THE RAID ON THE CAVE-PRISON
His was over his as I saw him—he was looking toward the village. As I for him his upon me. Never in my life have I a more than this man. Before he a single of or I had my on his and had him the boulder, where I to upon him, while I out what I had best do with him.
He a little at first, but still, and so I the pressure of my at his windpipe, for which I he was thankful—I know that I should have been.
I to kill him in cold blood; but what else I was to do with him I not see, for to turn him would have been to have the entire village and upon me in a moment. The looking up at me with the still on his countenance. At last, all of a sudden, a look of entered his eyes.
"I have you before," he said. "I saw you in the at the Mahars' city of Phutra when the the from you and your mate. I that. Afterward they put me in the with two from Gombul."
He in recollection.
"It would have been the same had there been ten from Gombul. I them, my freedom. Look!"
He his left toward me, the newly of the Mahars' mark.
"Then," he continued, "as I was returning to my people I met some of them fleeing. They told me that one called Hooja the Sly One had come and our village, our people into slavery. So I to learn the truth, and, sure enough, here I Hooja and his men in my village, and my father's people but among them.
"I was and captured, but Hooja did not kill me. I am the chief's son, and through me he to win my father's to the village to help him in a great he says that he will soon commence.
"Among his is Dian the Beautiful One, brother, Dacor the Strong One, of Amoz, once saved my life when he came to Thuria to a mate. I helped him her, and we are good friends. So when I learned that Dian the Beautiful One was Hooja's prisoner, I told him that I would not him if he her.
"Recently one of Hooja's me talking with another prisoner. We were to all the prisoners, weapons, and when most of Hooja's were away, the and our hilltop. Had we done so we have it, for there are only two entrances—the narrow at one end and the path up the at the other.
"But when Hooja what we had planned he was very angry, and ordered that I die. They me hand and and me in a until all the should return to my death; but while they were away I someone calling me in a voice which to come from the of the cave. When I the voice, which was a woman's, told me that she had all that had passed me and those who had me thither, and that she was Dacor's sister and would a way to help me.
"Presently a little appeared in the at the point from which the voice had come. After a time I saw a woman's hand with a of stone. Dacor's sister a in the the where I and that in which she had been confined, and soon she was by my and had cut my bonds.
"We talked then, and I offered to make the attempt to take her away and to the land of Sari, where she told me she would be able to learn the of her mate. Just now I was going to the other end of the to see if a there, and if the way was clear for our escape. Most of the are always away now, for a great many of Hooja's men and nearly all the are upon the Island of Trees, where Hooja is having many to his across the water to the mouth of a great river which he while he was returning from Phutra—a river that into the sea there."
The pointed toward the northeast. "It is wide and and slow-running almost to the land of Sari," he added.
"And where is Dian the Beautiful One now?" I asked.
I had my as soon as I that he was Hooja's enemy, and now the pair of us were squat-ting the while he told his story.
"She returned to the where she had been imprisoned," he replied, "and is me there."
"There is no that Hooja will come while you are away?"
"Hooja is upon the Island of Trees," he replied.
"Can you direct me to the so that I can it alone?" I asked.
He said he could, and in the yet fashion of the Pellucidarians he how I might the where he had been imprisoned, and through the in its Dian.
I it best for but one of us to return, since two but little more than one and would the of discovery. In the meantime he make his way to the sea and the boat, which I told him there at the of the cliff.
I told him to us at the cliff-top, and if Dian came alone to do his best to away with her and take her to Sari, as I it possible that, in case of and pursuit, it might be necessary for me to off Hooja's people while Dian her way alone to where my new friend was to her. I upon him the that he might have to to or to to Dian to me; but I him promise that he would everything, his life, in an attempt to Dacor's sister.
Then we parted—he to take up his position where he watch the and Dian, I to on toward the caves. I had no in the me by Juag, the name by which Dacor's friend said he was called. There was the tree, my point he told me to look for after the where we had met. After that I to the rock, a upon a no larger than the of your hand.
From here I had my view of the village of caves. A low ran across one end of the mesa, and in the of this were the mouths of many caves. Zig-zag up to them, and narrow from the of the soft those upon the same level.
The in which Juag had been was at the end of the nearest me. By taking of the itself, I approach a of the without being visible from any other cave. There were people about at the time; most of these were at the of the end of the bluff, where they were so in that I but little of detection. However I the in the cliff. After for a while until I an when every was away from me, I darted, rabbitlike, into the cave.
Like many of the man-made of Pellucidar, this one of three chambers, one another, and all for what in through the opening. The result was as one passed into each chamber.
In the last of the three I just objects, and that was all. As I was around the for the that should lead into the where Dian was imprisoned, I a man's voice close to me.
The had but just entered, for he spoke in a loud tone, the of one he had come in search of.
"Where are you, woman?" he cried. "Hooja has sent for you."
And then a woman's voice answered him:
"And what Hooja want of me?"
The voice was Dian's. I in the direction of the sounds, for the hole.
"He you to the Island of Trees," the man; "for he is to take you as his mate."
"I will not go," said Dian. "I will die first."
"I am sent to you, and you I shall."
I him the toward her.
Frantically I the of the in which I was in an to the that would lead me to Dian's side.
I the of a in the next cave. Then my into and earth in the of the cave. In an I why I had been unable to the opening while I had been the surface of the walls—Dian had up the she had it and lead to an early of Juag's escape.
Plunging my weight against the mass, I sent it into the cavern. With it came I, David, Emperor of Pellucidar. I if any other in a world's history a more entrance. I on all fours, but I came and was on my the man in the dark what had happened.
He saw me, though, when I and, that no friend came thus precipitately, to meet me as I him. I had my knife in my hand, and he had his. In the of the there was little opportunity for a of science, though at that I to say that we a very duel.
Before I came to Pellucidar I do not that I had a knife, and I am sure that I with a knife of any description; but now I do not have to take my off to any of them when it comes to that yet weapon.
I just see Dian in the darkness, but I that she not see my or me; and I in anticipation, while I was for her life and mine, her dear when she should that it was I who was her deliverer.
My was large, but he also was active and no knife-man. He me once in the shoulder—I the yet, and shall it to the grave. And then he did a thing, for as I to a second in which to the of the he after me and to clinch. He neglected his knife for the moment in his to his hands on me. Seeing the opening, I my left to the point of his jaw.
Down he went. Before he up again I was on him and had my knife in his heart. Then I up—and there was Dian me and at me through the gloom.
"You are not Juag!" she exclaimed. "Who are you?"
I took a step toward her, my arms outstretched.
"It is I, Dian," I said. "It is David."
At the of my voice she gave a little in which were mingled—a little that told me all without how had gone from her—and then she ran and herself in my arms. I her perfect and her with kisses, and her thick black hair, and told her again and again what she already knew—what she had for years—that I loved her than all else which two worlds had to offer. We couldn't much time, though, to the of love-making, for we were in the of who might us at any moment.
I her into the cave. Thence we our way to the mouth of the that had me entrance to the cliff. Here I for a moment, and the clear, ran with Dian at my side. We around the cliff-end, then paused for an instant, listening. No our ears to that any had us, and we moved along the way by which I had come.
As we Dian told me that her had her how close I had come in search of her—even to the Land of Awful Shadow—and how one of Hooja's men who me had me asleep and me of all my possessions. And then how Hooja had sent four others to me and take me prisoner. But these men, she said, had not yet returned, or at least she had not of their return.
"Nor will you ever," I responded, "for they have gone to that place none returns." I then related my with these four.
We had come almost to the cliff-edge where Juag should be us when we saw two men walking toward the same spot from another direction. They did not see us, did they see Juag, I now a low close to the of the which into the sea at this point. As as possible, without ourselves too much to the enemy, we that we might Juag as as they.
But they noticed him and him, for one of them had been his guard, and they had been sent to search for him, his having been the time he left the and the time when I it. Evidently they had moments looking for him in other of the mesa.
When I saw that the two of them were him, I called out to their attention to the that they had more than a single man to with. They paused at the of my voice and looked about.
When they Dian and me they a words, and one of them toward Juag while the other upon us. As he came nearer I saw that he in his hand one of my six-shooters, but he was it by the barrel, it for some of or tomahawk.
I a when I of the possibilities of that in the hands of an of the age. Had he but it and the he might still be alive; maybe he is for all I know, since I did not kill him then. When he was about twenty from me I my with a quick movement that I had learned from Ghak. He to avoid it, and of it in his heart, for which it was intended, he got it on the of the head.
Down he all in a heap. Then I toward Juag. He was having a most time. The against Juag was a giant; he was and away at the with a villainous-looking knife that might have been designed for mastodons. Step by step, he was Juag toward the of the with a that permitted his no to side-step the terrible of in this direction. I saw that in another moment Juag must himself to death over the or be pushed over by his foeman.
And as I saw Juag's I saw, too, in the same instant, a way to him. Leaping to the of the I had just felled, I up my revolver. It was a to take, and I it in the that I the gun up from my and the trigger. There was no time to aim. Juag was upon the very of the chasm. His was pushing him hard, at him with the knife.
And then the spoke—loud and sharp. The his hands above his head, about like a top, and over the precipice.
And Juag?
He a single in my direction—never before, of course, had he the report of a firearm—and with a of he, too, and from sight. Horror-struck, I to the of the just in time to see two upon the surface of the little below.
For an I there with Dian at my side. Then, to my amazement, I saw Juag to the surface and swim toward the boat.
The had that and come up unharmed!
I called to him to us below, assuring him that he need have no of my weapon, since it would only my enemies. He his and mut-tered something which I not at so great a distance; but when I pushed him he promised to wait for us. At the same Dian my arm and pointed toward the village. My had a of on the toward us.
The I had with my had and to his feet. He was now as fast as he go toward his people. It looked dark for Dian and me with that us and the of liberty, and a of at a run.
There was but one hope. That was to Dian started for the without delay. I took her in my arms just for an instant—I felt, somehow, that it might be for the last time. For the life of me I couldn't see how of us escape.
I asked her if she make the alone—if she were not afraid. She up at me and her shoulders. She afraid! So is she that I am always having in that she is a primitive, half-savage girl of the age, and often myself her to those of the and of the crust.
"And you?" she asked as she over the of the cliff.
"I shall you after I take a or two at our friends," I replied. "I just want to give them a taste of this new medicine which is going to Pellucidar of all its ills. That will stop them long for me to join you. Now hurry, and tell Juag to be to off the moment I the boat, or the that it that I cannot it.
"You, Dian, must return to Sari if anything to me, that you may your life to out with Perry the and plans for Pellucidar that are so dear to my heart. Promise me, dear."
She to promise to me, would she; only her and making no move to descend. The were us. Juag was up to us from below. It was that he from my that I was attempting to Dian to descend, and that us from above.
"Dive!" he cried. "Dive!"
I looked at Dian and then at the us. The appeared no larger than a saucer. How Juag had it I not guess.
"Dive!" Juag. "It is the only way—there is no time to climb down."