 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 warrant 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 bandlew lying in the shallow waters, while beyond and close to the base of the mighty barrier cliffs there was a large party of bandlew 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 Adior's shattering whispered was the home of the Wiru, the land of U'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 Caspac is heavy with moisture, with the result that distant objects are blurred and indistinct. Adior also told me that the mainland east of U'oh was her land, the land of the Galoo. She pointed out the cliffs at its southern boundary which marked the frontier, south of which lies the country of Krolu, the archers. We had now but to pass through the balance of the bandlew territory and that of the Krolu 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 Adior's country. We finally found a place where we could slip over the edge of the cliff on to 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 Adior 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 Adior 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 bandeloo 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 bandeloo 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 Adior. He was a fine-looking man with clear, intelligent eyes, a good forehead and superb physique, by far the highest type of Caspacian I had yet seen, barring Adior, of course. You are a true galoo, he said to Adior, but this man is of a different mold. He is the face of a galoo, but his weapons and the strange skins he wears upon his body are not of the galoos nor of Caspac. Who is he? He is Tom, replied Adior succinctly. There is no such people, asserted the bandeloo quite truthfully, toying with his spear in a most suggestive manner. My name is Tom, I explained, and I am from a country beyond Caspac. 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 bandeloo 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 Caspac, 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 were 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 weighed my left hand toward the tiny figures of the hunters far to the north. The fellow laughed, duet, 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 BOLU. Why should you wish me to kill your own people, I asked? They are no longer my people, he replied probably. 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. But I had risen. I have been waiting for it, and expecting it for a long time. Today I am a Krolu. Today I go into the Kozlupak, unpeopled country or literally no man's land. Between the Bandlu and the Krolu, and there I fashion my bow and my arrows and my shield. There I hunt the red deer for the leathered jerken, which is the badge of my new estate. When these things are done I can go to the chief of the Krolu, and he dare not refuse me. That is why you may kill those low Bandlu 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, and cast back. 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 Krolu and would kill me. They will kill me if they find me in the Kozlupak. So will the Krolu if they come upon me before I have won my Krolu weapons and jerken. 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 with long sense 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 Krolu, for she is comely. And with that he advanced upon me with Ray's 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 snare 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 crow loo. 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 crow loo, or even thereafter. It is useless. No warrior lives who could hurl a weapon so great a distance. But even as he spoke I was levelling my rifle upon the great brute below, and as he see-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 Caspac, he admitted, for no Caspacian 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 Krolu 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 a juror. 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 Caspacian 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 all 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 a juror who explained, as best she could, that this was the form of the Caspacian 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, he 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, Tomar, 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 a drawer. 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 someone behind us calling Tomar 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 Caspac, apparently young. It is so all, exclaimed Tomar, 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 a juror or me, but devouring Tomar with her sparkling eyes she cried, I have risen, I have risen. So all 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. Tomar, my Tomar, 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 Caspac, 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. Tomar explained to so all that it was I who had killed the cave lion and saved her life, and that a juror was my woman and thus entitled to the same loyalty which was my do. At first a juror and so all were like a couple of stranger cats on a back fence, but soon they began to accept each other under something of an arm truce, and later became fast friends. So all was a mighty fine looking girl, built like a Tigris as to strength and sinuosity, but with all sweet and womanly. A juror and I came to be very fond of her, and she was, I think, equally fond of us. Tomar was very much of a man, a savage, if you will, but nonetheless a man. Finding that traveling in company with Tomar made our journey both easier and safer. A juror and I did not continue on our way alone while the Novidites delayed their approach to the Krolu 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 look forward with regret to the day when we took our places among their new comrades and we should be forced to continue upon our way alone. It was a matter of much concern to Tomar that the Krolu would undoubtedly not receive a juror 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 a juror's dangers were practically past 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 Holu, 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 a juror 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 his faith to the devout Christian of the outer world. End of chapter four. Chapter five of The People That Time Forgot. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Ralph Snelson. The People That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Chapter five. We were sitting before a little fire inside a safe grotto one night, shortly after we had quit the cliff dwellings of the Bandlu, when so all 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 Caspacean. I am a Cossatolo, commenced Ajor, and then she turned toward me. A Cossatolo, my Tom, is a woman, low, who did not come from an egg, and thus on up from the beginning. Of course Voschol, I was a babe at my mother's breast. Only among the Gallus are such, and then but infrequently. The Wirru, get most of us, but my mother hid me until I had attained such size that the Wirru 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 Gallus. 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 Cossatolo, 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 man of my people. But none of them appealed to me. I cared for none. The most persistent was Ducine, a huge warrior of whom my father stood in considerable fear, since it was quite possible that Ducine could rest from him his chieftainship of the Gallus. He has a large following of the newer Gallus, those most recently come up from the Coraloo, and as this class is usually much more powerful, numerically than the older Gallus, and as Ducine'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 Ducine wanted me, while I would have none of him, and then came evidence to my father's ears that he was in the League with the Wiru. A hunter, returning late at night, came trembling to my father, saying that he had seen Ducine talking with a Wiru 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 cosattolo, among the Gallus, 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 cosattolo. He called me to him and told me what he had heard, pointing out two ways in which we might frustrate Ducine. The first was that I go to Ducine as his mate, after which he would be lulled to give me into the hands of the Wiru, 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 Ducine should have been overcome and punished. I chose the latter and fled toward the south. Beyond the confines of the Gallu country is little danger from the Wiru, who seek ordinarily only Gallus of the highest orders. There are two excellent reasons for this. One is that from the beginning of time jealousy had existed between the Wiru and the Gallus, 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 Wiru first began to produce their own kind, after which evolution from Gallu to Wiru ceased gradually, until now it is unknown. But the Wiru produce only males, which is why they steal our female young, and by stealing Kosatalo they increase their own chances of eventually reproducing both sexes and at the same time lessen ours. Already the Gallus produce both male and female, but so carefully do the Wiru 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 Kosatalo 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 Kaspak. 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 Kaspak 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 Hyde, intending to pass the cliffs to the south of Galu, and find a retreat in the Krolu 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 Krolu country, where I felt that I should be reasonably safe from the Wiru, though menaced by countless other dangers. However, to a Kosatalo any fate is preferable to that of falling into the clutches of the frightful Wiru 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, illuminating the entrance against which I saw silhouetted the dread figure of a Wiru. 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 Wiru 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 Wiru 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 Uo, the country of the Wiru. The dim outlines of Uo were unfolding below us when there came from above a loud whirring of giant wings. The Wiru and I glanced up simultaneously to see a pair of huge joe-oos, flying reptiles, pterodactyls, swooping down upon us. The Wiru wheeled and dropped almost to sea level, and then raced southward in an effort to out-distance our pursuers. The great creatures, notwithstanding their enormous weight, are swift on their wings, but the Wiru 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 joe-oos stuck behind us. I knew that we had covered a great distance, where 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 Wiru was weakening. One of the joe-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 Wiru by his right wing, and in an effort to free himself he loosed his grasp upon me, dropping me to the earth. Like a frightened Eka I leaped 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 gallows 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 Wiru, a hairy man-thing that barely walked erect. I shuddered and then I fled. Through the hideous dangers that my forebears had endured in the early 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 man, the aloes, 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 wiru, which up to this time I had considered a purely mythological creature, but A. George shuddered so at even the various mention of the name that I was loath to press the subject upon her, and so the wiru still remained a mystery to me. While the wiru 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 Caspacians. Tomar and so all were now about fitted for their advent into Krolu 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 the shortest 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 Krolu village. This was our last day together. In the afternoon we should separate. Tomar and so all going directly to the Krolu village, while Ejor 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 Hulu or apes. Next above these are the Alus, who are slightly fewer in number than the Hulu, and again there are fewer Bohu than Alus, and fewer Stolu than Bohu. Thus it goes until the Krolu are fewer in number than any of the others, and here the law reverses, for the Galus outnumber the Krolu. As Ejor 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 Cosatolo are still considered Galus and remain with them, and Galus come up both from the west and east coast. 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 Kaspakian 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 Kaspakian 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, Corzvajo? 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 Lore animals was even more marked than the evolutionary stages of man. The diminutive echa, or small horse, became a rough-coated and sturdy little pony in the Krolu 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 Labyrintha Danta. These creatures, from which God saved me, I should have expected to find further south. But for some unaccountable reason they gained their greatest bulk in the Krolu and Galu countries, though fortunately they are rare. I rather imagine that they are a very early life which is rapidly nearing extinction in Kastak, though wherever they are found they constitute a menace to all forms of life. It was mid-afternoon when Tomar and Soal made us good-bye. We were not far from Krolu 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 Krolu 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 drop back into concealment, at the same time pushing Ajor behind me. What I saw was a party of band-blue 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 Krolu. And then I saw him, the first fully developed Krolu I had seen. He was a fine-looking savage, tall and straight with a regal carriage. Tomar was a handsome fellow, but this Krolu showed plainly in his every physical attribute a higher plane of evolution. While Tomar was just entering the Krolu Sphere, this man, it seemed to me, must be close indeed to the next stage of his development, which would see him and then be Gallu. They will kill him, I whispered 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 Kaspak should die at the very foot of his goal. I raised my rifle to my shoulder and took careful aim at one of the Bandlu. 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 them from the dance of death, I replied, enemy or no enemy. And I squeezed the trigger. At the report the two Bandlu lunged forward upon their faces. I handed my rifle to Ajor and drying my pistol stepped out in full view of the startled party. The Bandlu did not run away as had some of the lore orders of Kaspakians 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 Krolu 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 Bandlu coming for me. I dropped three of them with my pistol as rapidly as a man might count 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 cite a name 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 halfway 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 sixth band blue 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 exultation, or was it consternation? Impossible. I turned away almost brusquely. Come, I said, and strode off toward the Krolu prisoner. The Krolu stood watching us with stolid indifference. I presumed 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, tins, and animated the hotty reserve of his countenance. He eyed me quizzically. What are you going to do with me? he asked. You're 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've 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 Caspacian equivalent for that term. But I have to allow myself considerable latitude in the translation of Caspacian conversations. To speak always of a beautiful young girl as a she may be literal, but it seems far from gallant. The Krolu 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 Krolu nor Bandlu 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 Caspac. 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 Caspac, with the possible exception of the Galu warrior Ducine. Ducine, he exclaimed, you are an enemy of Ducine, and why? Because he would harm a Jor, I replied. You know him? He cannot know him, said a Jor. Ducine rose from the Krolu 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 Krolu and the Galu. The warrior smiled. Ducine 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 Caspac. He had had intercourse with the Krolu. Ducine would be chief of the Galu's, and he has come to the Krolu for help. A Jor was aghast. The thing was incredible. Never had Krolu and Galu had friendly relations. By the savage laws of Caspac they were deadly enemies, for only so can the several races maintain their individuality. Will the Krolu join him? asked a Jor. Will they invade the country of Jor, my father? The younger Krolu favored the plan, replied the warrior, since they believe they will thus become Galu's 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 Galu's. We of the older Krolu 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 Galu's 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 belong. What is your name, asked Ajor? Shallaz, replied the man. You are chief of the Krolu, Ajor continued. No, it is Altan who is chief of the Krolu of the East, answered Shallaz. 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 is about come to the conclusion that he is Batu. He has been chief ever since, before I came up from the Bandlu, and I can see no change in him in all those years. In fact he still appears to be more Bandlu than Krolu. However he is a good chief and a mighty warrior, and if Ducine persuades him to his cause the Galu's may find themselves under a Krolu chieftain before long. Ducine as well as the others, for Altan 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 Kaspak, 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 at Bolu, as Stolu, as Bandlu, or as Krolu. The Holu of the first generation may rise to become Alus. The Alus of the second generation may become Bolu, while it requires three generations of Bolu to become Bandlu, and so on until Krolu'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 Kaspakian 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 right. Yet I was still at sea, nor seemingly could age or 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 bowls of the trees surrounding us, and simultaneously a hundred Krolu warriors appeared in a rough circle about us. They greeted Shalaz with a volley of questions as they approached slowly from all sides. Their heavy bowls fitted with long, sharp arrows. Upon age or enlighten me they looked with covetousness in the one instance and suspicion in the other, but after they had heard Shalaz'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 Altan the Chief, said Shalaz, by way of introduction. Then he told something of my story, and Altan 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'u-like over the summit of the barrier cliffs. It was the mention of the hydro-aeroplane 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'u. The Alus were chasing me, and they saw and ran away. Who is this she, demanded Altan 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. Who she is this, repeated Altan. 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. Altan eyed her for several minutes, and then turned to me. Can you keep her? he asked, just a tinge of a snare 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 Altan 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. Altan and his warriors turned toward me with expressions of immense satisfaction upon their faces, and then, apparently for a George 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 dance-hall. 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 Krollu leaped back and raised their weapons, but as I was smiling they took heart and lured them again. Following my eyes to the tree, the shaft of their chief was gone, and through the bowl was a little round hole marking the path of my bullet. It was a good shot, if I do say it myself, as it 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 Caspacians of the sixth sphere. That it had its effect was immediately noticeable, but I am none too sure that it helped my cause with Altan, 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 gain, what king, savage, or civilized could condone such impudence? Seeing his black scowls I deemed it expedient, especially on Ageor's account, to terminate the interview and continue upon our way. But when I would have done so, Altan detained us with a gesture, and his warriors pressed around us. What is the meaning of this, I demanded, and before Altan could reply, Shalaz raised his voice in our behalf. Is this the gratitude of a Krohlu chieftain, Altan, 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 Bandlou? Altan 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 Altan, the Krohlu. In the morning he may go his way. Altan will not hinder him. I was not entirely reassured, but I wanted to see the interior of the Krohlu village, and anyway I knew that if Altan 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 a juror, while at the instant neither of us could hope to escape unscathed from the uncircling 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 broad 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 Kaspak 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 Kaspak. Here was a new and refreshing viewpoint, nor could I take exception to it after what I had told Altan of the Great War which had been raging in Europe for over two years before I left home. On the march to the Krolub village we were continually stalked by innumerable beasts of prey, and three times we were attacked by frightful creatures. But Altan took it all as a matter of course, rushing forward with Ray's 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 strept of his belongings and left where he had died. The carnivora would take care of his burial. The trophies that these Krolub 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 used it for sandals, shield covers, the hilts of their knives, and various other purposes where a 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-toothed 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 where 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 beasts, screaming with pain and rage, bore down upon Chalaz, while I stood helpless with my rifle for fear of hitting one of the warriors who were closing in upon it, but Chalaz 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 Chalaz 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 Chalaz, 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 Chalaz even though I had not interfered, but the moment that I saw a clean opening with no crolu beyond, I raised my rifle and killed the beast. When Chalaz 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 palisade at enclosure of several hundred leaf-thatched huts setting groups of from two to seven. The huts were hexagonal in form, and where group were joined so that they resembled the cells of a beehive. 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 of 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 enclosure 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 to other brace 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 shall as generously explained the service we had rendered him, whereupon they showered us with the most well-meant attentions, for shall as it seemed was the 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 Altan glared balefully upon us, seemingly jealous of the attentions heaped upon us because we had served shall as. 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 caspac, and cheese from the milk of wild goats with honey and thin bread made from wheat flour of their own grinding, and grapes in the fermented use of grapes. It was quite the most wonderful meal I had eaten since I quit the toreador and Boan J. Tyler's colored chap who could make pork chops taste like chicken, and chicken taste like heaven. End of chapter 5. Chapter 6 of The People That Time Forgot This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Ralph Snelson. Chapter 6 After dinner I rolled a cigarette and stretched myself at ease upon a pile of furs before the doorway, with AJore'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 caspac 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 filet 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 AJore. 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 hallowing 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 Krolu. The village swarmed with them, gaunt, wolf-like 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 enclosure 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, a juror 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, formed the streets of the Krolu village. The fellow halted before us and addressed me, saying that Altan 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 a juror 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 a juror now, as I had noticed that aside from their hunting knives the men of Krolu 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 Kaspak, 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 squattered, around the floor. At one end of the oval space which the warriors left down the center of the room stood Altan, and another warrior whom I immediately recognized as a gallow, and then I saw that there were many gallows 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 infammable 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 gallows, and then I was conducted into the center of the group and led forward toward Altan. 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 air-dale leaping frantically about me. The grinning jaws, the half-closed eyes, the back-layed 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 knobs, dear old knobs, born Tyler's knobs, who had loved me next to his master. Where is the master of this dog, I asked, turning toward Altan? The chieftain inclined his head toward the gallows standing at his side. He belongs to Ducine the Gallow, he replied. He belongs to born J. Tyler, Jr., of Santa Monica, I retorted, and I want to know where his master is. The gallow shrugged. The dog is mine, he said. He came to me, course Vajjo, and he is unlike any dog in Caspac, 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 Ducine. 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 Caspac, 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 gallow Ducine and his warriors I saw something of the explanation of the term gold and race, which is applied to them, for their ornaments and weapons were either holy 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 gallows. In addition to the deerskin 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 Caspac. Ajor had had no blanket, having lost it during her flight from the attentions of Ducine, nor was she so heavily encrusted with gold as these male members of her tribe. The audience must have lasted fully an hour when Altan signified that I might return to my hut. All the time knobs had lain quietly at my feet, but the instant that I turned to leave he was up and after me. Ducine 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 Altan rose and called after me. Stop! he shouted. Stop, stranger! The beast of Ducine, the gallow, follows you. The dog is not Ducine'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, Kezar! close to my ear. Kezar! the cast-backian equivalent of Beware. It was Tomar. As he spoke he turned quickly away as though loathe to have other see that he knew me, and at the same instant I wheeled to discover Ducine striding rapidly after me. Altan followed him, and it was evident that both were angry. Ducine, a weapon half-drawn, approached succulently. 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 Altan. Is not that fair? I demanded. Let the dog choose his master. Ducine, without waiting for Altan'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 galoo, rinsed 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 air-dales' return. And nobs would have returned all right had not I spoken to him. In a low voice I called to him to heal. 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 been with Boan. 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. Ducine, red with rage, would have had it out with the two of us, had not Altan drawn him to one side and whispered in his ear, upon which, with a grunt, the galoo walked straight back to the opposite end of the hall, while nobs and I continued upon our way toward the hut and ajar. As we passed out into the village plaza, I saw shallows. 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 Tomar, 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 and a hurl of foreboding for the only firearms in the Krolu country where those I had left in the hut with ajar. 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 Altan, the presence and bearing of Ducine, and the strange attitude of both Tomar and Chalaz had each contributed toward arousing my suspicions, and now I ran along the narrow winding alleys of the Krolu 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 ajar. 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 out 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 ajar 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 Krolu 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 airdale, 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 sight 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, Boan 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 Boan J. Tyler, Sr., one of America's foremost captains of industry, and the greatest man in California, be in love with 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 shuttered 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 Altan, and I could have kicked myself for the snob and the cab 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 knobs and I made our way through the dark village, the voices and footsteps of those who saw 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 Ray's knife. It was Shalav's. 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 Altan had turned against you and would destroy you. This was after Duceen the Galoo arrived. I followed him into the hut, and with knobs 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 Shalav's 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 Altan. I will serve you, and there are others here who will serve you against Altan and this renegade Galoo, Duceen. 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 Altan and Duceen, the latter learning that Ajor was here demanded her, and Altan promised that he should have her, but when the warriors went to get her, Tomar went with them. Ajor tried to defend herself. She killed one of the warriors, and then Tomar 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, Tomar, would bear Ajor to Altan. But instead of bearing her to Altan, he took her to his own hut, where she now is with Soal, Tomar's she. It all happened very quickly. Tomar and I were in the council hut when Duceen attempted to take the dog from you. I was seeking Tomar 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 Chalaz thought it best to go to the doorway of his dwelling, which consisted of many huts joined together, lest they enter and search. Chalaz 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. Nob's rose and shook himself. He had been dead asleep when I spoke. Yes, agreed Chalaz. You must go at once. It is almost dawn. Ducine leaves at daylight to search for her. He leaned close to my ear and whispered, There are many to follow and help you. Altan has agreed to aid Ducine against the gallows of Jor. But there are many of us who have combined rise against Altan, and prevent this ruthless desecration of the laws and customs of the Krolu and of Kaspak. We will rise as Luata has ordained that we shall rise, and only thus. Nobatu may win to the estate of a gallu by treachery and force of arms while Chalaz lives, and may wield a heavy blow and a sharp spear with through Krolu sat 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 gallu country, and you must go as a gallu. 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 Chalaz, and I will fit you out as a true gallu. I have slain several of them in the raids of my early days as a Krolu, 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 deer-skin tunic, the leopard tail, the golden filet, armlets and leg ornaments of a gallu, 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 gallu warrior. It is a rawhide rope, not dissimilar to those of the western planes and cow camps of my youth. The Honda is a golden oval and accurate weight for the throwing of the noose. This heavy Honda, Chalaz 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 foe-man 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. Insofar as the sensation was concerned, I might as well have been entirely naked, so short and light was the tunic. When I asked Chalaz for the Caspacian name for rope, he told me ga, and for the first time I understood the derivation of the word gallu, which means rope man. Entirely outfitted, I would not have known myself, so strange was my garb and my armament. Upon my back were slung my bow, arrow, 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 a 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 Shalaz from his domicile into the dark and deserted alleys of Krolu. Silently we crept along, knobs silent at heel toward the nearest portion of the palisade. Here Shalaz 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 Altam.