Books: Pellucidar

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When the leader was a hundred yards from us Dian called our attention
to the fact that several of her crew were Sagoths. That convinced
us that the flotilla was indeed Hooja's. I told Juag to hail them
and get what information he could, while I remained in the bottom
of our canoe as much out of sight as possible. Dian lay down at
full length in the bottom; I did not want them to see and recognize
her if they were in truth Hooja's people.

"Who are you?" shouted Juag, standing up in the boat and making a
megaphone of his palms.

A figure arose in the bow of the leading canoe--a figure that I
was sure I recognized even before he spoke.

"I am Hooja!" cried the man, in answer to Juag.

For some reason he did not recognize his former prisoner and
slave--possibly because he had so many of them.

"I come from the Island of Trees," he continued. "A hundred of
my boats were lost in the great storm and all their crews drowned.
Where is the land? What are you, and what strange thing is that
which flutters from the little tree in the front of your canoe?"

He referred to our sail, flapping idly in the wind.

"We, too, are lost," replied Juag. "We know not where the land
is. We are going back to look for it now."

So saying he commenced to scull the canoe's nose before the wind,
while I made fast the primitive sheets that held our crude sail.
We thought it time to be going.

There wasn't much wind at the time, and the heavy, lumbering dugout
was slow in getting under way. I thought it never would gain any
momentum. And all the while Hooja's canoe was drawing rapidly
nearer, propelled by the strong arms of his twenty paddlers. Of
course, their dugout was much larger than ours, and, consequently,
infinitely heavier and more cum-bersome; nevertheless, it was
coming along at quite a clip, and ours was yet but barely moving.
Dian and I remained out of sight as much as possible, for the two
craft were now well within bow-shot of one an-other, and I knew
that Hooja had archers.

Hooja called to Juag to stop when he saw that our craft was moving.
He was much interested in the sail, and not a little awed, as I
could tell by his shouted remarks and questions. Raising my head,
I saw him plainly. He would have made an excellent target for one
of my guns, and I had never been sorrier that I had lost them.

We were now picking up speed a trifle, and he was not gaining upon
us so fast as at first. In consequence, his requests that we stop
suddenly changed to com-mands as he became aware that we were trying
to escape him.

"Come back!" he shouted. "Come back, or I'll fire!"

I use the word fire because it more nearly translates into English
the Pellucidarian word trag, which covers the launching of any
deadly missile.

But Juag only seized his paddle more tightly--the paddle that
answered the purpose of rudder, and com-menced to assist the wind
by vigorous strokes. Then Hooja gave the command to some of his
archers to fire upon us. I couldn't lie hidden in the bottom of
the boat, leaving Juag alone exposed to the deadly shafts, so I
arose and, seizing another paddle, set to work to help him. Dian
joined me, though I did my best to persuade her to remain sheltered;
but being a woman, she must have her own way.

The instant that Hooja saw us he recognized us. The whoop of
triumph he raised indicated how certain he was that we were about
to fall into his hands. A shower of arrows fell about us. Then
Hooja caused his men to cease firing--he wanted us alive. None of
the mis-siles struck us, for Hooja's archers were not nearly the
marksmen that are my Sarians and Amozites.

We had now gained sufficient headway to hold our own on about
even terms with Hooja's paddlers. We did not seem to be gaining,
though; and neither did they. How long this nerve-racking experience
lasted I cannot guess, though we had pretty nearly finished our
meager supply of provisions when the wind picked up a bit and we
commenced to draw away.

Not once yet had we sighted land, nor could I understand it, since
so many of the seas I had seen before were thickly dotted with
islands. Our plight was anything but pleasant, yet I think that
Hooja and his forces were even worse off than we, for they had no
food nor water at all.

Far out behind us in a long line that curved upward in the distance,
to be lost in the haze, strung Hooja's two hundred boats. But
one would have been enough to have taken us could it have come
alongside. We had drawn some fifty yards ahead of Hooja--there
had been times when we were scarce ten yards in advance-and were
feeling considerably safer from capture. Hooja's men, working in
relays, were com-mencing to show the effects of the strain under
which they had been forced to work without food or water, and I think
their weakening aided us almost as much as the slight freshening
of the wind.

Hooja must have commenced to realize that he was going to lose
us, for he again gave orders that we be fired upon. Volley after
volley of arrows struck about us. The distance was so great by this
time that most of the arrows fell short, while those that reached
us were sufficiently spent to allow us to ward them off with our
paddles. However, it was a most exciting ordeal.

Hooja stood in the bow of his boat, alternately urging his men to
greater speed and shouting epithets at me. But we continued to
draw away from him. At last the wind rose to a fair gale, and we
simply raced away from our pursuers as if they were standing still.
Juag was so tickled that he forgot all about his hunger and thirst.
I think that he had never been entirely recon-ciled to the heathenish
invention which I called a sail, and that down in the bottom of
his heart he believed that the paddlers would eventually overhaul
us; but now he couldn't praise it enough.

We had a strong gale for a considerable time, and eventually dropped
Hooja's fleet so far astern that we could no longer discern them.
And then--ah, I shall never forget that moment--Dian sprang to her
feet with a cry of "Land!"

Sure enough, dead ahead, a long, low coast stretched across our
bow. It was still a long way off, and we couldn't make out whether
it was island or mainland; but at least it was land. If ever
shipwrecked mariners were grateful, we were then. Raja and Ranee
were commencing to suffer for lack of food, and I could swear that
the latter often cast hungry glances upon us, though I am equally
sure that no such hideous thoughts ever entered the head of her
mate. We watched them both most closely, however. Once while
stroking Ranee I managed to get a rope around her neck and make her
fast to the side of the boat. Then I felt a bit safer for Dian.
It was pretty close quarters in that little dugout for three human
beings and two practically wild, man-eating dogs; but we had to
make the best of it, since I would not listen to Juag's sug-gestion
that we kill and eat Raja and Ranee.

We made good time to within a few miles of the shore. Then the wind
died suddenly out. We were all of us keyed up to such a pitch of
anticipation that the blow was doubly hard to bear. And it was a
blow, too, since we could not tell in what quarter the wind might
rise again; but Juag and I set to work to paddle the remaining
distance.

Almost immediately the wind rose again from pre-cisely the opposite
direction from which it had formerly blown, so that it was mighty
hard work making progress against it. Next it veered again so that
we had to turn and run with it parallel to the coast to keep from
being swamped in the trough of the seas.

And while we were suffering all these disappoint-ments Hooja's
fleet appeared in the distance!

They evidently had gone far to the left of our course, for they were
now almost behind us as we ran parallel to the coast; but we were
not much afraid of being overtaken in the wind that was blowing. The
gale kept on increasing, but it was fitful, swooping down upon us
in great gusts and then going almost calm for an instant. It was
after one of these momentary calms that the catastrophe occurred.
Our sail hung limp and our momentum decreased when of a sudden
a par-ticularly vicious squall caught us. Before I could cut the
sheets the mast had snapped at the thwart in which it was stepped.

The worst had happened; Juag and I seized paddles and kept the
canoe with the wind; but that squall was the parting shot of the
gale, which died out immediately after, leaving us free to make
for the shore, which we lost no time in attempting. But Hooja had
drawn closer in toward shore than we, so it looked as if he might
head us off before we could land. However, we did our best to
distance him, Dian taking a paddle with us.

We were in a fair way to succeed when there ap-peared, pouring
from among the trees beyond the beach, a horde of yelling, painted
savages, brandishing all sorts of devilish-looking primitive weapons.
So menac-ing was their attitude that we realized at once the folly
of attempting to land among them.

Hooja was drawing closer to us. There was no wind. We could not
hope to outpaddle him. And with our sail gone, no wind would help
us, though, as if in derision at our plight, a steady breeze was
now blowing. But we had no intention of sitting idle while our
fate overtook us, so we bent to our paddles and, keeping parallel
with the coast, did our best to pull away from our pursuers.

It was a grueling experience. We were weakened by lack of food. We
were suffering the pangs of thirst. Capture and death were close
at hand. Yet I think that we gave a good account of ourselves
in our final effort to escape. Our boat was so much smaller and
lighter than any of Hooja's that the three of us forced it ahead
almost as rapidly as his larger craft could go under their twenty
paddles.

As we raced along the coast for one of those seem-ingly interminable
periods that may draw hours into eternities where the labor is
soul-searing and there is no way to measure time, I saw what I took
for the opening to a bay or the mouth of a great river a short
distance ahead of us. I wished that we might make for it; but
with the menace of Hooja close behind and the screaming natives
who raced along the shore paral-lel to us, I dared not attempt it.

We were not far from shore in that mad flight from death. Even
as I paddled I found opportunity to glance occasionally toward
the natives. They were white, but hideously painted. From their
gestures and weapons I took them to be a most ferocious race. I
was rather glad that we had not succeeded in landing among them.

Hooja's fleet had been in much more compact forma-tion when we
sighted them this time than on the occasion following the tempest.
Now they were moving rapidly in pursuit of us, all well within the
radius of a mile. Five of them were leading, all abreast, and were
scarce two hundred yards from us. When I glanced over my shoulder
I could see that the archers had already fitted arrows to their
bows in readiness to fire upon us the moment that they should draw
within range.

Hope was low in my breast. I could not see the slightest chance
of escaping them, for they were over-hauling us rapidly now, since
they were able to work their paddles in relays, while we three were
rapidly wearying beneath the constant strain that had been put upon
us.

It was then that Juag called my attention to the rift in the
shore-line which I had thought either a bay or the mouth of a great
river. There I saw moving slowly out into the sea that which filled
my soul with wonder.

CHAPTER XIV

GORE AND DREAMS

It was a two-masted felucca with lateen sails! The craft was long
and low. In it were more than fifty men, twenty or thirty of whom
were at oars with which the craft was being propelled from the lee
of the land. I was dumbfounded.

Could it be that the savage, painted natives I had seen on shore
had so perfected the art of navigation that they were masters of
such advanced building and rigging as this craft proclaimed? It
seemed impossible! And as I looked I saw another of the same type
swing into view and follow its sister through the narrow strait
out into the ocean.

Nor were these all. One after another, following closely upon one
another's heels, came fifty of the trim, graceful vessels. They
were cutting in between Hooja's fleet and our little dugout,

When they came a bit closer my eyes fairly popped from my head
at what I saw, for in the eye of the leading felucca stood a man
with a sea-glass leveled upon us. Who could they be? Was there
a civilization within Pellucidar of such wondrous advancement as
this? Were there far-distant lands of which none of my people had
ever heard, where a race had so greatly outstripped all other races
of this inner world?

The man with the glass had lowered it and was shouting to us. I
could not make out his words, but presently I saw that he was
pointing aloft. When I looked I saw a pennant fluttering from the
peak of the forward lateen yard--a red, white, and blue pen-nant,
with a single great white star in a field of blue.

Then I knew. My eyes went even wider than they had before. It
was the navy! It was the navy of the empire of Pellucidar which I
had instructed Perry to build in my absence. It was MY navy!

I dropped my paddle and stood up and shouted and waved my hand.
Juag and Dian looked at me as if I had gone suddenly mad. When I
could stop shouting I told them, and they shared my joy and shouted
with me.

But still Hooja was coming nearer, nor could the leading felucca
overhaul him before he would be along-side or at least within
bow-shot.

Hooja must have been as much mystified as we were as to the identity
of the strange fleet; but when he saw me waving to them he evidently
guessed that they were friendly to us, so he urged his men to
redouble their efforts to reach us before the felucca cut him off.

He shouted word back to others of his fleet--word that was passed
back until it had reached them all--directing them to run alongside
the strangers and board them, for with his two hundred craft
and his eight or ten thousand warriors he evidently felt equal to
over-coming the fifty vessels of the enemy, which did not seem to
carry over three thousand men all told.

His own personal energies he bent to reaching Dian and me first,
leaving the rest of the work to his other boats. I thought that
there could be little doubt that he would be successful in so far
as we were concerned, and I feared for the revenge that he might
take upon us should the battle go against his force, as I was sure
it would; for I knew that Perry and his Mezops must have brought
with them all the arms and ammunition that had been contained in
the prospector. But I was not prepared for what happened next.

As Hooja's canoe reached a point some twenty yards from us a great
puff of smoke broke from the bow of the leading felucca, followed
almost simultaneously by a terrific explosion, and a solid shot
screamed close over the heads of the men in Hooja's craft, raising
a great splash where it clove the water just beyond them.

Perry had perfected gunpowder and built cannon! It was marvelous!
Dian and Juag, as much surprised as Hooja, turned wondering eyes
toward me. Again the cannon spoke. I suppose that by comparison
with the great guns of modern naval vessels of the outer world it
was a pitifully small and inadequate thing; but here in Pellucidar,
where it was the first of its kind, it was about as awe-inspiring
as anything you might imagine.

With the report an iron cannonball about five inches in diameter
struck Hooja's dugout just above the water-line, tore a great
splintering hole in its side, turned it over, and dumped its
occupants into the sea.

The four dugouts that had been abreast of Hooja had turned to
intercept the leading felucca. Even now, in the face of what must
have been a withering catastrophe to them, they kept bravely on
toward the strange and terrible craft.

In them were fully two hundred men, while but fifty lined the gunwale
of the felucca to repel them. The commander of the felucca, who
proved to be Ja, let them come quite close and then turned loose
upon them a volley of shots from small-arms.

The cave men and Sagoths in the dugouts seemed to wither before
that blast of death like dry grass before a prairie fire. Those
who were not hit dropped their bows and javelins and, seizing
upon paddles, attempted to escape. But the felucca pursued them
relentlessly, her crew firing at will.

At last I heard Ja shouting to the survivors in the dugouts--they
were all quite close to us now--offer-ing them their lives if they
would surrender. Perry was standing close behind Ja, and I knew
that this merciful action was prompted, perhaps commanded, by the
old man; for no Pellucidarian would have thought of showing leniency
to a defeated foe.

As there was no alternative save death, the survivors surrendered
and a moment later were taken aboard the Amoz, the name that I
could now see printed in large letters upon the felucca's bow, and
which no one in that whole world could read except Perry and I.

When the prisoners were aboard, Ja brought the felucca alongside
our dugout. Many were the willing hands that reached down to lift
us to her decks. The bronze faces of the Mezops were broad with
smiles, and Perry was fairly beside himself with joy.

Dian went aboard first and then Juag, as I wished to help Raja and
Ranee aboard myself, well knowing that it would fare ill with any
Mezop who touched them. We got them aboard at last, and a great
com-motion they caused among the crew, who had never seen a wild
beast thus handled by man before.

Perry and Dian and I were so full of questions that we fairly burst,
but we had to contain ourselves for a while, since the battle with
the rest of Hooja's fleet had scarce commenced. From the small
forward decks of the feluccas Perry's crude cannon were belching
smoke, flame, thunder, and death. The air trembled to the roar
of them. Hooja's horde, intrepid, savage fighters that they were,
were closing in to grapple in a last death-struggle with the Mezops
who manned our vessels.

The handling of our fleet by the red island warriors of Ja's clan
was far from perfect. I could see that Perry had lost no time
after the completion of the boats in setting out upon this cruise.
What little the captains and crews had learned of handling feluccas
they must have learned principally since they embarked upon this
voyage, and while experience is an excellent teacher and had done
much for them, they still had a great deal to learn. In maneuvering
for position they were continually fouling one another, and on two
occasions shots from our batteries came near to striking our own
ships.

No sooner, however, was I aboard the flagship than I attempted to
rectify this trouble to some extent. By passing commands by word
of mouth from one ship to another I managed to get the fifty feluccas
into some sort of line, with the flag-ship in the lead. In this
formation we commenced slowly to circle the position of the enemy.
The dugouts came for us right along in an attempt to board us, but
by keeping on the move in one direction and circling, we managed
to avoid getting in each other's way, and were enabled to fire our
cannon and our small arms with less danger to our own comrades.

When I had a moment to look about me, I took in the felucca on
which I was. I am free to confess that I marveled at the excellent
construction and stanch yet speedy lines of the little craft. That
Perry had chosen this type of vessel seemed rather remarkable,
for though I had warned him against turreted battle-ships, armor,
and like useless show, I had fully ex-pected that when I beheld
his navy I should find considerable attempt at grim and terrible
magnifi-cence, for it was always Perry's idea to overawe these
ignorant cave men when we had to contend with them in battle. But
I had soon learned that while one might easily astonish them with
some new engine of war, it was an utter impossibility to frighten
them into surrender.

I learned later that Ja had gone carefully over the plans of various
craft with Perry. The old man had explained in detail all that the
text told him of them. The two had measured out dimensions upon
the ground, that Ja might see the sizes of different boats. Perry
had built models, and Ja had had him read carefully and explain all
that they could find relative to the handling of sailing vessels.
The result of this was that Ja was the one who had chosen the
felucca. It was well that Perry had had so excellent a balance
wheel, for he had been wild to build a huge frigate of the Nelsonian
era--he told me so himself.

One thing that had inclined Ja particularly to the felucca was
the fact that it included oars in its equip-ment. He realized the
limitations of his people in the matter of sails, and while they
had never used oars, the implement was so similar to a paddle that
he was sure they quickly could master the art--and they did. As
soon as one hull was completed Ja kept it on the water constantly,
first with one crew and then with another, until two thousand red
warriors had learned to row. Then they stepped their masts and a
crew was told off for the first ship.

While the others were building they learned to handle theirs. As
each succeeding boat was launched its crew took it out and practiced
with it under the tutorage of those who had graduated from the first
ship, and so on until a full complement of men had been trained
for every boat.

Well, to get back to the battle: The Hoojans kept on coming at us,
and as fast as they came we mowed them down. It was little else
than slaughter. Time and time again I cried to them to surrender,
promising them their lives if they would do so. At last there were
but ten boatloads left. These turned in flight. They thought they
could paddle away from us--it was pitiful! I passed the word from
boat to boat to cease firing--not to kill another Hoojan unless they
fired on us. Then we set out after them. There was a nice little
breeze blowing and we bowled along after our quarry as gracefully
and as lightly as swans upon a park lagoon. As we approached them
I could see not only wonder but admiration in their eyes. I hailed
the nearest dugout.

"Throw down your arms and come aboard us," I cried, "and you shall
not be harmed. We will feed you and return you to the mainland.
Then you shall go free upon your promise never to bear arms against
the Emperor of Pellucidar again!"

I think it was the promise of food that interested them most.
They could scarce believe that we would not kill them. But when I
exhibited the prisoners we already had taken, and showed them that
they were alive and unharmed, a great Sagoth in one of the boats
asked me what guarantee I could give that I would keep my word.

"None other than my word," I replied. "That I do not break."

The Pellucidarians themselves are rather punctilious about this
same matter, so the Sagoth could understand that I might possibly
be speaking the truth. But he could not understand why we should
not kill them unless we meant to enslave them, which I had as much
as denied already when I had promised to set them free. Ja couldn't
exactly see the wisdom of my plan, either. He thought that we
ought to follow up the ten remaining dugouts and sink them all;
but I insisted that we must free as many as possible of our enemies
upon the mainland.

"You see," I explained, "these men will return at once to Hooja's
Island, to the Mahar cities from which they come, or to the countries
from which they were stolen by the Mahars. They are men of two
races and of many countries. They will spread the story of our
victory far and wide, and while they are with us, we will let them
see and hear many other wonderful things which they may carry back
to their friends and their chiefs. It's the finest chance for free
publicity, Perry," I added to the old man, "that you or I have seen
in many a day."

Perry agreed with me. As a matter of fact, he would have agreed
to anything that would have restrained us from killing the poor
devils who fell into our hands. He was a great fellow to invent
gunpowder and fire-arms and cannon; but when it came to using these
things to kill people, he was as tender-hearted as a chicken.

The Sagoth who had spoken was talking to other Sagoths in his
boat. Evidently they were holding a council over the question of
the wisdom of surrender-ing.

"What will become of you if you don't surrender to us?" I asked.
"If we do not open up our batteries on you again and kill you all,
you will simply drift about the sea helplessly until you die of
thirst and starvation. You cannot return to the islands, for you
have seen as well as we that the natives there are very numerous
and warlike. They would kill you the moment you landed."

The upshot of it was that the boat of which the Sagoth speaker was
in charge surrendered. The Sagoths threw down their weapons, and
we took them aboard the ship next in line behind the Amoz. First
Ja had to impress upon the captain and crew of the ship that the
prisoners were not to be abused or killed. After that the remaining
dugouts paddled up and sur-rendered. We distributed them among
the entire fleet lest there be too many upon any one vessel. Thus
ended the first real naval engagement that the Pel-lucidarian seas
had ever witnessed--though Perry still insists that the action in
which the Sari took part was a battle of the first magnitude.

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