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

/> we were, they would pass without discovering us.

Presently Ajor nudged me. "They have a prisoner," she whispered.
"He is a Kro-lu."

And then I saw him, the first fully developed Kro-lu I had seen. He
was a fine-looking savage, tall and straight with a regal carriage.
To-mar was a handsome fellow; but this Kro-lu showed plainly in
his every physical attribute a higher plane of evolution. While
To-mar was just entering the Kro-lu sphere, this man, it seemed
to me, must be close indeed to the next stage of his development,
which would see him an envied Galu.

"They will kill him?" I whispered to Ajor.

"The dance of death," she replied, and I shuddered, so recently had
I escaped the same fate. It seemed cruel that one who must have
passed safely up through all the frightful stages of human evolution
within Caspak, should die at the very foot of his goal. I raised
my rifle to my shoulder and took careful aim at one of the Band-lu.
If I hit him, I would hit two, for another was directly behind the
first.

Ajor touched my arm. "What would you do?" she asked. "They are
all our enemies."

"I am going to save him from the dance of death," I replied, "enemy
or no enemy," and I squeezed the trigger. At the report, the two
Band-lu lunged forward upon their faces. I handed my rifle to Ajor,
and drawing my pistol, stepped out in full view of the startled
party. The Band-lu did not run away as had some of the lower orders
of Caspakians at the sound of the rifle. Instead, the moment they
saw me, they let out a series of demoniac war-cries, and raising
their spears above their heads, charged me.

The Kro-lu stood silent and statuesque, watching the proceedings.
He made no attempt to escape, though his feet were not bound and
none of the warriors remained to guard him. There were ten of
the Band-lu coming for me. I dropped three of them with my pistol
as rapidly as a man might count by three, and then my rifle spoke
close to my left shoulder, and another of them stumbled and rolled
over and over upon the ground. Plucky little Ajor! She had never
fired a shot before in all her life, though I had taught her to
sight and aim and how to squeeze the trigger instead of pulling it.
She had practiced these new accomplishments often, but little had
I thought they would make a marksman of her so quickly.

With six of their fellows put out of the fight so easily, the
remaining six sought cover behind some low bushes and commenced
a council of war. I wished that they would go away, as I had no
ammunition to waste, and I was fearful that should they institute
another charge, some of them would reach us, for they were already
quite close. Suddenly one of them rose and launched his spear. It
was the most marvelous exhibition of speed I have ever witnessed.
It seemed to me that he had scarce gained an upright position when
the weapon was half-way upon its journey, speeding like an arrow
toward Ajor. And then it was, with that little life in danger,
that I made the best shot I have ever made in my life! I took
no conscious aim; it was as though my subconscious mind, impelled
by a stronger power even than that of self-preservation, directed
my hand. Ajor was in danger! Simultaneously with the thought my
pistol flew to position, a streak of incandescent powder marked
the path of the bullet from its muzzle; and the spear, its point
shattered, was deflected from its path. With a howl of dismay the
six Band-lu rose from their shelter and raced away toward the south.

I turned toward Ajor. She was very white and wide-eyed, for the
clutching fingers of death had all but seized her; but a little
smile came to her lips and an expression of great pride to her eyes.
"My Tom!" she said, and took my hand in hers. That was all--"My
Tom!" and a pressure of the hand. Her Tom! Something stirred within
my bosom. Was it exaltation or was it consternation? Impossible!
I turned away almost brusquely.

"Come!" I said, and strode off toward the Kro-lu prisoner.

The Kro-lu stood watching us with stolid indifference. I presume
that he expected to be killed; but if he did, he showed no outward
sign of fear. His eyes, indicating his greatest interest, were
fixed upon my pistol or the rifle which Ajor still carried. I cut
his bonds with my knife. As I did so, an expression of surprise
tinged and animated the haughty reserve of his countenance. He
eyed me quizzically.

"What are you going to do with me?" he asked.

"You are free," I replied. "Go home, if you wish."

"Why don't you kill me?" he inquired. "I am defenseless."

"Why should I kill you? I have risked my life and that of this young
lady to save your life. Why, therefore should I now take it?" Of
course, I didn't say "young lady" as there is no Caspakian equivalent
for that term; but I have to allow myself considerable latitude in
the translation of Caspakian conversations. To speak always of a
beautiful young girl as a "she" may be literal; but it seems far
from gallant.

The Kro-lu concentrated his steady, level gaze upon me for at least
a full minute. Then he spoke again.

"Who are you, man of strange skins?" he asked. "Your she is Galu;
but you are neither Galu nor Kro-lu nor Band-lu, nor any other sort
of man which I have seen before. Tell me from whence comes so
mighty a warrior and so generous a foe."

"It is a long story," I replied, "but suffice it to say that I am
not of Caspak. I am a stranger here, and--let this sink in--I am
not a foe. I have no wish to be an enemy of any man in Caspak,
with the possible exception of the Galu warrior Du-seen."

"Du-seen!" he exclaimed. "You are an enemy of Du-seen? And why?"

"Because he would harm Ajor," I replied. "You know him?"

"He cannot know him," said Ajor. "Du-seen rose from the Kro-lu
long ago, taking a new name, as all do when they enter a new sphere.
He cannot know him, as there is no intercourse between the Kro-lu
and the Galu."

The warrior smiled. "Du-seen rose not so long ago," he said,
"that I do not recall him well, and recently he has taken it upon
himself to abrogate the ancient laws of Caspak; he had had intercourse
with the Kro-lu. Du-seen would be chief of the Galus, and he has
come to the Kro-lu for help."

Ajor was aghast. The thing was incredible. Never had Kro-lu and
Galu had friendly relations; by the savage laws of Caspak they were
deadly enemies, for only so can the several races maintain their
individuality.

"Will the Kro-lu join him?" asked Ajor. "Will they invade the
country of Jor my father?"

"The younger Kro-lu favor the plan," replied the warrior, "since
they believe they will thus become Galus immediately. They hope
to span the long years of change through which they must pass in
the ordinary course of events and at a single stride become Galus.
We of the older Kro-lu tell them that though they occupy the land
of the Galu and wear the skins and ornaments of the golden people,
still they will not be Galus till the time arrives that they are
ripe to rise. We also tell them that even then they will never
become a true Galu race, since there will still be those among
them who can never rise. It is all right to raid the Galu country
occasionally for plunder, as our people do; but to attempt to conquer
it and hold it is madness. For my part, I have been content to
wait until the call came to me. I feel that it cannot now be long."

"What is your name?" asked Ajor.

"Chal-az," replied the man.

"You are chief of the Kro-lu?" Ajor continued.

"No, it is Al-tan who is chief of the Kro-lu of the east," answered
Chal-az.

"And he is against this plan to invade my father's country?"

"Unfortunately he is rather in favor of it," replied the man, "since
he has about come to the conclusion that he is _batu_. He has been
chief ever since, before I came up from the Band-lu, and I can see
no change in him in all those years. In fact, he still appears
to be more Band-lu than Kro-lu. However, he is a good chief and a
mighty warrior, and if Du-seen persuades him to his cause, the Galus
may find themselves under a Kro-lu chieftain before long--Du-seen
as well as the others, for Al-tan would never consent to occupy a
subordinate position, and once he plants a victorious foot in Galu,
he will not withdraw it without a struggle."

I asked them what _batu_ meant, as I had not before heard the word.
Literally translated, it is equivalent to _through, finished,
done-for_, as applied to an individual's evolutionary progress in
Caspak, and with this information was developed the interesting
fact that not every individual is capable of rising through every
stage to that of Galu. Some never progress beyond the Alu stage;
others stop as Bo-lu, as Sto-lu, as Band-lu or as Kro-lu. The
Ho-lu of the first generation may rise to become Alus; the Alus
of the second generation may become Bo-lu, while it requires three
generations of Bo-lu to become Band-lu, and so on until Kro-lu's
parent on one side must be of the sixth generation.

It was not entirely plain to me even with this explanation, since
I couldn't understand how there could be different generations of
peoples who apparently had no offspring. Yet I was commencing to
get a slight glimmer of the strange laws which govern propagation
and evolution in this weird land. Already I knew that the warm
pools which always lie close to every tribal abiding-place were
closely linked with the Caspakian scheme of evolution, and that the
daily immersion of the females in the greenish slimy water was in
response to some natural law, since neither pleasure nor cleanliness
could be derived from what seemed almost a religious rite. Yet I
was still at sea; nor, seemingly, could Ajor enlighten me, since
she was compelled to use words which I could not understand and
which it was impossible for her to explain the meanings of.

As we stood talking, we were suddenly startled by a commotion in
the bushes and among the boles of the trees surrounding us, and
simultaneously a hundred Kro-lu warriors appeared in a rough circle
about us. They greeted Chal-az with a volley of questions as they
approached slowly from all sides, their heavy bows fitted with
long, sharp arrows. Upon Ajor and me they looked with covetousness
in the one instance and suspicion in the other; but after they
had heard Chal-az's story, their attitude was more friendly. A
huge savage did all the talking. He was a mountain of a man, yet
perfectly proportioned.