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

broke
into a trot away from him; but when they saw that he was apparently
giving them a wide berth they stopped again, though they stood
watching him, with high-held heads and quivering nostrils. It was
a beautiful sight. And then Nobs turned in behind them and trotted
slowly back toward me. He did not bark, nor come rushing down upon
them, and when he had come closer to them, he proceeded at a walk.
The splendid creatures seemed more curious than fearful, making
no effort to escape until Nobs was quite close to them; then they
trotted slowly away, but at right angles.

And now the fun and trouble commenced. Nobs, of course, attempted
to turn them, and he seemed to have selected the stallion to work
upon, for he paid no attention to the others, having intelligence
enough to know that a lone dog could run his legs off before he
could round up four horses that didn't wish to be rounded up. The
stallion, however, had notions of his own about being headed, and
the result was as pretty a race as one would care to see. Gad, how
that horse could run! He seemed to flatten out and shoot through
the air with the very minimum of exertion, and at his forefoot ran
Nobs, doing his best to turn him. He was barking now, and twice he
leaped high against the stallion's flank; but this cost too much
effort and always lost him ground, as each time he was hurled heels
over head by the impact; yet before they disappeared over a rise
in the ground I was sure that Nob's persistence was bearing fruit;
it seemed to me that the horse was giving way a trifle to the right.
Nobs was between him and the main herd, to which the yearling and
filly had already fled.

As I stood waiting for Nobs' return, I could not but speculate
upon my chances should I be attacked by some formidable beast. I
was some distance from the forest and armed with weapons in the use
of which I was quite untrained, though I had practiced some with
the spear since leaving the Kro-lu country. I must admit that my
thoughts were not pleasant ones, verging almost upon cowardice,
until I chanced to think of little Ajor alone in this same land
and armed only with a knife! I was immediately filled with shame;
but in thinking the matter over since, I have come to the conclusion
that my state of mind was influenced largely by my approximate
nakedness. If you have never wandered about in broad daylight
garbed in a bit of red-deer skin in inadequate length, you can have
no conception of the sensation of futility that overwhelms one.
Clothes, to a man accustomed to wearing clothes, impart a certain
self-confidence; lack of them induces panic.

But no beast attacked me, though I saw several menacing forms
passing through the dark aisles of the forest. At last I commenced
to worry over Nobs' protracted absence and to fear that something
had befallen him. I was coiling my rope to start out in search
of him, when I saw the stallion leap into view at almost the same
spot behind which he had disappeared, and at his heels ran Nobs.
Neither was running so fast or furiously as when last I had seen
them.

The horse, as he approached me, I could see was laboring hard; yet
he kept gamely to his task, and Nobs, too. The splendid fellow was
driving the quarry straight toward me. I crouched behind my bush
and laid my noose in readiness to throw. As the two approached my
hiding-place, Nobs reduced his speed, and the stallion, evidently
only too glad of the respite, dropped into a trot. It was at this
gait that he passed me; my rope-hand flew forward; the honda, well
down, held the noose open, and the beautiful bay fairly ran his
head into it.

Instantly he wheeled to dash off at right angles. I braced myself
with the rope around my hip and brought him to a sudden stand.
Rearing and struggling, he fought for his liberty while Nobs,
panting and with lolling tongue, came and threw himself down near
me. He seemed to know that his work was done and that he had
earned his rest. The stallion was pretty well spent, and after a
few minutes of struggling he stood with feet far spread, nostrils
dilated and eyes wide, watching me as I edged toward him, taking
in the slack of the rope as I advanced. A dozen times he reared
and tried to break away; but always I spoke soothingly to him and
after an hour of effort I succeeded in reaching his head and stroking
his muzzle. Then I gathered a handful of grass and offered it to
him, and always I talked to him in a quiet and reassuring voice.

I had expected a battle royal; but on the contrary I found his
taming a matter of comparative ease. Though wild, he was gentle
to a degree, and of such remarkable intelligence that he soon
discovered that I had no intention of harming him. After that,
all was easy. Before that day was done, I had taught him to lead
and to stand while I stroked his head and flanks, and to eat from
my hand, and had the satisfaction of seeing the light of fear die
in his large, intelligent eyes.

The following day I fashioned a hackamore from a piece which I cut
from the end of my long Galu rope, and then I mounted him fully
prepared for a struggle of titanic proportions in which I was none
too sure that he would not come off victor; but he never made the
slightest effort to unseat me, and from then on his education was
rapid. No horse ever learned more quickly the meaning of the rein
and the pressure of the knees. I think he soon learned to love
me, and I know that I loved him; while he and Nobs were the best
of pals. I called him Ace. I had a friend who was once in the
French flying-corps, and when Ace let himself out, he certainly
flew.

I cannot explain to you, nor can you understand, unless you too are
a horseman, the exhilarating feeling of well-being which pervaded
me from the moment that I commenced riding Ace. I was a new man,
imbued with a sense of superiority that led me to feel that I could
go forth and conquer all Caspak single-handed. Now, when I needed
meat, I ran it down on Ace and roped it, and when some great beast
with which we could not cope threatened us, we galloped away to
safety; but for the most part the creatures we met looked upon us
in terror, for Ace and I in combination presented a new and unusual
beast beyond their experience and ken.

For five days I rode back and forth across the southern end of the
Galu country without seeing a human being; yet all the time I was
working slowly toward the north, for I had determined to comb the
territory thoroughly in search of Ajor; but on the fifth day as
I emerged from a forest, I saw some distance ahead of me a single
small figure pursued by many others. Instantly I recognized the
quarry as Ajor. The entire party was fully a mile away from me,
and they were crossing my path at right angles. Ajor a few hundred
yards in advance of those who followed her. One of her pursuers
was far in advance of the others, and was gaining upon her rapidly.
With a word and a pressure of the knees I sent Ace leaping out into
the open, and with Nobs running close alongside, we raced toward
her.

At first none of them saw us; but as we neared Ajor, the pack
behind the foremost pursuer discovered us and set up such a howl
as I never before have heard. They were all Galus, and I soon
recognized the foremost as Du-seen. He was almost upon Ajor now,
and with a sense of terror such as I had never before experienced,
I saw that he ran with his knife in his hand, and that his intention
was to slay rather than capture. I could not understand it, but
I could only urge Ace to greater speed, and most nobly did the
wondrous creature respond to my demands. If ever a four-footed
creature approximated flying, it was Ace that day.

Du-seen, intent upon his brutal design, had as yet not noticed us.
He was within a pace of Ajor when Ace and I dashed between them,
and I, leaning down to the left, swept my little barbarian into
the hollow of an arm and up on the withers of my glorious Ace. We
had snatched her from the very clutches of Du-seen, who halted,
mystified and raging. Ajor, too, was mystified, as we had come
up from diagonally behind her so that she had no idea that we were
near until she was swung to Ace's back. The little savage turned
with drawn knife to stab me, thinking that I was some new enemy,
when her eyes found my face and she recognized me. With a little
sob she threw her arms about my neck, gasping: "My Tom! My Tom!"

And then Ace sank suddenly into thick mud to his belly, and Ajor
and I were thrown far over his head. He had run into one of those
numerous springs which cover Caspak. Sometimes they are little
lakes, again but tiny pools, and often mere quagmires of mud, as
was this one overgrown with lush grasses which effectually hid its
treacherous identity. It is a wonder that Ace did not break a leg,
so fast he was going when he fell; but he didn't, though with four
good legs he was unable to wallow from the mire. Ajor and I had
sprawled face down in the covering grasses and so had not sunk
deeply; but when we tried to rise, we found that there was not
footing, and presently we saw that Du-seen and his followers were
coming down upon us. There was no escape. It was evident that we
were doomed.

"Slay me!" begged Ajor. "Let me die at thy loved hands rather than
beneath the knife of this hateful thing, for he will kill me. He
has sworn to kill me. Last night he captured me, and when later
he would have his way with me, I struck him with my fists and with
my knife I stabbed him, and then I escaped, leaving him raging in
pain and thwarted desire. Today they searched for me and found
me; and as I fled, Du-seen ran after me crying that he would slay
me. Kill me, my Tom, and then fall upon thine own spear, for they
will kill you horribly if they take you alive."

I couldn't kill her--not at least until the last moment; and I told
her so, and that I loved her, and that until death came, I would
live and fight for her.

Nobs had followed us into the bog and had done fairly well at
first, but when he neared us he too sank to his belly and could
only flounder about. We were in this predicament when Du-seen and
his followers approached the edge