Books: People Out Of Time

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

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During the nights the searchlights from the Toreador were kept
playing upon the cliff at the point where the drills were working,
and at the rate of ten feet an hour the summit was reached upon
the fifth day. Ropes were lowered, blocks lashed to trees at the
top, and crude elevators rigged, so that by the night of the fifth
day the entire party, with the exception of the few men needed to
man the Toreador, were within Caspak with an abundance of arms,
ammunition and equipment.

From then on, they fought their way north in search of me, after
a vain and perilous effort to enter the hideous reptile-infested
country to the south. Owing to the number of guns among them,
they had not lost a man; but their path was strewn with the dead
creatures they had been forced to slay to win their way to the
north end of the island, where they had found Bowen and his bride
among the Galus of Jor.

The reunion between Bowen and Nobs was marked by a frantic display
upon Nobs' part, which almost stripped Bowen of the scanty attire
that the Galu custom had vouchsafed him. When we arrived at the
Galu city, Lys La Rue was waiting to welcome us. She was Mrs.
Tyler now, as the master of the Toreador had married them the very
day that the search-party had found them, though neither Lys nor
Bowen would admit that any civil or religious ceremony could have
rendered more sacred the bonds with which God had united them.

Neither Bowen nor the party from the Toreador had seen any sign
of Bradley and his party. They had been so long lost now that any
hopes for them must be definitely abandoned. The Galus had heard
rumors of them, as had the Western Kro-lu and Band-lu; but none had
seen aught of them since they had left Fort Dinosaur months since.

We rested in Jor's village for a fortnight while we prepared for
the southward journey to the point where the Toreador was to lie
off shore in wait for us. During these two weeks Chal-az came up
from the Krolu country, now a full-fledged Galu. He told us that
the remnants of Al-tan's party had been slain when they attempted
to re-enter Kro-lu. Chal-az had been made chief, and when he rose,
had left the tribe under a new leader whom all respected.

Nobs stuck close to Bowen; but Ace and Ajor and I went out upon
many long rides through the beautiful north Galu country. Chal-az
had brought my arms and ammunition up from Kro-lu with him; but my
clothes were gone; nor did I miss them once I became accustomed to
the free attire of the Galu.

At last came the time for our departure; upon the following morning
we were to set out toward the south and the Toreador and dear old
California. I had asked Ajor to go with us; but Jor her father
had refused to listen to the suggestion. No pleas could swerve him
from his decision: Ajor, the cos-ata-lo, from whom might spring a
new and greater Caspakian race, could not be spared. I might have
any other she among the Galus; but Ajor--no!

The poor child was heartbroken; and as for me, I was slowly realizing
the hold that Ajor had upon my heart and wondered how I should get
along without her. As I held her in my arms that last night, I
tried to imagine what life would be like without her, for at last
there had come to me the realization that I loved her--loved my
little barbarian; and as I finally tore myself away and went to
my own hut to snatch a few hours' sleep before we set off upon our
long journey on the morrow, I consoled myself with the thought that
time would heal the wound and that back in my native land I should
find a mate who would be all and more to me than little Ajor could
ever be--a woman of my own race and my own culture.

Morning came more quickly than I could have wished. I rose and
breakfasted, but saw nothing of Ajor. It was best, I thought, that
I go thus without the harrowing pangs of a last farewell. The
party formed for the march, an escort of Galu warriors ready to
accompany us. I could not even bear to go to Ace's corral and bid
him farewell. The night before, I had given him to Ajor, and now
in my mind the two seemed inseparable.

And so we marched away, down the street flanked with its stone
houses and out through the wide gateway in the stone wall which
surrounds the city and on across the clearing toward the forest
through which we must pass to reach the northern boundary of Galu,
beyond which we would turn south. At the edge of the forest I cast
a backward glance at the city which held my heart, and beside the
massive gateway I saw that which brought me to a sudden halt. It
was a little figure leaning against one of the great upright posts
upon which the gates swing--a crumpled little figure; and even
at this distance I could see its shoulders heave to the sobs that
racked it. It was the last straw.

Bowen was near me. "Good-bye old man," I said. "I'm going back."

He looked at me in surprise. "Good-bye, old man," he said, and
grasped my hand. "I thought you'd do it in the end."

And then I went back and took Ajor in my arms and kissed the tears
from her eyes and a smile to her lips while together we watched
the last of the Americans disappear into the forest.

I have made the following changes to the text:

PAGE LINE ORIGINAL CHANGED TO

75 15 later latter
108 14 in is
123 24 the he
131 13 plans planes
131 28 new few
132 24 Donosaur Dinosaur

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