The balloon was drifting now at an even altitude. It would rise no higher. Eventually it would commence to drop lower; but before it came to earth, Dian the Beautiful might be dead of hunger and exhaustion. Being practically naked, except for a most sketchy loin cloth she was already chilled through and shivering.
A hunting party far below saw the strange thing floating toward them; and they ran and hid beneath trees, thinking it some new and terrible reptile. Dacor the Strong One, Dian's brother, was in the party. Little did he dream that his sister floated there high above him. He and his companions would tell of the awful creature they had seen; and the story would grow in the telling, but nothing which they could fabricate could equal the truth, if they could have known it.
XII
THE SABERTOOTH PEOPLE are not very bright, but they do know what a volcano is; because there is an intermittently active one in the mountains not far from their own crater; so, putting two and two together, they assumed that their own volcano was about to become active. Had they been just a little bit more intelligent, they would have reasoned that wood smoke does not come from a volcano; but all they knew was that it was smoke and smoke meant fire; and they were afraid.
The best thing to do, then, was to get out of the crater; so they turned to the low point in the crater's rim. It was then that they discovered that their prisoners had escaped.
As they swarmed out of the crater, they were not only frightened but angry. No prisoner had ever escaped before, and they didn't purpose letting these prisoners get away with it. Being good trackers capable of moving with great speed, they had no doubt but that they would soon overhaul the fugitives. The latter however, were also fleet of foot; and they had two advantages: they did not have to watch for spoor to follow, and they were fleeing for their lives. There is no greater spur to honest and concentrated effort than this. Even the old man revealed amazing possibilities as he scampered in the wake of the others.
David and Hodon, being congenitally opposed to flight, hated the position in which they found themselves, but what were they to do? David alone was armed. He carried his crude bow and arrow and a stone knife but these were not enough to repel an attack by a numerically greater force of savage beasts such as the sabertooth men.
While they did not yet know that they were being followed, they assumed that they would be; and the old man had assured them that they would.
"I been there since before my teeth began falling out," he said, "an' you can lay to it that they'll follow us all the way to hell an' gone, for they ain't no prisoner ever escaped from 'em in my time."
Hodon, who was leading, guided them toward the little canyon where he and David had found sanctuary; and they succeeded in reaching its mouth before the first of the pursuers came within sight. It was just after they entered it that a chorus of savage roars told them that the sabertooth men had overtaken them.
David glanced back. Racing toward him were, three or four of the swiftest males and strung out behind them were other bucks and shes and young—the whole tribe was on their heels!
"Get the others into the cave, Hodon!" he called. "I'll hold them up until you're all in."
Hodon hesitated. He wanted to come back and fight at David's side.
"Go on!" shouted the latter. "We'll all be lost if you don't." Then Hodon raced on toward the cave with O-aa and the old man.
David wheeled about and sent an arrow into the breast of the leading savage. The fellow screamed and clutched at the shaft; then he spun around like a top and crashed to earth. A second and a third arrow in quick succession found their marks, and two more sabertooth warriors writhed upon the ground. The others paused. David fitted another arrow to his bow and backed away toward the cave.
The sabertooths jabbered and chattered among themselves. Finally a huge buck charged. Hodon and O-aa were in the cave; and the former, reaching down, grasped the hand of the old man and dragged him up. David was still backing toward the cave, holding his fire. His supply of arrows would not last forever; so he must not miss.
The great brute was almost upon him before he loosed his shaft. It drove straight through the heart of the buck, but there were others coming behind him. Not until he had dropped two more in rapid succession did the others pause momentarily; then David turned and raced for the cave. At his heels came the whole tribe of sabertooths, roaring and screaming. They came in mighty leaps and bounds, covering the ground twice as rapidly as David.
Hodon stood in the mouth of the cave. "Jump!" he cried to David. He leaned out and down, extending his hand. As David leaped upward toward the cave mouth, a sabertooth at his heels reached out to seize him; but simultaneously a bit of rock struck the fellow full between the eyes, and he stumbled forward on his face. O-aa, grinning, brushed the dust from her hands.
Hodon pulled David into the cave. "I never thought you'd make it," he said.
There were extra spears and arrows in the cave and a little food. The waterfall dropped so close that they could reach out and catch water in a cupped hand. They would not suffer from thirst. One man with a spear could defend the entrance against such ill-armed brutes as the sabertooths. Altogether, they felt rather secure.
"These brutes won't stay here forever," said David. "When they find they can't get us, they'll go away."
"You don't know 'em," said the old man. "They'll stick around here till Hell freezes over, but the joke's goin' to be on them."
"What do you mean?" asked David.
"Why, instead of gettin' four of us, they're only goin' to get one," explained the old man.
"How's that?" inquired David.
"We can't get no food in here," said the old man; "so we gotta eat each other. I reckon I'll be the last man. I'm too dod-burned old and tough to eat. Even the sabertooths wouldn't eat me. This here'll make a tender morsel. I reckon we'll start on her."
"Shut up!" snapped David. "We're not cannibals."
"Well, neither was I back at Cape Cod . I would have reared up on my hind legs an' hit anybody then that had said I'd ever eat man, woman, or child; but then I hadn't never nearly starved to death, nor I didn't know what good eatin' some people can be after you get used to it. Before you come along I was tellin' these other two, about that sweet Swede I et once."
"You also said," interposed O-aa, "that after you'd eaten all your friends you were about to cut your leg off and start eating yourself."
"Yes," admitted the old man, "that's plumb right."
"Then," said O-aa, "when you get hungry, you'd better start eating yourself; because you're not going to eat any of us."
"That's what I calls plumb selfish," said the old man. "If we don't eat each other, the sabertooths are goin' to eat us; an' I'd think you'd rather be eaten by a friend than by one of them critters."
"Look here—er—what is your name, anyway?" David spoke with marked asperity.
The old man puckered his brow in thought. "Dod-burn it," he exclaimed at last. "What the dickens is my name? I'll be dod-burned if I ain't plumb forgot. You see I ain't heard it since I was a young man."
"I think," said O-aa to David, "that his name is Dolly Dorcas."
"Well, never mind," said David; "but get this straight: there's to be no more talk of eating one another. Do you understand?"
"Wait until you get good an' hungry," said the old man; "then it won't be a matter of talking about it."
David rationed out what food there had been stored in the cave—mostly nuts and tubers; as these would not spoil quickly. Each had his share. They took turns watching, while the others slept, if they cared to; and as there was nothing else to do, they slept a great part of the time. It is a custom of Pellucidarians. They seem to store up energy thus, so that they need less sleep, afterward. Thus they prepare themselves for long journeys or arduous undertakings.
Some of the sabertooths remained in the canyon at all times. They made several attempts to storm the cave; but after being driven off easily, they gave up. They would starve their quarry out.
The food supply in the cave dwindled rapidly. David presently suspected that it dwindled fastest while the old man was on watch and the others slept; so once he feigned sleep and caught the old man taking a little food from the supply of each of the others and hiding it in a crevice in the back of the cave.
He awoke the others and told them, and O-aa wanted to kill the old man at once. "He deserves to die," said David, "but I have a better plan than that of killing him ourselves. We'll drop him down to the sabertooths."
The old man whimpered and begged, and promised never to do it again; so they let him live, but they did not let him stand watch alone again.
At last their food was all gone, and the sabertooths were still in the canyon. The besieged were ravenous. They drank quantities of water to allay the craving for food. They were getting weaker and weaker, and David realized that the end was near. They slept a great deal, but fitfully.
Once, when O-aa was standing watch, David awoke with a start; and was horrified to see the old man sneaking up behind her with a spear. His intentions were all too obvious. David called a warning and leaped for him but just in time.
Hodon awoke. The old man was grovelling on the floor of the cave. O-aa and David were looking down at him.
"What has happened?" demanded Hodon.
They told him. Hodon came toward the old man. "This time he dies," he said.
"No! No!" shrieked the terrified creature. "I was not going to keep it all for myself. I was going to share it with you."
"You beast!" exclaimed Hodon, picking up the spear the old man had dropped.
Screaming the latter leaped to his feet; and, running to the mouth of the cave, sprang out.
A hundred sabertooths were in the canyon. Straight toward them the old man ran, screaming at the top of his voice, his eyes wild with terror, his toothless mouth contorted.
The sabertooths fell aside, shrinking from him; and through the lane they made the old man fled and disappeared in the forest beyond the end of the canyon.
XIII
GHAK THE HAIRY ONE, with a thousand warriors, marched up to Kali. He did not know that Fash, the king of Suvi, had conquered it; so he was surprised when his advance guard was attacked as they neared the cliff. However, it made no difference to Ghak the Hairy One whether he fought Suvian or Kalian.
Fash had thought that the advance guard constituted the whole force with which he had to deal, as it was his own custom to hold all his warriors in one body when he attacked. He did not know that David Innes had taught the Sarians a different method of warfare, which was unfortunate for Fash.
When Ghak's main body came up, Fash's men scattered in all directions. A number retreated to the caves of Kali. The Sarians swarmed up after them before they could remove the ladders. Men fought hand to hand on the narrow ledges all the way up to the highest ledge. Here, cornered Suvians leaped to their death; and at last Ghak the Hairy One stood victorious above the caves of Kali.
Then the Sarian prisoners came from their prison caves and for the first time Ghak learned that David's little force had been either killed or made prisoner and that David was missing. All agreed that he must be dead.
Ghak's force rested and fed at the Kali cliff; and then victorious but sad, started back to their ships waiting on the Lural Az. They had scarcely left the cliff when a strange figure of a man came dashing out of the forest a toothless little old man with an enormous white beard. His beard was stained with juice of berries and the pulp of fruit. He jibbered and yammered like the little hairy men who live in the trees of the forest.
The warriors of Sari had never seen a creature like this before; so they captured him, as they might have captured any strange animal and took him to show to Ghak.
"Who are you?" demanded Ghak.
"Are you going to kill me?" The old man was whimpering, the tears rolling down his cheeks.
"No," Ghak assured him. "Tell me who you are and what you are doing here."
"My name is not Dolly Dorcas," said the old man, "and I was going to divide O-aa with the others, but Hodon wanted to kill me."
"Hodon!" exclaimed Ghak. "What do you know of Hodon?"
"I know that he was going to kill me, but I ran away."
"Where is Hodon?" demanded Ghak.
"He and David and O-aa are in the cave. The sabertooth men are waiting to eat them."
"What cave? Where is it?" asked Ghak.
"If I told you, you'd take me back there and Hodon would kill me," said the old man.
"If you lead us to where David and Hodon are, no one will kill you. I promise you that," Ghak assured him.
"And you'll see that I get plenty to eat?"
"All you can hold."
"Then follow me, but look out for the sabertooths; they will eat you all unless you kill them."
XIV
O-AA LOOKED VERY wan and weak. Hodon looked at her and tears almost came to his eyes; then he spoke to David.
"David," he said, "perhaps I have done wrong. I have hoarded my ration of food, eating only half of it."
"It was yours to do with as you wished," said David. "We shall not take it from you."
"I do not want it," said Hodon. "I saved it for O-aa, and now she needs it."
O-aa looked up and smiled. "I hoarded mine too, Hodon," she said. "I saved it for you. Here it is." She took a little package of food wrapped in the large leaves that grew over the mouth of the cave and handed it to Hodon.
David walked to the mouth of the cave and looked out down the little canyon; but everything was blurred, as though he were looking through a mist.
Hodon knelt beside O-aa. "A woman would do that only for the man she loved," he said.
O-aa nodded and crept into his arms. "But I have not killed Blug," said Hodon.
O-aa drew his lips down to hers.
"What will your brother and sister say?" asked Hodon.
"I have no brother or sister," said O-aa.
Hodon held her so tight that she gasped for breath.
Presently the mist cleared, and David could see quite plainly. He saw sabertooths who had been outside the canyon running in. They were jabbering excitedly. Then he saw human warriors approaching, warriors who carried muskets. There were many of them. When the sabertooths charged them, they were mowed down by a ragged volley. The noise was terrific, and clouds of black smoke filled the mouth of the canyon.
At the noise of the muskets, O-aa and Hodon ran to the mouth of the cave.
"Ghak has come," said David. "Now everything is all right."
It was well that he was to have a brief interlude of happiness before he returned to Sari.
PART II: MEN OF THE BRONZE AGE
I
WHEN THE LAST of the sabertooth men had been killed or had fled, David, Hodon, and O-aa joined Ghak and his warriors. Immediately, Hodon espied the little old man and advanced upon him.
"I kill," said Hodon.
The little old man screamed and hid behind Ghak. "You promised that you would not let Hodon kill me," he whimpered, "if I guided you here."
"I shall keep my promise," said Ghak. "Leave the man alone, Hodon! What has he done that you should want to kill him?"
"He tried to kill O-aa; so that he could eat her," replied Hodon.
"I was not going to keep her all for myself," whined the old man; "I was going to share her with Hodon and David."
"Who is this old man," demanded Ghak, "who says that his name is not Dolly Dorcas?"
"He was a prisoner of the sabertooth men," said David. "I think he is a little crazy."
"He led me here," said Ghak; "so you have him to thank for your rescue. Do not harm him. What does he mean by saying his name is not Dolly Dorcas?"
"He told us," explained David, "that he was wrecked on a ship named the Dolly Dorcas near the North Pole of the outer world from which I come; then, in a small boat, he drifted through the North Polar Opening into Pellucidar. O-aa got things a little mixed and thought his name was Dolly Dorcas."'
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br /> "He ate all the men that were in the boat with him," said O-aa; "and he said that when they were all gone, he was about to cut off one of his own legs and eat that, when he found food. He is a very hungry man."
"I do not see how he could eat anybody," said Ghak; "he has no teeth."
"You'd be surprised," said the little old man.
"Well, you—What is your name anyway, if it isn't Dolly Dorcas?" demanded Ghak.
"I don't remember," said the old man.
"Well, then, we shall just call you Ah-gilak; and that will be your name." (Ah-gilak means in Pellucidarian, old man.)
"Well," said the little old man, "at least Ah-gilak is a better name for a man than Dolly Dorcas."
"And remember this, Ah-gilak," continued Ghak, "if you ever try to eat anybody again, I'll let Hodon kill you.
"Some of them were very good eating," sighed Ah-gilak, reminiscently, "especially that Swede."
"Let us go the village of Kali now," said David. "O-aa, Hodon, and I must have food. We nearly starved to death in that cave. Then I shall send a runner north to the caves where Oose and the remnants of his people are hiding, after which we will go down to the Lural Az, where your ships lie, Ghak, and embark for home; if you feel that you have taught the Suvians their lessons sufficiently well."
Between the canyon and the village of Kali , they saw a party of men coming from the north. At sight of so many armed warriors, these people turned to flee; but O-aa called to them, "Come back! It is all right; these are our friends;" then she said to Ghak, "those are my people; I recognized my father, the king of Kali."
When the newcomers approached more closely, Hodon saw the Blug was with Oose; and he went and put his arm around O-aa. When Blug saw that, he ran forward.
"I told you that if you were around here when I came back, I'd kill you," he shouted.
"Go away!" said O-aa. "Hodon is my mate."
"What is that?" demanded Oose, her father. "I told you you were to mate with Blug, and I meant it; Blug shall have you."
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