned its impetuous rush and was now sneaking

slowly toward us; while the girl, a long knife in her hand, took her

stand bravely at my left and a little to my rear. She had called

something to me in a strange tongue as she raced toward me, and now she

spoke again; but what she said I could not then, of course, know--only

that her tones were sweet, well modulated and free from any suggestion

of panic. Facing the huge cat, which I now saw was an enormous panther, I waited

until I could place a shot where I felt it would do the most good, for

at best a frontal shot at any of the large carnivora is a ticklish

matter. I had some advantage in that the beast was not charging; its

head was held low and its back exposed; and so at forty yards I took

careful aim at its spine at the junction of neck and shoulders. But at

the same instant, as though sensing my intention, the great creature

lifted its head and leaped forward in full charge. To fire at that

sloping forehead I knew would be worse than useless, and so I quickly

shifted my aim and pulled the trigger, hoping against hope that the

soft-nosed bullet and the heavy charge of powder would have sufficient

stopping effect to give me time to place a second shot. In answer to the report of the rifle I had the satisfaction of seeing

the brute spring into the air, turning a complete somersault; but it

was up again almost instantly, though in the brief second that it took

it to scramble to its feet and get its bearings, it exposed its left

side fully toward me, and a second bullet went crashing through its

heart. Down it went for the second time--and then up and at me. The

vitality of these creatures of Caspak is one of the marvelous features

of this strange world and bespeaks the low nervous organization of the

old paleolithic life which has been so long extinct in other portions

of the world. I put a third bullet into the beast at three paces, and then I thought

that I was done for; but it rolled over and stopped at my feet, stone

dead. I found that my second bullet had torn its heart almost

completely away, and yet it had lived to charge ferociously upon me,

and but for my third shot would doubtless have slain me before it

finally expired--or as Bowen Tyler so quaintly puts it, before it knew

that it was dead. With the panther quite evidently conscious of the fact that dissolution

had overtaken it, I turned toward the girl, who was regarding me with

evident admiration and not a little awe, though I must admit that my

rifle claimed quite as much of her attention as did I. She was quite

the most wonderful animal that I have ever looked upon, and what few of

her charms her apparel hid, it quite effectively succeeded in

accentuating. A bit of soft, undressed leather was caught over her

left shoulder and beneath her right breast, falling upon her left side

to her hip and upon the right to a metal band which encircled her leg

above the knee and to which the lowest point of the hide was attached. About her waist was a loose leather belt, to the center of which was

attached the scabbard belonging to her knife. There was a single

armlet between her right shoulder and elbow, and a series of them

covered her left forearm from elbow to wrist. These, I learned later,

answered the purpose of a shield against knife attack when the left arm

is raised in guard across the breast or face. Her masses of heavy hair were held in place by a broad metal band which

bore a large triangular ornament directly in the center of her

forehead. This ornament appeared to be a huge turquoise, while the

metal of all her ornaments was beaten, virgin gold, inlaid in intricate

design with bits of mother-of-pearl and tiny pieces of stone of various

colors. From the left shoulder depended a leopard's tail, while her

feet were shod with sturdy little sandals. The knife was her only

weapon. Its blade was of iron, the grip was wound with hide and

protected by a guard of three out-bowing strips of flat iron, and upon

the top of the hilt was a knob of gold. I took in much of this in the few seconds during which we stood facing

each other, and I also observed another salient feature of her

appearance: she was frightfully dirty!

Her face and limbs and garment

were streaked with mud and perspiration, and yet even so, I felt that I

had never looked upon so perfect and beautiful a creature as she. Her

figure beggars description, and equally so, her face. Were I one of

these writer-fellows, I should probably say that her features were

Grecian, but being neither a writer nor a poet I can do her greater

justice by saying that she combined all of the finest lines that one

sees in the typical American girl's face rather than the pronounced

sheeplike physiognomy of the Greek goddess. No, even the dirt couldn't

hide that fact; she was beautiful beyond compare. As we stood looking at each other, a slow smile came to her face,

parting her symmetrical lips and disclosing a row of strong white teeth. "Galu?" she asked with rising inflection. And remembering that I read in Bowen's manuscript that Galu seemed to

indicate a higher type of man, I answered by pointing to myself and

repeating the word. Then she started off on a regular catechism, if I

could judge by her inflection, for I certainly understood no word of

what she said. All the time the girl kept glancing toward the forest,

and at last she touched my arm and pointed in that direction. Turning, I saw a hairy figure of a manlike thing standing watching us,

and presently another and another emerged from the jungle and joined

the leader until there must have been at least twenty of them. They

were entirely naked. Their bodies were covered with hair, and though

they stood upon their feet without touching their hands to the ground,

they had a very ape-like appearance, since they stooped forward and had

very long arms and quite apish features. They were not pretty to look

upon with their close-set eyes, flat noses, long upper lips and

protruding yellow fangs. "_Alus_!" said the girl. I had reread Bowen's adventures so often that I knew them almost by

heart, and so now I knew that I was looking upon the last remnant of

that ancient man-race--the Alus of a forgotten period--the speechless

man of antiquity. "_Kazor_!" cried the girl, and at the same moment the Alus came jabbering

toward us. They made strange growling, barking noises, as with much

baring of fangs they advanced upon us. They were armed only with

nature's weapons--powerful muscles and giant fangs; yet I knew that

these were quite sufficient to overcome us had we nothing better to

offer in defense, and so I drew my pistol and fired at the leader. He

dropped like a stone, and the others turned and fled. Once again the

girl smiled her slow smile and stepping closer, caressed the barrel of

my automatic. As she did so, her fingers came in contact with mine,

and a sudden thrill ran through me, which I attributed to the fact that

it had been so long since I had seen a woman of any sort or kind. She said something to me in her low, liquid tones; but I could not

understand her, and then she pointed toward the north and started away. I followed her, for my way was north too; but had it been south I still

should have followed, so hungry was I for human companionship in this

world of beasts and reptiles and half-men. We walked along, the girl talking a great deal and seeming mystified

that I could not understand her. Her silvery laugh rang merrily when I

in turn essayed to speak to her, as though my language was the

quaintest thing she ever had heard. Often after fruitless attempts to

make me understand she would hold her palm toward me, saying, "_Galu_!"

and then touch my breast or arm and cry, "_Alu_, _alu_!" I knew what she

meant, for I had learned from Bowen's narrative the negative gesture

and the two words which she repeated. She meant that I was no Galu, as

I claimed, but an Alu, or speechless one. Yet every time she said this

she laughed again, and so infectious were her tones that I could only

join her. It was only natural, too, that she should be mystified by my

inability to comprehend her or to make her comprehend me, for from the

club-men, the lowest human type in Caspak to have speech, to the golden

race of Galus, the tongues of the various tribes are identical--except

for amplifications in the rising scale of evolution. She, who is a

Galu, can understand one of the Bo-lu and make herself understood to

him, or to a hatchet-man, a spear-man or an archer. The Ho-lus, or

apes, the Alus and myself were the only creatures of human semblance

with which she could hold no converse; yet it was evident that her

intelligence told her that I was neither Ho-lu nor Alu, neither

anthropoid ape nor speechless man. Yet she did not despair, but set out to teach me her language; and had

it not been that I worried so greatly over the fate of Bowen and my

companions of the _Toreador_, I could have wished the period of

instruction prolonged. I never have been what one might call a ladies' man, though I like

their company immensely, and during my college days and since have made

various friends among the sex. I think that I rather appeal to a

certain type of girl for the reason that I never make love to them; I

leave that to the numerous others who do it infinitely better than I

could hope to, and take my pleasure out of girls' society in what seem

to be more rational ways--dancing, golfing, boating, riding, tennis,

and the like. Yet in the company of this half-naked little savage I

found a new pleasure that was entirely distinct from any that I ever

had experienced. When she touched me, I thrilled as I had never before

thrilled in contact with another woman. I could not quite understand

it, for I am sufficiently sophisticated to know that this is a symptom

of love and I certainly did not love this filthy little barbarian with

her broken, unkempt nails and her skin so besmeared with mud and the

green of crushed foliage that it was difficult to say what color it

originally had been. But if she was outwardly uncouth, her clear eyes

and strong white, even teeth, her silvery laugh and her queenly

carriage, bespoke an innate fineness which dirt could not quite

successfully conceal. The sun was low in the heavens when we came upon a little river which

emptied into a large bay at the foot of low cliffs. Our journey so far

had been beset with constant danger, as is every journey in this

frightful land. I have not bored you with a recital of the wearying

successions of attacks by the multitude of creatures which were

constantly crossing our path or deliberately stalking us. We were

always upon the alert; for here, to paraphrase, eternal vigilance is

indeed the price of life. I had managed to progress a little in the acquisition of a knowledge of

her tongue, so that I knew many of the animals and reptiles by their

Caspakian names, and trees and ferns and grasses. I knew the words for

_sea_ and _river_ and _cliff_, for _sky_ and _sun_ and _cloud_.

Yes, I was getting

along finely, and then it occurred to me that I didn't know my

companion's name; so I pointed to myself and said, "Tom," and to her

and raised my eyebrows in interrogation. The girl ran her fingers into

that mass of hair and looked puzzled. I repeated the action a dozen

times. "Tom," she said finally in that clear, sweet, liquid voice. "Tom!"

I had never thought much of my name before; but when she spoke it, it

sounded to me for the first time in my life like a mighty nice name,

and then she brightened suddenly and tapped her own breast and said:

"Ajor!"

"Ajor!" I repeated, and she laughed and struck her palms together. Well, we knew each other's names now, and that was some satisfaction. I rather liked hers--Ajor!

And she seemed to like mine, for she

repeated it. We came to the cliffs beside the little river where it empties into the

bay with the great inland sea beyond. The cliffs were weather-worn and

rotted, and in one place a deep hollow ran back beneath the overhanging

stone for several feet, suggesting shelter for the night. There were

loose rocks strewn all about with which I might build a barricade

across the entrance to the cave, and so I halted there and pointed out

the place to Ajor, trying to make her understand that we would spend

the night there. As soon as she grasped my meaning, she assented with the Caspakian

equivalent of an affirmative nod, and then touching my rifle, motioned

me to follow her to the river. At the bank she paused, removed her

belt and dagger, dropping them to the ground at her side; then

unfastening the lower edge of her garment from the metal leg-band to

which it was attached, slipped it off her left shoulder and let it drop

to the ground around her feet. It was done so naturally, so simply and

so quickly that it left me gasping like a fish out of water. Turning,

she flashed a smile at me and then dived into the river, and there she

bathed while I stood guard over her. For five or ten minutes she

splashed about, and when she emerged her glistening skin was smooth and

white and beautiful. Without means of drying herself, she simply

ignored what to me would have seemed a necessity, and in a moment was

arrayed in her simple though effective costume. It was now within an hour of darkness, and as I was nearly famished, I

led the way back about a quarter of a mile to a low meadow where we had

seen antelope and small horses a short time before. Here I brought

down a young buck, the report of my rifle sending the balance of the

herd scampering for the woods, where they were met by a chorus of

hideous roars as the carnivora took advantage of their panic and leaped

among them. With my hunting-knife I removed a hind-quarter, and then we returned to

camp. Here I gathered a great quantity of wood from fallen trees, Ajor

helping me; but before I built a fire, I also gathered sufficient loose

rock to build my barricade against the frightful terrors of the night

to come. I shall never forget the expression upon Ajor's face as she saw me

strike a match and light the kindling beneath our camp-fire. It was

such an expression as might transform a mortal face with awe as its

owner beheld the mysterious workings of divinity. It was evident that

Ajor was quite unfamiliar with modern methods of fire-making. She had

thought my rifle and pistol wonderful; but these tiny slivers of wood

which from a magic rub brought flame to the camp hearth were indeed

miracles to her. As the meat roasted above the fire, Ajor and I tried once again to

talk; but though copiously filled with incentive, gestures and sounds,

the conversation did not flourish notably. And then Ajor took up in

earnest the task of teaching me her language. She commenced, as I

later learned, with the simplest form of speech known to Caspak or for

that matter to the world--that employed by the Bo-lu. I found it far

from difficult, and even though it was a great handicap upon my

instructor that she could not speak my language, she did remarkably

well and demonstrated that she possessed ingenuity and intelligence of

a high order. After we had eaten, I added to the pile of firewood so that I could

replenish the fire before the entrance to our barricade, believing this

as good a protection against the carnivora as we could have; and then

Ajor and I sat down before it, and the lesson proceeded, while from all

about us came the weird and awesome noises of the Caspakian night--the

moaning and the coughing and roaring of the tigers, the panthers and

the lions, the barking and the dismal howling of a wolf, jackal and

hyaenadon, the shrill shrieks of stricken prey and the hissing of the

great reptiles; the voice of man alone was silent. But though the voice of this choir-terrible rose and fell from far and

near in all directions, reaching at time such a tremendous volume of

sound that the earth shook to it, yet so engrossed was I in my lesson

and in my teacher that often I was deaf to what at another time would

have filled me with awe. The face and voice of the beautiful girl who

leaned so eagerly toward me as she tried to explain the meaning of some

word or correct my pronunciation of another quite entirely occupied my

every faculty of perception. The firelight shone upon her animated

features and sparkling eyes; it accentuated the graceful motions of her

gesturing arms and hands; it sparkled from her white teeth and from her

golden ornaments, and glistened on the smooth firmness of her perfect

skin. I am afraid that often I was more occupied with admiration of

this beautiful animal than with a desire for knowledge; but be that as

it may, I nevertheless learned much that evening, though part of what I

learned had naught to do with any new language. Ajor seemed determined that I should speak Caspakian as quickly as

possible, and I thought I saw in her desire a little of that

all-feminine trait which has come down through all the ages from the

first lady of the world--curiosity. Ajor desired that I should speak

her tongue in order that she might satisfy a curiosity concerning me

that was filling her to a point where she was in danger of bursting; of

that I was positive. She was a regular little animated question-mark. She bubbled over with interrogations which were never to be satisfied

unless I learned to speak her tongue. Her eyes sparkled with

excitement; her hand flew in expressive gestures; her little tongue

raced with time; yet all to no avail. I could say _man_ and _tree_ and

_cliff_ and _lion_ and a number of other words in perfect Caspakian; but

such a vocabulary was only tantalizing; it did not lend itself well to

a very general conversation, and the result was that Ajor would wax so

wroth that she would clench her little fists and beat me on the breast

as hard as ever she could, and then she would sink back laughing as the

humor of the situation captured her. She was trying to teach me some verbs by going through the actions

herself as she repeated the proper word. We were very much

engrossed--so much so that we were giving no heed to what went on

beyond our cave--when Ajor stopped very suddenly, crying: "_Kazor_!" Now

she had been trying to teach me that _ju_ meant _stop_; so when she cried

_kazor_ and at the same time stopped, I thought for a moment that this

was part of my lesson--for the moment I forgot that _kazor_ means _beware_.

I therefore repeated the word after her; but when I saw the expression

in her eyes as they were directed past me and saw her point toward the

entrance to the cave, I turned quickly--to see a hideous face at the

small aperture leading out into the night. It was the fierce and

snarling countenance of a gigantic bear. I have hunted silvertips in

the White Mountains of Arizona and thought them quite the largest and

most formidable of big game; but from the appearance of the head of

this awful creature I judged that the largest grizzly I had ever seen

would shrink by comparison to the dimensions of a Newfoundland dog. Our fire was just within the cave, the smoke rising through the

apertures between the rocks that I had piled in such a way that they

arched inward toward the cliff at the top. The opening by means of

which we were to reach the outside was barricaded with a few large

fragments which did not by any means close it entirely; but through the

apertures thus left no large animal could gain ingress. I had depended

most, however, upon our fire, feeling that none of the dangerous

nocturnal beasts of prey would venture close to the flames. In this,

however, I was quite evidently in error, for the great bear stood with

his nose not a foot from the blaze, which was now low, owing to the

fact that I had been so occupied with my lesson and my teacher that I

had neglected to replenish it. Ajor whipped out her futile little knife and pointed to my rifle. At

the same time she spoke in a quite level voice entirely devoid of

nervousness or any evidence of fear or panic. I knew she was exhorting

me to fire upon the beast; but this I did not wish to do other than as

a last resort, for I was quite sure that even my heavy bullets would

not more than further enrage him--in which case he might easily force

an entrance to our cave. Instead of firing, I piled some more wood upon the fire, and as the

smoke and blaze arose in the beast's face, it backed away, growling

most frightfully; but I still could see two ugly points of light

blazing in the outer darkness and hear its growls rumbling terrifically

without. For some time the creature stood there watching the entrance

to our frail sanctuary while I racked my brains in futile endeavor to

plan some method of defense or escape. I knew full well that should

the bear make a determined effort to get at us, the rocks I had piled

as a barrier would come tumbling down about his giant shoulders like a

house of cards, and that he would walk directly in upon us. Ajor, having less knowledge of the effectiveness of firearms than I,

and therefore greater confidence in them, entreated me to shoot the

beast; but I knew that the chance that I could stop it with a single

shot was most remote, while that I should but infuriate it was real and

present; and so I waited for what seemed an eternity, watching those

devilish points of fire glaring balefully at us, and listening to the

ever-increasing volume of those seismic growls which seemed to rumble

upward from the bowels of the earth, shaking the very cliffs beneath

which we cowered, until at last I saw that the brute was again

approaching the aperture. It availed me nothing that I piled the blaze

high with firewood, until Ajor and I were near to roasting; on came

that mighty engine of destruction until once again the hideous face

yawned its fanged yawn directly within the barrier's opening. It stood

thus a moment, and then the head was withdrawn. I breathed a sigh of

relief, the thing had altered its intention and was going on in search

of other and more easily procurable prey; the fire had been too much

for it. But my joy was short-lived, and my heart sank once again as a moment

later I saw a mighty paw insinuated into the opening--a paw as large

around as a large dishpan. Very gently the paw toyed with the great

rock that partly closed the entrance, pushed and pulled upon it and

then very deliberately drew it outward and to one side. Again came the

head, and this time much farther into the cavern; but still the great

shoulders would not pass through the opening. Ajor moved closer to me

until her shoulder touched my side, and I thought I felt a slight

tremor run through her body, but otherwise she gave no indication of

fear. Involuntarily I threw my left arm about her and drew her to me

for an instant. It was an act of reassurance rather than a caress,

though I must admit that again and even in the face of death I thrilled

at the contact with her; and then I released her and threw my rifle to

my shoulder, for at last I had reached the conclusion that nothing more

could be gained by waiting. My only hope was to get as many shots into

the creature as I could before it was upon me. Already it had torn

away a second rock and was in the very act of forcing its huge bulk

through the opening it had now made. So now I took careful aim between its eyes; my right fingers closed

firmly and evenly upon the small of the stock, drawing back my

trigger-finger by the muscular action of the hand. The bullet could

not fail to hit its mark!

I held my breath lest I swerve the muzzle a

hair by my breathing. I was as steady and cool as I ever had been upon

a target-range, and I had the full consciousness of a perfect hit in

anticipation; I knew that I could not miss. And then, as the bear

surged forward toward me, the hammer fell--futilely, upon an imperfect

cartridge. Almost simultaneously I heard from without a perfectly hellish roar;

the bear gave voice to a series of growls far transcending in volume

and ferocity anything that he had yet essayed and at the same time

backed quickly from the cave. For an instant I couldn't understand

what had happened to cause this sudden retreat when his prey was

practically within his clutches. The idea that the harmless clicking

of the hammer had frightened him was too ridiculous to entertain. However, we had not long to wait before we could at least guess at the

cause of the diversion, for from without came mingled growls and roars

and the sound of great bodies thrashing about until the earth shook. The bear had been attacked in the rear by some other mighty beast, and

the two were now locked in a titanic struggle for supremacy. With

brief respites, during which we could hear the labored breathing of the

contestants, the battle continued for the better part of an hour until

the sounds of combat grew gradually less and finally ceased entirely. At Ajor's suggestion, made by signs and a few of the words we knew in

common, I moved the fire directly to the entrance to the cave so that a

beast would have to pass directly through the flames to reach us, and

then we sat and waited for the victor of the battle to come and claim

his reward; but though we sat for a long time with our eyes glued to

the opening, we saw no sign of any beast. At last I signed to Ajor to lie down, for I knew that she must have

sleep, and I sat on guard until nearly morning, when the girl awoke and

insisted that I take some rest; nor would she be denied, but dragged me

down as she laughingly menaced me with her knife. Chapter 3

When I awoke, it was daylight, and I found Ajor squatting before a fine

bed of coals roasting a large piece of antelope-meat. Believe me, the

sight of the new day and the delicious odor of the cooking meat filled

me with renewed happiness and hope that had been all but expunged by

the experience of the previous night; and perhaps the slender figure of

the bright-faced girl proved also a potent restorative. She looked up

and smiled at me, showing those perfect teeth, and dimpling with

evident happiness--the most adorable picture that I had ever seen. I

recall that it was then I first regretted that she was only a little

untutored savage and so far beneath me in the scale of evolution. Her first act was to beckon me to follow her outside, and there she

pointed to the explanation of our rescue from the bear--a huge

saber-tooth tiger, its fine coat and its flesh torn to ribbons, lying

dead a few paces from our cave, and beside it, equally mangled, and

disemboweled, was the carcass of a huge cave-bear. To have had one's

life saved by a saber-tooth tiger, and in the twentieth century into

the bargain, was an experience that was to say the least unique; but it

had happened--I had the proof of it before my eyes. So enormous are the great carnivora of Caspak that they must feed

perpetually to support their giant thews, and the result is that they

will eat the meat of any other creature and will attack anything that

comes within their ken, no matter how formidable the quarry. From

later observation--I mention this as worthy the attention of

paleontologists and naturalists--I came to the conclusion that such

creatures as the cave-bear, the cave-lion and the saber-tooth tiger, as

well as the larger carnivorous reptiles make, ordinarily, two kills a

day--one in the morning and one after night. They immediately devour

the entire carcass, after which they lie up and sleep for a few hours. Fortunately their numbers are comparatively few; otherwise there would

be no other life within Caspak. It is their very voracity that keeps

their numbers down to a point which permits other forms of life to

persist, for even in the season of love the great males often turn upon

their own mates and devour them, while both males and females

occasionally devour their young. How the human and semihuman races

have managed to survive during all the countless ages that these

conditions must have existed here is quite beyond me. After breakfast Ajor and I set out once more upon our northward

journey. We had gone but a little distance when we were attacked by a

number of apelike creatures armed with clubs. They seemed a little

higher in the scale than the Alus. Ajor told me they were Bo-lu, or

clubmen. A revolver-shot killed one and scattered the others; but

several times later during the day we were menaced by them, until we

had left their country and entered that of the Sto-lu, or hatchet-men. These people were less hairy and more man-like; nor did they appear so

anxious to destroy us. Rather they were curious, and followed us for

some distance examining us most closely. They called out to us, and

Ajor answered them; but her replies did not seem to satisfy them, for

they gradually became threatening, and I think they were preparing to

attack us when a small deer that had been hiding in some low brush

suddenly broke cover and dashed across our front. We needed meat, for

it was near one o'clock and I was getting hungry; so I drew my pistol

and with a single shot dropped the creature in its tracks. The effect

upon the Bo-lu was electrical. Immediately they abandoned all thoughts

of war, and turning, scampered for the forest which fringed our path. That night we spent beside a little stream in the Sto-lu country. We

found a tiny cave in the rock bank, so hidden away that only chance

could direct a beast of prey to it, and after we had eaten of the

deer-meat and some fruit which Ajor gathered, we crawled into the

little hole, and with sticks and stones which I had gathered for the

purpose I erected a strong barricade inside the entrance. Nothing

could reach us without swimming and wading through the stream, and I

felt quite secure from attack. Our quarters were rather cramped. The

ceiling was so low that we could not stand up, and the floor so narrow

that it was with difficulty that we both wedged into it together; but

we were very tired, and so we made the most of it; and so great was the

feeling of security that I am sure I fell asleep as soon as I had

stretched myself beside Ajor. During the three days which followed, our progress was exasperatingly

slow. I doubt if we made ten miles in the entire three days. The

country was hideously savage, so that we were forced to spend hours at

a time in hiding from one or another of the great beasts which menaced

us continually. There were fewer reptiles; but the quantity of

carnivora seemed to have increased, and the reptiles that we did see

were perfectly gigantic. I shall never forget one enormous specimen

which we came upon browsing upon water-reeds at the edge of the great

sea. It stood well over twelve feet high at the rump, its highest

point, and with its enormously long tail and neck it was somewhere

between seventy-five and a hundred feet in length. Its head was

ridiculously small; its body was unarmored, but its great bulk gave it

a most formidable appearance. My experience of Caspakian life led me

to believe that the gigantic creature would but have to see us to

attack us, and so I raised my rifle and at the same time drew away

toward some brush which offered concealment; but Ajor only laughed, and

picking up a stick, ran toward the great thing, shouting. The little

head was raised high upon the long neck as the animal stupidly looked

here and there in search of the author of the disturbance. At last its

eyes discovered tiny little Ajor, and then she hurled the stick at the

diminutive head. With a cry that sounded not unlike the bleat of a

sheep, the colossal creature shuffled into the water and was soon

submerged. As I slowly recalled my collegiate studies and paleontological readings

in Bowen's textbooks, I realized that I had looked upon nothing less

than a diplodocus of the Upper Jurassic; but how infinitely different

was the true, live thing from the crude restorations of Hatcher and

Holland!

I had had the idea that the diplodocus was a land-animal, but

evidently it is partially amphibious. I have seen several since my

first encounter, and in each case the creature took to the sea for

concealment as soon as it was disturbed. With the exception of its

gigantic tail, it has no weapon of defense; but with this appendage it

can lash so terrific a blow as to lay low even a giant cave-bear,

stunned and broken. It is a stupid, simple, gentle beast--one of the

few within Caspak which such a description might even remotely fit. For three nights we slept in trees, finding no caves or other places of

concealment. Here we were free from the attacks of the large land

carnivora; but the smaller flying reptiles, the snakes, leopards, and

panthers were a constant menace, though by no means as much to be

feared as the huge beasts that roamed the surface of the earth. At the close of the third day Ajor and I were able to converse with

considerable fluency, and it was a great relief to both of us,

especially to Ajor. She now did nothing but ask questions whenever I

would let her, which could not be all the time, as our preservation

depended largely upon the rapidity with which I could gain knowledge of

the geography and customs of Caspak, and accordingly I had to ask

numerous questions myself. I enjoyed immensely hearing and answering her, so naive were many of

her queries and so filled with wonder was she at the things I told her

of the world beyond the lofty barriers of Caspak; not once did she seem

to doubt me, however marvelous my statements must have seemed; and

doubtless they were the cause of marvel to Ajor, who before had never

dreamed that any life existed beyond Caspak and the life she knew. Artless though many of her questions were, they evidenced a keen

intellect and a shrewdness which seemed far beyond her years or her

experience. Altogether I was finding my little savage a mighty

interesting and companionable person, and I often thanked the kind fate

that directed the crossing of our paths. From her I learned much of

Caspak, but there still remained the mystery that had proved so

baffling to Bowen Tyler--the total absence of young among the ape, the

semihuman and the human races with which both he and I had come in

contact upon opposite shores of the inland sea. Ajor tried to explain

the matter to me, though it was apparent that she could not conceive

how so natural a condition should demand explanation. She told me that

among the Galus there were a few babies, that she had once been a baby

but that most of her people "came up," as he put it, "_cor sva jo_," or

literally, "from the beginning"; and as they all did when they used

that phrase, she would wave a broad gesture toward the south. "For long," she explained, leaning very close to me and whispering the

words into my ear while she cast apprehensive glances about and mostly

skyward, "for long my mother kept me hidden lest the Wieroo, passing

through the air by night, should come and take me away to Oo-oh." And

the child shuddered as she voiced the word. I tried to get her to tell

me more; but her terror was so real when she spoke of the Wieroo and

the land of Oo-oh where they dwell that I at last desisted, though I

did learn that the Wieroo carried off only female babes and

occasionally women of the Galus who had "come up from the beginning."

It was all very mysterious and unfathomable, but I got the idea that

the Wieroo were creatures of imagination--the demons or gods of her

race, omniscient and omnipresent. This led me to assume that the Galus

had a religious sense, and further questioning brought out the fact

that such was the case. Ajor spoke in tones of reverence of Luata, the

god of heat and life. The word is derived from two others: _Lua_,

meaning sun, and _ata_, meaning variously _eggs_, _life_, _young_, and

_reproduction_.

She told me that they worshiped Luata in several forms,

as fire, the sun, eggs and other material objects which suggested heat

and reproduction. I had noticed that whenever I built a fire, Ajor outlined in the air

before her with a forefinger an isosceles triangle, and that she did

the same in the morning when she first viewed the sun. At first I had

not connected her act with anything in particular, but after we learned

to converse and she had explained a little of her religious

superstitions, I realized that she was making the sign of the triangle

as a Roman Catholic makes the sign of the cross. Always the short side

of the triangle was uppermost. As she explained all this to me, she

pointed to the decorations on her golden armlets, upon the knob of her

dagger-hilt and upon the band which encircled her right leg above the

knee--always was the design partly made up of isosceles triangles, and

when she explained the significance of this particular geometric

figure, I at once grasped its appropriateness. We were now in the country of the Band-lu, the spearmen of Caspak. Bowen had remarked in his narrative that these people were analogous to

the so-called Cro-Magnon race of the Upper Paleolithic, and I was

therefore very anxious to see them. Nor was I to be disappointed; I

saw them, all right!

We had left the Sto-lu country and literally

fought our way through cordons of wild beasts for two days when we

decided to make camp a little earlier than usual, owing to the fact

that we had reached a line of cliffs running east and west in which

were numerous likely cave-lodgings. We were both very tired, and the

sight of these caverns, several of which could be easily barricaded,

decided us to halt until the following morning. It took but a few

minutes' exploration to discover one particular cavern high up the face

of the cliff which seemed ideal for our purpose. It opened upon a

narrow ledge where we could build our cook-fire; the opening was so

small that we had to lie flat and wriggle through it to gain ingress,

while the interior was high-ceiled and spacious. I lighted a faggot

and looked about; but as far as I could see, the chamber ran back into

the cliff. Laying aside my rifle, pistol and heavy ammunition-belt, I left Ajor in

the cave while I went down to gather firewood. We already had meat and

fruits which we had gathered just before reaching the cliffs, and my

canteen was filled with fresh water. Therefore, all we required was

fuel, and as I always saved Ajor's strength when I could, I would not

permit her to accompany me. The poor girl was very tired; but she

would have gone with me until she dropped, I know, so loyal was she. She was the best comrade in the world, and sometimes I regretted and

sometimes I was glad that she was not of my own caste, for had she

been, I should unquestionably have fallen in love with her. As it was,

we traveled together like two boys, with huge respect for each other

but no softer sentiment. There was little timber close to the base of the cliffs, and so I was

forced to enter the wood some two hundred yards distant. I realize now

how foolhardy was my act in such a land as Caspak, teeming with danger

and with death; but there is a certain amount of fool in every man; and

whatever proportion of it I own must have been in the ascendant that

day, for the truth of the matter is that I went down into those woods

absolutely defenseless; and I paid the price, as people usually do for

their indiscretions. As I searched around in the brush for likely

pieces of firewood, my head bowed and my eyes upon the ground, I

suddenly felt a great weight hurl itself upon me. I struggled to my

knees and seized my assailant, a huge, naked man--naked except for a

breechcloth of snakeskin, the head hanging down to the knees. The

fellow was armed with a stone-shod spear, a stone knife and a hatchet. In his black hair were several gay-colored feathers. As we struggled

to and fro, I was slowly gaining advantage of him, when a score of his

fellows came running up and overpowered me. They bound my hands behind me with long rawhide thongs and then

surveyed me critically. I found them fine-looking specimens of

manhood, for the most part. There were some among them who bore a

resemblance to the Sto-lu and were hairy; but the majority had massive

heads and not unlovely features. There was little about them to

suggest the ape, as in the Sto-lu, Bo-lu and Alus. I expected them to

kill me at once, but they did not. Instead they questioned me; but it

was evident that they did not believe my story, for they scoffed and

laughed. "The Galus have turned you out," they cried. "If you go back to them,

you will die. If you remain here, you will die. We shall kill you;

but first we shall have a dance and you shall dance with us--the dance

of death."

It sounded quite reassuring!

But I knew that I was not to be killed

immediately, and so I took heart. They led me toward the cliffs, and

as we approached them, I glanced up and was sure that I saw Ajor's

bright eyes peering down upon us from our lofty cave; but she gave no

sign if she saw me; and we passed on, rounded the end of the cliffs and

proceeded along the opposite face of them until we came to a section

literally honeycombed with caves. All about, upon the ground and

swarming the ledges before the entrances, were hundreds of members of

the tribe. There were many women but no babes or children, though I

noticed that the females had better developed breasts than any that I

had seen among the hatchet-men, the club-men, the Alus or the apes. In

fact, among the lower orders of Caspakian man the female breast is but

a rudimentary organ, barely suggested in the apes and Alus, and only a

little more defined in the Bo-lu and Sto-lu, though always increasingly

so until it is found about half developed in the females of the

spear-men; yet never was there an indication that the females had

suckled young; nor were there any young among them. Some of the

Band-lu women were quite comely. The figures of all, both men and

women, were symmetrical though heavy, and though there were some who

verged strongly upon the Sto-lu type, there were others who were

positively handsome and whose bodies were quite hairless. The Alus are

all bearded, but among the Bo-lu the beard disappears in the women. The Sto-lu men show a sparse beard, the Band-lu none; and there is

little hair upon the bodies of their women. The members of the tribe showed great interest in me, especially in my

clothing, the like of which, of course, they never had seen. They

pulled and hauled upon me, and some of them struck me; but for the most

part they were not inclined to brutality. It was only the hairier

ones, who most closely resembled the Sto-lu, who maltreated me. At

last my captors led me into a great cave in the mouth of which a fire

was burning. The floor was littered with filth, including the bones of

many animals, and the atmosphere reeked with the stench of human bodies

and putrefying flesh. Here they fed me, releasing my arms, and I ate

of half-cooked aurochs steak and a stew which may have been made of

snakes, for many of the long, round pieces of meat suggested them most

nauseatingly. The meal completed, they led me well within the cavern, which they

lighted with torches stuck in various crevices in the light of which I

saw, to my astonishment, that the walls were covered with paintings and

etchings. There were aurochs, red deer, saber-tooth tiger, cave-bear,

hyaenadon and many other examples of the fauna of Caspak done in

colors, usually of four shades of brown, or scratched upon the surface

of the rock. Often they were super-imposed upon each other until it

required careful examination to trace out the various outlines. But

they all showed a rather remarkable aptitude for delineation which

further fortified Bowen's comparisons between these people and the

extinct Cro-Magnons whose ancient art is still preserved in the caverns

of Niaux and Le Portel. The Band-lu, however, did not have the bow and

arrow, and in this respect they differ from their extinct progenitors,

or descendants, of Western Europe. Should any of my friends chance to read the story of my adventures upon

Caprona, I hope they will not be bored by these diversions, and if they

are, I can only say that I am writing my memoirs for my own edification

and therefore setting down those things which interested me

particularly at the time. I have no desire that the general public

should ever have access to these pages; but it is possible that my

friends may, and also certain savants who are interested; and to them,

while I do not apologize for my philosophizing, I humbly explain that

they are witnessing the gropings of a finite mind after the infinite,

the search for explanations of the inexplicable. In a far recess of the cavern my captors bade me halt. Again my hands

were secured, and this time my feet as well. During the operation they

questioned me, and I was mighty glad that the marked similarity between

the various tribal tongues of Caspak enabled us to understand each

other perfectly, even though they were unable to believe or even to

comprehend the truth of my origin and the circumstances of my advent in

Caspak; and finally they left me saying that they would come for me

before the dance of death upon the morrow. Before they departed with

their torches, I saw that I had not been conducted to the farthest

extremity of the cavern, for a dark and gloomy corridor led beyond my

prison room into the heart of the cliff. I could not but marvel at the immensity of this great underground

grotto. Already I had traversed several hundred yards of it, from many

points of which other corridors diverged. The whole cliff must be

honeycombed with apartments and passages of which this community

occupied but a comparatively small part, so that the possibility of the

more remote passages being the lair of savage beasts that have other

means of ingress and egress than that used by the Band-lu filled me

with dire forebodings. I believe that I am not ordinarily hysterically apprehensive; yet I

must confess that under the conditions with which I was confronted, I

felt my nerves to be somewhat shaken. On the morrow I was to die some

sort of nameless death for the diversion of a savage horde, but the

morrow held fewer terrors for me than the present, and I submit to any

fair-minded man if it is not a terrifying thing to lie bound hand and

foot in the Stygian blackness of an immense cave peopled by unknown

dangers in a land overrun by hideous beasts and reptiles of the

greatest ferocity. At any moment, perhaps at this very moment, some

silent-footed beast of prey might catch my scent where it laired in

some contiguous passage, and might creep stealthily upon me. I craned

my neck about, and stared through the inky darkness for the twin spots

of blazing hate which I knew would herald the coming of my executioner. So real were the imaginings of my overwrought brain that I broke into a

cold sweat in absolute conviction that some beast was close before me;

yet the hours dragged, and no sound broke the grave-like stillness of

the cavern. During that period of eternity many events of my life passed before my

mental vision, a vast parade of friends and occurrences which would be

blotted out forever on the morrow. I cursed myself for the foolish act

which had taken me from the search-party that so depended upon me, and

I wondered what progress, if any, they had made. Were they still

beyond the barrier cliffs, awaiting my return?

Or had they found a way

into Caspak?

I felt that the latter would be the truth, for the party

was not made up of men easily turned from a purpose. Quite probable it

was that they were already searching for me; but that they would ever

find a trace of me I doubted. Long since, had I come to the conclusion

that it was beyond human prowess to circle the shores of the inland sea

of Caspak in the face of the myriad menaces which lurked in every

shadow by day and by night. Long since, had I given up any hope of

reaching the point where I had made my entry into the country, and so I

was now equally convinced that our entire expedition had been worse

than futile before ever it was conceived, since Bowen J. Tyler and his

wife could not by any possibility have survived during all these long

months; no more could Bradley and his party of seamen be yet in

existence. If the superior force and equipment of my party enabled

them to circle the north end of the sea, they might some day come upon

the broken wreck of my plane hanging in the great tree to the south;

but long before that, my bones would be added to the litter upon the

floor of this mighty cavern. And through all my thoughts, real and fanciful, moved the image of a

perfect girl, clear-eyed and strong and straight and beautiful, with

the carriage of a queen and the supple, undulating grace of a leopard. Though I loved my friends, their fate seemed of less importance to me

than the fate of this little barbarian stranger for whom, I had

convinced myself many a time, I felt no greater sentiment than passing

friendship for a fellow-wayfarer in this land of horrors. Yet I so

worried and fretted about her and her future that at last I quite

forgot my own predicament, though I still struggled intermittently with

my bonds in vain endeavor to free myself; as much, however, that I might

hasten to her protection as that I might escape the fate which had been

planned for me. And while I was thus engaged and had for the moment

forgotten my apprehensions concerning prowling beasts, I was startled

into tense silence by a distinct and unmistakable sound coming from the

dark corridor farther toward the heart of the cliff--the sound of

padded feet moving stealthily in my direction. I believe that never before in all my life, even amidst the terrors of

childhood nights, have I suffered such a sensation of extreme horror as

I did that moment in which I realized that I must lie bound and

helpless while some horrid beast of prey crept upon me to devour me in

that utter darkness of the Band-lu pits of Caspak. I reeked with cold

sweat, and my flesh crawled--I could feel it crawl. If ever I came

nearer to abject cowardice, I do not recall the instance; and yet it

was not that I was afraid to die, for I had long since given myself up

as lost--a few days of Caspak must impress anyone with the utter

nothingness of life. The waters, the land, the air teem with it, and

always it is being devoured by some other form of life. Life is the

cheapest thing in Caspak, as it is the cheapest thing on earth and,

doubtless, the cheapest cosmic production. No, I was not afraid to

die; in fact, I prayed for death, that I might be relieved of the

frightfulness of the interval of life which remained to me--the

waiting, the awful waiting, for that fearsome beast to reach me and to

strike. Presently it was so close that I could hear its breathing, and then it

touched me and leaped quickly back as though it had come upon me

unexpectedly. For long moments no sound broke the sepulchral silence

of the cave. Then I heard a movement on the part of the creature near

me, and again it touched me, and I felt something like a hairless hand

pass over my face and down until it touched the collar of my flannel

shirt. And then, subdued, but filled with pent emotion, a voice cried:

"Tom!"

I think I nearly fainted, so great was the reaction. "Ajor!" I

managed to say. "Ajor, my girl, can it be you?"

"Oh, Tom!" she cried again in a trembly little voice and flung herself

upon me, sobbing softly. I had not known that Ajor could cry. As she cut away my bonds, she told me that from the entrance to our

cave she had seen the Band-lu coming out of the forest with me, and she

had followed until they took me into the cave, which she had seen was

upon the opposite side of the cliff in which ours was located; and

then, knowing that she could do nothing for me until after the Band-lu

slept, she had hastened to return to our cave. With difficulty she had

reached it, after having been stalked by a cave-lion and almost seized. I trembled at the risk she had run. It had been her intention to wait until after midnight, when most of

the carnivora would have made their kills, and then attempt to reach

the cave in which I was imprisoned and rescue me. She explained that

with my rifle and pistol--both of which she assured me she could use,

having watched me so many times--she planned upon frightening the

Band-lu and forcing them to give me up. Brave little girl!

She would

have risked her life willingly to save me. But some time after she

reached our cave she heard voices from the far recesses within, and

immediately concluded that we had but found another entrance to the

caves which the Band-lu occupied upon the other face of the cliff. Then she had set out through those winding passages and in total

darkness had groped her way, guided solely by a marvelous sense of

direction, to where I lay. She had had to proceed with utmost caution

lest she fall into some abyss in the darkness and in truth she had

thrice come upon sheer drops and had been forced to take the most

frightful risks to pass them. I shudder even now as I contemplate what

this girl passed through for my sake and how she enhanced her peril in

loading herself down with the weight of my arms and ammunition and the

awkwardness of the long rifle which she was unaccustomed to bearing. I could have knelt and kissed her hand in reverence and gratitude; nor

am I ashamed to say that that is precisely what I did after I had been

freed from my bonds and heard the story of her trials. Brave little

Ajor!

Wonder-girl out of the dim, unthinkable past!

Never before had

she been kissed; but she seemed to sense something of the meaning of

the new caress, for she leaned forward in the dark and pressed her own

lips to my forehead. A sudden urge surged through me to seize her and

strain her to my bosom and cover her hot young lips with the kisses of

a real love, but I did not do so, for I knew that I did not love her;

and to have kissed her thus, with passion, would have been to inflict a

great wrong upon her who had offered her life for mine. No, Ajor should be as safe with me as with her own mother, if she had

one, which I was inclined to doubt, even though she told me that she

had once been a babe and hidden by her mother. I had come to doubt if

there was such a thing as a mother in Caspak, a mother such as we know. From the Bo-lu to the Kro-lu there is no word which corresponds with

our word mother. They speak of _ata_ and _cor sva jo:, meaning

_reproduction_ and _from the beginning_, and point toward the south; but no

one has a mother. After considerable difficulty we gained what we thought was our cave,

only to find that it was not, and then we realized that we were lost in

the labyrinthine mazes of the great cavern. We retraced our steps and

sought the point from which we had started, but only succeeded in

losing ourselves the more. Ajor was aghast--not so much from fear of

our predicament; but that she should have failed in the functioning of

that wonderful sense she possessed in common with most other creatures

Caspakian, which makes it possible for them to move unerringly from

place to place without compass or guide. Hand in hand we crept along, searching for an opening into the outer

world, yet realizing that at each step we might be burrowing more

deeply into the heart of the great cliff, or circling futilely in the

vague wandering that could end only in death. And the darkness!

It

was almost palpable, and utterly depressing. I had matches, and in

some of the more difficult places I struck one; but we couldn't afford

to waste them, and so we groped our way slowly along, doing the best we

could to keep to one general direction in the hope that it would

eventually lead us to an opening into the outer world. When I struck

matches, I noticed that the walls bore no paintings; nor was there

other sign that man had penetrated this far within the cliff, nor any

spoor of animals of other kinds. It would be difficult to guess at the time we spent wandering through

those black corridors, climbing steep ascents, feeling our way along

the edges of bottomless pits, never knowing at what moment we might be

plunged into some abyss and always haunted by the ever-present terror

of death by starvation and thirst. As difficult as it was, I still

realized that it might have been infinitely worse had I had another

companion than Ajor--courageous, uncomplaining, loyal little Ajor!

She

was tired and hungry and thirsty, and she must have been discouraged;

but she never faltered in her cheerfulness. I asked her if she was

afraid, and she replied that here the Wieroo could not get her, and

that if she died of hunger, she would at least die with me and she was

quite content that such should be her end. At the time I attributed

her attitude to something akin to a doglike devotion to a new master

who had been kind to her. I can take oath to the fact that I did not

think it was anything more. Whether we had been imprisoned in the cliff for a day or a week I could

not say; nor even now do I know. We became very tired and hungry; the

hours dragged; we slept at least twice, and then we rose and stumbled

on, always weaker and weaker. There were ages during which the trend

of the corridors was always upward. It was heartbreaking work for

people in the state of exhaustion in which we then were, but we clung

tenaciously to it. We stumbled and fell; we sank through pure physical

inability to retain our feet; but always we managed to rise at last and

go on. At first, wherever it had been possible, we had walked hand in

hand lest we become separated, and later, when I saw that Ajor was

weakening rapidly, we went side by side, I supporting her with an arm

about her waist. I still retained the heavy burden of my armament; but

with the rifle slung to my back, my hands were free. When I too showed

indisputable evidences of exhaustion, Ajor suggested that I lay aside

my arms and ammunition; but I told her that as it would mean certain

death for me to traverse Caspak without them, I might as well take the

chance of dying here in the cave with them, for there was the other

chance that we might find our way to liberty. There came a time when Ajor could no longer walk, and then it was that

I picked her up in my arms and carried her. She begged me to leave

her, saying that after I found an exit, I could come back and get her;

but she knew, and she knew that I knew, that if ever I did leave her, I

could never find her again. Yet she insisted. Barely had I sufficient

strength to take a score of steps at a time; then I would have to sink

down and rest for five to ten minutes. I don't know what force urged

me on and kept me going in the face of an absolute conviction that my

efforts were utterly futile. I counted us already as good as dead; but

still I dragged myself along until the time came that I could no longer

rise, but could only crawl along a few inches at a time, dragging Ajor

beside me. Her sweet voice, now almost inaudible from weakness,

implored me to abandon her and save myself--she seemed to think only of

me. Of course I couldn't have left her there alone, no matter how much

I might have desired to do so; but the fact of the matter was that I

didn't desire to leave her. What I said to her then came very simply

and naturally to my lips. It couldn't very well have been otherwise, I

imagine, for with death so close, I doubt if people are much inclined

to heroics. "I would rather not get out at all, Ajor," I said to her,

"than to get out without you." We were resting against a rocky wall,

and Ajor was leaning against me, her head on my breast. I could feel

her press closer to me, and one hand stroked my arm in a weak caress;

but she didn't say anything, nor were words necessary. After a few minutes' more rest, we started on again upon our utterly

hopeless way; but I soon realized that I was weakening rapidly, and

presently I was forced to admit that I was through. "It's no use,

Ajor," I said, "I've come as far as I can. It may be that if I sleep,

I can go on again after," but I knew that that was not true, and that

the end was near. "Yes, sleep," said Ajor. "We will sleep

together--forever."

She crept close to me as I lay on the hard floor and pillowed her head

upon my arm. With the little strength which remained to me, I drew her

up until our lips touched, and, then I whispered: "Good-bye!" I must

have lost consciousness almost immediately, for I recall nothing more

until I suddenly awoke out of a troubled sleep, during which I dreamed

that I was drowning, to find the cave lighted by what appeared to be

diffused daylight, and a tiny trickle of water running down the

corridor and forming a puddle in the little depression in which it

chanced that Ajor and I lay. I turned my eyes quickly upon Ajor,

fearful for what the light might disclose; but she still breathed,

though very faintly. Then I searched about for an explanation of the

light, and soon discovered that it came from about a bend in the

corridor just ahead of us and at the top of a steep incline; and

instantly I realized that Ajor and I had stumbled by night almost to

the portal of salvation. Had chance taken us a few yards further, up

either of the corridors which diverged from ours just ahead of us, we

might have been irrevocably lost; we might still be lost; but at least

we could die in the light of day, out of the horrid blackness of this

terrible cave. I tried to rise, and found that sleep had given me back a portion of my

strength; and then I tasted the water and was further refreshed. I

shook Ajor gently by the shoulder; but she did not open her eyes, and

then I gathered a few drops of water in my cupped palm and let them

trickle between her lips. This revived her so that she raised her

lids, and when she saw me, she smiled. "What happened?" she asked. "Where are we?"

"We are at the end of the corridor," I replied, "and daylight is coming

in from the outside world just ahead. We are saved, Ajor!"

She sat up then and looked about, and then, quite womanlike, she burst

into tears. It was the reaction, of course; and then too, she was very

weak. I took her in my arms and quieted her as best I could, and

finally, with my help, she got to her feet; for she, as well as I, had

found some slight recuperation in sleep. Together we staggered upward

toward the light, and at the first turn we saw an opening a few yards

ahead of us and a leaden sky beyond--a leaden sky from which was

falling a drizzling rain, the author of our little, trickling stream

which had given us drink when we were most in need of it. The cave had been damp and cold; but as we crawled through the

aperture, the muggy warmth of the Caspakian air caressed and confronted

us; even the rain was warmer than the atmosphere of those dark

corridors. We had water now, and warmth, and I was sure that Caspak

would soon offer us meat or fruit; but as we came to where we could

look about, we saw that we were upon the summit of the cliffs, where

there seemed little reason to expect game. However, there were trees,

and among them we soon descried edible fruits with which we broke our

long fast. Chapter 4

We spent two days upon the cliff-top, resting and recuperating. There

was some small game which gave us meat, and the little pools of

rainwater were sufficient to quench our thirst. The sun came out a few

hours after we emerged from the cave, and in its warmth we soon cast

off the gloom which our recent experiences had saddled upon us. Upon the morning of the third day we set out to search for a path down

to the valley. Below us, to the north, we saw a large pool lying at

the foot of the cliffs, and in it we could discern the women of the

Band-lu lying in the shallow waters, while beyond and close to the base

of the mighty barrier-cliffs there was a large party of Band-lu

warriors going north to hunt. We had a splendid view from our lofty

cliff-top. Dimly, to the west, we could see the farther shore of the

inland sea, and southwest the large southern island loomed distinctly

before us. A little east of north was the northern island, which Ajor,

shuddering, whispered was the home of the Wieroo--the land of Oo-oh. It lay at the far end of the lake and was barely visible to us, being

fully sixty miles away. From our elevation, and in a clearer atmosphere, it would have stood

out distinctly; but the air of Caspak is heavy with moisture, with the

result that distant objects are blurred and indistinct. Ajor also told

me that the mainland east of Oo-oh was her land--the land of the Galu. She pointed out the cliffs at its southern boundary, which mark the

frontier, south of which lies the country of Kro-lu--the archers. We

now had but to pass through the balance of the Band-lu territory and

that of the Kro-lu to be within the confines of her own land; but that

meant traversing thirty-five miles of hostile country filled with every

imaginable terror, and possibly many beyond the powers of imagination. I would certainly have given a lot for my plane at that moment, for

with it, twenty minutes would have landed us within the confines of

Ajor's country. We finally found a place where we could slip over the edge of the cliff

onto a narrow ledge which seemed to give evidence of being something of

a game-path to the valley, though it apparently had not been used for

some time. I lowered Ajor at the end of my rifle and then slid over

myself, and I am free to admit that my hair stood on end during the

process, for the drop was considerable and the ledge appallingly

narrow, with a frightful drop sheer below down to the rocks at the base

of the cliff; but with Ajor there to catch and steady me, I made it all

right, and then we set off down the trail toward the valley. There

were two or three more bad places, but for the most part it was an easy

descent, and we came to the highest of the Band-lu caves without

further trouble. Here we went more slowly, lest we should be set upon

by some member of the tribe. We must have passed about half the Band-lu cave-levels before we were

accosted, and then a huge fellow stepped out in front of me, barring

our further progress. "Who are you?" he asked; and he recognized me and I him, for he had

been one of those who had led me back into the cave and bound me the

night that I had been captured. From me his gaze went to Ajor. He was

a fine-looking man with clear, intelligent eyes, a good forehead and

superb physique--by far the highest type of Caspakian I had yet seen,

barring Ajor, of course. "You are a true Galu," he said to Ajor, "but this man is of a different

mold. He has the face of a Galu, but his weapons and the strange skins

he wears upon his body are not of the Galus nor of Caspak. Who is he?"

"He is Tom," replied Ajor succinctly. "There is no such people," asserted the Band-lu quite truthfully,

toying with his spear in a most suggestive manner. "My name is Tom," I explained, "and I am from a country beyond Caspak."

I thought it best to propitiate him if possible, because of the

necessity of conserving ammunition as well as to avoid the loud alarm

of a shot which might bring other Band-lu warriors upon us. "I am from

America, a land of which you never heard, and I am seeking others of my

countrymen who are in Caspak and from whom I am lost. I have no quarrel

with you or your people. Let us go our way in peace."

"You are going there?" he asked, and pointed toward the north. "I am," I replied. He was silent for several minutes, apparently weighing some thought in

his mind. At last he spoke. "What is that?" he asked. "And what is

that?" He pointed first at my rifle and then to my pistol. "They are weapons," I replied, "weapons which kill at a great

distance." I pointed to the women in the pool beneath us. "With this,"

I said, tapping my pistol, "I could kill as many of those women as I

cared to, without moving a step from where we now stand."

He looked his incredulity, but I went on. "And with this"--I weighed

my rifle at the balance in the palm of my right hand--"I could slay one

of those distant warriors." And I waved my left hand toward the tiny

figures of the hunters far to the north. The fellow laughed. "Do it," he cried derisively, "and then it may be

that I shall believe the balance of your strange story."

"But I do not wish to kill any of them," I replied. "Why should I?"

"Why not?" he insisted. "They would have killed you when they had you

prisoner. They would kill you now if they could get their hands on

you, and they would eat you into the bargain. But I know why you do

not try it--it is because you have spoken lies; your weapon will not

kill at a great distance. It is only a queerly wrought club. For all

I know, you are nothing more than a lowly Bo-lu."

"Why should you wish me to kill your own people?" I asked. "They are no longer my people," he replied proudly. "Last night, in

the very middle of the night, the call came to me. Like that it came

into my head"--and he struck his hands together smartly once--"that I

had risen. I have been waiting for it and expecting it for a long

time; today I am a Kro-lu. Today I go into the coslupak" (unpeopled

country, or literally, no man's land) "between the Band-lu and the

Kro-lu, and there I fashion my bow and my arrows and my shield; there I

hunt the red deer for the leathern jerkin which is the badge of my new

estate. When these things are done, I can go to the chief of the

Kro-lu, and he dare not refuse me. That is why you may kill those low

Band-lu if you wish to live, for I am in a hurry. "But why do you wish to kill me?" I asked. He looked puzzled and finally gave it up. "I do not know," he

admitted. "It is the way in Caspak. If we do not kill, we shall be

killed, therefore it is wise to kill first whomever does not belong to

one's own people. This morning I hid in my cave till the others were

gone upon the hunt, for I knew that they would know at once that I had

become a Kro-lu and would kill me. They will kill me if they find me

in the coslupak; so will the Kro-lu if they come upon me before I have

won my Kro-lu weapons and jerkin. You would kill me if you could, and

that is the reason I know that you speak lies when you say that your

weapons will kill at a great distance. Would they, you would long

since have killed me. Come!

I have no more time to waste in words. I

will spare the woman and take her with me to the Kro-lu, for she is

comely." And with that he advanced upon me with raised spear. My rifle was at my hip at the ready. He was so close that I did not

need to raise it to my shoulder, having but to pull the trigger to send

him into Kingdom Come whenever I chose; but yet I hesitated. It was

difficult to bring myself to take a human life. I could feel no enmity

toward this savage barbarian who acted almost as wholly upon instinct

as might a wild beast, and to the last moment I was determined to seek

some way to avoid what now seemed inevitable. Ajor stood at my

shoulder, her knife ready in her hand and a sneer on her lips at his

suggestion that he would take her with him. Just as I thought I should have to fire, a chorus of screams broke from

the women beneath us. I saw the man halt and glance downward, and

following his example my eyes took in the panic and its cause. The

women had, evidently, been quitting the pool and slowly returning

toward the caves, when they were confronted by a monstrous cave-lion

which stood directly between them and their cliffs in the center of the

narrow path that led down to the pool among the tumbled rocks. Screaming, the women were rushing madly back to the pool. "It will do them no good," remarked the man, a trace of excitement in

his voice. "It will do them no good, for the lion will wait until they

come out and take as many as he can carry away; and there is one

there," he added, a trace of sadness in his tone, "whom I hoped would

soon follow me to the Kro-lu. Together have we come up from the

beginning." He raised his spear above his head and poised it ready to

hurl downward at the lion. "She is nearest to him," he muttered. "He

will get her and she will never come to me among the Kro-lu, or ever

thereafter. It is useless!

No warrior lives who could hurl a weapon

so great a distance."

But even as he spoke, I was leveling my rifle upon the great brute

below; and as he ceased speaking, I squeezed the trigger. My bullet

must have struck to a hair the point at which I had aimed, for it

smashed the brute's spine back of his shoulders and tore on through his

heart, dropping him dead in his tracks. For a moment the women were as

terrified by the report of the rifle as they had been by the menace of

the lion; but when they saw that the loud noise had evidently destroyed

their enemy, they came creeping cautiously back to examine the carcass. The man, toward whom I had immediately turned after firing, lest he

should pursue his threatened attack, stood staring at me in amazement

and admiration. "Why," he asked, "if you could do that, did you not kill me long

before?"

"I told you," I replied, "that I had no quarrel with you. I do not

care to kill men with whom I have no quarrel."

But he could not seem to get the idea through his head. "I can believe

now that you are not of Caspak," he admitted, "for no Caspakian would

have permitted such an opportunity to escape him." This, however, I

found later to be an exaggeration, as the tribes of the west coast and

even the Kro-lu of the east coast are far less bloodthirsty than he

would have had me believe. "And your weapon!" he continued. "You

spoke true words when I thought you spoke lies." And then, suddenly:

"Let us be friends!"

I turned to Ajor. "Can I trust him?" I asked. "Yes," she replied. "Why not?

Has he not asked to be friends?"

I was not at the time well enough acquainted with Caspakian ways to

know that truthfulness and loyalty are two of the strongest

characteristics of these primitive people. They are not sufficiently

cultured to have become adept in hypocrisy, treason and dissimulation. There are, of course, a few exceptions. "We can go north together," continued the warrior. "I will fight for

you, and you can fight for me. Until death will I serve you, for you

have saved So-al, whom I had given up as dead." He threw down his

spear and covered both his eyes with the palms of his two hands. I

looked inquiringly toward Ajor, who explained as best she could that

this was the form of the Caspakian oath of allegiance. "You need never

fear him after this," she concluded. "What should I do?" I asked. "Take his hands down from before his eyes and return his spear to him,"

she explained. I did as she bade, and the man seemed very pleased. I then asked what

I should have done had I not wished to accept his friendship. They

told me that had I walked away, the moment that I was out of sight of

the warrior we would have become deadly enemies again. "But I could so

easily have killed him as he stood there defenseless!" I exclaimed. "Yes," replied the warrior, "but no man with good sense blinds his eyes

before one whom he does not trust."

It was rather a decent compliment, and it taught me just how much I

might rely on the loyalty of my new friend. I was glad to have him

with us, for he knew the country and was evidently a fearless warrior. I wished that I might have recruited a battalion like him. As the women were now approaching the cliffs, To-mar the warrior

suggested that we make our way to the valley before they could

intercept us, as they might attempt to detain us and were almost

certain to set upon Ajor. So we hastened down the narrow path,

reaching the foot of the cliffs but a short distance ahead of the

women. They called after us to stop; but we kept on at a rapid walk,

not wishing to have any trouble with them, which could only result in

the death of some of them. We had proceeded about a mile when we heard some one behind us calling

To-mar by name, and when we stopped and looked around, we saw a woman

running rapidly toward us. As she approached nearer I could see that

she was a very comely creature, and like all her sex that I had seen in

Caspak, apparently young. "It is So-al!" exclaimed To-mar. "Is she mad that she follows me thus?"

In another moment the young woman stopped, panting, before us. She

paid not the slightest attention to Ajor or me; but devouring To-mar

with her sparkling eyes, she cried: "I have risen!

I have risen!"

"So-al!" was all that the man could say. "Yes," she went on, "the call came to me just before I quit the pool;

but I did not know that it had come to you. I can see it in your eyes,

To-mar, my To-mar!

We shall go on together!" And she threw herself

into his arms. It was a very affecting sight, for it was evident that these two had

been mates for a long time and that they had each thought that they

were about to be separated by that strange law of evolution which holds

good in Caspak and which was slowly unfolding before my incredulous

mind. I did not then comprehend even a tithe of the wondrous process,

which goes on eternally within the confines of Caprona's barrier cliffs

nor am I any too sure that I do even now. To-mar explained to So-al that it was I who had killed the cave-lion

and saved her life, and that Ajor was my woman and thus entitled to the

same loyalty which was my due. At first Ajor and So-al were like a couple of stranger cats on a back

fence but soon they began to accept each other under something of an

armed truce, and later became fast friends. So-al was a mighty

fine-looking girl, built like a tigress as to strength and sinuosity,

but withal sweet and womanly. Ajor and I came to be very fond of her,

and she was, I think, equally fond of us. To-mar was very much of a

man--a savage, if you will, but none the less a man. Finding that traveling in company with To-mar made our journey both

easier and safer, Ajor and I did not continue on our way alone while

the novitiates delayed their approach to the Kro-lu country in order

that they might properly fit themselves in the matter of arms and

apparel, but remained with them. Thus we became well acquainted--to

such an extent that we looked forward with regret to the day when they

took their places among their new comrades and we should be forced to

continue upon our way alone. It was a matter of much concern to To-mar

that the Kro-lu would undoubtedly not receive Ajor and me in a friendly

manner, and that consequently we should have to avoid these people. It would have been very helpful to us could we have made friends with

them, as their country abutted directly upon that of the Galus. Their

friendship would have meant that Ajor's dangers were practically

passed, and that I had accomplished fully one-half of my long journey. In view of what I had passed through, I often wondered what chance I

had to complete that journey in search of my friends. The further

south I should travel on the west side of the island, the more

frightful would the dangers become as I neared the stamping-grounds of

the more hideous reptilia and the haunts of the Alus and the Ho-lu, all

of which were at the southern half of the island; and then if I should

not find the members of my party, what was to become of me?

I could

not live for long in any portion of Caspak with which I was familiar;

the moment my ammunition was exhausted, I should be as good as dead. There was a chance that the Galus would receive me; but even Ajor could

not say definitely whether they would or not, and even provided that

they would, could I retrace my steps from the beginning, after failing

to find my own people, and return to the far northern land of Galus?

I

doubted it. However, I was learning from Ajor, who was more or less of

a fatalist, a philosophy which was as necessary in Caspak to peace of

mind as is faith to the devout Christian of the outer world. Chapter 5

We were sitting before a little fire inside a safe grotto one night

shortly after we had quit the cliff-dwellings of the Band-lu, when

So-al raised a question which it had never occurred to me to propound

to Ajor. She asked her why she had left her own people and how she had

come so far south as the country of the Alus, where I had found her. At first Ajor hesitated to explain; but at last she consented, and for

the first time I heard the complete story of her origin and

experiences. For my benefit she entered into greater detail of

explanation than would have been necessary had I been a native

Caspakian. "I am a cos-ata-lo," commenced Ajor, and then she turned toward me. "A

cos-ata-lo, my Tom, is a woman" (lo) "who did not come from an egg and

thus on up from the beginning." (Cor sva jo.) "I was a babe at my

mother's breast. Only among the Galus are such, and then but

infrequently. The Wieroo get most of us; but my mother hid me until I

had attained such size that the Wieroo could not readily distinguish me

from one who had come up from the beginning. I knew both my mother and

my father, as only such as I may. My father is high chief among the

Galus. His name is Jor, and both he and my mother came up from the

beginning; but one of them, probably my mother, had completed the seven

cycles" (approximately seven hundred years), "with the result that

their offspring might be cos-ata-lo, or born as are all the children of

your race, my Tom, as you tell me is the fact. I was therefore apart

from my fellows in that my children would probably be as I, of a higher

state of evolution, and so I was sought by the men of my people; but

none of them appealed to me. I cared for none. The most persistent

was Du-seen, a huge warrior of whom my father stood in considerable

fear, since it was quite possible that Du-seen could wrest from him his

chieftainship of the Galus. He has a large following of the newer

Galus, those most recently come up from the Kro-lu, and as this class

is usually much more powerful numerically than the older Galus, and as

Du-seen's ambition knows no bounds, we have for a long time been

expecting him to find some excuse for a break with Jor the High Chief,

my father. "A further complication lay in the fact that Du-seen wanted me, while I

would have none of him, and then came evidence to my father's ears that

he was in league with the Wieroo; a hunter, returning late at night,

came trembling to my father, saying that he had seen Du-seen talking

with a Wieroo in a lonely spot far from the village, and that plainly

he had heard the words: 'If you will help me, I will help you--I will

deliver into your hands all cos-ata-lo among the Galus, now and

hereafter; but for that service you must slay Jor the High Chief and

bring terror and confusion to his followers.'

"Now, when my father heard this, he was angry; but he was also

afraid--afraid for me, who am cos-ata-lo. He called me to him and told

me what he had heard, pointing out two ways in which we might frustrate

Du-seen. The first was that I go to Du-seen as his mate, after which

he would be loath to give me into the hands of the Wieroo or to further

abide by the wicked compact he had made--a compact which would doom his

own offspring, who would doubtless be as am I, their mother. The

alternative was flight until Du-seen should have been overcome and

punished. I chose the latter and fled toward the south. Beyond the

confines of the Galu country is little danger from the Wieroo, who seek

ordinarily only Galus of the highest orders. There are two excellent

reasons for this: One is that from the beginning of time jealousy has

existed between the Wieroo and the Galus as to which would eventually

dominate the world. It seems generally conceded that that race which

first reaches a point of evolution which permits them to produce young

of their own species and of both sexes must dominate all other

creatures. The Wieroo first began to produce their own kind--after

which evolution from Galu to Wieroo ceased gradually until now it is

unknown; but the Wieroo produce only males--which is why they steal our

female young, and by stealing cos-ata-lo they increase their own

chances of eventually reproducing both sexes and at the same time

lessen ours. Already the Galus produce both male and female; but so

carefully do the Wieroo watch us that few of the males ever grow to

manhood, while even fewer are the females that are not stolen away. It

is indeed a strange condition, for while our greatest enemies hate and

fear us, they dare not exterminate us, knowing that they too would

become extinct but for us. "Ah, but could we once get a start, I am sure that when all were true

cos-ata-lo there would have been evolved at last the true dominant race

before which all the world would be forced to bow."

Ajor always spoke of the world as though nothing existed beyond Caspak. She could not seem to grasp the truth of my origin or the fact that

there were countless other peoples outside her stern barrier-cliffs. She apparently felt that I came from an entirely different world. Where it was and how I came to Caspak from it were matters quite beyond

her with which she refused to trouble her pretty head. "Well," she continued, "and so I ran away to hide, intending to pass

the cliffs to the south of Galu and find a retreat in the Kro-lu

country. It would be dangerous, but there seemed no other way. "The third night I took refuge in a large cave in the cliffs at the

edge of my own country; upon the following day I would cross over into

the Kro-lu country, where I felt that I should be reasonably safe from

the Wieroo, though menaced by countless other dangers. However, to a

cos-ata-lo any fate is preferable to that of falling into the clutches

of the frightful Wieroo, from whose land none returns. "I had been sleeping peacefully for several hours when I was awakened

by a slight noise within the cavern. The moon was shining brightly,

illumining the entrance, against which I saw silhouetted the dread

figure of a Wieroo. There was no escape. The cave was shallow, the

entrance narrow. I lay very still, hoping against hope, that the

creature had but paused here to rest and might soon depart without

discovering me; yet all the while I knew that he came seeking me. "I waited, scarce breathing, watching the thing creep stealthily toward

me, its great eyes luminous in the darkness of the cave's interior, and

at last I knew that those eyes were directed upon me, for the Wieroo

can see in the darkness better than even the lion or the tiger. But a

few feet separated us when I sprang to my feet and dashed madly toward

my menacer in a vain effort to dodge past him and reach the outside

world. It was madness of course, for even had I succeeded temporarily,

the Wieroo would have but followed and swooped down upon me from above. As it was, he reached forth and seized me, and though I struggled, he

overpowered me. In the duel his long, white robe was nearly torn from

him, and he became very angry, so that he trembled and beat his wings

together in his rage. "He asked me my name; but I would not answer him, and that angered him

still more. At last he dragged me to the entrance of the cave, lifted

me in his arms, spread his great wings and leaping into the air,

flapped dismally through the night. I saw the moonlit landscape

sliding away beneath me, and then we were out above the sea and on our

way to Oo-oh, the country of the Wieroo. "The dim outlines of Oo-oh were unfolding below us when there came from

above a loud whirring of giant wings. The Wieroo and I glanced up

simultaneously, to see a pair of huge jo-oos" (flying

reptiles--pterodactyls) "swooping down upon us. The Wieroo wheeled and

dropped almost to sea-level, and then raced southward in an effort to

outdistance our pursuers. The great creatures, notwithstanding their

enormous weight, are swift on their wings; but the Wieroo are swifter. Even with my added weight, the creature that bore me maintained his

lead, though he could not increase it. Faster than the fastest wind we

raced through the night, southward along the coast. Sometimes we rose

to great heights, where the air was chill and the world below but a

blur of dim outlines; but always the jo-oos stuck behind us. "I knew that we had covered a great distance, for the rush of the wind

by my face attested the speed of our progress, but I had no idea where

we were when at last I realized that the Wieroo was weakening. One of

the jo-oos gained on us and succeeded in heading us, so that my captor

had to turn in toward the coast. Further and further they forced him

to the left; lower and lower he sank. More labored was his breathing,

and weaker the stroke of his once powerful wings. We were not ten feet

above the ground when they overtook us, and at the edge of a forest. One of them seized the Wieroo by his right wing, and in an effort to

free himself, he loosed his grasp upon me, dropping me to earth. Like

a frightened ecca I leaped to my feet and raced for the sheltering

sanctuary of the forest, where I knew neither could follow or seize me. Then I turned and looked back to see two great reptiles tear my

abductor asunder and devour him on the spot. "I was saved; yet I felt that I was lost. How far I was from the

country of the Galus I could not guess; nor did it seem probable that I

ever could make my way in safety to my native land. "Day was breaking; soon the carnivora would stalk forth for their first

kill; I was armed only with my knife. About me was a strange

landscape--the flowers, the trees, the grasses, even, were different

from those of my northern world, and presently there appeared before me

a creature fully as hideous as the Wieroo--a hairy manthing that barely

walked erect. I shuddered, and then I fled. Through the hideous

dangers that my forebears had endured in the earlier stages of their

human evolution I fled; and always pursuing was the hairy monster that

had discovered me. Later he was joined by others of his kind. They

were the speechless men, the Alus, from whom you rescued me, my Tom. From then on, you know the story of my adventures, and from the first,

I would endure them all again because they led me to you!"

It was very nice of her to say that, and I appreciated it. I felt that

she was a mighty nice little girl whose friendship anyone might be glad

to have; but I wished that when she touched me, those peculiar thrills

would not run through me. It was most discomforting, because it

reminded me of love; and I knew that I never could love this half-baked

little barbarian. I was very much interested in her account of the

Wieroo, which up to this time I had considered a purely mythological

creature; but Ajor shuddered so at even the veriest mention of the name

that I was loath to press the subject upon her, and so the Wieroo still

remained a mystery to me. While the Wieroo interested me greatly, I had little time to think

about them, as our waking hours were filled with the necessities of

existence--the constant battle for survival which is the chief

occupation of Caspakians. To-mar and So-al were now about fitted for

their advent into Kro-lu society and must therefore leave us, as we

could not accompany them without incurring great danger ourselves and

running the chance of endangering them; but each swore to be always our

friend and assured us that should we need their aid at any time we had

but to ask it; nor could I doubt their sincerity, since we had been so

instrumental in bringing them safely upon their journey toward the

Kro-lu village. This was our last day together. In the afternoon we should separate,

To-mar and So-al going directly to the Kro-lu village, while Ajor and I

made a detour to avoid a conflict with the archers. The former both

showed evidence of nervous apprehension as the time approached for them

to make their entry into the village of their new people, and yet both

were very proud and happy. They told us that they would be well

received as additions to a tribe always are welcomed, and the more so

as the distance from the beginning increased, the higher tribes or

races being far weaker numerically than the lower. The southern end of

the island fairly swarms with the Ho-lu, or apes; next above these are

the Alus, who are slightly fewer in number than the Ho-lu; and again

there are fewer Bo-lu than Alus, and fewer Sto-lu than Bo-lu. Thus it

goes until the Kro-lu are fewer in number than any of the others; and

here the law reverses, for the Galus outnumber the Kro-lu. As Ajor

explained it to me, the reason for this is that as evolution

practically ceases with the Galus, there is no less among them on this

score, for even the cos-ata-lo are still considered Galus and remain

with them. And Galus come up both from the west and east coasts. There are, too, fewer carnivorous reptiles at the north end of the

island, and not so many of the great and ferocious members of the cat

family as take their hideous toll of life among the races further south. By now I was obtaining some idea of the Caspakian scheme of evolution,

which partly accounted for the lack of young among the races I had so

far seen. Coming up from the beginning, the Caspakian passes, during a

single existence, through the various stages of evolution, or at least

many of them, through which the human race has passed during the

countless ages since life first stirred upon a new world; but the

question which continued to puzzle me was: What creates life at the

beginning, cor sva jo?

I had noticed that as we traveled northward from the Alus' country the

land had gradually risen until we were now several hundred feet above

the level of the inland sea. Ajor told me that the Galus country was

still higher and considerably colder, which accounted for the scarcity

of reptiles. The change in form and kinds of the lower animals was

even more marked than the evolutionary stages of man. The diminutive

ecca, or small horse, became a rough-coated and sturdy little pony in

the Kro-lu country. I saw a greater number of small lions and tigers,

though many of the huge ones still persisted, while the woolly mammoth

was more in evidence, as were several varieties of the Labyrinthadonta. These creatures, from which God save me, I should have expected to find

further south; but for some unaccountable reason they gain their

greatest bulk in the Kro-lu and Galu countries, though fortunately they

are rare. I rather imagine that they are a very early life which is

rapidly nearing extinction in Caspak, though wherever they are found,

they constitute a menace to all forms of life. It was mid-afternoon when To-mar and So-al bade us good-bye. We were

not far from Kro-lu village; in fact, we had approached it much closer

than we had intended, and now Ajor and I were to make a detour toward

the sea while our companions went directly in search of the Kro-lu

chief. Ajor and I had gone perhaps a mile or two and were just about to emerge

from a dense wood when I saw that ahead of us which caused me to draw

back into concealment, at the same time pushing Ajor behind me. What I

saw was a party of Band-lu warriors--large, fierce-appearing men. From

the direction of their march I saw that they were returning to their

caves, and that if we remained where we were, they would pass without

discovering us. Presently Ajor nudged me. "They have a prisoner," she whispered. "He

is a Kro-lu."

And then I saw him, the first fully developed Kro-lu I had seen. He was

a fine-looking savage, tall and straight with a regal carriage. To-mar

was a handsome fellow; but this Kro-lu showed plainly in his every

physical attribute a higher plane of evolution. While To-mar was just

entering the Kro-lu sphere, this man, it seemed to me, must be close

indeed to the next stage of his development, which would see him an

envied Galu. "They will kill him?" I whispered to Ajor. "The dance of death," she replied, and I shuddered, so recently had I

escaped the same fate. It seemed cruel that one who must have passed

safely up through all the frightful stages of human evolution within

Caspak, should die at the very foot of his goal. I raised my rifle to

my shoulder and took careful aim at one of the Band-lu. If I hit him,

I would hit two, for another was directly behind the first. Ajor touched my arm. "What would you do?" she asked. "They are all

our enemies."

"I am going to save him from the dance of death," I replied, "enemy or

no enemy," and I squeezed the trigger. At the report, the two Band-lu

lunged forward upon their faces. I handed my rifle to Ajor, and

drawing my pistol, stepped out in full view of the startled party. The

Band-lu did not run away as had some of the lower orders of Caspakians

at the sound of the rifle. Instead, the moment they saw me, they let

out a series of demoniac war-cries, and raising their spears above

their heads, charged me. The Kro-lu stood silent and statuesque, watching the proceedings. He

made no attempt to escape, though his feet were not bound and none of

the warriors remained to guard him. There were ten of the Band-lu

coming for me. I dropped three of them with my pistol as rapidly as a

man might count by three, and then my rifle spoke close to my left

shoulder, and another of them stumbled and rolled over and over upon

the ground. Plucky little Ajor!

She had never fired a shot before in

all her life, though I had taught her to sight and aim and how to

squeeze the trigger instead of pulling it. She had practiced these new

accomplishments often, but little had I thought they would make a

marksman of her so quickly. With six of their fellows put out of the fight so easily, the remaining

six sought cover behind some low bushes and commenced a council of war. I wished that they would go away, as I had no ammunition to waste, and

I was fearful that should they institute another charge, some of them

would reach us, for they were already quite close. Suddenly one of

them rose and launched his spear. It was the most marvelous exhibition

of speed I have ever witnessed. It seemed to me that he had scarce

gained an upright position when the weapon was half-way upon its

journey, speeding like an arrow toward Ajor. And then it was, with

that little life in danger, that I made the best shot I have ever made

in my life!

I took no conscious aim; it was as though my subconscious

mind, impelled by a stronger power even than that of self-preservation,

directed my hand. Ajor was in danger!

Simultaneously with the thought

my pistol flew to position, a streak of incandescent powder marked the

path of the bullet from its muzzle; and the spear, its point shattered,

was deflected from its path. With a howl of dismay the six Band-lu

rose from their shelter and raced away toward the south. I turned toward Ajor. She was very white and wide-eyed, for the

clutching fingers of death had all but seized her; but a little smile

came to her lips and an expression of great pride to her eyes. "My

Tom!" she said, and took my hand in hers. That was all--"My Tom!" and

a pressure of the hand. Her Tom!

Something stirred within my bosom. Was it exaltation or was it consternation?

Impossible!

I turned away

almost brusquely. "Come!" I said, and strode off toward the Kro-lu prisoner. The Kro-lu stood watching us with stolid indifference. I presume that

he expected to be killed; but if he did, he showed no outward sign of

fear. His eyes, indicating his greatest interest, were fixed upon my

pistol or the rifle which Ajor still carried. I cut his bonds with my

knife. As I did so, an expression of surprise tinged and animated the

haughty reserve of his countenance. He eyed me quizzically. "What are you going to do with me?" he asked. "You are free," I replied. "Go home, if you wish."

"Why don't you kill me?" he inquired. "I am defenseless."

"Why should I kill you?

I have risked my life and that of this young

lady to save your life. Why, therefore should I now take it?" Of

course, I didn't say "young lady" as there is no Caspakian equivalent

for that term; but I have to allow myself considerable latitude in the

translation of Caspakian conversations. To speak always of a beautiful

young girl as a "she" may be literal; but it seems far from gallant. The Kro-lu concentrated his steady, level gaze upon me for at least a

full minute. Then he spoke again. "Who are you, man of strange skins?" he asked. "Your she is Galu; but

you are neither Galu nor Kro-lu nor Band-lu, nor any other sort of man

which I have seen before. Tell me from whence comes so mighty a

warrior and so generous a foe."

"It is a long story," I replied, "but suffice it to say that I am not

of Caspak. I am a stranger here, and--let this sink in--I am not a

foe. I have no wish to be an enemy of any man in Caspak, with the

possible exception of the Galu warrior Du-seen."

"Du-seen!" he exclaimed. "You are an enemy of Du-seen?

And why?"

"Because he would harm Ajor," I replied. "You know him?"

"He cannot know him," said Ajor. "Du-seen rose from the Kro-lu long

ago, taking a new name, as all do when they enter a new sphere. He

cannot know him, as there is no intercourse between the Kro-lu and the

Galu."

The warrior smiled. "Du-seen rose not so long ago," he said, "that I

do not recall him well, and recently he has taken it upon himself to

abrogate the ancient laws of Caspak; he had had intercourse with the

Kro-lu. Du-seen would be chief of the Galus, and he has come to the

Kro-lu for help."

Ajor was aghast. The thing was incredible. Never had Kro-lu and Galu

had friendly relations; by the savage laws of Caspak they were deadly

enemies, for only so can the several races maintain their individuality. "Will the Kro-lu join him?" asked Ajor. "Will they invade the country

of Jor my father?"

"The younger Kro-lu favor the plan," replied the warrior, "since they

believe they will thus become Galus immediately. They hope to span the

long years of change through which they must pass in the ordinary

course of events and at a single stride become Galus. We of the older

Kro-lu tell them that though they occupy the land of the Galu and wear

the skins and ornaments of the golden people, still they will not be

Galus till the time arrives that they are ripe to rise. We also tell

them that even then they will never become a true Galu race, since

there will still be those among them who can never rise. It is all

right to raid the Galu country occasionally for plunder, as our people

do; but to attempt to conquer it and hold it is madness. For my part,

I have been content to wait until the call came to me. I feel that it

cannot now be long."

"What is your name?" asked Ajor. "Chal-az," replied the man. "You are chief of the Kro-lu?" Ajor continued. "No, it is Al-tan who is chief of the Kro-lu of the east," answered

Chal-az. "And he is against this plan to invade my father's country?"

"Unfortunately he is rather in favor of it," replied the man, "since he

has about come to the conclusion that he is batu. He has been chief

ever since, before I came up from the Band-lu, and I can see no change

in him in all those years. In fact, he still appears to be more

Band-lu than Kro-lu. However, he is a good chief and a mighty warrior,

and if Du-seen persuades him to his cause, the Galus may find

themselves under a Kro-lu chieftain before long--Du-seen as well as the

others, for Al-tan would never consent to occupy a subordinate

position, and once he plants a victorious foot in Galu, he will not

withdraw it without a struggle."

I asked them what batu meant, as I had not before heard the word. Literally translated, it is equivalent to through, finished, done-for,

as applied to an individual's evolutionary progress in Caspak, and with

this information was developed the interesting fact that not every

individual is capable of rising through every stage to that of Galu. Some never progress beyond the Alu stage; others stop as Bo-lu, as

Sto-lu, as Band-lu or as Kro-lu. The Ho-lu of the first generation may

rise to become Alus; the Alus of the second generation may become

Bo-lu, while it requires three generations of Bo-lu to become Band-lu,

and so on until Kro-lu's parent on one side must be of the sixth

generation. It was not entirely plain to me even with this explanation, since I

couldn't understand how there could be different generations of peoples

who apparently had no offspring. Yet I was commencing to get a slight

glimmer of the strange laws which govern propagation and evolution in

this weird land. Already I knew that the warm pools which always lie

close to every tribal abiding-place were closely linked with the

Caspakian scheme of evolution, and that the daily immersion of the

females in the greenish slimy water was in response to some natural

law, since neither pleasure nor cleanliness could be derived from what

seemed almost a religious rite. Yet I was still at sea; nor,

seemingly, could Ajor enlighten me, since she was compelled to use

words which I could not understand and which it was impossible for her

to explain the meanings of. As we stood talking, we were suddenly startled by a commotion in the

bushes and among the boles of the trees surrounding us, and

simultaneously a hundred Kro-lu warriors appeared in a rough circle

about us. They greeted Chal-az with a volley of questions as they

approached slowly from all sides, their heavy bows fitted with long,

sharp arrows. Upon Ajor and me they looked with covetousness in the

one instance and suspicion in the other; but after they had heard

Chal-az's story, their attitude was more friendly. A huge savage did

all the talking. He was a mountain of a man, yet perfectly

proportioned. "This is Al-tan the chief," said Chal-az by way of introduction. Then

he told something of my story, and Al-tan asked me many questions of

the land from which I came. The warriors crowded around close to hear

my replies, and there were many expressions of incredulity as I spoke

of what was to them another world, of the yacht which had brought me

over vast waters, and of the plane that had borne me Jo-oo-like over

the summit of the barrier-cliffs. It was the mention of the

hydroaeroplane which precipitated the first outspoken skepticism, and

then Ajor came to my defense. "I saw it with my own eyes!" she exclaimed. "I saw him flying through

the air in battle with a Jo-oo. The Alus were chasing me, and they saw

and ran away."

"Whose is this she?" demanded Al-tan suddenly, his eyes fixed fiercely

upon Ajor. For a moment there was silence. Ajor looked up at me, a hurt and

questioning expression on her face. "Whose she is this?" repeated

Al-tan. "She is mine," I replied, though what force it was that impelled me to

say it I could not have told; but an instant later I was glad that I

had spoken the words, for the reward of Ajor's proud and happy face was

reward indeed. Al-tan eyed her for several minutes and then turned to me. "Can you

keep her?" he asked, just the tinge of a sneer upon his face. I laid my palm upon the grip of my pistol and answered that I could. He saw the move, glanced at the butt of the automatic where it

protruded from its holster, and smiled. Then he turned and raising his

great bow, fitted an arrow and drew the shaft far back. His warriors,

supercilious smiles upon their faces, stood silently watching him. His

bow was the longest and the heaviest among them all. A mighty man

indeed must he be to bend it; yet Al-tan drew the shaft back until the

stone point touched his left forefinger, and he did it with consummate

ease. Then he raised the shaft to the level of his right eye, held it

there for an instant and released it. When the arrow stopped, half its

length protruded from the opposite side of a six-inch tree fifty feet

away. Al-tan and his warriors turned toward me with expressions of

immense satisfaction upon their faces, and then, apparently for Ajor's

benefit, the chieftain swaggered to and fro a couple of times, swinging

his great arms and his bulky shoulders for all the world like a drunken

prize-fighter at a beach dancehall. I saw that some reply was necessary, and so in a single motion, I drew

my gun, dropped it on the still quivering arrow and pulled the trigger. At the sound of the report, the Kro-lu leaped back and raised their

weapons; but as I was smiling, they took heart and lowered them again,

following my eyes to the tree; the shaft of their chief was gone, and

through the bole was a little round hole marking the path of my bullet. It was a good shot if I do say it myself, "as shouldn't" but necessity

must have guided that bullet; I simply had to make a good shot, that I

might immediately establish my position among those savage and warlike

Caspakians of the sixth sphere. That it had its effect was immediately

noticeable, but I am none too sure that it helped my cause with Al-tan. Whereas he might have condescended to tolerate me as a harmless and

interesting curiosity, he now, by the change in his expression,

appeared to consider me in a new and unfavorable light. Nor can I

wonder, knowing this type as I did, for had I not made him ridiculous

in the eyes of his warriors, beating him at his own game?

What king,

savage or civilized, could condone such impudence?

Seeing his black

scowls, I deemed it expedient, especially on Ajor's account, to

terminate the interview and continue upon our way; but when I would

have done so, Al-tan detained us with a gesture, and his warriors

pressed around us. "What is the meaning of this?" I demanded, and before Al-tan could

reply, Chal-az raised his voice in our behalf. "Is this the gratitude of a Kro-lu chieftain, Al-tan," he asked, "to

one who has served you by saving one of your warriors from the

enemy--saving him from the death dance of the Band-lu?"

Al-tan was silent for a moment, and then his brow cleared, and the

faint imitation of a pleasant expression struggled for existence as he

said: "The stranger will not be harmed. I wished only to detain him

that he may be feasted tonight in the village of Al-tan the Kro-lu. In

the morning he may go his way. Al-tan will not hinder him."

I was not entirely reassured; but I wanted to see the interior of the

Kro-lu village, and anyway I knew that if Al-tan intended treachery I

would be no more in his power in the morning than I now was--in fact,

during the night I might find opportunity to escape with Ajor, while at

the instant neither of us could hope to escape unscathed from the

encircling warriors. Therefore, in order to disarm him of any thought

that I might entertain suspicion as to his sincerity, I promptly and

courteously accepted his invitation. His satisfaction was evident, and

as we set off toward his village, he walked beside me, asking many

questions as to the country from which I came, its peoples and their

customs. He seemed much mystified by the fact that we could walk

abroad by day or night without fear of being devoured by wild beasts or

savage reptiles, and when I told him of the great armies which we

maintained, his simple mind could not grasp the fact that they existed

solely for the slaughtering of human beings. "I am glad," he said, "that I do not dwell in your country among such

savage peoples. Here, in Caspak, men fight with men when they

meet--men of different races--but their weapons are first for the

slaying of beasts in the chase and in defense. We do not fashion

weapons solely for the killing of man as do your peoples. Your country

must indeed be a savage country, from which you are fortunate to have

escaped to the peace and security of Caspak."

Here was a new and refreshing viewpoint; nor could I take exception to

it after what I had told Al-tan of the great war which had been raging

in Europe for over two years before I left home. On the march to the Kro-lu village we were continually stalked by

innumerable beasts of prey, and three times we were attacked by

frightful creatures; but Al-tan took it all as a matter of course,

rushing forward with raised spear or sending a heavy shaft into the

body of the attacker and then returning to our conversation as though

no interruption had occurred. Twice were members of his band mauled,

and one was killed by a huge and bellicose rhinoceros; but the instant

the action was over, it was as though it never had occurred. The dead

man was stripped of his belongings and left where he had died; the

carnivora would take care of his burial. The trophies that these

Kro-lu left to the meat-eaters would have turned an English big-game

hunter green with envy. They did, it is true, cut all the edible parts

from the rhino and carry them home; but already they were pretty well

weighted down with the spoils of the chase, and only the fact that they

are particularly fond of rhino-meat caused them to do so. They left the hide on the pieces they selected, as they use it for

sandals, shield-covers, the hilts of their knives and various other

purposes where tough hide is desirable. I was much interested in their

shields, especially after I saw one used in defense against the attack

of a saber-tooth tiger. The huge creature had charged us without

warning from a clump of dense bushes where it was lying up after

eating. It was met with an avalanche of spears, some of which passed

entirely through its body, with such force were they hurled. The

charge was from a very short distance, requiring the use of the spear

rather than the bow and arrow; but after the launching of the spears,

the men not directly in the path of the charge sent bolt after bolt

into the great carcass with almost incredible rapidity. The beast,

screaming with pain and rage, bore down upon Chal-az while I stood

helpless with my rifle for fear of hitting one of the warriors who were

closing in upon it. But Chal-az was ready. Throwing aside his bow, he

crouched behind his large oval shield, in the center of which was a

hole about six inches in diameter. The shield was held by tight loops

to his left arm, while in his right hand he grasped his heavy knife. Bristling with spears and arrows, the great cat hurled itself upon the

shield, and down went Chal-az upon his back with the shield entirely

covering him. The tiger clawed and bit at the heavy rhinoceros hide

with which the shield was faced, while Chal-az, through the round hole

in the shield's center, plunged his blade repeatedly into the vitals of

the savage animal. Doubtless the battle would have gone to Chal-az

even though I had not interfered; but the moment that I saw a clean

opening, with no Kro-lu beyond, I raised my rifle and killed the beast. When Chal-az arose, he glanced at the sky and remarked that it looked

like rain. The others already had resumed the march toward the

village. The incident was closed. For some unaccountable reason the

whole thing reminded me of a friend who once shot a cat in his

backyard. For three weeks he talked of nothing else. It was almost dark when we reached the village--a large palisaded

enclosure of several hundred leaf-thatched huts set in groups of from

two to seven. The huts were hexagonal in form, and where grouped were

joined so that they resembled the cells of a bee-hive. One hut meant a

warrior and his mate, and each additional hut in a group indicated an

additional female. The palisade which surrounded the village was of

logs set close together and woven into a solid wall with tough creepers

which were planted at their base and trained to weave in and out to

bind the logs together. The logs slanted outward at an angle of about

thirty degrees, in which position they were held by shorter logs

embedded in the ground at right angles to them and with their upper

ends supporting the longer pieces a trifle above their centers of

equilibrium. Along the top of the palisade sharpened stakes had been

driven at all sorts of angles. The only opening into the inclosure was through a small aperture three

feet wide and three feet high, which was closed from the inside by logs

about six feet long laid horizontally, one upon another, between the

inside face of the palisade and two other braced logs which paralleled

the face of the wall upon the inside. As we entered the village, we were greeted by a not unfriendly crowd of

curious warriors and women, to whom Chal-az generously explained the

service we had rendered him, whereupon they showered us with the most

well-meant attentions, for Chal-az, it seemed, was a most popular

member of the tribe. Necklaces of lion- and tiger-teeth, bits of dried

meat, finely tanned hides and earthen pots, beautifully decorated, they

thrust upon us until we were loaded down, and all the while Al-tan

glared balefully upon us, seemingly jealous of the attentions heaped

upon us because we had served Chal-az. At last we reached a hut that they set apart for us, and there we

cooked our meat and some vegetables the women brought us, and had milk

from cows--the first I had had in Caspak--and cheese from the milk of

wild goats, with honey and thin bread made from wheat flour of their

own grinding, and grapes and the fermented juice of grapes. It was

quite the most wonderful meal I had eaten since I quit the _Toreador_ and

Bowen J. Tyler's colored chef, who could make pork-chops taste like

chicken, and chicken taste like heaven. Chapter 6

After dinner I rolled a cigaret and stretched myself at ease upon a

pile of furs before the doorway, with Ajor's head pillowed in my lap

and a feeling of great content pervading me. It was the first time

since my plane had topped the barrier-cliffs of Caspak that I had felt

any sense of peace or security. My hand wandered to the velvet cheek

of the girl I had claimed as mine, and to her luxuriant hair and the

golden fillet which bound it close to her shapely head. Her slender

fingers groping upward sought mine and drew them to her lips, and then

I gathered her in my arms and crushed her to me, smothering her mouth

with a long, long kiss. It was the first time that passion had tinged

my intercourse with Ajor. We were alone, and the hut was ours until

morning. But now from beyond the palisade in the direction of the main gate came

the hallooing of men and the answering calls and queries of the guard. We listened. Returning hunters, no doubt. We heard them enter the

village amidst the barking dogs. I have forgotten to mention the dogs

of Kro-lu. The village swarmed with them, gaunt, wolflike creatures

that guarded the herd by day when it grazed without the palisade, ten

dogs to a cow. By night the cows were herded in an outer inclosure

roofed against the onslaughts of the carnivorous cats; and the dogs,

with the exception of a few, were brought into the village; these few

well-tested brutes remained with the herd. During the day they fed

plentifully upon the beasts of prey which they killed in protection of

the herd, so that their keep amounted to nothing at all. Shortly after the commotion at the gate had subsided, Ajor and I arose

to enter the hut, and at the same time a warrior appeared from one of

the twisted alleys which, lying between the irregularly placed huts and

groups of huts, form the streets of the Kro-lu village. The fellow

halted before us and addressed me, saying that Al-tan desired my

presence at his hut. The wording of the invitation and the manner of

the messenger threw me entirely off my guard, so cordial was the one

and respectful the other, and the result was that I went willingly,

telling Ajor that I would return presently. I had laid my arms and

ammunition aside as soon as we had taken over the hut, and I left them

with Ajor now, as I had noticed that aside from their hunting-knives

the men of Kro-lu bore no weapons about the village streets. There was

an atmosphere of peace and security within that village that I had not

hoped to experience within Caspak, and after what I had passed through,

it must have cast a numbing spell over my faculties of judgment and

reason. I had eaten of the lotus-flower of safety; dangers no longer

threatened for they had ceased to be. The messenger led me through the labyrinthine alleys to an open plaza

near the center of the village. At one end of this plaza was a long

hut, much the largest that I had yet seen, before the door of which

were many warriors. I could see that the interior was lighted and that

a great number of men were gathered within. The dogs about the plaza

were as thick as fleas, and those I approached closely evinced a strong

desire to devour me, their noses evidently apprising them of the fact

that I was of an alien race, since they paid no attention whatever to

my companion. Once inside the council-hut, for such it appeared to be,

I found a large concourse of warriors seated, or rather squatted,

around the floor. At one end of the oval space which the warriors left

down the center of the room stood Al-tan and another warrior whom I

immediately recognized as a Galu, and then I saw that there were many

Galus present. About the walls were a number of flaming torches stuck

in holes in a clay plaster which evidently served the purpose of

preventing the inflammable wood and grasses of which the hut was

composed from being ignited by the flames. Lying about among the

warriors or wandering restlessly to and fro were a number of savage

dogs. The warriors eyed me curiously as I entered, especially the Galus, and

then I was conducted into the center of the group and led forward

toward Al-tan. As I advanced I felt one of the dogs sniffing at my

heels, and of a sudden a great brute leaped upon my back. As I turned

to thrust it aside before its fangs found a hold upon me, I beheld a

huge Airedale leaping frantically about me. The grinning jaws, the

half-closed eyes, the back-laid ears spoke to me louder than might the

words of man that here was no savage enemy but a joyous friend, and

then I recognized him, and fell to one knee and put my arms about his

neck while he whined and cried with joy. It was Nobs, dear old Nobs. Bowen Tyler's Nobs, who had loved me next to his master. "Where is the master of this dog?" I asked, turning toward Al-tan. The chieftain inclined his head toward the Galu standing at his side. "He belongs to Du-seen the Galu," he replied. "He belongs to Bowen J. Tyler, Jr., of Santa Monica," I retorted, "and

I want to know where his master is."

The Galu shrugged. "The dog is mine," he said. "He came to me

cor-sva-jo, and he is unlike any dog in Caspak, being kind and docile

and yet a killer when aroused. I would not part with him. I do not

know the man of whom you speak."

So this was Du-seen!

This was the man from whom Ajor had fled. I

wondered if he knew that she was here. I wondered if they had sent for

me because of her; but after they had commenced to question me, my mind

was relieved; they did not mention Ajor. Their interest seemed

centered upon the strange world from which I had come, my journey to

Caspak and my intentions now that I had arrived. I answered them

frankly as I had nothing to conceal and assured them that my only wish

was to find my friends and return to my own country. In the Galu

Du-seen and his warriors I saw something of the explanation of the term

"golden race" which is applied to them, for their ornaments and weapons

were either wholly of beaten gold or heavily decorated with the

precious metal. They were a very imposing set of men--tall and

straight and handsome. About their heads were bands of gold like that

which Ajor wore, and from their left shoulders depended the

leopard-tails of the Galus. In addition to the deer-skin tunic which

constituted the major portion of their apparel, each carried a light

blanket of barbaric yet beautiful design--the first evidence of weaving

I had seen in Caspak. Ajor had had no blanket, having lost it during

her flight from the attentions of Du-seen; nor was she so heavily

incrusted with gold as these male members of her tribe. The audience must have lasted fully an hour when Al-tan signified that

I might return to my hut. All the time Nobs had lain quietly at my

feet; but the instant that I turned to leave, he was up and after me. Du-seen called to him; but the terrier never even so much as looked in

his direction. I had almost reached the doorway leading from the

council-hall when Al-tan rose and called after me. "Stop!" he shouted. "Stop, stranger!

The beast of Du-seen the Galu follows you."

"The dog is not Du-seen's," I replied. "He belongs to my friend, as I

told you, and he prefers to stay with me until his master is found."

And I turned again to resume my way. I had taken but a few steps when

I heard a commotion behind me, and at the same moment a man leaned

close and whispered "Kazar!" close to my ear--kazar, the Caspakian

equivalent of beware. It was To-mar. As he spoke, he turned quickly

away as though loath to have others see that he knew me, and at the

same instant I wheeled to discover Du-seen striding rapidly after me. Al-tan followed him, and it was evident that both were angry. Du-seen, a weapon half drawn, approached truculently. "The beast is

mine," he reiterated. "Would you steal him?"

"He is not yours nor mine," I replied, "and I am not stealing him. If

he wishes to follow you, he may; I will not interfere; but if he wishes

to follow me, he shall; nor shall you prevent." I turned to Al-tan. "Is not that fair?" I demanded. "Let the dog choose his master."

Du-seen, without waiting for Al-tan's reply, reached for Nobs and

grasped him by the scruff of the neck. I did not interfere, for I

guessed what would happen; and it did. With a savage growl Nobs turned

like lightning upon the Galu, wrenched loose from his hold and leaped

for his throat. The man stepped back and warded off the first attack

with a heavy blow of his fist, immediately drawing his knife with which

to meet the Airedale's return. And Nobs would have returned, all

right, had not I spoken to him. In a low voice I called him to heel. For just an instant he hesitated, standing there trembling and with

bared fangs, glaring at his foe; but he was well trained and had been

out with me quite as much as he had with Bowen--in fact, I had had most

to do with his early training; then he walked slowly and very

stiff-legged to his place behind me. Du-seen, red with rage, would have had it out with the two of us had

not Al-tan drawn him to one side and whispered in his ear--upon which,

with a grunt, the Galu walked straight back to the opposite end of the

hall, while Nobs and I continued upon our way toward the hut and Ajor. As we passed out into the village plaza, I saw Chal-az--we were so

close to one another that I could have reached out and touched him--and

our eyes met; but though I greeted him pleasantly and paused to speak

to him, he brushed past me without a sign of recognition. I was

puzzled at his behavior, and then I recalled that To-mar, though he had

warned me, had appeared not to wish to seem friendly with me. I could

not understand their attitude, and was trying to puzzle out some sort

of explanation, when the matter was suddenly driven from my mind by the

report of a firearm. Instantly I broke into a run, my brain in a whirl

of forebodings, for the only firearms in the Kro-lu country were those

I had left in the hut with Ajor. That she was in danger I could not but fear, as she was now something

of an adept in the handling of both the pistol and rifle, a fact which

largely eliminated the chance that the shot had come from an

accidentally discharged firearm. When I left the hut, I had felt that

she and I were safe among friends; no thought of danger was in my mind;

but since my audience with Al-tan, the presence and bearing of Du-seen

and the strange attitude of both To-mar and Chal-az had each

contributed toward arousing my suspicions, and now I ran along the

narrow, winding alleys of the Kro-lu village with my heart fairly in my

mouth. I am endowed with an excellent sense of direction, which has been

greatly perfected by the years I have spent in the mountains and upon

the plains and deserts of my native state, so that it was with little

or no difficulty that I found my way back to the hut in which I had

left Ajor. As I entered the doorway, I called her name aloud. There

was no response. I drew a box of matches from my pocket and struck a

light and as the flame flared up, a half-dozen brawny warriors leaped

upon me from as many directions; but even in the brief instant that the

flare lasted, I saw that Ajor was not within the hut, and that my arms

and ammunition had been removed. As the six men leaped upon me, an angry growl burst from behind them. I had forgotten Nobs. Like a demon of hate he sprang among those

Kro-lu fighting-men, tearing, rending, ripping with his long tusks and

his mighty jaws. They had me down in an instant, and it goes without

saying that the six of them could have kept me there had it not been

for Nobs; but while I was struggling to throw them off, Nobs was

springing first upon one and then upon another of them until they were

so put to it to preserve their hides and their lives from him that they

could give me only a small part of their attention. One of them was

assiduously attempting to strike me on the head with his stone hatchet;

but I caught his arm and at the same time turned over upon my belly,

after which it took but an instant to get my feet under me and rise

suddenly. As I did so, I kept a grip upon the man's arm, carrying it over one

shoulder. Then I leaned suddenly forward and hurled my antagonist over

my head to a hasty fall at the opposite side of the hut. In the dim

light of the interior I saw that Nobs had already accounted for one of

the others--one who lay very quiet upon the floor--while the four

remaining upon their feet were striking at him with knives and hatchets. Running to one side of the man I had just put out of the fighting, I

seized his hatchet and knife, and in another moment was in the thick of

the argument. I was no match for these savage warriors with their own

weapons and would soon have gone down to ignominious defeat and death

had it not been for Nobs, who alone was a match for the four of them. I never saw any creature so quick upon its feet as was that great

Airedale, nor such frightful ferocity as he manifested in his attacks. It was as much the latter as the former which contributed to the

undoing of our enemies, who, accustomed though they were to the

ferocity of terrible creatures, seemed awed by the sight of this

strange beast from another world battling at the side of his equally

strange master. Yet they were no cowards, and only by teamwork did

Nobs and I overcome them at last. We would rush for a man,

simultaneously, and as Nobs leaped for him upon one side, I would

strike at his head with the stone hatchet from the other. As the last man went down, I heard the running of many feet approaching

us from the direction of the plaza. To be captured now would mean

death; yet I could not attempt to leave the village without first

ascertaining the whereabouts of Ajor and releasing her if she were held

a captive. That I could escape the village I was not at all sure; but

of one thing I was positive; that it would do neither Ajor nor myself

any service to remain where I was and be captured; so with Nobs, bloody

but happy, following at heel, I turned down the first alley and slunk

away in the direction of the northern end of the village. Friendless and alone, hunted through the dark labyrinths of this savage

community, I seldom have felt more helpless than at that moment; yet

far transcending any fear which I may have felt for my own safety was

my concern for that of Ajor. What fate had befallen her?

Where was

she, and in whose power?

That I should live to learn the answers to

these queries I doubted; but that I should face death gladly in the

attempt--of that I was certain. And why?

With all my concern for the

welfare of my friends who had accompanied me to Caprona, and of my best

friend of all, Bowen J. Tyler, Jr., I never yet had experienced the

almost paralyzing fear for the safety of any other creature which now

threw me alternately into a fever of despair and into a cold sweat of

apprehension as my mind dwelt upon the fate on one bit of half-savage

femininity of whose very existence even I had not dreamed a few short

weeks before. What was this hold she had upon me?

Was I bewitched, that my mind

refused to function sanely, and that judgment and reason were dethroned

by some mad sentiment which I steadfastly refused to believe was love?

I had never been in love. I was not in love now--the very thought was

preposterous. How could I, Thomas Billings, the right-hand man of the

late Bowen J. Tyler, Sr., one of America's foremost captains of

industry and the greatest man in California, be in love with a--a--the

word stuck in my throat; yet by my own American standards Ajor could be

nothing else; at home, for all her beauty, for all her delicately

tinted skin, little Ajor by her apparel, by the habits and customs and

manners of her people, by her life, would have been classed a squaw. Tom Billings in love with a squaw!

I shuddered at the thought. And then there came to my mind, in a sudden, brilliant flash upon the

screen of recollection the picture of Ajor as I had last seen her, and

I lived again the delicious moment in which we had clung to one

another, lips smothering lips, as I left her to go to the council hall

of Al-tan; and I could have kicked myself for the snob and the cad that

my thoughts had proven me--me, who had always prided myself that I was

neither the one nor the other!

These things ran through my mind as Nobs and I made our way through the

dark village, the voices and footsteps of those who sought us still in

our ears. These and many other things, nor could I escape the

incontrovertible fact that the little figure round which my

recollections and my hopes entwined themselves was that of

Ajor--beloved barbarian!

My reveries were broken in upon by a hoarse

whisper from the black interior of a hut past which we were making our

way. My name was called in a low voice, and a man stepped out beside

me as I halted with raised knife. It was Chal-az. "Quick!" he warned. "In here!

It is my hut, and they will not search

it."

I hesitated, recalled his attitude of a few minutes before; and as

though he had read my thoughts, he said quickly: "I could not speak to

you in the plaza without danger of arousing suspicions which would

prevent me aiding you later, for word had gone out that Al-tan had

turned against you and would destroy you--this was after Du-seen the

Galu arrived."

I followed him into the hut, and with Nobs at our heels we passed

through several chambers into a remote and windowless apartment where a

small lamp sputtered in its unequal battle with the inky darkness. A

hole in the roof permitted the smoke from burning oil egress; yet the

atmosphere was far from lucid. Here Chal-az motioned me to a seat upon

a furry hide spread upon the earthen floor. "I am your friend," he said. "You saved my life; and I am no ingrate

as is the batu Al-tan. I will serve you, and there are others here who

will serve you against Al-tan and this renegade Galu, Du-seen."

"But where is Ajor?" I asked, for I cared little for my own safety

while she was in danger. "Ajor is safe, too," he answered. "We learned the designs of Al-tan

and Du-seen. The latter, learning that Ajor was here, demanded her;

and Al-tan promised that he should have her; but when the warriors went

to get her To-mar went with them. Ajor tried to defend herself. She

killed one of the warriors, and then To-mar picked her up in his arms

when the others had taken her weapons from her. He told the others to

look after the wounded man, who was really already dead, and to seize

you upon your return, and that he, To-mar, would bear Ajor to Al-tan;

but instead of bearing her to Al-tan, he took her to his own hut, where

she now is with So-al, To-mar's she. It all happened very quickly. To-mar and I were in the council-hut when Du-seen attempted to take the

dog from you. I was seeking To-mar for this work. He ran out

immediately and accompanied the warriors to your hut while I remained

to watch what went on within the council-hut and to aid you if you

needed aid. What has happened since you know."

I thanked him for his loyalty and then asked him to take me to Ajor;

but he said that it could not be done, as the village streets were

filled with searchers. In fact, we could hear them passing to and fro

among the huts, making inquiries, and at last Chal-az thought it best

to go to the doorway of his dwelling, which consisted of many huts

joined together, lest they enter and search. Chal-az was absent for a long time--several hours which seemed an

eternity to me. All sounds of pursuit had long since ceased, and I was

becoming uneasy because of his protracted absence when I heard him

returning through the other apartments of his dwelling. He was

perturbed when he entered that in which I awaited him, and I saw a

worried expression upon his face. "What is wrong?" I asked. "Have they found Ajor?"

"No," he replied; "but Ajor has gone. She learned that you had escaped

them and was told that you had left the village, believing that she had

escaped too. So-al could not detain her. She made her way out over

the top of the palisade, armed with only her knife."

"Then I must go," I said, rising. Nobs rose and shook himself. He had

been dead asleep when I spoke. "Yes," agreed Chal-az, "you must go at once. It is almost dawn. Du-seen leaves at daylight to search for her." He leaned close to my

ear and whispered: "There are many to follow and help you. Al-tan has

agreed to aid Du-seen against the Galus of Jor; but there are many of

us who have combined to rise against Al-tan and prevent this ruthless

desecration of the laws and customs of the Kro-lu and of Caspak. We

will rise as Luata has ordained that we shall rise, and only thus. No

batu may win to the estate of a Galu by treachery and force of arms

while Chal-az lives and may wield a heavy blow and a sharp spear with

true Kro-lus at his back!"

"I hope that I may live to aid you," I replied. "If I had my weapons

and my ammunition, I could do much. Do you know where they are?" "No,"

he said, "they have disappeared." And then: "Wait!

You cannot go

forth half armed, and garbed as you are. You are going into the Galu

country, and you must go as a Galu. Come!" And without waiting for a

reply, he led me into another apartment, or to be more explicit,

another of the several huts which formed his cellular dwelling. Here was a pile of skins, weapons, and ornaments. "Remove your strange

apparel," said Chal-az, "and I will fit you out as a true Galu. I have

slain several of them in the raids of my early days as a Kro-lu, and

here are their trappings."

I saw the wisdom of his suggestion, and as my clothes were by now so

ragged as to but half conceal my nakedness, I had no regrets in laying

them aside. Stripped to the skin, I donned the red-deerskin tunic, the

leopard-tail, the golden fillet, armlets and leg-ornaments of a Galu,

with the belt, scabbard and knife, the shield, spear, bow and arrow and

the long rope which I learned now for the first time is the distinctive

weapon of the Galu warrior. It is a rawhide rope, not dissimilar to

those of the Western plains and cow-camps of my youth. The honda is a

golden oval and accurate weight for the throwing of the noose. This

heavy honda, Chal-az explained, is used as a weapon, being thrown with

great force and accuracy at an enemy and then coiled in for another

cast. In hunting and in battle, they use both the noose and the honda. If several warriors surround a single foeman or quarry, they rope it

with the noose from several sides; but a single warrior against a lone

antagonist will attempt to brain his foe with the metal oval. I could not have been more pleased with any weapon, short of a rifle,

which he could have found for me, since I have been adept with the rope

from early childhood; but I must confess that I was less favorably

inclined toward my apparel. In so far as the sensation was concerned,

I might as well have been entirely naked, so short and light was the

tunic. When I asked Chal-az for the Caspakian name for rope, he told

me ga, and for the first time I understood the derivation of the word

Galu, which means ropeman. Entirely outfitted I would not have known myself, so strange was my

garb and my armament. Upon my back were slung my bow, arrows, shield,

and short spear; from the center of my girdle depended my knife; at my

right hip was my stone hatchet; and at my left hung the coils of my

long rope. By reaching my right hand over my left shoulder, I could

seize the spear or arrows; my left hand could find my bow over my right

shoulder, while a veritable contortionist-act was necessary to place my

shield in front of me and upon my left arm. The shield, long and oval,

is utilized more as back-armor than as a defense against frontal

attack, for the close-set armlets of gold upon the left forearm are

principally depended upon to ward off knife, spear, hatchet, or arrow

from in front; but against the greater carnivora and the attacks of

several human antagonists, the shield is utilized to its best advantage

and carried by loops upon the left arm. Fully equipped, except for a blanket, I followed Chal-az from his

domicile into the dark and deserted alleys of Kro-lu. Silently we

crept along, Nobs silent at heel, toward the nearest portion of the

palisade. Here Chal-az bade me farewell, telling me that he hoped to

see me soon among the Galus, as he felt that "the call soon would come"

to him. I thanked him for his loyal assistance and promised that

whether I reached the Galu country or not, I should always stand ready

to repay his kindness to me, and that he could count on me in the

revolution against Al-tan. Chapter 7

To run up the inclined surface of the palisade and drop to the ground

outside was the work of but a moment, or would have been but for Nobs. I had to put my rope about him after we reached the top, lift him over

the sharpened stakes and lower him upon the outside. To find Ajor in

the unknown country to the north seemed rather hopeless; yet I could do

no less than try, praying in the meanwhile that she would come through

unscathed and in safety to her father. As Nobs and I swung along in the growing light of the coming day, I was

impressed by the lessening numbers of savage beasts the farther north I

traveled. With the decrease among the carnivora, the herbivora

increased in quantity, though anywhere in Caspak they are sufficiently

plentiful to furnish ample food for the meateaters of each locality. The wild cattle, antelope, deer, and horses I passed showed changes in

evolution from their cousins farther south. The kine were smaller and

less shaggy, the horses larger. North of the Kro-lu village I saw a

small band of the latter of about the size of those of our old Western

plains--such as the Indians bred in former days and to a lesser extent

even now. They were fat and sleek, and I looked upon them with

covetous eyes and with thoughts that any old cow-puncher may well

imagine I might entertain after having hoofed it for weeks; but they

were wary, scarce permitting me to approach within bow-and-arrow range,

much less within roping-distance; yet I still had hopes which I never

discarded. Twice before noon we were stalked and charged by man-eaters; but even

though I was without firearms, I still had ample protection in Nobs,

who evidently had learned something of Caspakian hunt rules under the

tutelage of Du-seen or some other Galu, and of course a great deal more

by experience. He always was on the alert for dangerous foes,

invariably warning me by low growls of the approach of a large

carnivorous animal long before I could either see or hear it, and then

when the thing appeared, he would run snapping at its heels, drawing

the charge away from me until I found safety in some tree; yet never

did the wily Nobs take an unnecessary chance of a mauling. He would

dart in and away so quickly that not even the lightning-like movements

of the great cats could reach him. I have seen him tantalize them thus

until they fairly screamed in rage. The greatest inconvenience the hunters caused me was the delay, for

they have a nasty habit of keeping one treed for an hour or more if

balked in their designs; but at last we came in sight of a line of

cliffs running east and west across our path as far as the eye could

see in either direction, and I knew that we reached the natural

boundary which marks the line between the Kro-lu and Galu countries. The southern face of these cliffs loomed high and forbidding, rising to

an altitude of some two hundred feet, sheer and precipitous, without a

break that the eye could perceive. How I was to find a crossing I

could not guess. Whether to search to the east toward the still

loftier barrier-cliffs fronting upon the ocean, or westward in the

direction of the inland sea was a question which baffled me. Were

there many passes or only one?

I had no way of knowing. I could but

trust to chance. It never occurred to me that Nobs had made the

crossing at least once, possibly a greater number of times, and that he

might lead me to the pass; and so it was with no idea of assistance

that I appealed to him as a man alone with a dumb brute so often does. "Nobs," I said, "how the devil are we going to cross those cliffs?"

I do not say that he understood me, even though I realize that an

Airedale is a mighty intelligent dog; but I do swear that he seemed to

understand me, for he wheeled about, barking joyously and trotted off

toward the west; and when I didn't follow him, he ran back to me

barking furiously, and at last taking hold of the calf of my leg in an

effort to pull me along in the direction he wished me to go. Now, as

my legs were naked and Nobs' jaws are much more powerful than he

realizes, I gave in and followed him, for I knew that I might as well

go west as east, as far as any knowledge I had of the correct direction

went. We followed the base of the cliffs for a considerable distance. The

ground was rolling and tree-dotted and covered with grazing animals,

alone, in pairs and in herds--a motley aggregation of the modern and

extinct herbivora of the world. A huge woolly mastodon stood swaying

to and fro in the shade of a giant fern--a mighty bull with enormous

upcurving tusks. Near him grazed an aurochs bull with a cow and a

calf, close beside a lone rhinoceros asleep in a dust-hole. Deer,

antelope, bison, horses, sheep, and goats were all in sight at the same

time, and at a little distance a great megatherium reared up on its

huge tail and massive hind feet to tear the leaves from a tall tree. The forgotten past rubbed flanks with the present--while Tom Billings,

modern of the moderns, passed in the garb of pre-Glacial man, and

before him trotted a creature of a breed scarce sixty years old. Nobs

was a parvenu; but it failed to worry him. As we neared the inland sea we saw more flying reptiles and several

great amphibians, but none of them attacked us. As we were topping a

rise in the middle of the afternoon, I saw something that brought me to

a sudden stop. Calling Nobs in a whisper, I cautioned him to silence

and kept him at heel while I threw myself flat and watched, from behind

a sheltering shrub, a body of warriors approaching the cliff from the

south. I could see that they were Galus, and I guessed that Du-seen

led them. They had taken a shorter route to the pass and so had

overhauled me. I could see them plainly, for they were no great

distance away, and saw with relief that Ajor was not with them. The cliffs before them were broken and ragged, those coming from the

east overlapping the cliffs from the west. Into the defile formed by

this overlapping the party filed. I could see them climbing upward for

a few minutes, and then they disappeared from view. When the last of

them had passed from sight, I rose and bent my steps in the direction

of the pass--the same pass toward which Nobs had evidently been leading

me. I went warily as I approached it, for fear the party might have

halted to rest. If they hadn't halted, I had no fear of being

discovered, for I had seen that the Galus marched without point,

flankers or rear guard; and when I reached the pass and saw a narrow,

one-man trail leading upward at a stiff angle, I wished that I were

chief of the Galus for a few weeks. A dozen men could hold off forever

in that narrow pass all the hordes which might be brought up from the

south; yet there it lay entirely unguarded. The Galus might be a great people in Caspak; but they were pitifully

inefficient in even the simpler forms of military tactics. I was

surprised that even a man of the Stone Age should be so lacking in

military perspicacity. Du-seen dropped far below par in my estimation

as I saw the slovenly formation of his troop as it passed through an

enemy country and entered the domain of the chief against whom he had

risen in revolt; but Du-seen must have known Jor the chief and known

that Jor would not be waiting for him at the pass. Nevertheless he

took unwarranted chances. With one squad of a home-guard company I

could have conquered Caspak. Nobs and I followed to the summit of the pass, and there we saw the

party defiling into the Galu country, the level of which was not, on an

average, over fifty feet below the summit of the cliffs and about a

hundred and fifty feet above the adjacent Kro-lu domain. Immediately

the landscape changed. The trees, the flowers and the shrubs were of a

hardier type, and I realized that at night the Galu blanket might be

almost a necessity. Acacia and eucalyptus predominated among the

trees; yet there were ash and oak and even pine and fir and hemlock. The tree-life was riotous. The forests were dense and peopled by

enormous trees. From the summit of the cliff I could see forests

rising hundreds of feet above the level upon which I stood, and even at

the distance they were from me I realized that the boles were of

gigantic size. At last I had come to the Galu country. Though not conceived in

Caspak, I had indeed come up cor-sva-jo--from the beginning I had come

up through the hideous horrors of the lower Caspakian spheres of

evolution, and I could not but feel something of the elation and pride

which had filled To-mar and So-al when they realized that the call had

come to them and they were about to rise from the estate of Band-lus to

that of Kro-lus. I was glad that I was not batu. But where was Ajor?

Though my eyes searched the wide landscape before

me, I saw nothing other than the warriors of Du-seen and the beasts of

the fields and the forests. Surrounded by forests, I could see wide

plains dotting the country as far as the eye could reach; but nowhere

was a sign of a small Galu she--the beloved she whom I would have given

my right hand to see. Nobs and I were hungry; we had not eaten since the preceding night, and

below us was game--deer, sheep, anything that a hungry hunter might

crave; so down the steep trail we made our way, and then upon my belly

with Nobs crouching low behind me, I crawled toward a small herd of red

deer feeding at the edge of a plain close beside a forest. There was

ample cover, what with solitary trees and dotting bushes so that I

found no difficulty in stalking up wind to within fifty feet of my

quarry--a large, sleek doe unaccompanied by a fawn. Greatly then did I

regret my rifle. Never in my life had I shot an arrow, but I knew how

it was done, and fitting the shaft to my string, I aimed carefully and

let drive. At the same instant I called to Nobs and leaped to my feet. The arrow caught the doe full in the side, and in the same moment Nobs

was after her. She turned to flee with the two of us pursuing her,

Nobs with his great fangs bared and I with my short spear poised for a

cast. The balance of the herd sprang quickly away; but the hurt doe

lagged, and in a moment Nobs was beside her and had leaped at her

throat. He had her down when I came up, and I finished her with my

spear. It didn't take me long to have a fire going and a steak

broiling, and while I was preparing for my own feast, Nobs was filling

himself with raw venison. Never have I enjoyed a meal so heartily. For two days I searched fruitlessly back and forth from the inland sea

almost to the barrier cliffs for some trace of Ajor, and always I

trended northward; but I saw no sign of any human being, not even the

band of Galu warriors under Du-seen; and then I commenced to have

misgivings. Had Chal-az spoken the truth to me when he said that Ajor

had quit the village of the Kro-lu?

Might he not have been acting upon

the orders of Al-tan, in whose savage bosom might have lurked some

small spark of shame that he had attempted to do to death one who had

befriended a Kro-lu warrior--a guest who had brought no harm upon the

Kro-lu race--and thus have sent me out upon a fruitless mission in the

hope that the wild beasts would do what Al-tan hesitated to do?

I did

not know; but the more I thought upon it, the more convinced I became

that Ajor had not quitted the Kro-lu village; but if not, what had

brought Du-seen forth without her?

There was a puzzler, and once again

I was all at sea. On the second day of my experience of the Galu country I came upon a

bunch of as magnificent horses as it has ever been my lot to see. They

were dark bays with blazed faces and perfect surcingles of white about

their barrels. Their forelegs were white to the knees. In height they

stood almost sixteen hands, the mares being a trifle smaller than the

stallions, of which there were three or four in this band of a hundred,

which comprised many colts and half-grown horses. Their markings were

almost identical, indicating a purity of strain that might have

persisted since long ages ago. If I had coveted one of the little

ponies of the Kro-lu country, imagine my state of mind when I came upon

these magnificent creatures!

No sooner had I espied them than I

determined to possess one of them; nor did it take me long to select a

beautiful young stallion--a four-year-old, I guessed him. The horses were grazing close to the edge of the forest in which Nobs

and I were concealed, while the ground between us and them was dotted

with clumps of flowering brush which offered perfect concealment. The

stallion of my choice grazed with a filly and two yearlings a little

apart from the balance of the herd and nearest to the forest and to me. At my whispered "Charge!" Nobs flattened himself to the ground, and I

knew that he would not again move until I called him, unless danger

threatened me from the rear. Carefully I crept forward toward my

unsuspecting quarry, coming undetected to the concealment of a bush not

more than twenty feet from him. Here I quietly arranged my noose,

spreading it flat and open upon the ground. To step to one side of the bush and throw directly from the ground,

which is the style I am best in, would take but an instant, and in that

instant the stallion would doubtless be under way at top speed in the

opposite direction. Then he would have to wheel about when I surprised

him, and in doing so, he would most certainly rise slightly upon his

hind feet and throw up his head, presenting a perfect target for my

noose as he pivoted. Yes, I had it beautifully worked out, and I waited until he should turn

in my direction. At last it became evident that he was doing so, when

apparently without cause, the filly raised her head, neighed and

started off at a trot in the opposite direction, immediately followed,

of course, by the colts and my stallion. It looked for a moment as

though my last hope was blasted; but presently their fright, if fright

it was, passed, and they resumed grazing again a hundred yards farther

on. This time there was no bush within fifty feet of them, and I was

at a loss as to how to get within safe roping-distance. Anywhere under

forty feet I am an excellent roper, at fifty feet I am fair; but over

that I knew it would be a matter of luck if I succeeded in getting my

noose about that beautiful arched neck. As I stood debating the question in my mind, I was almost upon the

point of making the attempt at the long throw. I had plenty of rope,

this Galu weapon being fully sixty feet long. How I wished for the

collies from the ranch!

At a word they would have circled this little

bunch and driven it straight down to me; and then it flashed into my

mind that Nobs had run with those collies all one summer, that he had

gone down to the pasture with them after the cows every evening and

done his part in driving them back to the milking-barn, and had done it

intelligently; but Nobs had never done the thing alone, and it had been

a year since he had done it at all. However, the chances were more in

favor of my foozling the long throw than that Nobs would fall down in

his part if I gave him the chance. Having come to a decision, I had to creep back to Nobs and get him, and

then with him at my heels return to a large bush near the four horses. Here we could see directly through the bush, and pointing the animals

out to Nobs I whispered: "Fetch 'em, boy!"

In an instant he was gone, circling wide toward the rear of the quarry. They caught sight of him almost immediately and broke into a trot away

from him; but when they saw that he was apparently giving them a wide

berth they stopped again, though they stood watching him, with

high-held heads and quivering nostrils. It was a beautiful sight. And

then Nobs turned in behind them and trotted slowly back toward me. He

did not bark, nor come rushing down upon them, and when he had come

closer to them, he proceeded at a walk. The splendid creatures seemed

more curious than fearful, making no effort to escape until Nobs was

quite close to them; then they trotted slowly away, but at right angles. And now the fun and trouble commenced. Nobs, of course, attempted to

turn them, and he seemed to have selected the stallion to work upon,

for he paid no attention to the others, having intelligence enough to

know that a lone dog could run his legs off before he could round up

four horses that didn't wish to be rounded up. The stallion, however,

had notions of his own about being headed, and the result was as pretty

a race as one would care to see. Gad, how that horse could run!

He

seemed to flatten out and shoot through the air with the very minimum

of exertion, and at his forefoot ran Nobs, doing his best to turn him. He was barking now, and twice he leaped high against the stallion's

flank; but this cost too much effort and always lost him ground, as

each time he was hurled heels over head by the impact; yet before they

disappeared over a rise in the ground I was sure that Nobs' persistence

was bearing fruit; it seemed to me that the horse was giving way a

trifle to the right. Nobs was between him and the main herd, to which

the yearling and filly had already fled. As I stood waiting for Nobs' return, I could not but speculate upon my

chances should I be attacked by some formidable beast. I was some

distance from the forest and armed with weapons in the use of which I

was quite untrained, though I had practiced some with the spear since

leaving the Kro-lu country. I must admit that my thoughts were not

pleasant ones, verging almost upon cowardice, until I chanced to think

of little Ajor alone in this same land and armed only with a knife!

I

was immediately filled with shame; but in thinking the matter over

since, I have come to the conclusion that my state of mind was

influenced largely by my approximate nakedness. If you have never

wandered about in broad daylight garbed in a bit of red-deer skin in

inadequate length, you can have no conception of the sensation of

futility that overwhelms one. Clothes, to a man accustomed to wearing

clothes, impart a certain self-confidence; lack of them induces panic. But no beast attacked me, though I saw several menacing forms passing

through the dark aisles of the forest. At last I commenced to worry

over Nobs' protracted absence and to fear that something had befallen

him. I was coiling my rope to start out in search of him, when I saw

the stallion leap into view at almost the same spot behind which he had

disappeared, and at his heels ran Nobs. Neither was running so fast or

furiously as when last I had seen them. The horse, as he approached me, I could see was laboring hard; yet he

kept gamely to his task, and Nobs, too. The splendid fellow was

driving the quarry straight toward me. I crouched behind my bush and

laid my noose in readiness to throw. As the two approached my

hiding-place, Nobs reduced his speed, and the stallion, evidently only

too glad of the respite, dropped into a trot. It was at this gait that

he passed me; my rope-hand flew forward; the honda, well down, held the

noose open, and the beautiful bay fairly ran his head into it. Instantly he wheeled to dash off at right angles. I braced myself with

the rope around my hip and brought him to a sudden stand. Rearing and

struggling, he fought for his liberty while Nobs, panting and with

lolling tongue, came and threw himself down near me. He seemed to know

that his work was done and that he had earned his rest. The stallion

was pretty well spent, and after a few minutes of struggling he stood

with feet far spread, nostrils dilated and eyes wide, watching me as I

edged toward him, taking in the slack of the rope as I advanced. A

dozen times he reared and tried to break away; but always I spoke

soothingly to him and after an hour of effort I succeeded in reaching

his head and stroking his muzzle. Then I gathered a handful of grass

and offered it to him, and always I talked to him in a quiet and

reassuring voice. I had expected a battle royal; but on the contrary I found his taming a

matter of comparative ease. Though wild, he was gentle to a degree,

and of such remarkable intelligence that he soon discovered that I had

no intention of harming him. After that, all was easy. Before that

day was done, I had taught him to lead and to stand while I stroked his

head and flanks, and to eat from my hand, and had the satisfaction of

seeing the light of fear die in his large, intelligent eyes. The following day I fashioned a hackamore from a piece which I cut from

the end of my long Galu rope, and then I mounted him fully prepared for

a struggle of titanic proportions in which I was none too sure that he

would not come off victor; but he never made the slightest effort to

unseat me, and from then on his education was rapid. No horse ever

learned more quickly the meaning of the rein and the pressure of the

knees. I think he soon learned to love me, and I know that I loved

him; while he and Nobs were the best of pals. I called him Ace. I had

a friend who was once in the French flying-corps, and when Ace let

himself out, he certainly flew. I cannot explain to you, nor can you understand, unless you too are a

horseman, the exhilarating feeling of well-being which pervaded me from

the moment that I commenced riding Ace. I was a new man, imbued with a

sense of superiority that led me to feel that I could go forth and

conquer all Caspak single-handed. Now, when I needed meat, I ran it

down on Ace and roped it, and when some great beast with which we could

not cope threatened us, we galloped away to safety; but for the most

part the creatures we met looked upon us in terror, for Ace and I in

combination presented a new and unusual beast beyond their experience

and ken. For five days I rode back and forth across the southern end of the Galu

country without seeing a human being; yet all the time I was working

slowly toward the north, for I had determined to comb the territory

thoroughly in search of Ajor; but on the fifth day as I emerged from a

forest, I saw some distance ahead of me a single small figure pursued

by many others. Instantly I recognized the quarry as Ajor. The entire

party was fully a mile away from me, and they were crossing my path at

right angles, Ajor a few hundred yards in advance of those who

followed her. One of her pursuers was far in advance of the others,

and was gaining upon her rapidly. With a word and a pressure of the

knees I sent Ace leaping out into the open, and with Nobs running close

alongside, we raced toward her. At first none of them saw us; but as we neared Ajor, the pack behind

the foremost pursuer discovered us and set up such a howl as I never

before have heard. They were all Galus, and I soon recognized the

foremost as Du-seen. He was almost upon Ajor now, and with a sense of

terror such as I had never before experienced, I saw that he ran with

his knife in his hand, and that his intention was to slay rather than

capture. I could not understand it, but I could only urge Ace to

greater speed, and most nobly did the wondrous creature respond to my

demands. If ever a four-footed creature approximated flying, it was

Ace that day. Du-seen, intent upon his brutal design, had as yet not noticed us. He

was within a pace of Ajor when Ace and I dashed between them, and I,

leaning down to the left, swept my little barbarian into the hollow of

an arm and up on the withers of my glorious Ace. We had snatched her

from the very clutches of Du-seen, who halted, mystified and raging. Ajor, too, was mystified, as we had come up from diagonally behind her

so that she had no idea that we were near until she was swung to Ace's

back. The little savage turned with drawn knife to stab me, thinking

that I was some new enemy, when her eyes found my face and she

recognized me. With a little sob she threw her arms about my neck,

gasping: "My Tom!

My Tom!"

And then Ace sank suddenly into thick mud to his belly, and Ajor and I

were thrown far over his head. He had run into one of those numerous

springs which cover Caspak. Sometimes they are little lakes, again but

tiny pools, and often mere quagmires of mud, as was this one overgrown

with lush grasses which effectually hid its treacherous identity. It

is a wonder that Ace did not break a leg, so fast he was going when he

fell; but he didn't, though with four good legs he was unable to wallow

from the mire. Ajor and I had sprawled face down in the covering

grasses and so had not sunk deeply; but when we tried to rise, we found

that there was not footing, and presently we saw that Du-seen and his

followers were coming down upon us. There was no escape. It was

evident that we were doomed. "Slay me!" begged Ajor. "Let me die at thy loved hands rather than

beneath the knife of this hateful thing, for he will kill me. He has

sworn to kill me. Last night he captured me, and when later he would

have his way with me, I struck him with my fists and with my knife I

stabbed him, and then I escaped, leaving him raging in pain and

thwarted desire. Today they searched for me and found me; and as I

fled, Du-seen ran after me crying that he would slay me. Kill me, my

Tom, and then fall upon thine own spear, for they will kill you

horribly if they take you alive."

I couldn't kill her--not at least until the last moment; and I told her

so, and that I loved her, and that until death came, I would live and

fight for her. Nobs had followed us into the bog and had done fairly well at first,

but when he neared us he too sank to his belly and could only flounder

about. We were in this predicament when Du-seen and his followers

approached the edge of the horrible swamp. I saw that Al-tan was with

him and many other Kro-lu warriors. The alliance against Jor the chief

had, therefore, been consummated, and this horde was already marching

upon the Galu city. I sighed as I thought how close I had been to

saving not only Ajor but her father and his people from defeat and

death. Beyond the swamp was a dense wood. Could we have reached this, we

would have been safe; but it might as well have been a hundred miles

away as a hundred yards across that hidden lake of sticky mud. Upon

the edge of the swamp Du-seen and his horde halted to revile us. They

could not reach us with their hands; but at a command from Du-seen they

fitted arrows to their bows, and I saw that the end had come. Ajor

huddled close to me, and I took her in my arms. "I love you, Tom," she

said, "only you." Tears came to my eyes then, not tears of self-pity

for my predicament, but tears from a heart filled with a great love--a

heart that sees the sun of its life and its love setting even as it

rises. The renegade Galus and their Kro-lu allies stood waiting for the word

from Du-seen that would launch that barbed avalanche of death upon us,

when there broke from the wood beyond the swamp the sweetest music that

ever fell upon the ears of man--the sharp staccato of at least two

score rifles fired rapidly at will. Down went the Galu and Kro-lu

warriors like tenpins before that deadly fusillade. What could it mean?

To me it meant but one thing, and that was that

Hollis and Short and the others had scaled the cliffs and made their

way north to the Galu country upon the opposite side of the island in

time to save Ajor and me from almost certain death. I didn't have to

have an introduction to them to know that the men who held those rifles

were the men of my own party; and when, a few minutes later, they came

forth from their concealment, my eyes verified my hopes. There they

were, every man-jack of them; and with them were a thousand straight,

sleek warriors of the Galu race; and ahead of the others came two men

in the garb of Galus. Each was tall and straight and wonderfully

muscled; yet they differed as Ace might differ from a perfect specimen

of another species. As they approached the mire, Ajor held forth her

arms and cried, "Jor, my chief!

My father!" and the elder of the two

rushed in knee-deep to rescue her, and then the other came close and

looked into my face, and his eyes went wide, and mine too, and I cried:

"Bowen!

For heaven's sake, Bowen Tyler!"

It was he. My search was ended. Around me were all my company and the

man we had searched a new world to find. They cut saplings from the

forest and laid a road into the swamp before they could get us all out,

and then we marched back to the city of Jor the Galu chief, and there

was great rejoicing when Ajor came home again mounted upon the glossy

back of the stallion Ace. Tyler and Hollis and Short and all the rest of us Americans nearly

worked our jaws loose on the march back to the village, and for days

afterward we kept it up. They told me how they had crossed the barrier

cliffs in five days, working twenty-four hours a day in three

eight-hour shifts with two reliefs to each shift alternating

half-hourly. Two men with electric drills driven from the dynamos

aboard the _Toreador_ drilled two holes four feet apart in the face of

the cliff and in the same horizontal planes. The holes slanted

slightly downward. Into these holes the iron rods brought as a part of

our equipment and for just this purpose were inserted, extending about

a foot beyond the face of the rock, across these two rods a plank was

laid, and then the next shift, mounting to the new level, bored two

more holes five feet above the new platform, and so on. During the nights the searchlights from the _Toreador_ were kept playing

upon the cliff at the point where the drills were working, and at the

rate of ten feet an hour the summit was reached upon the fifth day. Ropes were lowered, blocks lashed to trees at the top, and crude

elevators rigged, so that by the night of the fifth day the entire

party, with the exception of the few men needed to man the _Toreador_,

were within Caspak with an abundance of arms, ammunition and equipment. From then on, they fought their way north in search of me, after a vain

and perilous effort to enter the hideous reptile-infested country to

the south. Owing to the number of guns among them, they had not lost a

man; but their path was strewn with the dead creatures they had been

forced to slay to win their way to the north end of the island, where

they had found Bowen and his bride among the Galus of Jor. The reunion between Bowen and Nobs was marked by a frantic display upon

Nobs' part, which almost stripped Bowen of the scanty attire that the

Galu custom had vouchsafed him. When we arrived at the Galu city, Lys

La Rue was waiting to welcome us. She was Mrs. Tyler now, as the

master of the _Toreador_ had married them the very day that the

search-party had found them, though neither Lys nor Bowen would admit

that any civil or religious ceremony could have rendered more sacred

the bonds with which God had united them. Neither Bowen nor the party from the _Toreador_ had seen any sign of

Bradley and his party. They had been so long lost now that any hopes

for them must be definitely abandoned. The Galus had heard rumors of

them, as had the Western Kro-lu and Band-lu; but none had seen aught of

them since they had left Fort Dinosaur months since. We rested in Jor's village for a fortnight while we prepared for the

southward journey to the point where the _Toreador_ was to lie off shore

in wait for us. During these two weeks Chal-az came up from the Kro-lu

country, now a full-fledged Galu. He told us that the remnants of

Al-tan's party had been slain when they attempted to re-enter Kro-lu. Chal-az had been made chief, and when he rose, had left the tribe under

a new leader whom all respected. Nobs stuck close to Bowen; but Ace and Ajor and I went out upon many

long rides through the beautiful north Galu country. Chal-az had

brought my arms and ammunition up from Kro-lu with him; but my clothes

were gone; nor did I miss them once I became accustomed to the free

attire of the Galu. At last came the time for our departure; upon the following morning we

were to set out toward the south and the _Toreador_ and dear old

California. I had asked Ajor to go with us; but Jor her father had

refused to listen to the suggestion. No pleas could swerve him from

his decision: Ajor, the cos-ata-lo, from whom might spring a new and

greater Caspakian race, could not be spared. I might have any other

she among the Galus; but Ajor--no!

The poor child was heartbroken; and as for me, I was slowly realizing

the hold that Ajor had upon my heart and wondered how I should get

along without her. As I held her in my arms that last night, I tried

to imagine what life would be like without her, for at last there had

come to me the realization that I loved her--loved my little barbarian;

and as I finally tore myself away and went to my own hut to snatch a

few hours' sleep before we set off upon our long journey on the morrow,

I consoled myself with the thought that time would heal the wound and

that back in my native land I should find a mate who would be all and

more to me than little Ajor could ever be--a woman of my own race and

my own culture. Morning came more quickly than I could have wished. I rose and

breakfasted, but saw nothing of Ajor. It was best, I thought, that I

go thus without the harrowing pangs of a last farewell. The party

formed for the march, an escort of Galu warriors ready to accompany us. I could not even bear to go to Ace's corral and bid him farewell. The

night before, I had given him to Ajor, and now in my mind the two

seemed inseparable. And so we marched away, down the street flanked with its stone houses

and out through the wide gateway in the stone wall which surrounds the

city and on across the clearing toward the forest through which we must

pass to reach the northern boundary of Galu, beyond which we would turn

south. At the edge of the forest I cast a backward glance at the city

which held my heart, and beside the massive gateway I saw that which

brought me to a sudden halt. It was a little figure leaning against

one of the great upright posts upon which the gates swing--a crumpled

little figure; and even at this distance I could see its shoulders

heave to the sobs that racked it. It was the last straw. Bowen was near me. "Good-bye old man," I said. "I'm going back."

He looked at me in surprise. "Good-bye, old man," he said, and grasped

my hand. "I thought you'd do it in the end."

And then I went back and took Ajor in my arms and kissed the tears from

her eyes and a smile to her lips while together we watched the last of

the Americans disappear into the forest.