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

it.

We came to the cliffs beside the little river where it empties
into the bay with the great inland sea beyond. The cliffs were
weather-worn and rotted, and in one place a deep hollow ran back
beneath the overhanging stone for several feet, suggesting shelter
for the night. There were loose rocks strewn all about with which
I might build a barricade across the entrance to the cave, and so
I halted there and pointed out the place to Ajor, trying to make
her understand that we would spend the night there.

As soon as she grasped my meaning, she assented with the Caspakian
equivalent of an affirmative nod, and then touching my rifle,
motioned me to follow her to the river. At the bank she paused,
removed her belt and dagger, dropping them to the ground at her
side; then unfastening the lower edge of her garment from the metal
leg-band to which it was attached, slipped it off her left shoulder
and let it drop to the ground around her feet. It was done so
naturally, so simply and so quickly that it left me gasping like
a fish out of water. Turning, she flashed a smile at me and then
dived into the river, and there she bathed while I stood guard
over her. For five or ten minutes she splashed about, and when
she emerged her glistening skin was smooth and white and beautiful.
Without means of drying herself, she simply ignored what to me
would have seemed a necessity, and in a moment was arrayed in her
simple though effective costume.

It was now within an hour of darkness, and as I was nearly famished,
I led the way back about a quarter of a mile to a low meadow where
we had seen antelope and small horses a short time before. Here
I brought down a young buck, the report of my rifle sending the
balance of the herd scampering for the woods, where they were met
by a chorus of hideous roars as the carnivora took advantage of
their panic and leaped among them.

With my hunting-knife I removed a hind-quarter, and then we returned
to camp. Here I gathered a great quantity of wood from fallen
trees, Ajor helping me; but before I built a fire, I also gathered
sufficient loose rock to build my barricade against the frightful
terrors of the night to come.

I shall never forget the expression upon Ajor's face as she saw
me strike a match and light the kindling beneath our camp-fire.
It was such an expression as might transform a mortal face with
awe as its owner beheld the mysterious workings of divinity. It
was evident that Ajor was quite unfamiliar with modern methods of
fire-making. She had thought my rifle and pistol wonderful; but
these tiny slivers of wood which from a magic rub brought flame to
the camp hearth were indeed miracles to her.

As the meat roasted above the fire, Ajor and I tried once again
to talk; but though copiously filled with incentive, gestures and
sounds, the conversation did not flourish notably. And then Ajor
took up in earnest the task of teaching me her language. She
commenced, as I later learned, with the simplest form of speech
known to Caspak or for that matter to the world--that employed by
the Bo-lu. I found it far from difficult, and even though it was
a great handicap upon my instructor that she could not speak my
language, she did remarkably well and demonstrated that she possessed
ingenuity and intelligence of a high order.

After we had eaten, I added to the pile of firewood so that I could
replenish the fire before the entrance to our barricade, believing
this as good a protection against the carnivora as we could have;
and then Ajor and I sat down before it, and the lesson proceeded,
while from all about us came the weird and awesome noises of the
Caspakian night--the moaning and the coughing and roaring of the
tigers, the panthers and the lions, the barking and the dismal
howling of a wolf, jackal and hyaenadon, the shrill shrieks of
stricken prey and the hissing of the great reptiles; the voice of
man alone was silent.

But though the voice of this choir-terrible rose and fell from
far and near in all directions, reaching at time such a tremendous
volume of sound that the earth shook to it, yet so engrossed was
I in my lesson and in my teacher that often I was deaf to what at
another time would have filled me with awe. The face and voice of
the beautiful girl who leaned so eagerly toward me as she tried to
explain the meaning of some word or correct my pronunciation of
another quite entirely occupied my every faculty of perception.
The firelight shone upon her animated features and sparkling eyes;
it accentuated the graceful motions of her gesturing arms and hands;
it sparkled from her white teeth and from her golden ornaments, and
glistened on the smooth firmness of her perfect skin. I am afraid
that often I was more occupied with admiration of this beautiful
animal than with a desire for knowledge; but be that as it may,
I nevertheless learned much that evening, though part of what I
learned had naught to do with any new language.

Ajor seemed determined that I should speak Caspakian as quickly
as possible, and I thought I saw in her desire a little of that
all-feminine trait which has come down through all the ages from
the first lady of the world--curiosity. Ajor desired that I should
speak her tongue in order that she might satisfy a curiosity concerning
me that was filling her to a point where she was in danger of
bursting; of that I was positive. She was a regular little animated
question-mark. She bubbled over with interrogations which were
never to be satisfied unless I learned to speak her tongue. Her
eyes sparkled with excitement; her hand flew in expressive gestures;
her little tongue raced with time; yet all to no avail. I could
say _man_ and _tree_ and _cliff_ and _lion_ and a number of other
words in perfect Caspakian; but such a vocabulary was only
tantalizing; it did not lend itself well to a very general
conversation, and the result was that Ajor would wax so wroth that
she would clench her little fists and beat me on the breast as hard
as ever she could, and then she would sink back laughing as the humor
of the situation captured her.

She was trying to teach me some verbs by going through the actions
herself as she repeated the proper word. We were very much
engrossed--so much so that we were giving no heed to what went on
beyond our cave--when Ajor stopped very suddenly, crying: "Kazor!"
Now she had been trying to teach me that _ju_ meant _stop_; so when she
cried _Kazor_ and at the same time stopped, I thought for a moment
that this was part of my lesson--for the moment I forgot that _kazor_
means _beware_. I therefore repeated the word after her; but when
I saw the expression in her eyes as they were directed past me and
saw her point toward the entrance to the cave, I turned quickly--to
see a hideous face at the small aperture leading out into the night.
It was the fierce and snarling countenance of a gigantic bear. I
have hunted silvertips in the White Mountains of Arizona and thought
them quite the largest and most formidable of big game; but from
the appearance of the head of this awful creature I judged that
the largest grizzly I had ever seen would shrink by comparison to
the dimensions of a Newfoundland dog.

Our fire was just within the cave, the smoke rising through the
apertures between the rocks that I had piled in such a way that
they arched inward toward the cliff at the top. The opening by
means of which we were to reach the outside was barricaded with a
few large fragments which did not by any means close it entirely;
but through the apertures thus left no large animal could gain
ingress. I had depended most, however, upon our fire, feeling
that none of the dangerous nocturnal beasts of prey would venture
close to the flames. In this, however, I was quite evidently
in error, for the great bear stood with his nose not a foot from
the blaze, which was now low, owing to the fact that I had been
so occupied with my lesson and my teacher that I had neglected to
replenish it.

Ajor whipped out her futile little knife and pointed to my rifle.
At the same time she spoke in a quite level voice entirely devoid
of nervousness or any evidence of fear or panic. I knew she was
exhorting me to fire upon the beast; but this I did not wish to
do other than as a last resort, for I was quite sure that even my
heavy bullets would not more than further enrage him--in which case
he might easily force an entrance to our cave.

Instead of firing, I piled some more wood upon the fire, and as the
smoke and blaze arose in the beast's face, it backed away, growling
most frightfully; but I still could see two ugly points of light
blazing in the outer darkness and hear its growls rumbling terrifically
without. For some time the creature stood there watching the
entrance to our frail sanctuary while I racked my brains in futile
endeavor to plan some method of defense or escape. I knew full
well that should the bear make a determined effort to get at us,
the rocks I had piled as a barrier would come tumbling down about
his giant shoulders like a house of cards, and that he would walk
directly in upon us.

Ajor, having less knowledge of the effectiveness of firearms than
I, and therefore greater confidence in them, entreated me to shoot
the beast; but I knew that the chance that I could stop it with a
single shot was most remote, while that I should but infuriate it
was real and present; and so I waited for what seemed an eternity,
watching those devilish points of fire glaring balefully at us, and
listening to the ever-increasing volume of those seismic growls which
seemed to rumble upward from the bowels of the earth, shaking the
very cliffs beneath which we cowered, until at last I saw that the
brute was again approaching the aperture. It availed me nothing
that I piled the blaze high with firewood, until Ajor and I were
near to roasting; on came that mighty engine of destruction until
once again the hideous face yawned its fanged yawn directly within
the barrier's opening. It stood thus a moment, and then the head
was withdrawn. I breathed a sigh of relief, the thing had altered
its intention and was going on in search of other and more easily
procurable prey; the fire had been too much for it.

But my joy was short-lived, and my heart sank once again as a
moment later I saw a mighty paw insinuated into the opening--a paw
as large around as a large dishpan. Very gently the paw toyed with
the great rock that partly closed the entrance, pushed and pulled
upon it and then very deliberately drew it outward and to one side.
Again came the head, and this time much farther into the cavern;
but still the great shoulders would not pass through