HOOJA'S CUTTHROATS APPEAR
I had a little of and where I might in and sleep out of the light and of the sun. When I was or I retired to my cot.
My masters the objection. As a of fact, they were very good to me, did I see while I was among them to that they are else than a simple, when left to themselves. Their awe-inspiring size, strength, fighting-fangs, and are but the necessary to the successful of their for survival, and well do they them when the need arises. The only they eat is that of animals and birds. When they the thag, the of the crust, a single male, with his rope, will catch and kill the of the bulls.
Well, as I was about to say, I had this little at the of my melon-patch. Here I was from my labors on a occasion when I a great hub-bub in the village, which about a of a mile away.
Presently a male came toward the field, excitedly. As he approached I came from my to learn what all the might be about, for the of my in the melon-patch must have that of my from which it had always been my I am free.
The other also ran to meet the messenger, who himself of his information, and as and toward the village. When these beast-men often go upon all fours. Thus they over that would slow up a being, and upon the level a speed that would make a look to his laurels. The result in this was that I had more than the of the word which had been to the fields, I was alone, my co-workers villageward.
I was alone! It was the time since my that no beast-man had been of me. I was alone! And all my were in the village at the op-posite of the an attack of Hooja's horde!
It from the messenger's that two of Gr-gr-gr's great males had been set upon by a half-dozen of Hooja's while the were returning from the hunt. The two had returned to the village unscratched, while but a single one of Hooja's half-dozen had to report the outcome of the to their leader. Now Hooja was to Gr-gr-gr's people. With his large force, with the and that Hooja had learned from me to make, with long and knives, I that the of the them but little.
At last had come the opportunity for which I waited! I was free to make for the end of the mesa, my way to the below, and while the two were in their struggle, continue my search for Hooja's village, which I had learned from the beast-men on the river that I had been when taken prisoner.
As I to make for the mesa's the of came to my ears—the of men with the half-beastly and of the brute-folk.
Did I take of my opportunity?
I did not. Instead, by the of and by the to deliver a stroke, feeble, against Hooja, I and ran directly toward the village.
When I the of the such a met my as had it, for the battle-methods of the half-brutes were the most I had witnessed. Along the very of the cliff-top a thin line of males—the best rope-throwers of the tribe. A these the of the males, with the of about twenty, a second line. Still in the all the and children were into a single group under the protection of the twenty males and all the old males.
But it was the work of the two lines that me. The of Hooja—a great of Sagoths and men—were their way up the cliff-face, their but less than that of my who had so aloft—even he who was by my weight.
As the came on they paused occasionally a gave them and and at the above them. During the entire and at one another—the beings naturally the in the and of their and invective.
The "firing-line" of the brute-men no other than their long nooses. When a came range of them a would settle about him and he would be dragged, and yelling, to the cliff-top, unless, as occasionally occurred, he was quick to his knife and cut the rope above him, in which event he down-ward to a no less death than that which him above.
Those who were up of the powerful of the had the from them and were through the line to the second, where they were and killed by the of a single powerful of upon the of their necks.
But the of the were taking a much than the of the and I that it was but a of time Hooja's must unless the brute-men their tactics, or the men of the battle.
Gr-gr-gr was in the center of the line. All about him were and large of rock. I approached him and without a word a large of over the of the cliff. It directly upon the of an archer, him to death and his with it to the of the declivity, and on its way three more of the into the hereafter.
Gr-gr-gr toward me in surprise. For an he appeared to the of my motives. I that my time had come when he for me with one of his paws; but I him, and a to the right another missile. It, too, did its work of destruction. Then I up smaller and with all the and for which I had in my days I a of death upon those me.
Gr-gr-gr was toward me again. I pointed to the of upon the cliff-top.
"Hurl these upon the enemy!" I to him. "Tell your to upon them!"
At my the others of the line, who had been of my tactics, upon great or of rock, came to their hands, and, without waiting for a from Gr-gr-gr, the men with a perfect of stone. In less than no time the cliff-face was of and the village of Gr-gr-gr was saved.
Gr-gr-gr was me when the last of the men in the valley. He was looking at me intently.
"Those were your people," he said. "Why did you kill them?"
"They were not my people," I returned. "I have told you that before, but you would not me. Will you me now when I tell you that I Hooja and his as much as you do? Will you me when I tell you that I wish to be the friend of Gr-gr-gr?"
For some time he there me, his head. Evidently it was no less difficult for him to his than it is for most beings; but the idea percolated—which it might have done had he been a man, or I might that by saying had he been some men. Finally he spoke.
"Gilak," he said, "you have Gr-gr-gr ashamed. He would have killed you. How can he you?"
"Set me free," I quickly.
"You are free," he said. "You may go when you wish, or you may with us. If you go you may always return. We are your friends."
Naturally, I elected to go. I all over again to Gr-gr-gr the nature of my mission. He attentively; after I had done he offered to send some of his people with me to me to Hooja's village. I was not slow in his offer.
First, however, we must eat. The upon Hooja's men had had the meat of a great thag. There would be a to the victory—a and dancing.
I had a of the brute-folk, though I had often from the village, where I had not been allowed since my capture. Now I took part in one of their orgies.
It will live in my memory. The of and was pathetic, and again or horrible. Beneath the sun, in the of the mesa-top, the huge, in a great circle. They and their fiber-ropes; they and at an foe; they upon the of the and it to pieces; and they only when, gorged, they no longer move.
I had to wait until the of had my from its torpor. Some had until their were so that I they must burst, for the there had been a hundred of and of decomposition, which they had from the of their to the banquet-board.
But at last we were started—six great males and myself. Gr-gr-gr had returned my to me, and at last I was once more upon my oft-interrupted way toward my goal. Whether I should Dian at the end of my or no I not surmise; but I was none the less to be off, for if only the in store for me I to know the at once.
I that my proud would still be alive in the power of Hooja; but time upon Pellucidar is so a thing that I that to her or to him only a minutes might have since his had him to her away from Phutra. Or she might have the means either to his or him.
As we the we a great pack of large hyena-like beasts—hyaena spelaeus, Perry calls them—who were among the of the men in battle. The were from the that our own are to be; they their ground with as we approached them. But, as I was later to learn, so are the brute-folk that there are of the larger that will not make way for them when they go abroad. So the moved a little from our line of march, in again upon their when we had passed.
We our way the of the river which the length of the island, at last to a than any that I had in this country. Well this my halted.
"There!" they said, and pointed ahead. "We are to go no farther."
Thus having me to my they left me. Ahead of me, through the trees, I see what appeared to be the of a hill. Toward this I my way. The ran to the very of a cliff, in the of which were the mouths of many caves. They appeared untenanted; but I to watch for a while farther. A large tree, foliaged, offered a vantage-point from which to upon the cliff, so I among its where, hidden, I watch what about the caves.
It that I had settled myself in a position a party of men from one of the smaller in the cliff-face, about fifty from the base. They into the and disappeared. Soon after came others from the same cave, and after them, at a interval, a score of and children, who came into the to fruit. There were with them—a guard, I presume.
After this came other parties, and two or three groups who passed out of the and up the cliff-face to enter the same cave. I not it. All who came out had from the same cave. All who returned it. No other gave of habitation, and no but one of size have all the people I had pass in and out of its mouth.
For a long time I sat and the and going of great numbers of the cave-folk. Not once did one the by any other opening save that from which I had the party come, did any the through another aperture.
What a it must be, I thought, that houses an entire tribe! But of the truth of my surmise, I higher among the of the tree that I might a view of other of the cliff. High above the ground I a point I see the of the hill. Evidently it was a flat-topped to that on which the of Gr-gr-gr.
As I sat at it a appeared at the very edge. It was that of a girl in was a from some tree of the forest. I had her pass me but a while and enter the small that had all of the returning tribesmen.
The was solved. The was but the mouth of a passage that through the to the of the hill. It as an from their to the below.
No sooner had the truth upon me than the came that I must some other means of the village, for to pass through this well-traveled would be impossible. At the moment there was no one in me, so I from my watch-tower to the ground and moved away to the right with the of the hill if necessary until I had an spot where I might have some of the and the top unseen.
I close to the of the forest, in the very of which the hill to rise. Though I the as I its base, I saw no of any other entrance than that to which my had me.
After some little time the of the sea upon my ears. Shortly after I came upon the which at this point at the very of the great hill where Hooja had safe for himself and his villains.
I was just about to along the which at the of the next to the sea, in search of some to the top, when I to see a the end of the island. I myself a large where I watch the and its without myself being seen.
They toward me for a while and then, about a hundred yards from me, they in toward the of the cliffs. From where I was it that they were upon self-destruction, since the of the breakers upon the rock-face appeared to offer only death to any one who might their clutch.
A of would soon them from my view; but so was the of the that I not from to a point I watch the of the small to pieces on the that her, although I from above to my design.
When I had a point where I again see the dugout, I was just in time to see it two needle-pointed of and upon the of a cove.
Again I a to what would next transpire; did I have long to wait. The dugout, which but two men, was close to the wall. A rope, one end of which was to the boat, was fast about a of the face.
Then the two men the of the almost toward the hundred above. I looked on in amazement, for, though the men of Pellucidar are, I had so a performed. Upwardly they moved without a pause, to at last over the summit.
When I sure that they had gone for a while at least I from my hiding-place and at the of a and to the spot where their was moored.
If they had that I could, and if I couldn't I should die in the attempt.
But when I to the of the I it than I had it would be, since I that hand and foot-holds had been in the cliff's face, a from the to the summit.
At last I the top, and very I was, too. Cautiously I my until my were above the cliff-crest. Before me spread a mesa, with large boulders. There was no village in any creature.
I myself to level ground and erect. A trees among the boulders. Very I from tree to tree and to toward the end of the mesa. I stopped often to and look about me in every direction.
How I that I had my and rifle! I would not have to my way like a cat toward Hooja's village, did I doing so now; but Dian's life might upon the success of my venture, and so I not to take chances. To have met with and had a score or more of upon me might have been very and heroic; but it would have put an end to all my activities, have in the service of Dian.
Well, I must have nearly a mile across that without a of anyone, when all of a sudden, as I around the of a boulder, I ran into a man, on all like myself, toward me.
