LOST AMID THE ROCKS
But although Myles Cabot was lost, he was free for the time since his return to Poros.
So not he and along the trail, looking for food and a place to the night; and presently came upon a “green cow,” as he was to call the which are by Cupians and Formians for the honey-dew which they produce.
It no to Cabot’s approach, to his the two which from its back, with the result that the man was presently himself with a satisfying of green “milk” from a cup.
The bush, which the to fashion the cup, closely the of Cupia, heart-shaped are put to so many in that country. Myles Cabot off a of the foliage, and in a of warm, thick green for the night.
The bright. Myles another from the and then pressed on up the defile. He did not return for of meeting ant-men; and besides, now that a night’s had to some his at not up with the particular ant-man he had been pursuing, he not be sure he had taken the road after all. So on he went, up the path.
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Around the path out at the top of an which gave Cabot an opportunity to survey the scenery. To the the city from which he had fled. What had become, he wondered, of the supporters of his friend Doggo and of Formis, the ant-queen, he had espoused? According to Emu, Doggo and Formis were dead, or Cabot would have them.
Cabot his attention next to the northward. To his great joy, on the next to the one where he sat, there two towers, by an aerial.
He to cut across country and attempt to approach the by stealth. So he started into the valley.
Never had the earth-man through such difficult country. As soon as he had gone a the he a of boulders, in size from a man’s to twenty or more in diameter, and together. Lying in every direction, upon and the rocks, were the of trees in all of decay.
The of the cut and the of the earth-man, while the of the trees his body. Time and again he and nearly into one of the which the boulders, and on one of these occasions he must have let go the ant-rifle which he had so so carefully, for presently he noticed that it was gone.
But to all this there was one feature, although Myles did not it at the time, that his physical pain and the need for on his part so his mind as to him from the pain which had been his almost since his return to Poros. The attention necessary to avoid a jump, or into a dark hole, or being by a tree-branch, out of his mind his great love and for Princess Lilla and Baby Kew.
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Through the of Cabot all day long.
Oh, to the radio station by his enemy Yuri, and into touch with his own continent. Thus he learn what was in Cupia, and also give word of his own safe on the planet. Safe, hm! He at the word.
“I must that station,” he thought, “and then, when I have talked with Cupia, I must secure a Formian plane by or by crook, and the seas. If have those safely, if Yuri has safely them twice, then why cannot I, the Minorian?”
As he thus with himself, a pink appeared in the sky. Slowly, he his way. Gradually the pink light to in the west and then to a purple. Gradually the black night up out of the east. But also the smaller and smaller as he upward, until just as the planet, the man the of the summit, and some leaves.
He had had nothing to eat or drink since his of green milk that morning. He had an journey. His were and cut, his with scratches, and he was weary, thirsty and hungry. But he had almost the point which he had been seeking, and this him as his closed in healthy and sleep.
Next early he was up, rested, and ravenous. As the pink the sky Myles Cabot off the and the ascent.
It only a moments for him to the top, a narrow plateau, about a mile in length, near the end of which there a small with its two towers and aerial.
With a of joy—which he the Formians not hear—he toward it. The and lock, which its door on the outside, that it was unoccupied, and a through the narrow this.
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The through the window also the presence of a complete radio sending and set of the same hook-up which he himself had for the use of Cupians and Formians on the other continent.
“Imitation is the most of flattery,” as Poblath, the Cupian philosopher, used to say. Yet Cabot was to the insult, until it on him that the set had no microphone!
Of not, since it was designed for use by who neither ears speech! Gone then was all of news from home, if he succeed in in. At the most, he would be able, by an in the or secondary of that circuit, to send a dot-dash message across the seas—I use the term “aerial circuit,” “antenna circuit” would be ambiguous, as the term might have either its earth significance, or might the in which the Formian would place his in sending and receiving.
Well, a to send to Cupia a message to the that he was free and safe, would be something. Myles Cabot the windows, and them too narrow, the near-by slope, soon to return with a twenty-pound rock, which he against the door.
Again and again he the rock, until he had the of the door and then give. Finally a large opening was to passage for a man, although not for a Formian; and through this Myles Cabot into the station.
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A minutes’ him with the of the hook-up, the set, and the trophil-engine. Everything was in order and the fuel was full. So he a sending key, one of the and in the key. Then he warmed-up and the trophil-engine, clutched-in the generator, the main switch, and sat to across the the message which was to his in Cupia until he join them.
But at that an through the in the door, and in the bench him.
Cabot to his and home the which the door on the inside. This was a which he had neglected to take before. Next he the in the door with some from the work-bench. Then up a Formian and which on the wall, he his way to one of the on the same as the door and out.
The result was immediate; an through the window and passed just above his head. But as he instinctively, he saw a dark moving a at some outside; so again, he the square at the bush.
There came a of pain, by silence. And there were no more incursions.
Not his enemy had been of, or the of the of was a to him from his shelter, Myles did not to investigate.
From the time the had the work-bench until this final of the unknown enemy, Myles had been in action. Now came the reaction, as he how he had twice from death in the last minutes. He at the thought, and pale; not, however, at the to himself, but at the to his loved ones in Cupia. He must keep himself alive until he and save them from it was that had Lilla to send the SOS which had him to Poros.
But being the scientist, his attention was soon by the which to the bench.
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Its was of some hard and very wood. Its was of flint, and to the by vegetable fibers. Its “feathers” were thin of wood, birds, and hence true feathers, are unknown on Poros.
Why on earth—or rather, on Poros—were the ant-men such weapons? Rifles they had aplenty, and was easy to manufacture. Besides what did they know of and arrows, which had been used by them, in the days Cabot the Minorian upon the planet?
Thus these presented a problem. But a practical job to be performed Myles was to have any time for questions. The message to Cupia must be sent off.
The earth-man returned to the radio set. The trophil-engine and the were still running. The whole appeared to be properly. And so Myles off into space the message:
CQ, CQ, CQ, DE, Cabot, Cabot, Cabot. I have returned to Poros from Minos. I am on the of the Formians. I am in complete there.
That was a lie, but it would to his supporters, or the of the Supreme Builder into the of Yuri, it reached. The message continued:
Do not me soon, for I must what I have here. But when I do come, Yuri beware! My friends, out until then. I have spoken.
DE, Cabot.
This message he sent again and again, at every of which the was capable. He and it until he was tired.
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And then, for the time, he his thirst and his hunger. Fortunately there was food and drink in the shack; so Cabot satisfied his wants, and then at his message again.
When at last he paused once more for a rest, and off the trophil-engine, his ears a familiar sound. Instantly he the situation; one or more ant-men were approaching. Sure enough, as he looked out of a window in the direction of the sound, he saw two of these toward him across the plateau.
Both at their backs; so without waiting for their nearer approach Myles opened fire. One of the Formians dropped, but the other and fled; and in of the of which the earth-man sent after it, the in safety, and from view.
Cabot what that meant to him. It the early return of the with of his fellows, to to the radio station. Then a to him. What if these were members of Doggo’s faction, and he had killed a friend?
And so at the of his life, he the door and out to the body. But it was no he knew. Time would tell the would return with friends or foes. Meanwhile Cabot must with his message. So at it again he went, the door again.
From time to time he rested and for the approach of Formians. Occasionally he ate and drank. During his longer rests, he the rifle, the and some to a point a the mountainside, and them there; for he had a plan of escape. But mostly he to his signaling. All Cupia, or such of it as might still long-distance radio sets in of the of Yuri, must be to know of the return of Myles Cabot from the earth.
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Night fell, and with it came a from the of Formian attack; for these would in the without lights, and lights would them. Myles part of the night in sending his message, part in for lights, and part in dozing.
Finally along toward he set about the set, for he did not wish the Formians to into with Cupia and the of his own message by pointing out its falsity. Accordingly he the tubes, the and transformers, cut all the into little bits, the plates of the condensers, through the of the generator, the trophil-engine to pieces, and the tank. It would be many a new radio set be built, if these Formians of the art to another.
His work of completed, he sat to wait; but the on him, and he it he had asleep.
He with a start. It was daylight. He listened. There was much outside. So he walked to the door, it, and out.
He was not afraid; for on the he had above the door two sticks, the Porovian of a flag of truce.
At a a of thirty or ant-men, their leader a pair of sticks. Accordingly the earth-man advanced. Not one of them did he recognize, but this was no of their identity.
Were these members of the Yuri faction, he wondered, or of the by the now Doggo? If the former, they were on adding him to their list of conquests; but if the latter, then they might be like himself. It him to out.
So he to a in the mountain-top, very near the group of Formians. This soil, and in it he in Porovian the words: “Yuri or Doggo?” Then pointed to his message and for a distance.
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One of the ant-men alone to the depression, at the words, one part of them, and returned to his comrades, at which Cabot in turn advanced.
The one word in the was “Yuri!”
So these were enemies, than friends.
Waving a that the was at an end, Myles Cabot returned with to the and his sticks.
But then, of entering, he around the house and the a of pebbles.
Instantly the Formian pack after him, but they were too late; for by the time they had the he was safely under of the bushes, making his way the with his rifle, ammunition, and provision. The ant-men an ambush, for they did not follow.
This of the (the eastern) was wooded, of the almost over which he had up the other two days ago. Accordingly the was easy, almost pleasant. Soon he a path a little brook, and it until it out onto the which he had when he had this range of hills.
Beneath a large tree the brook, at the of the plain, Myles Cabot stopped and sat for lunch; and it was while seated thus, with his against the tree trunk, that an through the and itself in the just above his head.
Startled, he to his feet, his rifle, and looked around.
A second through the air, and this one did not miss him.
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In of time, Myles consciousness. He was on the ground the same tree. There was an in his head. His rifle, ammunition, and food were gone. His and were with blood, and he very faint.
With he himself to the stream, off a piece of his toga, and away some of the gore. But it an almost effort. He on the bank and panted. His swam. His to and about. And then he again.
After what an time he that he was on something less hard than the ground. Soft arms were around him. Some one was to him sweet and low.
Was this a dream? Or was he once more in Cupia with his loved ones?
