The People the Time forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs (best free ereader .TXT) 📖

race before which all the world would be forced to bow."

Ajor always spoke of the world as though nothing existed beyond
Caspak. 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 Caspak 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 hide, intending to pass
the cliffs to the south of Galu and find a retreat in the Kro-lu
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 Kro-lu country, where I felt that I should be reasonably
safe from the Wieroo, though menaced by countless other dangers.
However, to a _cos-ata-lo_ any fate is preferable to that of falling
into the clutches of the frightful Wieroo, 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, illumining the entrance, against which I saw silhouetted
the dread figure of a Wieroo. 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 Wieroo 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 Wieroo 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 Oo-oh, the country of the Wieroo.

"The dim outlines of Oo-oh were unfolding below us when there
came from above a loud whirring of giant wings. The Wieroo and I
glanced up simultaneously, to see a pair of huge _jo-oos_" (flying
reptiles--pterodactyls) "swooping down upon us. The Wieroo
wheeled and dropped almost to sea-level, and then raced southward
in an effort to outdistance our pursuers. The great creatures,
notwithstanding their enormous weight, are swift on their wings;
but the Wieroo 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 jo-oos stuck behind us.

"I knew that we had covered a great distance, for 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 Wieroo was
weakening. One of the jo-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
Wieroo by his right wing, and in an effort to free himself, he
loosed his grasp upon me, dropping me to earth. Like a frightened
_ecca_ I leaped to 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 Galus 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 Wieroo--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 earlier
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 men, the Alus, 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 Wieroo, which up to this time I had considered
a purely mythological creature; but Ajor shuddered so at even the
veriest mention of the name that I was loath to press the subject
upon her, and so the Wieroo still remained a mystery to me.

While the Wieroo 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 Caspakians. To-mar and So-al were now about fitted
for their advent into Kro-lu 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 assured us 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 Kro-lu village.

This was our last day together. In the afternoon we should separate,
To-mar and So-al going directly to the Kro-lu village, while Ajor
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 Ho-lu, or apes; next above these are the Alus, who are slightly
fewer in number than the Ho-lu; and again there are fewer Bo-lu than
Alus, and fewer Sto-lu than Bo-lu. Thus it goes until the Kro-lu
are fewer in number than any of the others; and here the law reverses,
for the Galus outnumber the Kro-lu. As Ajor 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
_cos-ata-lo_ are still considered Galus and remain with them. And
Galus come up both from the west and east coasts. 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 Caspakian 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 Caspakian
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, _cor sva jo?_

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
lower animals was even more marked than the evolutionary stages
of man. The diminutive _ecca_, or small horse, became a rough-coated
and sturdy little pony in the Kro-lu 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 Labyrinthadonta. These creatures, from
which God save me, I should have expected to find further south;
but for some unaccountable reason they gain their greatest bulk in
the Kro-lu and Galu countries, though fortunately they are rare.
I rather imagine that they are a very early life which is rapidly
nearing extinction in Caspak, though wherever they are found, they
constitute a menace to all forms of life.

It was mid-afternoon when To-mar and So-al bade us good-bye. We
were not far from Kro-lu 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 Kro-lu 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 draw back into concealment, at the same time pushing Ajor
behind me. What I saw was a party of Band-lu 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