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

though I greeted him
pleasantly and paused to speak to him, he brushed past me without
a sign of recognition. I was puzzled at his behavior, and then
I recalled that To-mar, though he had warned me, had appeared not
to wish to seem friendly with me. I could not understand their
attitude, and was trying to puzzle out some sort of explanation,
when the matter was suddenly driven from my mind by the report of
a firearm. Instantly I broke into a run, my brain in a whirl of
forebodings, for the only firearms in the Kro-lu country were those
I had left in the hut with Ajor.

That she was in danger I could not but fear, as she was now something
of an adept in the handling of both the pistol and rifle, a fact
which largely eliminated the chance that the shot had come from an
accidentally discharged firearm. When I left the hut, I had felt
that she and I were safe among friends; no thought of danger was in
my mind; but since my audience with Al-tan, the presence and bearing
of Du-seen and the strange attitude of both To-mar and Chal-az had
each contributed toward arousing my suspicions, and now I ran along
the narrow, winding alleys of the Kro-lu village with my heart
fairly in my mouth.

I am endowed with an excellent sense of direction, which has been
greatly perfected by the years I have spent in the mountains and
upon the plains and deserts of my native state, so that it was
with little or no difficulty that I found my way back to the hut
in which I had left Ajor. As I entered the doorway, I called her
name aloud. There was no response. I drew a box of matches from
my pocket and struck a light and as the flame flared up, a half-dozen
brawny warriors leaped upon me from as many directions; but even
in the brief instant that the flare lasted, I saw that Ajor was
not within the hut, and that my arms and ammunition had been removed.

As the six men leaped upon me, an angry growl burst from behind
them. I had forgotten Nobs. Like a demon of hate he sprang among
those Kro-lu fighting-men, tearing, rending, ripping with his long
tusks and his mighty jaws. They had me down in an instant, and it
goes without saying that the six of them could have kept me there
had it not been for Nobs; but while I was struggling to throw them
off, Nobs was springing first upon one and then upon another of
them until they were so put to it to preserve their hides and their
lives from him that they could give me only a small part of their
attention. One of them was assiduously attempting to strike me on
the head with his stone hatchet; but I caught his arm and at the
same time turned over upon my belly, after which it took but an
instant to get my feet under me and rise suddenly.

As I did so, I kept a grip upon the man's arm, carrying it over one
shoulder. Then I leaned suddenly forward and hurled my antagonist
over my head to a hasty fall at the opposite side of the hut. In
the dim light of the interior I saw that Nobs had already accounted
for one of the others--one who lay very quiet upon the floor--while
the four remaining upon their feet were striking at him with knives
and hatchets.

Running to one side of the man I had just put out of the fighting,
I seized his hatchet and knife, and in another moment was in the
thick of the argument. I was no match for these savage warriors
with their own weapons and would soon have gone down to ignominious
defeat and death had it not been for Nobs, who alone was a match
for the four of them. I never saw any creature so quick upon its
feet as was that great Airedale, nor such frightful ferocity as he
manifested in his attacks. It was as much the latter as the former
which contributed to the undoing of our enemies, who, accustomed
though they were to the ferocity of terrible creatures, seemed awed
by the sight of this strange beast from another world battling at
the side of his equally strange master. Yet they were no cowards,
and only by teamwork did Nobs and I overcome them at last. We
would rush for a man, simultaneously, and as Nobs leaped for him
upon one side, I would strike at his head with the stone hatchet
from the other.

As the last man went down, I heard the running of many feet approaching
us from the direction of the plaza. To be captured now would mean
death; yet I could not attempt to leave the village without first
ascertaining the whereabouts of Ajor and releasing her if she were
held a captive. That I could escape the village I was not at all
sure; but of one thing I was positive; that it would do neither
Ajor nor myself any service to remain where I was and be captured;
so with Nobs, bloody but happy, following at heel, I turned down
the first alley and slunk away in the direction of the northern
end of the village.

Friendless and alone, hunted through the dark labyrinths of this
savage community, I seldom have felt more helpless than at that
moment; yet far transcending any fear which I may have felt for my
own safety was my concern for that of Ajor. What fate had befallen
her? Where was she, and in whose power? That I should live to
learn the answers to these queries I doubted; but that I should
face death gladly in the attempt--of that I was certain. And why?
With all my concern for the welfare of my friends who had accompanied
me to Caprona, and of my best friend of all, Bowen J. Tyler, Jr.,
I never yet had experienced the almost paralyzing fear for the
safety of any other creature which now threw me alternately into a
fever of despair and into a cold sweat of apprehension as my mind
dwelt upon the fate on one bit of half-savage femininity of whose
very existence even I had not dreamed a few short weeks before.

What was this hold she had upon me? Was I bewitched, that my mind
refused to function sanely, and that judgment and reason were
dethroned by some mad sentiment which I steadfastly refused to believe
was love? I had never been in love. I was not in love now--the
very thought was preposterous. How could I, Thomas Billings, the
right-hand man of the late Bowen J. Tyler, Sr., one of America's
foremost captains of industry and the greatest man in California,
be in love with a--a--the word stuck in my throat; yet by my own
American standards Ajor could be nothing else; at home, for all
her beauty, for all her delicately tinted skin, little Ajor by her
apparel, by the habits and customs and manners of her people, by
her life, would have been classed a _squaw_. Tom Billings in love
with a squaw! I shuddered at the thought.

And then there came to my mind, in a sudden, brilliant flash upon
the screen of recollection the picture of Ajor as I had last seen
her, and I lived again the delicious moment in which we had clung
to one another, lips smothering lips, as I left her to go to the
council hall of Al-tan; and I could have kicked myself for the
snob and the cad that my thoughts had proven me--me, who had always
prided myself that I was neither the one nor the other!

These things ran through my mind as Nobs and I made our way through
the dark village, the voices and footsteps of those who sought us
still in our ears. These and many other things, nor could I escape
the incontrovertible fact that the little figure round which
my recollections and my hopes entwined themselves was that of
Ajor--beloved barbarian! My reveries were broken in upon by a hoarse
whisper from the black interior of a hut past which we were making
our way. My name was called in a low voice, and a man stepped out
beside me as I halted with raised knife. It was Chal-az.

"Quick!" he warned. "In here! It is my hut, and they will not
search it."

I hesitated, recalled his attitude of a few minutes before; and
as though he had read my thoughts, he said quickly: "I could not
speak to you in the plaza without danger of arousing suspicions
which would prevent me aiding you later, for word had gone out
that Al-tan had turned against you and would destroy you--this was
after Du-seen the Galu arrived."

I followed him into the hut, and with Nobs at our heels we passed
through several chambers into a remote and windowless apartment
where a small lamp sputtered in its unequal battle with the inky
darkness. A hole in the roof permitted the smoke from burning
oil egress; yet the atmosphere was far from lucid. Here Chal-az
motioned me to a seat upon a furry hide spread upon the earthen
floor.

"I am your friend," he said. "You saved my life; and I am no
ingrate as is the _batu_ Al-tan. I will serve you, and there are
others here who will serve you against Al-tan and this renegade
Galu, Du-seen."

"But where is Ajor?" I asked, for I cared little for my own safety
while she was in danger.

"Ajor is safe, too," he answered. "We learned the designs of Al-tan
and Du-seen. The latter, learning that Ajor was here, demanded her;
and Al-tan promised that he should have her; but when the warriors
went to get her To-mar went with them. Ajor tried to defend herself.
She killed one of the warriors, and then To-mar picked her up in
his arms when the others had taken her weapons from her. He told
the others to look after the wounded man, who was really already
dead, and to seize you upon your return, and that he, To-mar, would
bear Ajor to Al-tan; but instead of bearing her to Al-tan, he took
her to his own hut, where she now is with So-al, To-mar's she. It
all happened very quickly. To-mar and I were in the council-hut
when Du-seen attempted to take the dog from you. I was seeking
To-mar for this work. He ran out immediately and accompanied the
warriors to your hut while I remained to watch what went on within
the council-hut and to aid you if you needed aid. What has happened
since you know."

I thanked him for his loyalty and then asked him to take me to Ajor;
but he said that it could not be done, as the village streets were
filled with searchers. In fact, we could hear them passing to and
fro among the huts, making inquiries, and at last Chal-az thought
it best to go to the doorway of his dwelling, which consisted of
many huts joined together, lest they enter and search.

Chal-az was absent for a long time--several hours which seemed an
eternity to me. All sounds of pursuit had long since ceased, and
I was becoming uneasy because of his protracted absence when I