They all ran to meet the young man, who was breathing hard.
“What is it, Ral? What’s wrong?” Dave demanded.
“I come for you.” He could barely speak, and he sucked in great lungfuls of air. “Many-toothed lizards come.”
That was his word, Dave knew, for dinosaur, and at once a chill went over him.
“What about your people?”
“They in trees, in caves with stones, but lizards come! Many!” He held up his fingers twice to indicate about twenty.
“What do you want us to do?” Dave asked.
“You come! You help my people!”
By this time, Chief Clag arrived with his warriors and the medicine man. The women also gathered around.
“What he do here?” Clag demanded.
Dave explained the situation and ended by saying. “He wants us to help him—help his people.”
Clag looked at him as if he had lost his mind, and Dave saw at once that this was not going to be easy.
Ral walked straight up to the chief. He kneeled down in front of him and said, “You make me slave. I do anything. Only help my people.”
A murmur went over the crowd, and a strange look came into the chief’s eyes. But he grasped his battle-ax and shook his head. “We no help!”
Then Eena came. She took her father’s arm—a rare gesture for her—and said, “Someday maybe we need help. We help them now. They help us later.”
Such an idea probably had never occurred to her father. For the next hour there was another fierce debate over what to do. Once again, the tribe was divided.
At length Clag said, “This many lizards? They kill us all.”
“No,” Dave said. “No, not if we use the arrows.”
“How big are these lizards?” Josh asked. He was afraid that Ral would say they were T-rexes.
But Ral held his hand at about a level of his own head. “This big,” he said. “Big teeth. Big claws on feet.”
“They’re bad ones,” Reb said. “We’ve seen what they can do. I believe enough of them could take down a big dinosaur.”
The debate ended when a determined Clag said, “We no go.” He looked around fiercely. “No one go. We take care our people. They not our people.”
14
What Would Goél Do?
The Sleepers drew to one side, as was their custom when dealing with any matter. They found a place beside the river to meet. Josh had insisted on bringing Ral along.
As soon as they got there, Josh said, “I know you’re the leader, Dave, but I think we need to talk about this.”
A stubborn look came into Dave’s face. “There’s nothing to talk about. I’ve decided Clag is right. It would be pretty close to suicide to try to help Ral’s people.”
“What about those bows and arrows you’ve been working on?” Reb demanded. “You’ve been talking about how great they are. I believe they’d stop one of those lizards.”
“And I’ve been thinking about that. In the hands of a good bowman, they would. But these men haven’t used them except for target practice. When they look down the throat of a dinosaur, I think most of them would turn and run.”
“They’ve got more nerve than that,” Jake said abruptly. “I believe we ought to try to get the chief and all the warriors to go help.”
The argument went on for some time, and finally Dave grew impatient. “No, it’s too late to try to help. I’m sorry for your father and your people, Ral, but we wouldn’t do any good if we did go.”
Ral had been listening carefully. Now he looked into Dave’s face and, without a word, walked away.
“Where are you going, Ral?” Josh called out.
“Back. Die with my people.”
Wash ran quickly to his side. “Wait. Let us talk a little more. Don’t go yet.”
Dave said, “You can talk all you want to, but we’re not going back to Mord’s country, and that’s final!” He walked off, aware that he was behaving badly.
He didn’t want to talk to anyone, so he took the river path and lost himself in the shade of the huge trees that reached high overhead. The sun was growing hot, but it was cool under here. He walked along, once noticing a crocodile or something like a crocodile that must have been at least fifty feet long. He shivered to think what those mighty jaws would do and then continued walking.
He came to a tree that hung over the river, and he leaned against it. The water was so clear he could see the silver fish. He watched them for a while, troubled and unhappy. He picked up a stone, tossed it in, and watched the fish scurry away, disappearing with a twinkling of their silver scales.
He picked up another rock, held it, looked at it, then said aloud, “I don’t want anything bad to happen to Ral’s people.” His speech shattered the silence of the place. “Maybe I’m just afraid. I wonder if that’s it.”
He thought of the dinosaurs with their rows of razorkeen teeth and those huge, sharp claws on the back of each foot that could disembowel a horse. He shuddered to think what it would be like to fall into their jaws.
Troubled that he might be a coward, Dave began to walk once again along the river path. At last he sat down on a rock, feeling even more despondent. He was about ready to get up and return when a voice said, “The hour is late, David.”
Dave jumped up and whirled—and there was Goél, standing in the shadows!
“Goél!” he gasped. “Is it really you?”
Goél did not move. Where they stood was murky twilight, and his face was indistinct.
Dave asked, rather foolishly, “How did you get here? Have you come to take us back?”
There was a silence, and then Goél said gently, “Is it time to go back, David?”
Instantly Dave felt shame running through him. He dropped his head and chewed his lip. He didn’t know what to say, and he let the silence run on. Finally he whispered, “You’d better get someone else to lead the group, Goél. I’m no good at it.”
Goél didn’t answer for a moment. When he did, his voice was almost a whisper. “You are the servant of Goél, David. You have a good name, and you have a good heart. A bit stubborn at times, and you tend to be proud.”
“I know,” Dave said shamefacedly. “I’m sorry, Goél. And I’ll apologize to the others.”
“That’s my good lad,” Goél said more warmly. “I must leave you now.” He stepped back in the shadows, and now his voice did come as a mere whisper. “Do what is right. Do what you would want someone else to do for you.”
Dave blinked. “Goél!” He followed his visitor into the dense thicket, but he found no trace of him.
“Was I dreaming?” Then his jaw tightened. “Even if I was dreaming, I know what to do. Do what is right, rather than run away like I’ve been doing!”
He raced back up the path. He stumbled into a small covey of pterodactyls, who rose up, their leather wings flapping, their long beaks opening and closing as they uttered harsh cries. Dave paid them no heed.
He found the other Sleepers and Ral in the place where he had left them. When he came up to them, he stopped and caught his breath. Then he said, “I’ve been wrong. Maybe we’ll all get killed—I don’t know—but I know what Goél wants us to do. We’ve got a chance here to show these people what helping others is. That’s what they don’t understand.” He turned to Ral. “Ral, I’m sorry that I let you down. But now I’m going to do all I can to help your father and all your people. We’re going to give your people the kind of help we’d like to have ourselves if we were in trouble.”
Reb jerked off his hat, threw it high in the air, and let out a loud Rebel yell. “Whooeee! Now we’re gonna see something! Let’s get this show on the road!”
Dave held up a hand. “First, we’ve got to convince the chief to send his men. Let’s go do it.”
“What if they won’t go?” Abigail said fearfully.
Dave looked at her and said, “Well, then, we’ll just have to go by ourselves. The Seven Sleepers have come to the kingdom, I think, for such a time as thi
s.”
15
Attack on the Dinosaurs
Dave had little hope that Clag would send his warriors to help his deadly enemies. He knew well the bitterness between the two tribes. But he believed that Goél had given him a commission, and he now did not hesitate for one moment.
He led his friends, accompanied by Ral, to where the chief was meeting with his most trusted warriors.
Dave approached him and said, “Chief Clag, we have come to help your people.” He paused, then went on. “We have done little so far. But if we could do just one thing more, it would be the best thing that ever happened to the people of Clag.”
“What that?” Clag demanded.
Dave looked him straight in the eye. “You are not alone here. There are others in this world. Everywhere there are people, and a Dark Power is sweeping over the land. There is evil, and evil always destroys everything it touches.”
“What this evil? It your god?”
“No! Our Goél is good! Man’s heart—that is where evil lies.”
“I not hate my people,” Clag said. “I chief. I protect them.” He looked into the distance where all knew Mord’s band lay. “We fight Mord. They kill us, we kill them. Only strong stay alive.”
“That’s what you’ve always done. But there’s a better way, the way Goél has instructed us to tell you.”
For a long time, Dave stood explaining, as the sun beat down on his head. The villagers came out from the cave and up from the river where they had been fishing. Soon the whole village surrounded him.
He spoke about the need for trust and love. He talked about treating others the way Clag would want to be treated. He looked at the chief. “Is this not good, Clag?”
Clag’s face turned toward his people, and Dave saw many heads nod in agreement.
“Yes,” the chief said at last. “Mord’s people need friend to help.”
“That’s exactly right.” Dave waved a hand toward the village and beyond. “Mord needs help. His people are like yours. Women will cry because their men are dead. Some of the women will die. They care for their women and their children just as you do. They love even as you love your own.”
While he waited, Dave could hear Josh and Sarah murmuring behind him.
“I never knew Dave could talk like that,” Josh said in admiration. “Goél did right to choose him as leader.”
“Do you think Clag will listen?” Sarah asked doubtfully.
“I think so. Look! Here comes Eena—she’s going to ask him to go. He thinks the world of that girl, though he doesn’t show it much.”
“Please,” Eena begged her father. “We help!”
No one could ever explain afterward how it happened, but somehow a change came over the chief. Dave could almost see it happening. His face, which had been hard, grew soft as he looked at his daughter. And whether it was her “Please” or the idea that fascinated him, no one could ever say. But he suddenly lifted his ax and said, “We go help.” Then he turned to Ral. “Lead us. We help your people.”
At once a shrill yell arose, and then all the warriors began screaming. It was very confusing for a while, but finally Dave got their attention.
“Wait! Wait! We’ve got to use the bows and arrows. I don’t know if they’ll stop a dinosaur or not, but we’ll find out.”
Reb said, “I got an idea. What do you think of this?” And he outlined a strategy he had dreamed up. There was a fighting quality in Reb. Back at Camelot he had put some of the strongest men flat on their backs, and now his light blue eyes blazed as he explained his plan.
“I think it’ll work,” Wash said. “Let’s try it.”
A cry went up again, and Dave saw that everyone was with him. “OK, everybody get armed! Let’s go!”
The band had traveled hard and now was coming close to the village of Mord.
Ral held up a hand and said, “Animals, they over there.” He pointed to a small rise and shook his head. “They many.” He held up both hands again, indicating twenty.
Reb said, “OK, let’s try this little plan of mine.” He was riding the young ox, Stonewall. He carried with him a mass of vine ropes, and now he pulled at the harness he had arranged over Stonewall’s legs and body.
“The secret is,” he said, “we’ve got to get those rascals one at a time. Let’s do it like I said.”
Dave said, “I’ll go first. They’re right over there, you say, Ral?”
“Yes.”
“All right, spread out.” Dave grinned at Reb. “I hope this works.”
“Got to work,” Reb said confidently. His eyes were searching the trees. Then he pointed to a limb about ten feet off the ground. “That one right there will do. You bring one of them critters through here, and we’ll get him.”
Dave ran down the path, and as soon as he came to an opening his heart almost stopped. Dinosaurs were roaming about, uttering sharp, fierce cries. Some were reaching into the trees where Mord and his people were clinging to branches. Some were at a cave mouth, trying to get at those who seemed to be barricaded inside.
Dave approached slowly, his heart in his throat. They were ferocious-looking reptiles—not large, but they moved very fast. “I hope I can outrun them,” he muttered.
He pulled out a handkerchief and waved it.
Instantly the closest dinosaur turned toward him, letting out a piercing cry.
Dave waved the handkerchief again, and the dinosaur charged. He whirled and dashed back up the path. “Here he comes, Reb! Don’t miss!”
He glimpsed Reb off to one side beneath the tree he’d chosen. A lariat loop was hanging over a branch. Four of Mord’s strongest warriors held the other end.
“Ready,” Reb shouted. “When I holler, you pull.”
Dave flashed by, the dinosaur right on his tail. He had not known a reptile could move so rapidly.
“Run, Dave, run!” Josh yelled.
Then, as the creature thundered past, Reb tossed the noose over its head and short, stubby front legs. “Pull! Pull!” he yelled.
The four warriors hauled on the vine rope with all their might. The noose closed around the dinosaur’s middle.
The men sagged under the strain, but now Lom too called, “Pull! Pull!” and they threw their strength into it. The dinosaur was suddenly yanked up into the air. He squalled and clawed, but his stumpy legs could not reach the lariat.
“All right, you archers!” Dave yelled. “Let him have it!”
Instantly a dozen of Clag’s best archers stepped out of the woods and drew their bows.
Twang! Twang! Twang!
A few arrows missed, but the beast was punctured by many of them. He struggled briefly, then went limp.
“You’ve got him!” Reb screamed. “Let that critter down! Get them arrows out!”
“We’ve got this thing whipped,” Josh said exultantly. “Let me go get another one.”
Before Dave could answer, Josh was sprinting down the path to perform the same operation. Moments later he reappeared, a dinosaur on his heels. He shouted, “Don’t miss, Reb!”
Soon that reptile too was lassoed, strung up, and pierced with arrows. Cries of joy went up from all the tribesmen.
Clag stared as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He came over to Dave and said, “Good! Good! Now me.”
One by one the warriors and the Sleepers took turns—even Wash, small as he was—luring the dinosaurs. The trick was to get only one of them to come at a time.
When just three were left, Beno, who had begged to come along, said, “Now me.”
All the warriors looked at each other. Beno had never been on a hunt. He was small, almost frail, but there was a determined light in his eye.
Clag nodded. “You go, Beno.”
And Beno hobbled down the trail.
When he disappeared, Dave said worriedly, “He can’t run fast enough. We’ll probably have to help him. Everybody grab a bow! Get your arrows notched!”
His advice was well taken for when Ben
o came hobbling back, two lizards were close behind him.
“No time for lassos!” Dave yelled. “Pepper those lizards!”
The air suddenly was filled with whizzing arrows. As before, some missed, but Dave had the satisfaction of seeing his own arrow go right into the open mouth of one beast. The frightening creature fell.
The second dinosaur, however, though struck several times, had almost caught up to Beno.
And then Beno fell.
“Oh, no!” Dave yelled. He had no arrows left, nor had most of the other hunters.
And then Ral did something Dave simply could not believe. He had no bow, but he had his battle-ax. Uttering a shrill cry, he leaped over the fallen Beno and charged the giant lizard. He brought his ax down with a tremendous blow that took the dinosaur in the skull. The reptile fell to the ground.
Then a cry of victory arose, and the chief himself went to the son of his old enemy and put a hand on his shoulder. “You brave warrior! You great chief one day,” he said.
“Just one more left!” Dave yelled then. “Come on, we can take him!”
Clag’s people had recovered enough of their arrows now, and the whole band went boiling out of the woods into the plain. The dinosaur took one look at them and attacked. But he had not taken more than five rapid steps when a dozen arrows pierced him. He let out a series of short cries and lay still.
Dave looked up into the trees where Mord’s tribesmen were hanging on for dear life. Then he turned and said, “Chief Clag, I think you should ask them to come down.”
Clag looked up and saw his enemy Mord. He looked at the arrows that his hunters had recovered.
For one awful instant, Dave thought, He’s going to kill them all!
But then Eena came up beside her father. She smiled. And this seemed to decide Chief Clag. He said, “Come down. Lizards all dead.”
Mord dropped to the ground, apparently half expecting to be killed. “You no kill us?”
Clag shook his head. “No.”
“Why?”
Clag put his hand suddenly on Ral’s shoulder. “You have brave son.” He looked Mord in the eye. “You brave man. We no kill each other anymore.”
Ral said to his father, “They come to help. Next time, maybe we help them.”
Caves That Time Forgot Page 11
