CHAPTER X
THE RAID ON THE CAVE-PRISON
His head was turned over his shoulder as I first saw him--he was looking back
toward the village. As I leaped for him his eyes fell upon me. Never in my life
have I seen a more surprised mortal than this poor cave man. Before he could
utter a single scream of warning or alarm I had my fingers on his throat and had
dragged him behind the boulder, where I proceeded to sit upon him, while I
figured out what I had best do with him.
He struggled a little at first, but finally lay still, and so I released the
pressure of my fingers at his windpipe, for which I imagine he was quite
thankful--I know that I should have been.
I hated to kill him in cold blood; but what else I was to do with him I could
not see, for to turn him loose would have been merely to have the entire village
aroused and down upon me in a moment. The fellow lay looking up at me with the
surprise still deeply writ- ten on his countenance. At last, all of a sudden, a
look of recognition entered his eyes.
"I have seen you before," he said. "I saw you in the arena at
the Mahars' city of Phutra when the thipdars dragged the tarag from you and your
mate. I never understood that. Afterward they put me in the arena with two
warriors from Gombul."
He smiled in recollection.
"It would have been the same had there been ten warriors from Gombul. I
slew them, winning my free- dom. Look!"
He half turned his left shoulder toward me, exhibiting the newly healed scar
of the Mahars' branded 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 seized our village, putting our people into slavery. So I hurried hither to
learn the truth, and, sure enough, here I found Hooja and his wicked men living
in my village, and my father's people but slaves among them.
"I was discovered and captured, but Hooja did not kill me. I am the
chief's son, and through me he hoped to win my father's warriors back to the
village to help him in a great war he says that he will soon commence.
"Among his prisoners is Dian the Beautiful One, whose brother, Dacor the
Strong One, chief of Amoz, once saved my life when he came to Thuria to steal a
mate. I helped him capture 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 aid him
if he harmed her.
"Recently one of Hooja's warriors overheard me talk- ing with another
prisoner. We were planning to combine all the prisoners, seize weapons, and when
most of Hooja's warriors were away, slay the rest and retake our hilltop. Had we
done so we could have held it, for there are only two entrances--the narrow
tunnel at one end and the steep path up the cliffs at the other.
"But when Hooja heard what we had planned he was very angry, and ordered
that I die. They bound me hand and foot and placed me in a cave until all the
warriors should return to witness my death; but while they were away I heard
someone calling me in a muffled voice which seemed to come from the wall of the
cave. When I replied the voice, which was a woman's, told me that she had
overheard all that had passed between me and those who had brought me thither,
and that she was Dacor's sister and would find a way to help me.
"Presently a little hole appeared in the wall at the point from which
the voice had come. After a time I saw a woman's hand digging with a bit of
stone. Dacor's sister made a hole in the wall between the cave where I lay bound
and that in which she had been confined, and soon she was by my side and had cut
my bonds.
"We talked then, and I offered to make the attempt to take her away and
back to the land of Sari, where she told me she would be able to learn the
whereabouts of her mate. Just now I was going to the other end of the island to
see if a boat lay there, and if the way was clear for our escape. Most of the
boats are always away now, for a great many of Hooja's men and nearly all the
slaves are upon the Island of Trees, where Hooja is hav- ing many boats built to
carry his warriors across the water to the mouth of a great river which he
discovered while he was returning from Phutra--a vast river that empties into
the sea there."
The speaker pointed toward the northeast. "It is wide and smooth and
slow-running almost to the land of Sari," he added.
"And where is Dian the Beautiful One now?" I asked.
I had released my prisoner as soon as I found that he was Hooja's enemy, and
now the pair of us were squat- ting beside the boulder while he told his story.
"She returned to the cave where she had been imprisoned," he
replied, "and is awaiting me there."
"There is no danger that Hooja will come while you are away?"
"Hooja is upon the Island of Trees," he replied.
"Can you direct me to the cave so that I can find it alone?" I
asked.
He said he could, and in the strange yet explicit fashion of the
Pellucidarians he explained minutely how I might reach the cave where he had
been imprisoned, and through the hole in its wall reach Dian.
I thought it best for but one of us to return, since two could accomplish but
little more than one and would double the risk of discovery. In the meantime he
could make his way to the sea and guard the boat, which I told him lay there at
the foot of the cliff.
I told him to await us at the cliff-top, and if Dian came alone to do his
best to get away with her and take her to Sari, as I thought it quite possible
that, in case of detection and pursuit, it might be necessary for me to hold off
Hooja's people while Dian made her way alone to where my new friend was to await
her. I impressed upon him the fact that he might have to resort to trickery or
even to force to get Dian to leave me; but I made him promise that he would
sacrifice everything, even his life, in an attempt to rescue Dacor's sister.
Then we parted--he to take up his position where he could watch the boat and
await Dian, I to crawl cautiously on toward the caves. I had no difficulty in
fol- lowing the directions given me by Juag, the name by which Dacor's friend
said he was called. There was the leaning tree, my first point he told me to
look for after rounding the boulder where we had met. After that I crawled to
the balanced rock, a huge boulder resting upon a tiny base no larger than the
palm of your hand.
From here I had my first view of the village of caves. A low bluff ran
diagonally across one end of the mesa, and in the face of this bluff were the
mouths of many caves. Zig-zag trails led up to them, and narrow ledges scooped
from the face of the soft rock connected those upon the same level.
The cave in which Juag had been confined was at the extreme end of the cliff
nearest me. By taking advantage of the bluff itself, I could approach within a
few feet of the aperture without being visible from any other cave. There were
few people about at the time; most of these were congregated at the foot of the
far end of the bluff, where they were so engrossed in ex- cited conversation
that I felt but little fear of detection. However I exercised the greatest care
in approaching the cliff. After watching for a while until I caught an instant
when every head was turned away from me, I darted, rabbitlike, into the cave.
Like many of the man-made caves of Pellucidar, this one consisted of three
chambers, one behind another, and all unlit except for what sunlight filtered in
through the external opening. The result was gradually increasing darkness as
one passed into each succeeding chamber.
In the last of the three I could just distinguish objects, and that was all.
As I was groping around the walls for the hole that should lead into the cave
where Dian was imprisoned, I heard a man's voice quite close to me.
The speaker had evidently but just entered, for he spoke in a loud tone,
demanding the whereabouts of one whom 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 does Hooja want of me?"
The voice was Dian's. I groped in the direction of the sounds, feeling for
the hole.
"He wishes you brought to the Island of Trees," replied the man;
"for he is ready to take you as his mate."
"I will not go," said Dian. "I will die first."
"I am sent to bring you, and bring you I shall."
I could hear him crossing the cave toward her.
Frantically I clawed the wall of the cave in which I was in an effort to find
the elusive aperture that would lead me to Dian's side.
I heard the sound of a scuffle in the next cave. Then my fingers sank into
loose rock and earth in the side of the cave. In an instant I realized why I had
been unable to find the opening while I had been lightly feeling the surface of
the walls--Dian had blocked up the hole she had made lest it arouse suspicion
and lead to an early discovery of Juag's escape.
Plunging my weight against the crumbling mass, I sent it crashing into the
adjoining cavern. With it came I, David, Emperor of Pellucidar. I doubt if any
other potentate in a world's history ever made a more un- dignified entrance. I
landed head first on all fours, but I came quickly and was on my feet before the
man in the dark guessed what had happened.
He saw me, though, when I arose and, sensing that no friend came thus
precipitately, turned to meet me even as I charged him. I had my stone knife in
my hand, and he had his. In the darkness of the cave there was little
opportunity for a display of science, though even at that I venture to say that
we fought a very pretty duel.
Before I came to Pellucidar I do not recall that I ever had seen a stone
knife, and I am sure that I never fought with a knife of any description; but
now I do not have to take my hat off to any of them when it comes to wielding
that primitive yet wicked weapon.
I could just see Dian in the darkness, but I knew that she could not see my
features or recognize me; and I enjoyed in anticipation, even while I was
fighting for her life and mine, her dear joy when she should discover that it
was I who was her deliverer.
My opponent was large, but he also was active and no mean knife-man. He
caught me once fairly in the shoulder--I carry the scar yet, and shall carry it
to the grave. And then he did a foolish thing, for as I leaped back to gain a
second in which to calm the shock of the wound he rushed after me and tried to
clinch. He rather neglected his knife for the moment in his greater desire to
get his hands on me. Seeing the opening, I swung my left fist fairly to the
point of his jaw.
Down he went. Before ever he could scramble up again I was on him and had
buried my knife in his heart. Then I stood up--and there was Dian facing me and
peering at me through the dense 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 sound of my voice she gave a little cry in which tears were mingled--a
pathetic little cry that told me all without words how far hope had gone from
her--and then she ran forward and threw herself in my arms. I covered her
perfect lips and her beautiful face with kisses, and stroked her thick black
hair, and told her again and again what she already knew--what she had known for
years--that I loved her better than all else which two worlds had to offer. We
couldn't devote much time, though, to the happiness of love- making, for we were
in the midst of enemies who might discover us at any moment.
I drew her into the adjoining cave. Thence we made our way to the mouth of
the cave that had given me entrance to the cliff. Here I reconnoitered for a mo-
ment, and seeing the coast clear, ran swiftly forth with Dian at my side. We
dodged around the cliff-end, then paused for an instant, listening. No sound
reached our ears to indicate that any had seen us, and we moved cautiously
onward along the way by which I had come.
As we went Dian told me that her captors had in- formed 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 knew me had discovered me asleep and robbed me of all my possessions.
And then how Hooja had sent four others to find me and take me prisoner. But
these men, she said, had not yet re- turned, or at least she had not heard of
their return.
'Nor will you ever," I responded, "for they have gone to that place
whence none ever returns." I then related my adventure with these four.
We had come almost to the cliff-edge where Juag should be awaiting us when we
saw two men walking rapidly toward the same spot from another direction. They
did not see us, nor did they see Juag, whom I now discovered hiding behind a low
bush close to the verge of the precipice which drops into the sea at this point.
As quickly as possible, without exposing our- selves too much to the enemy, we
hastened forward that we might reach Juag as quickly as they.
But they noticed him first and immediately charged him, for one of them had
been his guard, and they had both been sent to search for him, his escape having
been discovered between the time he left the cave and the time when I reached
it. Evidently they had wasted precious moments looking for him in other portions
of the mesa.
When I saw that the two of them were rushing him, I called out to attract
their attention to the fact that they had more than a single man to cope with.
They paused at the sound of my voice and looked about.
When they discovered Dian and me they exchanged a few words, and one of them
continued toward Juag while the other turned upon us. As he came nearer I saw
that he carried in his hand one of my six-shooters, but he was holding it by the
barrel, evidently mistaking it for some sort of warclub or tomahawk.
I could scarce refrain a grin when I thought of the wasted possibilities of
that deadly revolver in the hands of an untutored warrior of the stone age. Had
he but reversed it and pulled the trigger he might still be alive; maybe he is
for all I know, since I did not kill him then. When he was about twenty feet
from me I flung my javelin with a quick movement that I had learned from Ghak.
He ducked to avoid it, and instead of receiving it in his heart, for which it
was intended, he got it on the side of the head.
Down he went all in a heap. Then I glanced toward Juag. He was having a most
exciting time. The fellow pitted against Juag was a veritable giant; he was
hacking and hewing away at the poor slave with a villainous- looking knife that
might have been designed for butchering mastodons. Step by step, he was forcing
Juag back toward the edge of the cliff with a fiendish cunning that permitted
his adversary no chance to side-step the terrible consequences of retreat in
this direction. I saw quickly that in another moment Juag must deliberately hurl
himself to death over the precipice or be pushed over by his foeman.
And as I saw Juag's predicament I saw, too, in the same instant, a way to
relieve him. Leaping quickly to the side of the fellow I had just felled, I
snatched up my fallen revolver. It was a desperate chance to take, and I
realized it in the instant that I threw the gun up from my hip and pulled the
trigger. There was no time to aim. Juag was upon the very brink of the chasm.
His relentless foe was pushing him hard, beating at him furiously with the heavy
knife.
And then the revolver spoke--loud and sharp. The giant threw his hands above
his head, whirled about like a huge top, and lunged forward over the precipice.
And Juag?
He cast a single affrighted glance in my direction-- never before, of course,
had he heard the report of a firearm--and with a howl of dismay he, too, turned
and plunged headforemost from sight. Horror-struck, I hastened to the brink of
the abyss just in time to see two splashes upon the surface of the little cove
below.
For an instant I stood there watching with Dian at my side. Then, to my utter
amazement, I saw Juag rise to the surface and swim strongly toward the boat.
The fellow had dived that incredible distance and come up unharmed!
I called to him to await us below, assuring him that he need have no fear of
my weapon, since it would harm only my enemies. He shook his head and muttered
something which I could not hear at so great a distance; but when I pushed him
he promised to wait for us. At the same instant Dian caught my arm and pointed
toward the village. My shot had brought a crowd of natives on the run toward us.
The fellow whom I had stunned with my javelin had regained consciousness and
scrambled to his feet. He was now racing as fast as he could go back toward his
people. It looked mighty dark for Dian and me with that ghastly descent between
us and even the beginnings of liberty, and a horde of savage enemies advancing
at a rapid run.
There was but one hope. That was to get Dian started for the bottom 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 both of us could
escape.
I asked her if she could make the descent alone-- if she were not afraid. She
smiled up at me bravely and shrugged her shoulders. She afraid! So beautiful is
she that I am always having difficulty in remembering that she is a primitive,
half-savage cave girl of the stone age, and often find myself mentally limiting
her capacities to those of the effete and overcivilized beauties of the outer
crust.
"And you?" she asked as she swung over the edge of the cliff.
"I shall follow you after I take a shot or two at our friends," I
replied. "I just want to give them a taste of this new medicine which is
going to cure Pellucidar of all its ills. That will stop them long enough for me
to join you. Now hurry, and tell Juag to be ready to shove off the moment I
reach the boat, or the instant that it becomes apparent that I cannot reach it.
"You, Dian, must return to Sari if anything happens to me, that you may
devote your life to carrying out with Perry the hopes and plans for Pellucidar
that are so dear to my heart. Promise me, dear."
She hated to promise to desert me, nor would she; only shaking her head and
making no move to descend. The tribesmen were nearing us. Juag was shouting up
to us from below. It was evident that he realized from my actions that I was
attempting to persuade Dian to descend, and that grave danger threatened us from
above.
"Dive!" he cried. "Dive!"
I looked at Dian and then down at the abyss below us. The cove appeared no
larger than a saucer. How Juag ever had hit it I could not guess.
"Dive!" cried Juag. "It is the only way--there is no time to
climb down."
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