CHAPTER IX
HOOJA'S CUTTHROATS APPEAR
I had built a little shelter of rocks and brush where I might crawl
in and sleep out of the perpetual light and heat of the noonday
sun. When I was tired or hungry I retired to my humble cot.
My masters never interposed the slightest objection. As a matter
of fact, they were very good to me, nor did I see aught while I
was among them to indicate that they are ever else than a simple,
kindly folk when left to themselves. Their awe-inspiring size,
terrific strength, mighty fighting-fangs, and hideous appearance
are but the attributes necessary to the successful waging of their
constant battle for survival, and well do they employ them when
the need arises. The only flesh they eat is that of herbivorous
animals and birds. When they hunt the mighty thag, the prehistoric
bos of the outer crust, a single male, with his fiber rope, will
catch and kill the greatest of the bulls.
Well, as I was about to say, I had this little shelter at the edge
of my melon-patch. Here I was resting from my labors on a certain
occasion when I heard a great hub-bub in the village, which lay
about a quarter of a mile away.
Presently a male came racing toward the field, shout-ing excitedly.
As he approached I came from my shelter to learn what all the
commotion might be about, for the monotony of my existence in the
melon-patch must have fostered that trait of my curiosity from
which it had always been my secret boast I am peculiarly free.
The other workers also ran forward to meet the mes-senger, who quickly
unburdened himself of his informa-tion, and as quickly turned and
scampered back toward the village. When running these beast-men
often go upon all fours. Thus they leap over obstacles that would
slow up a human being, and upon the level attain a speed that
would make a thoroughbred look to his laurels. The result in this
instance was that before I had more than assimilated the gist of
the word which had been brought to the fields, I was alone, watching
my co-workers speeding villageward.
I was alone! It was the first time since my capture that no beast-man
had been within sight of me. I was alone! And all my captors were
in the village at the op-posite edge of the mesa repelling an attack
of Hooja's horde!
It seemed from the messenger's tale that two of Gr-gr-gr's great
males had been set upon by a half-dozen of Hooja's cutthroats while
the former were peaceably returning from the thag hunt. The two
had returned to the village unscratched, while but a single one of
Hooja's half-dozen had escaped to report the outcome of the battle
to their leader. Now Hooja was coming to punish Gr-gr-gr's people.
With his large force, armed with the bows and arrows that Hooja
had learned from me to make, with long lances and sharp knives, I
feared that even the mighty strength of the beastmen could avail
them but little.
At last had come the opportunity for which I waited! I was free to
make for the far end of the mesa, find my way to the valley below,
and while the two forces were engaged in their struggle, continue
my search for Hooja's village, which I had learned from the beast-men
lay farther on down the river that I had been following when taken
prisoner.
As I turned to make for the mesa's rim the sounds of battle came
plainly to my ears--the hoarse shouts of men mingled with the
half-beastly roars and growls of the brute-folk.
Did I take advantage of my opportunity?
I did not. Instead, lured by the din of strife and by the desire
to deliver a stroke, however feeble, against hated Hooja, I wheeled
and ran directly toward the village.
When I reached the edge of the plateau such a scene met my astonished
gaze as never before had startled it, for the unique battle-methods
of the half-brutes were rather the most remarkable I had ever
witnessed. Along the very edge of the cliff-top stood a thin line
of mighty males--the best rope-throwers of the tribe. A few feet
behind these the rest of the males, with the exception of about
twenty, formed a second line. Still farther in the rear all the
women and young children were clus-tered into a single group under
the protection of the re-maining twenty fighting males and all the
old males.
But it was the work of the first two lines that in-terested me.
The forces of Hooja--a great horde of savage Sagoths and primeval
cave men--were work-ing their way up the steep cliff-face, their
agility but slightly less than that of my captors who had clambered
so nimbly aloft--even he who was burdened by my weight.
As the attackers came on they paused occasionally wherever a
projection gave them sufficient foothold and launched arrows and
spears at the defenders above them. During the entire battle both
sides hurled taunts and insults at one another--the human beings
naturally excelling the brutes in the coarseness and vileness of
their vilification and invective.
The "firing-line" of the brute-men wielded no weapon other than
their long fiber nooses. When a foeman came within range of them
a noose would settle unerringly about him and be would be dragged,
fighting and yell-ing, to the cliff-top, unless, as occasionally
occurred, he was quick enough to draw his knife and cut the rope
above him, in which event he usually plunged down-ward to a no less
certain death than that which awaited him above.
Those who were hauled up within reach of the power-ful clutches of
the defenders had the nooses snatched from them and were catapulted
back through the first line to the second, where they were seized
and killed by the simple expedient of a single powerful closing of
mighty fangs upon the backs of their necks.
But the arrows of the invaders were taking a much heavier toll
than the nooses of the defenders and I fore-saw that it was but a
matter of time before Hooja's forces must conquer unless the brute-men
changed their tactics, or the cave men tired of the battle.
Gr-gr-gr was standing in the center of the first line. All about
him were boulders and large fragments of broken rock. I approached
him and without a word toppled a large mass of rock over the edge
of the cliff. It fell directly upon the head of an archer, crush-ing
him to instant death and carrying his mangled corpse with it to
the bottom of the declivity, and on its way brushing three more of
the attackers into the here-after.
Gr-gr-gr turned toward me in surprise. For an in-stant he appeared
to doubt the sincerity of my motives. I felt that perhaps my time
had come when he reached for me with one of his giant paws; but I
dodged him, and running a few paces to the right hurled down another
missile. It, too, did its allotted work of destruc-tion. Then I
picked up smaller fragments and with all the control and accuracy
for which I had earned justly deserved fame in my collegiate days
I rained down a hail of death upon those beneath me.
Gr-gr-gr was coming toward me again. I pointed to the litter of
rubble upon the cliff-top.
"Hurl these down upon the enemy!" I cried to him. "Tell your
warriors to throw rocks down upon them!"
At my words the others of the first line, who had been interested
spectators of my tactics, seized upon great boulders or bits of
rock, whichever came first to their hands, and, without, waiting
for a command from Gr-gr-gr, deluged the terrified cave men with
a perfect avalanche of stone. In less than no time the cliff-face
was stripped of enemies and the village of Gr-gr-gr was saved.
Gr-gr-gr was standing beside me when the last of the cave men
disappeared in rapid flight down the valley. He was looking at me
intently.
"Those were your people," he said. "Why did you kill them?"
"They were not my people," I returned. "I have told you that before,
but you would not believe me. Will you believe me now when I tell
you that I hate Hooja and his tribe as much as you do? Will you
believe me when I tell you that I wish to be the friend of Gr-gr-gr?"
For some time he stood there beside me, scratching his head. Evidently
it was no less difficult for him to readjust his preconceived
conclusions than it is for most human beings; but finally the
idea percolated--which it might never have done had he been a man,
or I might qualify that statement by saying had he been some men.
Finally he spoke.
"Gilak," he said, "you have made Gr-gr-gr ashamed. He would have
killed you. How can he reward you?"
"Set me free," I replied quickly.
"You are free," he said. "You may go down when you wish, or you
may stay with us. If you go you may always return. We are your
friends."
Naturally, I elected to go. I explained all over again to Gr-gr-gr
the nature of my mission. He listened atten-tively; after I had
done he offered to send some of his people with me to guide me to
Hooja's village. I was not slow in accepting his offer.
First, however, we must eat. The hunters upon whom Hooja's men had
fallen had brought back the meat of a great thag. There would be
a feast to commemorate the victory--a feast and dancing.
I had never witnessed a tribal function of the brute-folk, though
I had often heard strange sounds coming from the village, where I
had not been allowed since my capture. Now I took part in one of
their orgies.
It will live forever in my memory. The combination of bestiality
and humanity was oftentimes pathetic, and again grotesque or horrible.
Beneath the glaring noonday sun, in the sweltering heat of the
mesa-top, the huge, hairy creatures leaped in a great circle. They
coiled and threw their fiber-ropes; they hurled taunts and insults
at an imaginary foe; they fell upon the carcass of the thag and
literally tore it to pieces; and they ceased only when, gorged,
they could no longer move.
I had to wait until the processes of digestion had re-leased my
escort from its torpor. Some had eaten until their abdomens were
so distended that I thought they must burst, for beside the thag
there had been fully a hundred antelopes of various sizes and varied
degrees of decomposition, which they had unearthed from bur-ial
beneath the floors of their lairs to grace the banquet-board.
But at last we were started--six great males and myself. Gr-gr-gr
had returned my weapons to me, and at last I was once more upon
my oft-interrupted way toward my goal. Whether I should find Dian
at the end of my journey or no I could not even surmise; but I was
none the less impatient to be off, for if only the worst lay in
store for me I wished to know even the worst at once.
I could scarce believe that my proud mate would still be alive in
the power of Hooja; but time upon Pellucidar is so strange a thing
that I realized that to her or to him only a few minutes might have
elapsed since his subtle trickery had enabled him to steal her away
from Phutra. Or she might have found the means either to repel
his advances or escape him.
As we descended the cliff we disturbed a great pack of large hyena-like
beasts--hyaena spelaeus, Perry calls them--who were busy among the
corpses of the cave men fallen in battle. The ugly creatures were
far from the cowardly things that our own hyenas are reputed to
be; they stood their ground with bared fangs as we approached them.
But, as I was later to learn, so for-midable are the brute-folk
that there are few even of the larger carnivora that will not make
way for them when they go abroad. So the hyenas moved a little
from our line of march, closing in again upon their feasts when we
had passed.
We made our way steadily down the rim of the beau-tiful river which
flows the length of the island, coming at last to a wood rather
denser than any that I had be-fore encountered in this country.
Well within this forest my escort halted.
"There!" they said, and pointed ahead. "We are to go no farther."
Thus having guided me to my destination they left me. Ahead of me,
through the trees, I could see what appeared to be the foot of a
steep hill. Toward this I made my way. The forest ran to the very
base of a cliff, in the face of which were the mouths of many
caves. They appeared untenanted; but I decided to watch for a
while before venturing farther. A large tree, densely foliaged,
offered a splendid vantage-point from which to spy upon the cliff,
so I clambered among its branches where, securely hidden, I could
watch what transpired about the caves.
It seemed that I had scarcely settled myself in a comfortable
position before a party of cave men emerged from one of the smaller
apertures in the cliff-face, about fifty feet from the base. They
descended into the forest and disappeared. Soon after came sev-eral
others from the same cave, and after them, at a short interval, a
score of women and children, who came into the wood to gather fruit.
There were several war-riors with them--a guard, I presume.
After this came other parties, and two or three groups who passed
out of the forest and up the cliff-face to enter the same cave.
I could not understand it. All who came out had emerged from the
same cave. All who returned reentered it. No other cave gave
evidence of habitation, and no cave but one of extraordinary size
could have accommodated all the people whom I had seen pass in and
out of its mouth.
For a long time I sat and watched the coming and going of great
numbers of the cave-folk. Not once did one leave the cliff by
any other opening save that from which I had seen the first party
come, nor did any re-enter the cliff through another aperture.
What a cave it must be, I thought, that houses an en-tire tribe!
But dissatisfied of the truth of my surmise, I climbed higher among
the branches of the tree that I might get a better view of other
portions of the cliff. High above the ground I reached a point
whence I could see the summit of the hill. Evidently it was
a flat-topped butte similar to that on which dwelt the tribe of
Gr-gr-gr.
As I sat gazing at it a figure appeared at the very edge. It was
that of a young girl in whose hair was a gorgeous bloom plucked from
some flowering tree of the forest. I had seen her pass beneath me
but a short while before and enter the small cave that had swallowed
all of the returning tribesmen.
The mystery was solved. The cave was but the mouth of a passage
that led upward through the cliff to the summit of the hill. It
served merely as an avenue from their lofty citadel to the valley
below.
No sooner had the truth flashed upon me than the realization came
that I must seek some other means of reaching the village, for to
pass unobserved through this well-traveled thoroughfare would be
impossible. At the moment there was no one in sight below me, so
I slid quickly from my arboreal watch-tower to the ground and moved
rapidly away to the right with the intention of circling the hill
if necessary until I had found an un-watched spot where I might
have some slight chance of scaling the heights and reaching the
top unseen.
I kept close to the edge of the forest, in the very midst of which
the hill seemed to rise. Though I carefully scanned the cliff as
I traversed its base, I saw no sign of any other entrance than that
to which my guides had led me.
After some little time the roar of the sea broke upon my ears.
Shortly after I came upon the broad ocean which breaks at this
point at the very foot of the great hill where Hooja had found safe
refuge for himself and his villains.
I was just about to clamber along the jagged rocks which lie at
the base of the cliff next to the sea, in search of some foothold
to the top, when I chanced to see a canoe rounding the end of the
island. I threw my-self down behind a large boulder where I could
watch the dugout and its occupants without myself being seen.
They paddled toward me for a while and then, about a hundred yards
from me, they turned straight in toward the foot of the frowning
cliffs. From where I was it seemed that they were bent upon
self-destruction, since the roar of the breakers beating upon the
perpen-dicular rock-face appeared to offer only death to any one
who might venture within their relentless clutch.
A mass of rock would soon hide them from my view; but so keen was
the excitement of the instant that I could not refrain from crawling
forward to a point whence I could watch the dashing of the small
craft to pieces on the jagged rocks that loomed before her, al-though
I risked discovery from above to accomplish my design.
When I had reached a point where I could again see the dugout, I was
just in time to see it glide un-harmed between two needle-pointed
sentinels of granite and float quietly upon the unruffled bosom of
a tiny cove.
Again I crouched behind a boulder to observe what would next transpire;
nor did I have long to wait. The dugout, which contained but two
men, was drawn close to the rocky wall. A fiber rope, one end of
which was tied to the boat, was made fast about a projection of
the cliff face.
Then the two men commenced the ascent of the almost perpendicular
wall toward the summit several hundred feet above. I looked on in
amazement, for, splendid climbers though the cave men of Pellucidar
are, I never before had seen so remarkable a feat per-formed.
Upwardly they moved without a pause, to dis-appear at last over
the summit.
When I felt reasonably sure that they had gone for a while at least
I crawled from my hiding-place and at the risk of a broken neck
leaped and scrambled to the spot where their canoe was moored.
If they had scaled that cliff I could, and if I couldn't I should
die in the attempt.
But when I turned to the accomplishment of the task I found it easier
than I had imagined it would be, since I immediately discovered
that shallow hand and foot-holds had been scooped in the cliff's
rocky face, forming a crude ladder from the base to the summit.
At last I reached the top, and very glad I was, too. Cautiously
I raised my head until my eyes were above the cliff-crest. Before
me spread a rough mesa, liberally sprinkled with large boulders.
There was no village in sight nor any living creature.
I drew myself to level ground and stood erect. A few trees grew
among the boulders. Very carefully I ad-vanced from tree to tree
and boulder to boulder toward the inland end of the mesa. I stopped
often to listen and look cautiously about me in every direction.
How I wished that I had my revolvers and rifle! I would not have
to worm my way like a scared cat toward Hooja's village, nor did I
relish doing so now; but Dian's life might hinge upon the success
of my venture, and so I could not afford to take chances. To
have met suddenly with discovery and had a score or more of armed
warriors upon me might have been very grand and heroic; but it would
have immediately put an end to all my earthly activities, nor have
accomplished aught in the service of Dian.
Well, I must have traveled nearly a mile across that mesa without
seeing a sign of anyone, when all of a sud-den, as I crept around
the edge of a boulder, I ran plump into a man, down on all fours
like myself, crawl-ing toward me.
