Books: People Out Of Time

E >> Edgar Rice Burroughs >> People Out Of Time

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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was withdrawn.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 the opening.
Ajor moved closer to me until her shoulder touched my side, and I
thought I felt a slight tremor run through her body, but otherwise
she gave no indication of fear. Involuntarily I threw my left
arm about her and drew her to me for an instant. It was an act of
reassurance rather than a caress, though I must admit that again
and even in the face of death I thrilled at the contact with her;
and then I released her and threw my rifle to my shoulder, for at
last I had reached the conclusion that nothing more could be gained
by waiting. My only hope was to get as many shots into the creature
as I could before it was upon me. Already it had torn away a second
rock and was in the very act of forcing its huge bulk through the
opening it had now made.

So now I took careful aim between its eyes; my right fingers
closed firmly and evenly upon the small of the stock, drawing back
my trigger-finger by the muscular action of the hand. The bullet
could not fail to hit its mark! I held my breath lest I swerve
the muzzle a hair by my breathing. I was as steady and cool as I
ever had been upon a target-range, and I had the full consciousness of
a perfect hit in anticipation; I knew that I could not miss. And
then, as the bear surged forward toward me, the hammer fell--futilely,
upon an imperfect cartridge.

Almost simultaneously I heard from without a perfectly hellish
roar; the bear gave voice to a series of growls far transcending
in volume and ferocity anything that he had yet essayed and at the
same time backed quickly from the cave. For an instant I couldn't
understand what had happened to cause this sudden retreat when
his prey was practically within his clutches. The idea that the
harmless clicking of the hammer had frightened him was too ridiculous
to entertain. However, we had not long to wait before we could at
least guess at the cause of the diversion, for from without came
mingled growls and roars and the sound of great bodies thrashing
about until the earth shook. The bear had been attacked in the
rear by some other mighty beast, and the two were now locked in a
titanic struggle for supremacy. With brief respites, during which
we could hear the labored breathing of the contestants, the battle
continued for the better part of an hour until the sounds of combat
grew gradually less and finally ceased entirely.

At Ajor's suggestion, made by signs and a few of the words we knew
in common, I moved the fire directly to the entrance to the cave
so that a beast would have to pass directly through the flames to
reach us, and then we sat and waited for the victor of the battle
to come and claim his reward; but though we sat for a long time
with our eyes glued to the opening, we saw no sign of any beast.

At last I signed to Ajor to lie down, for I knew that she must
have sleep, and I sat on guard until nearly morning, when the girl
awoke and insisted that I take some rest; nor would she be denied,
but dragged me down as she laughingly menaced me with her knife.

Chapter 3

When I awoke, it was daylight, and I found Ajor squatting before a
fine bed of coals roasting a large piece of antelope-meat. Believe
me, the sight of the new day and the delicious odor of the cooking
meat filled me with renewed happiness and hope that had been all
but expunged by the experience of the previous night; and perhaps
the slender figure of the bright-faced girl proved also a potent
restorative. She looked up and smiled at me, showing those perfect
teeth, and dimpling with evident happiness--the most adorable
picture that I had ever seen. I recall that it was then I first
regretted that she was only a little untutored savage and so far
beneath me in the scale of evolution.

Her first act was to beckon me to follow her outside, and there
she pointed to the explanation of our rescue from the bear--a huge
saber-tooth tiger, its fine coat and its flesh torn to ribbons,
lying dead a few paces from our cave, and beside it, equally mangled,
and disemboweled, was the carcass of a huge cave-bear. To have
had one's life saved by a saber-tooth tiger, and in the twentieth
century into the bargain, was an experience that was to say the
least unique; but it had happened--I had the proof of it before my
eyes.

So enormous are the great carnivora of Caspak that they must feed
perpetually to support their giant thews, and the result is that
they will eat the meat of any other creature and will attack anything
that comes within their ken, no matter how formidable the quarry.
From later observation--I mention this as worthy the attention
of paleontologists and naturalists--I came to the conclusion that
such creatures as the cave-bear, the cave-lion and the saber-tooth
tiger, as well as the larger carnivorous reptiles make, ordinarily,
two kills a day--one in the morning and one after night. They
immediately devour the entire carcass, after which they lie up and
sleep for a few hours. Fortunately their numbers are comparatively
few; otherwise there would be no other life within Caspak. It is
their very voracity that keeps their numbers down to a point which
permits other forms of life to persist, for even in the season of
love the great males often turn upon their own mates and devour
them, while both males and females occasionally devour their young.
How the human and semihuman races have managed to survive during
all the countless ages that these conditions must have existed here
is quite beyond me.

After breakfast Ajor and I set out once more upon our northward
journey. We had gone but a little distance when we were attacked
by a number of apelike creatures armed with clubs. They seemed a
little higher in the scale than the Alus. Ajor told me they were
Bo-lu, or clubmen. A revolver-shot killed one and scattered the
others; but several times later during the day we were menaced
by them, until we had left their country and entered that of the
Sto-lu, or hatchet-men. These people were less hairy and more
man-like; nor did they appear so anxious to destroy us. Rather
they were curious, and followed us for some distance examining us
most closely. They called out to us, and Ajor answered them; but
her replies did not seem to satisfy them, for they gradually became
threatening, and I think they were preparing to attack us when a
small deer that had been hiding in some low brush suddenly broke
cover and dashed across our front. We needed meat, for it was near
one o'clock and I was getting hungry; so I drew my pistol and with
a single shot dropped the creature in its tracks. The effect upon
the Bo-lu was electrical. Immediately they abandoned all thoughts
of war, and turning, scampered for the forest which fringed our
path.

That night we spent beside a little stream in the Sto-lu country.
We found a tiny cave in the rock bank, so hidden away that only
chance could direct a beast of prey to it, and after we had eaten
of the deer-meat and some fruit which Ajor gathered, we crawled into
the little hole, and with sticks and stones which I had gathered
for the purpose I erected a strong barricade inside the entrance.
Nothing could reach us without swimming and wading through the
stream, and I felt quite secure from attack. Our quarters were
rather cramped. The ceiling was so low that we could not stand up,
and the floor so narrow that it was with difficulty that we both
wedged into it together; but we were very tired, and so we made
the most of it; and so great was the feeling of security that I am
sure I fell asleep as soon as I had stretched myself beside Ajor.

During the three days which followed, our progress was exasperatingly
slow. I doubt if we made ten miles in the entire three days. The
country was hideously savage, so that we were forced to spend hours
at a time in hiding from one or another of the great beasts which
menaced us continually. There were fewer reptiles; but the quantity
of carnivora seemed to have increased, and the reptiles that we
did see were perfectly gigantic. I shall never forget one enormous
specimen which we came upon browsing upon water-reeds at the edge
of the great sea. It stood well over twelve feet high at the rump,
its highest point, and with its enormously long tail and neck it
was somewhere between seventy-five and a hundred feet in length.
Its head was ridiculously small; its body was unarmored, but its
great bulk gave it a most formidable appearance. My experience of
Caspakian life led me to believe that the gigantic creature would
but have to see us to attack us, and so I raised my rifle and at
the same time drew away toward some brush which offered concealment;
but Ajor only laughed, and picking up a stick, ran toward the great
thing, shouting. The little head was raised high upon the long
neck as the animal stupidly looked here and there in search of the
author of the disturbance. At last its eyes discovered tiny little
Ajor, and then she hurled the stick at the diminutive head. With
a cry that sounded not unlike the bleat of a sheep, the colossal
creature shuffled into the water and was soon submerged.

As I slowly recalled my collegiate studies and paleontological
readings in Bowen's textbooks, I realized that I had looked upon
nothing less than a diplodocus of the Upper Jurassic; but how infinitely
different was the true, live thing from the crude restorations of
Hatcher and Holland! I had had the idea that the diplodocus was
a land-animal, but evidently it is partially amphibious. I have
seen several since my first encounter, and in each case the creature
took to the sea for concealment as soon as it was disturbed. With
the exception of its gigantic tail, it has no weapon of defense;
but with this appendage it can lash so terrific a blow as to lay
low even a giant cave-bear, stunned and broken. It is a stupid,
simple, gentle beast--one of the few within Caspak which such a
description might even remotely fit.

For three nights we slept in trees, finding no caves or other
places of concealment. Here we were free from the attacks of the
large land carnivora; but the smaller flying reptiles, the snakes,
leopards, and panthers were a constant menace, though by no means
as much to be feared as the huge beasts that roamed the surface of
the earth.

At the close of the third day Ajor and I were able to converse
with considerable fluency, and it was a great relief to both of us,
especially to Ajor. She now did nothing but ask questions whenever
I would let her, which could not be all the time, as our preservation
depended largely upon the rapidity with which I could gain knowledge
of the geography and customs of Caspak, and accordingly I had to
ask numerous questions myself.

I enjoyed immensely hearing and answering her, so naive were many
of her queries and so filled with wonder was she at the things
I told her of the world beyond the lofty barriers of Caspak; not
once did she seem to doubt me, however marvelous my statements must
have seemed; and doubtless they were the cause of marvel to Ajor,
who before had never dreamed that any life existed beyond Caspak
and the life she knew.

Artless though many of her questions were, they evidenced a keen
intellect and a shrewdness which seemed far beyond her years of
her experience. Altogether I was finding my little savage a mighty
interesting and companionable person, and I often thanked the kind
fate that directed the crossing of our paths. From her I learned
much of Caspak, but there still remained the mystery that had proved
so baffling to Bowen Tyler--the total absence of young among the
ape, the semihuman and the human races with which both he and I
had come in contact upon opposite shores of the inland sea. Ajor
tried to explain the matter to me, though it was apparent that
she could not conceive how so natural a condition should demand
explanation. She told me that among the Galus there were a few
babies, that she had once been a baby but that most of her people
"came up," as he put it, "cor sva jo," or literally, "from the
beginning"; and as they all did when they used that phrase, she
would wave a broad gesture toward the south.

"For long," she explained, leaning very close to me and whispering
the words into my ear while she cast apprehensive glances about
and mostly skyward, "for long my mother kept me hidden lest the
Wieroo, passing through the air by night, should come and take me
away to Oo-oh." And the child shuddered as she voiced the word. I
tried to get her to tell me more; but her terror was so real when
she spoke of the Wieroo and the land of Oo-oh where they dwell that
I at last desisted, though I did learn that the Wieroo carried off
only female babes and occasionally women of the Galus who had "come
up from the beginning." It was all very mysterious and unfathomable,
but I got the idea that the Wieroo were creatures of imagination--the
demons or gods of her race, omniscient and omnipresent. This led
me to assume that the Galus had a religious sense, and further
questioning brought out the fact that such was the case. Ajor
spoke in tones of reverence of Luata, the god of heat and life.
The word is derived from two others: Lua, meaning sun, and ata,
meaning variously eggs, life, young, and reproduction. She told
me that they worshiped Luata in several forms, as fire, the sun,
eggs and other material objects which suggested heat and reproduction.

I had noticed that whenever I built a fire, Ajor outlined in the
air before her with a forefinger an isosceles triangle, and that
she did the same in the morning when she first viewed the sun. At
first I had not connected her act with anything in particular, but
after we learned to converse and she had explained a little of her
religious superstitions, I realized that she was making the sign
of the triangle as a Roman Catholic makes the sign of the cross.
Always the short side of the triangle was uppermost. As she
explained all this to me, she pointed to the decorations on her
golden armlets, upon the knob of her dagger-hilt and upon the band
which encircled her right leg above the knee--always was the design
partly made up of isosceles triangles, and when she explained the
significance of this particular geometric figure, I at once grasped
its appropriateness.

We were now in the country of the Band-lu, the spearmen of Caspak.
Bowen had remarked in his narrative that these people were analogous
to the so-called Cro-Magnon race of the Upper Paleolithic, and I was
therefore very anxious to see them. Nor was I to be disappointed;
I saw them, all right! We had left the Sto-lu country and literally
fought our way through cordons of wild beasts for two days when
we decided to make camp a little earlier than usual, owing to the
fact that we had reached a line of cliffs running east and west in
which were numerous likely cave-lodgings. We were both very tired,
and the sight of these caverns, several of which could be easily
barricaded, decided us to halt until the following morning. It took
but a few minutes' exploration to discover one particular cavern
high up the face of the cliff which seemed ideal for our purpose.
It opened upon a narrow ledge where we could build our cook-fire;
the opening was so small that we had to lie flat and wriggle through
it to gain ingress, while the interior was high-ceiled and spacious.
I lighted a faggot and looked about; but as far as I could see,
the chamber ran back into the cliff.

Laying aside my rifle, pistol and heavy ammunition-belt, I left
Ajor in the cave while I went down to gather firewood. We already
had meat and fruits which we had gathered just before reaching the
cliffs, and my canteen was filled with fresh water. Therefore, all
we required was fuel, and as I always saved Ajor's strength when I
could, I would not permit her to accompany me. The poor girl was
very tired; but she would have gone with me until she dropped,
I know, so loyal was she. She was the best comrade in the world,
and sometimes I regretted and sometimes I was glad that she was
not of my own caste, for had she been, I should unquestionably have
fallen in love with her. As it was, we traveled together like two
boys, with huge respect for each other but no softer sentiment.

There was little timber close to the base of the cliffs, and so
I was forced to enter the wood some two hundred yards distant. I
realize now how foolhardy was my act in such a land as Caspak,
teeming with danger and with death; but there is a certain amount
of fool in every man; and whatever proportion of it I own must
have been in the ascendant that day, for the truth of the matter
is that I went down into those woods absolutely defenseless; and I
paid the price, as people usually do for their indiscretions. As
I searched around in the brush for likely pieces of firewood, my
head bowed and my eyes upon the ground, I suddenly felt a great
weight hurl itself upon me. I struggled to my knees and seized
my assailant, a huge, naked man--naked except for a breechcloth
of snakeskin, the head hanging down to the knees. The fellow was
armed with a stone-shod spear, a stone knife and a hatchet. In his
black hair were several gay-colored feathers. As we struggled to
and fro, I was slowly gaining advantage of him, when a score of
his fellows came running up and overpowered me.

They bound my hands behind me with long rawhide thongs and then
surveyed me critically. I found them fine-looking specimens of
manhood, for the most part. There were some among them who bore
a resemblance to the Sto-lu and were hairy; but the majority had
massive heads and not unlovely features. There was little about them
to suggest the ape, as in the Sto-lu, Bo-lu and Alus. I expected
them to kill me at once, but they did not. Instead they questioned
me; but it was evident that they did not believe my story, for they
scoffed and laughed.

"The Galus have turned you out," they cried. "If you go back to
them, you will die. If you remain here, you will die. We shall
kill you; but first we shall have a dance and you shall dance with
us--the dance of death."

It sounded quite reassuring! But I knew that I was not to be killed
immediately, and so I took heart. They led me toward the cliffs,
and as we approached them, I glanced up and was sure that I saw
Ajor's bright eyes peering down upon us from our lofty cave; but
she gave no sign if she saw me; and we passed on, rounded the end
of the cliffs and proceeded along the opposite face of them until
we came to a section literally honeycombed with caves. All about,
upon the ground and swarming the ledges before the entrances, were
hundreds of members of the tribe. There were many women but no
babes or children, though I noticed that the females had better
developed breasts than any that I had seen among the hatchet-men,
the club-men, the Alus or the apes. In fact, among the lower
orders of Caspakian man the female breast is but a rudimentary
organ, barely suggested in the apes and Alus, and only a little
more defined in the Bo-lu and Sto-lu, though always increasingly
so until it is found about half developed in the females of the
spear-men; yet never was there an indication that the females had
suckled young; nor were there any young among them. Some of the
Band-lu women were quite comely. The figures of all, both men and
women, were symmetrical though heavy, and though there were some
who verged strongly upon the Sto-lu type, there were others who
were positively handsome and whose bodies were quite hairless. The
Alus are all bearded, but among the Bo-lu the beard disappears in
the women. The Sto-lu men show a sparse beard, the Band-lu none;
and there is little hair upon the bodies of their women.

The members of the tribe showed great interest in me, especially
in my clothing, the like of which, of course, they never had seen.
They pulled and hauled upon me, and some of them struck me; but for
the most part they were not inclined to brutality. It was only the
hairier ones, who most closely resembled the Sto-lu, who maltreated
me. At last my captors led me into a great cave in the mouth
of which a fire was burning. The floor was littered with filth,
including the bones of many animals, and the atmosphere reeked
with the stench of human bodies and putrefying flesh. Here they
fed me, releasing my arms, and I ate of half-cooked aurochs steak
and a stew which may have been made of snakes, for many of the
long, round pieces of meat suggested them most nauseatingly.

The meal completed, they led me well within the cavern, which they
lighted with torches stuck in various crevices in the light of
which I saw, to my astonishment, that the walls were covered with
paintings and etchings. There were aurochs, red deer, saber-tooth
tiger, cave-bear, hyaenadon and many other examples of the fauna of
Caspak done in colors, usually of four shades of brown, or scratched
upon the surface of the rock. Often they were super-imposed upon
each other until it required careful examination to trace out the
various outlines. But they all showed a rather remarkable aptitude
for delineation which further fortified Bowen's comparisons between
these people and the extinct Cro-Magnons whose ancient art is still
preserved in the caverns of Niaux and Le Portel. The Band-lu,
however, did not have the bow and arrow, and in this respect they
differ from their extinct progenitors, or descendants, of Western
Europe.

Should any of my friends chance to read the story of my adventures
upon Caprona, I hope they will not be bored by these diversions,
and if they are, I can only say that I am writing my memoirs for
my own edification and therefore setting down those things which
interested me particularly at the time. I have no desire that
the general public should ever have access to these pages; but it
is possible that my friends may, and also certain savants who are
interested; and to them, while I do not apologize for my philosophizing,
I humbly explain that they are witnessing the groupings of a
finite mind after the infinite, the search for explanations of the
inexplicable.

In a far recess of the cavern my captors bade me halt. Again
my hands were secured, and this time my feet as well. During the
operation they questioned me, and I was mighty glad that the marked
similarity between the various tribal tongues of Caspak enabled us
to understand each other perfectly, even though they were unable
to believe or even to comprehend the truth of my origin and the
circumstances of my advent in Caspak; and finally they left me
saying that they would come for me before the dance of death upon
the morrow. Before they departed with their torches, I saw that
I had not been conducted to the farthest extremity of the cavern,
for a dark and gloomy corridor led beyond my prison room into the
heart of the cliff.

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