XIII

XIII

THE SLY ONE

THE SAGOTHS WERE GAINING ON US RAPIDLY, FOR once they

had sighted us they had greatly increased their speed.

On and on we stumbled up the narrow canyon that Ghak had

chosen to approach the heights of Sari. On either side

rose precipitous cliffs of gorgeous, parti-colored rock,

while beneath our feet a thick mountain grass formed a soft

and noiseless carpet. Since we had entered the canyon we

had had no glimpse of our pursuers, and I was commencing

to hope that they had lost our trail and that we would

reach the now rapidly nearing cliffs in time to scale them

before we should be overtaken.

Ahead we neither saw nor heard any sign which might

betoken the success of Hooja's mission. By now he

should have reached the outposts of the Sarians, and we

should at least hear the savage cries of the tribesmen

as they swarmed to arms in answer to their king's appeal

for succor. In another moment the frowning cliffs ahead

should be black with primeval warriors. But nothing

of the kind happened--as a matter of fact the Sly One

had betrayed us. At the moment that we expected to see

Sarian spearmen charging to our relief at Hooja's back,

the craven traitor was sneaking around the outskirts

of the nearest Sarian village, that he might come up

from the other side when it was too late to save us,

claiming that he had become lost among the mountains.

Hooja still harbored ill will against me because of the blow

I had struck in Dian's protection, and his malevolent spirit

was equal to sacrificing us all that he might be revenged upon

me.

As we drew nearer the barrier cliffs and no sign of rescuing

Sarians appeared Ghak became both angry and alarmed,

and presently as the sound of rapidly approaching pursuit

fell upon our ears, he called to me over his shoulder

that we were lost.

A backward glance gave me a glimpse of the first of

the Sagoths at the far end of a considerable stretch

of canyon through which we had just passed, and then

a sudden turning shut the ugly creature from my view;

but the loud howl of triumphant rage which rose behind

us was evidence that the gorilla-man had sighted us.

Again the canyon veered sharply to the left, but to the

right another branch ran on at a lesser deviation from

the general direction, so that appeared more like the main

canyon than the lefthand branch. The Sagoths were now

not over two hundred and fifty yards behind us, and I saw

that it was hopeless for us to expect to escape other than

by a ruse. There was a bare chance of saving Ghak and Perry,

and as I reached the branching of the canyon I took the chance.

Pausing there I waited until the foremost Sagoth hove

into sight. Ghak and Perry had disappeared around a bend

in the left-hand canyon, and as the Sagoth's savage

yell announced that he had seen me I turned and fled

up the right-hand branch. My ruse was successful,

and the entire party of man-hunters raced headlong after

me up one canyon while Ghak bore Perry to safety up the other.

Running has never been my particular athletic forte,

and now when my very life depended upon fleetness of foot

I cannot say that I ran any better than on the occasions

when my pitiful base running had called down upon my head

the rooter's raucous and reproachful cries of "Ice Wagon,"

and "Call a cab."

The Sagoths were gaining on me rapidly. There was

one in particular, fleeter than his fellows, who was

perilously close. The canyon had become a rocky slit,

rising roughly at a steep angle toward what seemed a pass

between two abutting peaks. What lay beyond I could

not even guess--possibly a sheer drop of hundreds of feet

into the corresponding valley upon the other side.

Could it be that I had plunged into a cul-de-sac?

Realizing that I could not hope to outdistance the Sagoths

to the top of the canyon I had determined to risk all

in an attempt to check them temporarily, and to this

end had unslung my rudely made bow and plucked an arrow

from the skin quiver which hung behind my shoulder.

As I fitted the shaft with my right hand I stopped

and wheeled toward the gorilla-man.

In the world of my birth I never had drawn a shaft,

but since our escape from Phutra I had kept the party

supplied with small game by means of my arrows, and so,

through necessity, had developed a fair degree of accuracy.

During our flight from Phutra I had restrung my bow with a piece

of heavy gut taken from a huge tiger which Ghak and I had

worried and finally dispatched with arrows, spear, and sword.

The hard wood of the bow was extremely tough and this,

with the strength and elasticity of my new string,

gave me unwonted confidence in my weapon.

Never had I greater need of steady nerves than then--never

were my nerves and muscles under better control.

I sighted as carefully and deliberately as though at

a straw target. The Sagoth had never before seen a bow

and arrow, but of a sudden it must have swept over his dull

intellect that the thing I held toward him was some sort

of engine of destruction, for he too came to a halt,

simultaneously swinging his hatchet for a throw.

It is one of the many methods in which they employ

this weapon, and the accuracy of aim which they achieve,

even under the most unfavorable circumstances, is little

short of miraculous.

My shaft was drawn back its full length--my eye had centered

its sharp point upon the left breast of my adversary;

and then he launched his hatchet and I released my arrow.

At the instant that our missiles flew I leaped to one side,

but the Sagoth sprang forward to follow up his attack

with a spear thrust. I felt the swish of the hatchet

at it grazed my head, and at the same instant my shaft

pierced the Sagoth's savage heart, and with a single groan

he lunged almost at my feet--stone dead. Close behind

him were two more--fifty yards perhaps--but the distance

gave me time to snatch up the dead guardsman's shield,

for the close call his hatchet had just given me had borne

in upon me the urgent need I had for one. Those which I

had purloined at Phutra we had not been able to bring along

because their size precluded our concealing them within

the skins of the Mahars which had brought us safely from

the city.

With the shield slipped well up on my left arm I let fly

with another arrow, which brought down a second Sagoth,

and then as his fellow's hatchet sped toward me I caught

it upon the shield, and fitted another shaft for him;

but he did not wait to receive it. Instead, he turned and

retreated toward the main body of gorilla-men. Evidently he

had seen enough of me for the moment.

Once more I took up my flight, nor were the Sagoths

apparently overanxious to press their pursuit so closely

as before. Unmolested I reached the top of the canyon

where I found a sheer drop of two or three hundred feet

to the bottom of a rocky chasm; but on the left a narrow

ledge rounded the shoulder of the overhanging cliff.

Along this I advanced, and at a sudden turning,

a few yards beyond the canyon's end, the path widened,

and at my left I saw the opening to a large cave.

Before, the ledge continued until it passed from sight

about another projecting buttress of the mountain.

Here, I felt, I could defy an army, for but a single

foeman could advance upon me at a time, nor could he know

that I was awaiting him until he came full upon me around

the corner of the turn. About me lay scattered stones

crumbled from the cliff above. They were of various

sizes and shapes, but enough were of handy dimensions

for use as ammunition in lieu of my precious arrows.

Gathering a number of stones into a little pile beside

the mouth of the cave I waited the advance of the Sagoths.

As I stood there, tense and silent, listening for the

first faint sound that should announce the approach

of my enemies, a slight noise from within the cave's

black depths attracted my attention. It might have

been produced by the moving of the great body of some

huge beast rising from the rock floor of its lair.

At almost the same instant I thought that I caught the

scraping of hide sandals upon the ledge beyond the turn.

For the next few seconds my attention was considerably divided.

And then from the inky blackness at my right I saw two

flaming eyes glaring into mine. They were on a level

that was over two feet above my head. It is true that the

beast who owned them might be standing upon a ledge within

the cave, or that it might be rearing up upon its hind legs;

but I had seen enough of the monsters of Pellucidar to know

that I might be facing some new and frightful Titan whose

dimensions and ferocity eclipsed those of any I had seen before.

Whatever it was, it was coming slowly toward the entrance

of the cave, and now, deep and forbidding, it uttered a low

and ominous growl. I waited no longer to dispute possession

of the ledge with the thing which owned that voice.

The noise had not been loud--I doubt if the Sagoths heard

it at all--but the suggestion of latent possibilities

behind it was such that I knew it would only emanate

from a gigantic and ferocious beast.

As I backed along the ledge I soon was past the mouth

of the cave, where I no longer could see those fearful

flaming eyes, but an instant later I caught sight of the

fiendish face of a Sagoth as it warily advanced beyond

the cliff's turn on the far side of the cave's mouth.

As the fellow saw me he leaped along the ledge in pursuit,

and after him came as many of his companions as could

crowd upon each other's heels. At the same time the beast

emerged from the cave, so that he and the Sagoths came

face to face upon that narrow ledge.

The thing was an enormous cave bear, rearing its colossal

bulk fully eight feet at the shoulder, while from the tip

of its nose to the end of its stubby tail it was fully twelve

feet in length. As it sighted the Sagoths it emitted a most

frightful roar, and with open mouth charged full upon them.

With a cry of terror the foremost gorilla-man turned to escape,

but behind him he ran full upon his on-rushing companions.

The horror of the following seconds is indescribable.

The Sagoth nearest the cave bear, finding his escape

blocked, turned and leaped deliberately to an awful

death upon the jagged rocks three hundred feet below.

Then those giant jaws reached out and gathered in the

next--there was a sickening sound of crushing bones,

and the mangled corpse was dropped over the cliff's edge.

Nor did the mighty beast even pause in his steady advance

along the ledge.

Shrieking Sagoths were now leaping madly over the precipice

to escape him, and the last I saw he rounded the turn still

pursuing the demoralized remnant of the man hunters.

For a long time I could hear the horrid roaring of the brute

intermingled with the screams and shrieks of his victims,

until finally the awful sounds dwindled and disappeared

in the distance.

Later I learned from Ghak, who had finally come to his

tribesmen and returned with a party to rescue me,

that the ryth, as it is called, pursued the Sagoths until

it had exterminated the entire band. Ghak was, of course,

positive that I had fallen prey to the terrible creature,

which, within Pellucidar, is truly the king of beasts.

Not caring to venture back into the canyon, where I

might fall prey either to the cave bear or the Sagoths I

continued on along the ledge, believing that by following

around the mountain I could reach the land of Sari from

another direction. But I evidently became confused by the

twisting and turning of the canyons and gullies, for I did

not come to the land of Sari then, nor for a long time

thereafter.