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Tumithak in Shawm
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- A SEQUEL TO
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Tumithak of the
Corridors
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- by
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Charles R. Tanner
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In this
sequel we see Tumithak of the Corridors in a new role. In
the preceding story he showed his powers as an individual
warrior and indicated what the inhabitants of the Corridors
could do against the enemy on the surface of the earth. Now
he appears as the leader of his followers in a contest
against the evil powers that have been holding them in the
Corridors. The contest is an impressive one and is vividly
described by the author.
Foreword
Five thousand years have passed since the shelks, leaving
their home planet of Venus, invaded the earth and drove mankind
from the Surface into the Pits and Corridors that were to be his
home for twenty centuries. When at last he did emerge, a new
Heroic Age was born, and we of to-day look back upon the leaders
of that great rebellion as little less than demigods.
And of all the distorted,
exaggerated traditions, perhaps the one most filled with magic
and wonder is that of Tumithak of Loor. The first and actually
the greatest of a long list of Shelk-slayers, men have, from the
first, been tempted to attribute to him supernatural, or at
least, superhuman powers, and to claim for him, even, the direct
supervision of the Deity.
However, by using the
knowledge that we have gained through recent archeological
research, it is possible to roughly rebuild the life of that
great hero into a rational possible story. Shorn of its
prophecies, its miracles and its wonder, it becomes the tale of
a young man who, inspired by stories of the great deeds of the
past, determined to risk his life to prove that the shelks were
vulnerable and could yet be conquered. The story of how he
proved that to his people, the writer has already presented to
the public—the story of the deeds that followed, he now presents
in this continuation of the adventures of “Tumithak of the
Corridors.”
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CHAPTER I - Shawm
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The long corridor stretched almost as far as
eye could see its beautiful marble sides gleaming
under the many varicolored lights which, carefully
concealed in the walls, cast over the hall an effect
of creamy mellowness. The pictures and geometrical
figures that were carved in the soft white stone of
which the walls were composed seemed to have been
designed to cooperate with the lights to produce a
single harmonious effect of surpassing beauty. Here
and there, ornate doorways appeared, with great
bronze doors on which scenes and figures had been
cast that rivaled those of the walls for beauty. A
few of the doorways lacked these doors, and these
were covered instead with great drapes and
tapestries, heavy with threads of gold and silver,
and dyed with every color of the spectrum.
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But the beauties of this splendid hallway were
wasted, for in all its length not a human being
appeared to appreciate them, and indeed, the thick
dust that covered the floor and the many spider webs
on the walls gave evidence of the months that must
have elapsed since it had been deserted. Not for
several years, in f act, had anyone entered this
part of the corridor, not since one from far below
had emerged from a well-like opening in one of the
apartments and passed through this ball on his way
to the Surface of the earth, far above. Even before
his coming, the ponderous dwellers of this corridor
had always feared this hall of the pit and avoided
it, for it led to the pits of the “wild men,” and in
the sybaritic life of the Esthetts, the least
suggestion of danger was a thing to shun. And so
this hail, in spite of its exceptional beauty, was
always utterly deserted.
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But now, after so long a time, sounds were
breaking into the silence of the corridor. Soft
rustlings, guarded whispers and muttered
ejaculations were coming from one of the apartments,
and after a few moments, a savage face peered out of
the doorway; then, seeing the hallway quite
deserted, its owner stepped into view, he looked up
and down the hallway as though fearing an attack by
some unseen enemy, but, after looking searchingly
through several of the apartments and convincing
himself that the passage was really deserted, he
sheathed the huge sword which he had held in his
hand and returned to the door from which he had
emerged.
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The Interlopers of the Corridor
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He was a huge, savage-looking fellow, this
interloper, over six feet in height, with a great
hairy chest and huge shoulders and with a chin that
was covered with an immense growth of red beard. He
wore a single garment, a rough burlap-like tunic
that fell to his knees, into the cloth of which were
sewn dozens of bits of metal and of bone, the latter
stained in various colors, and worked into a crude
pattern. His rusty-red hair was worn long and around
his neck was a necklace made of dozens of human
finger bones threaded on a thin strip of skin.
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He stood for a moment longer before leaving
the hallway and then, reentering the apartment, he
called softly.
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He was answered by a low hoot and then another
man joined him, a taller, younger man who was
dressed quite differently. This newcomer wore a
tunic made of cloth of the finest texture
imaginable, sheer gauze that was dyed in the most
delicate shades of nacreous pinks and green and
blues. It was not a new garment, but worn and torn
and sewn, as though it were highly prized by the
owner, who had determined to wear it until it fell
apart from old age. It was caught up about the
middle by a wide, many-pocketed belt with an
enormous buckle, a belt from which dangled a sword
and—strange anachronism—a pistol! Around the head of
its wearer was a metal band not unlike a crown, a
band such as was worn by the chiefs of those enemies
of mankind, the shelks. Although this second man had
not the other’s tremendous strength and physical
perfection, he was far above the average man in size
and muscular power, and the poorest reader of
character could tell at a glance that he was the
more intellectual of the two. And one could feel,
too, that together these two would make a
combination capable of facing anything with a good
chance of winning.
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They stood silently staring up and down the
passage for a while and then at last the second man
spoke to his companion.
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Tumithak of the Corridors
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“What think you of the Halls of the Esthetts,
Datto?” he asked. “Are they not as wonderful and as
beautiful as I have described them?”
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“They are truly wonderful, Tumithak,” the
other answered. “Though of what use these strange
pictures can be, I cannot tell. Nor can I understand
why the curtains of the doors should be so
elaborate.” He paused and then his eyes brightened
as he went on: “But there is a splendid idea in
those metal doors. We must carry some of them back
to the lower corridors. With one of them in his
doorway, a man might well defend himself against a
hundred enemies.”
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“Our only enemies now are the shelks,”
reminded Tumithak. “And do not think that metal
doors would keep those savage beasts out, Datto.”
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Datto grunted and continued his disparaging
appraisal of the corridor. It was obvious that he
lacked the sense of beauty that stirred, even though
feebly, in Tumithak’s breast.
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“Which way leads to the Surface?” Datto asked,
tersely, and when Tumithak pointed it out, he
continued: “Let us call the others. No doubt they
are waiting impatiently for the signal.” Tumithak
agreed, whereupon his companion reentered the
apartment and gave again the low call that he had
given before. There was a pause, and then men began
to emerge from the rear room, men who had been
waiting eagerly at the bottom of the pit concealed
in that room, and who now, at Datto’s call hurried
up the ladder to the level on which their leaders
stood.
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The first to emerge was a lean young man with
a hawk-like face, a young man whose close-cropped
hair and wide, pocketed belt marked him as a citizen
of the same town as Tumithak. Nikadur, this young
man’s name was, and as Tumithak’s boyhood companion,
he had been the first to swear to follow the
Shelk-slayer wherever he might lead. This young man
was closely followed by another, and if Nikadur bore
evidence of being a follower of Tumithak, this other
as obviously showed a similar relationship to Datto.
Thorpf was this one’s name, and he was the nephew of
Datto, and helped him to rule the halls of the city
of Yakra far below the surface.
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And behind these two came many others:
Tumlook, the father of Tumithak; Nennapuss, the
chief of the city of Nonone, with his sons and
nephews; and then man after man of lesser importance
in the cities of the lower corridors, men who had
never distinguished themselves, and whose only claim
to fame lay in their undoubted loyalty to their
chiefs. And here and there among them were members
of a tribe upon whom the people of the lower
corridors still looked askance: the savages of the
dark corridors, their eyes wrapped in fold after
fold of cloth, to keep out the brilliant light which
was so painful to their sensitive optic nerves.
These latter were slaves now, only recently subdued
by the men of the lower corridors, but already the
plentitude of food had made them willing servants.
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Tumithak’s Company of Warriors
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In all, over two hundred men emerged from the
pit and drew up in formation in the corridor,
awaiting the word from Tumithak that was to start
them on their raid on the Esthetts. They stood
silent while Tumithak outlined to them briefly what
he knew of the halls and corridors of this vicinity
and then, at a softly spoken word, the entire party
moved swiftly down the passage.
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This raid on the Esthetts was the first of its
kind that the people of the lower corridors had
attempted. Since Tumithak had returned from the
Surface to become their chief, two years before, he
had spent most of his time in consolidating his
government. There were some malcontents among the
Yakrans and even among the Loorians and these had
been made to feel the heavy hand of the new ruler,
and, when the three cities were at last one in their
allegiance, there were many little groups or
“villages” in the side corridors that had to be
brought under the Loorian’s sway.
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And when, at last, all the lower corridors
unhesitatingly acknowledged Tumithak as their
chief, the people had swept into the dark corridors,
and in a short while the savages were conquered and
enslaved, and all the pits below the Halls of the
Esthetts bowed to the new leader.
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It was then that Tumithak decided that the
time was almost at hand to begin the raid on the
halls of that race of ponderous artists that gave
their worship and allegiance to the shelks. The
Loorian was under no illusions as to what this
meant. Although he failed to realize the exact
relationship that existed between the Esthetts and
the shelks, he knew that these obese creatures
looked upon the shelks as their masters, and would
not hesitate to call them to their aid if danger
threatened. And Tumithak realized, therefore, that
an attack on the Esthetts was equivalent to an
attack on their masters.
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The shelks had “domesticated” the Esthetts and
used them as we do cattle, lulling their suspicions
with hypocritical lies and flattery and breeding
them for bovine stupidity and trustfulness.
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A Raid on the Domesticated Esthetts
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Tumithak
had postponed this raid, therefore, until the entire
lower corridors were united, but once that was
accomplished, he saw no reason for hesitating
longer. He called for two classes of volunteers,
those who were brave enough to aid in an attack on
these creatures of the shelks, and those who would
follow wherever led, even to the Surface. Tumithak
knew that a volunteer army was the only type that he
could take with him, and so when, of the thousands
of people in the lower corridors, only some two
hundred warriors responded, he perforce satisfied
himself with this group, and started on his way.
Fortunately, it seemed to him, the two classes of
volunteers were identical, almost to a man.
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And now this dauntless two hundred were
swarming through the Halls of the Esthetts, their
swords bared and their war cries trembling on their
lips, waiting for the moment when Tumithak should
give the word to attack. That leader, however, saw
no cause for hurry, he led them on and on through
the corridor, his chief desire being to get as close
to the center of the town as he could before he was
discovered. And then at last, satisfying himself
that he was not far from the Great Square of the
Esthetts, he gave the word, and, in a trice,
pandemonium broke loose in the Halls of the
Esthetts.
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The Raid Was a Massacre
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There
is little need to describe the ensuing battle. After
all, it was not a battle but a massacre and, were it
not for the absolute necessity of it, Tumithak would
have dispensed with fighting the Esthetts at all.
But he remembered Lathrumidor, the artist who had
attempted to betray him on his way to the surface
before, and so, realizing the treacherous nature of
the huge Esthetts, he determined that they must die.
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And die they did, to the last one; and when
the band of victors assembled at the upper end of
the Esthetts’ corridor some forty hours later, it
was a motley crew indeed. Many wore the delicate
gauzes of the Esthetts, others still dressed in the
rough tunic of their native halls. Some carried the
swords they had brought with them, some carried
other weapons, swords and spears that the Esthetts
had fashioned, not indeed for weapons, but merely
for their artistic beauty. And they were weapons
now, as were many other of the creations of
the artists. One man even held in his hand a
delicate statuette of bronze, its end clotted with
blood and hair where he had struck down some Esthett
with it.
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And to these men Tumithak spoke, and again
told them of the necessity of immediately going on.
The shelks often visited the Esthetts, he said. No
one could tell at what moment they might come again.
And rather than have the shelks surprise the pitmen,
it were well if the pitmen at once moved to the
Surface to surprise the shelks! “And so,” he
finished, “all who would follow me, be ready after
the very next sleep, for then I intend to lead my
party out to the attack.” He dismissed the warriors
and retired, himself, to try to secure a much needed
rest.
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After the sleep, Tumithak was pleasantly
surprised to find that not more than ten men desired
to remain in the Halls of the Esthetts. These he
placed under the authority of Thurranen, a son of
Nennapuss; and then, with nearly two hundred men
following him, he set out for the Surface and—the
shelks!
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The Campaign Against the Shelks
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They came at last to that
narrow hallway of jet black stone that told Tumithak
that they were perilously near to the Surface. He
called his chiefs together and held a council of
war. It was a momentous council, for this was the
first time, probably, in nineteen hundred years or
more, that men had deliberately planned a campaign
against the shelks. The most important thing that
the pitmen lacked, the council decided, was
knowledge of the Surface and of the ways of the
shelks. This lack of knowledge, they felt, must be
overcome at once, or any chance of victory would be
lost at the very start. It would undoubtedly be
necessary to send scouts up to the Surface to find
out what the conditions were up there.
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At this suggestion (which had been offered by
Nennapuss), Datto the Yakran laughed loud and
scornfully. In two thousand years, he said, only a
single man had been found brave enough to face the
dangers of the Surface. And now Nennapuss talked of
sending out scouts, as though they were about to
raid another passage of the dark corridors! Would
Nennapuss suggest, perhaps, to whom he intended to
offer this position of scout?
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Nennapuss was about to reply with some heat,
when Tumithak interrupted him.
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“Datto,” stated the Loorian, “when the people
of one corridor invade the halls of another, the
position of scout or spy is a dangerous one yet not
overly important or honorable. But in this war of
ours, the scout is all important, for not, only our
lives but the very future of man depends on what
information he can bring up. Now, but one of all
this body has ever looked upon the Surface, and if
that one feels that he should surely lead the scouts
that must go ahead of this army, can any one deny
him the right?”
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The lesser chiefs were astounded.
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“But we need you to lead the army, Tumithak!’
They protested. “Never before has a chief taken such
chances of leaving his men leaderless. Why, if you
should die, the whole of the Great Rebellion would
collapse!’
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Tumithak smiled.
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“Call the army together then,” he suggested,
“and ask for volunteers to go on to the Surface,
ahead of me!” The chiefs were silent. Even they,
themselves, would not be willing to face the Surface
alone, though they would have cheerfully died
following Tumithak.
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The Leader of the Scouts
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The Shelk-slayer waited a moment and then
spoke:
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“You see? It is clear that I must lead the
scouts. And for the same reason it must be the
chiefs the leaders that make up this party of
scouts. It is from you my council that I must call
for volunteers.”
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Instantly a dozen swords were thrust out, hilt
first, toward Tumithak. Every member of the council
willingly agreed to follow the Shelk-slayer, where
not one had been willing to precede him. Tumithak
hesitated and then picked out three men. Nikadur he
chose, his boyhood companion, for he felt he knew
this Loorian so well, that he could anticipate his
reaction to any event. Then, too, Nikadur was an
accomplished archer, and possessed the only weapon
known to the pitmen that could slay at a distance.
Datto he chose, and this for the Yakrans hard,
practical sense and unfailing courage, as well as
for his immense, untiring strength. And lastly he
chose Thorpf, the nephew of Datto, for the same
reasons that he chose the Yakran chief.
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So, a few hours later, these four were moving
up the narrow, black-walled corridor, swords in hand
and packs on their backs; while behind them, the
army, in charge of Tumlook and Nennapuss, waited
anxiously for their return.
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The Approach to the Surface
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The came to the narrow flight of stairs,
ascended it, and saw in the distance the opening
that was the entrance to the Surface. But to
Tumithak’s surprise, no reddish light appeared, as
it had on his previous visit. In fact no light at
all shone down into the hall from the Surface!
Tumithak was puzzled. He motioned the other three to
wait there, and then crept softly to the opening
that was the goal of the long trek through the
corridors. Cautiously, the slayer of the shelk
raised his eyes above the level of the pit and
looked about him. It was true, as he had thought,
all the Surface was in darkness! He felt a pang of
fear. Had the shelks discovered the approach of his
men and somehow plunged the Surface into darkness,
he wondered. Were they even now in hiding, waiting
for the men of the lower corridors to emerge, that
they might slaughter them?
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Involuntarily, Tumithak drew back into the
corridor and there he stood, lashing his failing
courage. Once again, as in the days when he had come
this way alone, his cold, fanatic reasoning overcame
his emotions, as he remembered that all the legends
that he had ever heard of the shelks told of their
hatred of the dark. Indeed, his wonderbook, that
manuscript that he had found when a boy, had told
him that the shelks had originally come from a land
where there was never darkness and that
story—combined with the vague legends of his tribe
which said that no shelk would ever, from choice, do
battle in the dark—convinced him that the darkness
could not be of the shelk’s contriving.
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So, once again he returned to the pit, and,
greatly daring, leapt out of it and stood upon the
Surface!
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The Great Darkness and the Stars
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After a short while, it seemed as if his eyes
began to adapt themselves to the darkness, and
faintly he could see certain forms in the distance.
The trees, those pillars whose tops were covered
with strange green billows, he could see as dense
black blobs against a background only slightly less
dark. A few hundred feet away and directly in front
of him, rose the homes of the shelks, obelisk-like
towers, leaning at crazy angles, silhouetted against
the sky. And, looking up into the sky, Tumithak was
amazed to see that that ceiling, as he thought it,
was covered with hundreds, yes, thousands of tiny
pinpoints of brilliance, twinkling and glittering
unceasingly, yet giving off so little light that the
dense darkness could hardly be said to be diminished
at all by them.
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For some time the Loorian stood there and
then, as nothing happened to disturb the stillness
and calm of the night, he returned to the pit and
called to his friends. In a few minutes Datto
emerged from the pit, closely followed by Thorpf and
Nikadur. They looked around them, obviously worried
by the darkness, but afraid to ask questions, for
fear that the sound of their voices might betray
them. So they stood, awaiting an order from
Tumithak, until in sudden decision, the Shelk-slayer
fell on his face and began to crawl slowly in the
direction of the towers of the shelks, motioning
them, as he did so, to do likewise.
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The trip to the towers took some time, for the
slightest whisper of wind in the trees would
frighten the pitmen and cause them to lie motionless
for many minutes at a time, but at last they arose
and stood in the shadow of one of the towers. They
were panting, not so much with the exertion of
wallowing through the grass, as with the realization
of the frightful danger they were facing, but after
many minutes of tense listening, they grew bold
enough to look around and take an interest in their
surroundings. It was a strange building in whose
shadow they found themselves, composed of some
strong metal that was strange to the pitmen; a
four-sided building that rose nearly—a hundred feet
high—and was not more than fifteen feet square at
the base. And it leaned at an angle of nearly
twenty-five degrees in the direction from which the
men had come. Towering over them, it seemed that at
any moment it must fall and crush them, yet when
they looked at its firm strong base, they realized
that it might stand thus for centuries.
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Having come this far, the waning courage of
the men of the pit forbade their penetrating further
into the town of the shelks, and so, undecided, they
stood for many minutes, wondering what to do next.
And though they stood in utter silence for long, in
all that time they heard no sound of shelk, nor did
they see a moving form.
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But at last, Nikadur spoke softly in
Tumithak’s ear.
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“Something is happening to the wall of the
Surface on our right, Tumithak,” he breathed. “It
seems to be giving off a faint light.”
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Light on the Surface
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Tumithak started. It was true! A faint, uneven
light dimly shone in the sky at his right. Even as
he gazed at it, he realized that the glow was
penetrating all over the Surface. He could
distinguish the faces of his comrades and make out
details on the ground! And Datto and Thopf were
commenting softly on the amazing wonder of the
trees, which were now sufficiently visible to be
distinguished separately.
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Tumithak addressed his comrades: “The light is
returning, or another is being prepared. It is
strange, for it is in the opposite side of the
Surface from the light which I saw when I came here
before.”
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“Soon it will be light enough for the
shelks to be about,” whispered Datto. “Had we better
retire to the pit, Tumithak?“
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The Loorian was about to reply in the
affirmative when Thopf gave a gasp and, trembling
violently, pointed to a spot under the trees beyond
the pit. There, faint forms were visible, moving
toward the towers, and to them from the distance
came the sound of clacking voices! A group of
shelks were moving toward them!
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In a moment, the terrible fear that was almost
instinctive in man had seized the four.
Panic-stricken, they looked about them for some
means of flight. To return to the pit was impossible
- already the group of spider-like creatures had
passed it. To attempt to flee to the trees on
either side was equally impossible—they could not
fail to he seen almost immediately. But a single
direction offered possible protection, and the hair
of all four rose at the thought of taking that
direction. Yet if they did not do so, and at once,
discovery would be inevitable in another minute, so
they fled around the side of the tower, further into
the Shelk City, intent only on avoiding the present
evil, and leaving the future to take came of itself.
Even as they did so, rustling noises and here and
there a clacking voice, told them that the city was
beginning to awake. Utterly beside themselves with
fear, they hugged the walls of the tower—and then,
suddenly there was a door before them, an old, badly
dilapidated wooden door, and Tumithak had pushed
it open and was hustling them into the interior
of the tower.
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Had there been an enemy within, he might have
easily slain them as they entered, for the
transition from the rapidly increasing light without
to the dismal interior gloom made the room seem dark
as Erebus. But before long, their eyes adjusted
themselves and soon they could distinguish faintly
the details of the tower. And great was their belief
as they realized that this could hardly be one of
the inhabited homes of their enemies.
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The Web of Ropes in the Tower
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The
floor was uncovered, just bare earth, queer, thickly
packed dust that covered all the floor of the
Surface; and there was no furniture of any
description visible, unless a pile of straw in one
corner might pass as a bed of sorts. But here and
there about the room hung ancient frayed ropes, and
looking aloft, Tumithak could notice dimly that
these ropes led up to where, about twenty feet
above, a great mass of twisted cables, ropes and
cords crossed and recrossed the entire interior of
the tower. It was a veritable nest of ropes, a web, he thought, as the similarity of the shelks
to spiders again came to him. And, indeed, he was
not far from wrong, for the shelks used the towers
only as sleeping quarters and, at night, retired to
the upper parts of them, where, in a bed made of
hundreds of cables and ropes hanging criss-crossed
from the sides, they slumbered the dark hours away.
Fortunately, this tower in which Tumithak and his
companions found themselves was an old one, no
longer considered fit for occupancy by the
builders, and the use to which they now put it, we
shall soon see.
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The frightened pitmen stood for several
minutes in the narrow confines of the tower, and
their hearts were just beginning to again take up
their normal beat when once more there came the
ominous clacking voice of a shelk, this time almost
without the door. It grew louder and the men knew
suddenly, without a doubt, that the shelks were
approaching this tower! They glanced wildly about
them for a place of concealment, but even as they
looked they knew there could be but one, and an
attempt to hide in the maze of ropes and cables
above the small room on the ground seemed
tantamount to voluntary surrender. Nevertheless, no
other alternative was possible, so in a moment, they
were scrambling up the ropes and losing themselves
in the thick maze of twisted cords and cables above.
The criss-crossed ropes were not numerous near the
ground, hut some ten feet beyond where they began,
they were so thickly placed that it would have been
impossible to detect anyone hiding in them, from
below. So here the adventurers halted their climb,
and reclining in the thick web, lay listening to the
sounds that were now immediately without the door.
Indeed, by parting the ropes that concealed him,
Tumithak found that he had an almost unhindered view
of the floor beneath. That they had not concealed
themselves a moment too soon was evidenced by the
fact that hardly were they comfortably fixed among
the ropes when the door was opened and a strange
party came into view.
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CHAPTER II - The Hounds of Hun-Pna
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A shelk was the first to enter and Tumithak
felt the ropes, on which he and his companions lay,
shake as the other pitmen trembled with fear at
this, their first sight of one of the savage beasts
from Venus. The creature was a fair representative
of its kind; about four feet high, and ten long
spicier-like limbs and a head that, save for the
fact that it was hairless and noseless, might have
been that of a man. Held high in two of its limbs,
as a man might hold a twig between thumb and
forefinger, this shelk held a rod of metal, the tip
of which glowed with a brilliant light. On its back
was a queer-looking box, from which a hose emerged
that was coiled up and ended in a long rod that was
set into a sort of scabbard fastened on the box.
-
-
Following him came another, that might have
been his twin, and bringing up the rear of this
strange party were two men! And the
strangeness of these men made the party above gasp
with astonishment. The men were tall, taller even
than Tumithak; in fact, the larger of the two must
have been nearly seven feet in height. It was not
their height though which astonished Tumithak and
his friends; it was their incredible thinness and
the savage look on their faces. Their legs and arms
were long and stringy; their thighs, indeed, being
little bigger around than Tumithak’s arm. Their
waists, too, were surprisingly narrow, their necks
were lean; but their chests were enormous, as were
their hands. Not that all these members were out of
proportion, no, there was something about them that
made one feel that for certain purposes, these men
might be better proportioned than even Datto, that
colossus of the corridors. But, in comparing the
two, it would be evident that these men were of
another race, just as it had been clear that the
Esthetts were. If one should compare a picture of
those ancient dogs of the Golden Age which were
called greyhounds with our dogs of today, one would
be able to understand the difference between the men
of the corridors and these creatures of the shelks.
-
-
Tlot and Trak
-
-
These men were clad only in a single garment,
a cloth wrapped around their middle and dropping to
their knees; but over this cloth a belt was
strapped, and from this belt dangled a sword. In
their hands, each held a vicious looking whip made
from the hide of some animal; and, as if all this
were not enough to distinguish them, their hair and
their luxurious beards were black! The
pitmen, who had never seen hair of any other color
than their own fiery red (save the yellow of the
Esthetts), would not have been more surprised if
their hair had been green.
-
-
These men followed the shelks into the room
and at once cast themselves down on the beds of
straw. The shelks muttered something to them in a
low clacking whisper, and then, extinguishing their
lights, they turned and left the tower. The men
remained, lying on the straw in a manner that
clearly indicated fatigue. After a moment, one of
them spoke languidly.
-
-
“I have seen real hunts in Kaymak, Tlot,” he
said, and there was a decided sneer in his voice. “I
have known the time when three and even four of the
wild ones would be bagged before night fell. You
should see some of those hunts in the great city,
Tlot.”
-
-
The man called Tlot grunted.
-
-
“When you see a hunt in Shawm Trak, you know
that you are really flushing a wild one. Those so
called wild ones that you hunt in Kaymak are
domesticated, and bred for the purpose, and you know
it.”
-
-
Trak looked crestfallen and turning to his
bed, produced a small jug from within the straw. He
poured some oil from it into his hand and began to
oil his whip. Presently he made bold to speak again.
-
-
“Not for nothing is Hun-Pna called the
cautious one,” he remarked. ‘Never have I seen a
hunter proceed with such caution. One might almost
think that he expected one of the wild ones to turn
and kill us. We might have brought clown that one we
pursued and reached Shawm before dark last night,
had it not been that he feared to let its out.”
-
-
Tlot sat up in his straw, and looked across at
his companion. It was obvious that he shared the
other’s opinion of the shelk that was their lord and
master.
-
-
“When you have belonged to Hun-Pna as long as
I have,” he stated, “you will be more used to his
ways.” He rummaged in the straw, pulled out another
larger jug, and after drinking from it noisily, went
on: “I have seen him give tip a chase and call us
off after hours of pursuit, because the wild one
showed fight when cornered!“
-
-
“Why, they always show fight when cornered,
don’t they?” asked Trak, who was evidently the
younger man and deferred to the other’s knowledge.
-
-
“Only about one in five really fights,”
answered the older one. “The others struggle weakly,
but make no defense worth worrying about. They have
sense enough to know that, if they showed signs of
defeating us, the shelks would immediately finish
them.”
-
-
The speakers were silent again, for a while,
and above them, four silent watchers wondered in
perplexity over what they had heard. Presently the
older man spoke again: “But I have seen quite pretty
vicious battles put up by some of the wild ones. The
women of the Tains are notorious for their fury. I
am reminded of a hunt which I had about two years
ago. That was the hardest battle I ever did have. It
was a woman, too. But she didn’t get away,
like this one did, yesterday. Her scalp is
decorating Hun-Pna’s tower, right now.”
-
-
Tlot looked interested.
-
-
“Tell me about it,” he suggested.
-
-
A Great Hunt
-
-
“Well,” began the other, and there was a
certain boastfulness about his manner that
infuriated the pitmen who were listening from above,
“You see, Hun-Pna was having a great feast to
celebrate the Conjunction, and half the shelks in
Shawm were invited. Nearly a hundred shelks were
there, even old Hakh-Klotta himself; and, of course,
one of the main features of the feast was to be the
sacrifice to the mother planet. They don’t sacrifice
Esthetts at the Conjunction Ceremonies as I suppose
you know, and so we were taken out to see if we
could get some wild ones alive.
-
-
“Well we decided to look for Tains; Hun-Pna
always hunts Tains because their corridors are so
near the Surface. To go down into some of the
deeper corridors, would be too much like risking his
head, to suit the cautious one. He just drove us
into the entrance to the pit and sat down to wait
until we flushed some of the wild ones and chased
them out to him.
-
-
“So I, with two other Mogs, started down into
the corridors of the Tains. I had a sword, of
course, and my whip and so had each of the others,
for that is plenty of protection against a Tam.
They’re smart, the Tains are; but they’re afraid of
their own shadows.
-
-
“Well, it wasn’t long before one of the other
Mogs had spied a Tam and soon had him running to the
Surface, and just as they disappeared up the
corridor, I ran across a woman with a baby in her
arms. Now, that was some find, as you’ll agree; the
shelks are always pleased to have you capture a live
cub. So I bore down on her, expecting to find her an
easy prey, but she turned on me like a wolf. She had
a club in her hand, and before I could raise my
whip, she had struck me a dizzying blow on the neck
and was off in a flash, running toward the Surface.
She must have been beside herself with fright or she
would never have taken that route, for there wasn’t
a side passage or a branching corridor, all the way
to the Surface. I was stunned by her blow, and stood
for a moment, gathering my wits, before I took after
her.
-
-
‘‘I followed her, without hurrying greatly, to
the entrance. I expected the shelks would seize her
the minute she appeared, but unfortunately they were
busy with the male Tam that the other Mog had
flushed; and when I reached the open, I saw, to my
dismay, that she had cleared the crowd and was
running like mad into the forest. I shouted to Hun-Pna
for help, and dashed in pursuit, never once glancing
back to see if they were following. Naturally, I
supposed they were.
-
-
“Well, the Tam had quite a start on me, and
you know how hilly and stony it is in the
neighborhood of the Tam’s pit. So it was that even
my legs refused to carry me fast enough to catch up
with her until she began to get winded. But at last
she threw herself down by a rock on the hillside and
faced me, snarling viciously. I approached her with
care, for I still remembered that I must catch her
alive, if possible. I turned to see how far behind
the shelks were, and to my surprise, I found they
were nowhere in sight! For a moment, I began to fear
that I must give up my quarry, for none of us are
used to fighting without a shelk at our back, you
know, but at last I made a bold decision. I would
attack and conquer this Tam single-handed. And so I
approached her as diplomatically as possible.
-
-
The Single-Handed Attempt to Capture the Tam and
Her Baby
-
-
She stood there panting with fatigue and still
clinging to her baby and as I approached her she
began to swing her club about her in circles.
-
-
‘Give up, you fool,’ I said, ‘I’m not going to
kill you. I want to take you alive.’
-
-
“‘Alive!’ she sneered. ‘For what purpose? Mate
or meat?“
-
-
“I didn’t answer. What was the use? I wouldn’t
mate with one of those wild ones, if I died for not
doing it, and if I told her I wanted her for the
sacrifice, that wouldn’t help any. So I lashed out
with my whip, and the battle was on.
-
-
“And it was a battle, too! As we struggled
there, minute after minute, I took more than one
blow from that infernal club of hers, while she was
a mass of blood from where my whip had cut her skin.
At last an idea came to me, and I began to direct
the blows of my whip not at her but at her child!
After that, it seemed that my victory was going to
be an easy one. She was so taken up with protecting
her child that she had not time to devote to hurting
me. Presently she began to sob, and to curse me.
Said I was a demon, and that I didn’t deserve the
name of man. You know what I mean, you’ve heard the
wild ones give the same kind of talk. Well, that
sort of stuff has never bothered me. I was born a
Mog, and a Mog I’ll die. But I knew, when she began
that, that she had almost reached the breaking
point, and I began to have new hopes of bringing in
the mother and the baby, both of them alive.
-
-
The Death
of the Baby and Its
Mother
-
-
”But just as I expected her to cower down and
give in, she suddenly shouted ‘No!‘—and raising the
child over her head, she dashed it to the ground and
brained it with a club. Then she rushed at me in a
fury, clawing, biting and spitting, until in sheer
self— defense, I was forced to use the sword on her.
-
-
“I returned with nothing to show for my hunt
but the scalp of the woman, but Hun-Pna hung it up
among his trophies and it’s there yet.”
-
-
The speaker was silent at last, and, pulling
some straw over him, apparently prepared himself for
a nap. The other man, after a moment evidently
decided to follow his example, but his preparations
were rudely interrupted by the decision that had
been reached by the pitmen in the ropes above.
-
-
While this gruesome tale was being related,
the watchers had listened in horror. That men could
exist, so low and base as to hunt their own kind
for the pleasure of the shelks, had never entered
their heads. They had been prepared for the fact of
the existence of the Esthetts by the story that
Tumithak had told them, but here was a race of
shelk-worshippers even lower in the scale of
humanity than were the Esthetts!
-
-
As the tale progressed, the horror of these
creatures grew in the minds of Tumithak and his
companions, and as Tlot finished his story, the same
thought showed clearly in the eyes of each of them.
These creatures had surely lived far too long, they
felt. Black, unreasoning anger choked the pitmen,
and without a word, with only a questioning look
from Datto and Thopf and an affirmative nod from
Tumithak, the four dropped suddenly to the ground in
front of the astonished Mogs, intent on bringing an
end to their foul existence.
-
-
There is no doubt but that the continued
victories that had attended the men in the corridors
had made them over-confident. The savages of the
dark corridors had capitulated to the force of
their arms, the Esthetts had succumbed without a
struggle, and in the minds of the four was the idea
that this would not be so much a battle as an
execution. With the advantage of four to two and the
added fact that the attack was a surprise they
expected to dispatch the Mogs on the instant. But
once on the ground, it took but a matter of seconds
for them to realize their error. Almost before they
knew it, the Mogs were standing back to back; swords
in hand, were defending themselves so valiantly that
the outcome of the battle seemed for a moment in
doubt. And as they fought, the Mogs shouted—shouted
loudly for their masters to come and help them!
-
-
The
Folly of the Attack on the Mogs
-
-
Tumithak
realized the folly of their attack almost as soon
as it was accomplished, yet even in the realization,
he could not help but feel that somehow they were
justified. And, if they could but slay the Mogs,
their lives would not be sacrificed in vain.
-
-
One of the tall, black haired creatures was
down now, and Thopf pounced upon him and finished
him with a vicious thrust at his throat ; but in the
brief moment that the attention of the other two
was diverted by this, the other Mog turned and sped
like a deer past Datto and out the door, still
bellowing for the shelks.
-
-
Datto roared with anger and would have sped
after him, but Tumithak laid a restraining hand on
his shoulder.
-
-
“Quick, Datto, we must hide again!” he
whispered excitedly. “Up the ropes! Quickly!”
-
-
Without an instant’s hesitation, Nikadur
leaped for the ropes and began to climb, and the
other three immediately followed his example.
Without, the clickings and clatterings of shelk-talk
were rising higher and the Loorians were hardly
well-concealed by the strands of cables when the Mog
rushed into the room, followed closely by a group of
shelks. The creatures were all armed, each carrying
the box and hose such as the shelk had worn, which
had entered before. Only now the long, queer nozzle
had been removed from the scabbard and was carried
in two of the limbs.
-
-
The shelks looked about them in amazement for
a moment, and then one of them pointed aloft. The
pitmen had not ceased their climbing, apparently the
web of ropes continued to the top of the tower, and
so they climbed on, intent only on getting as far as
possible from the savage masters of the Surface. But
escape was utterly impossible, they felt, and what
tiny grains of hope remained to them was lost when
two of the shelks sheathed their weapons and with
incredible agility began to follow them tip the
ropes.
-
-
Above, the four desperate pitmen could see
little to do but to continue their hopeless climbing
and to pray for some miraculous means of escape.
Nikadur continued to be in the lead, closely
followed by the agile Tumithak; hut the great bulks
of Datto and his huge nephew were handicaps to them
and they were soon several feet below the Loorians.
-
-
The mazy web of ropes and cables became
thicker and thicker as the men ascended, until it
was impossible to see the ground but the sounds from
below left no doubt that the shelks were rapidly
drawing nearer. Suddenly there was a cry from below
Tumithak—a human cry, a cry of agony. And then there
was a wild thrashing, a sound of bodies tumbling
through the ropes and a crash! Tumithak looked back,
but the thick tangle of ropes obscured his view,
until they suddenly parted and Datto’s fierce face
appeared, its deadly pallor contrasting oddly with
the red of his beard and hair.
-
-
Thopf and the Shelks
-
-
“Thopf!” he cried, in agonized tones, “They’ve
got him, Tumithak, my nephew, Thopf! It was who
fell. They leaped upon him and tried to tear at his
neck with their infernal fangs! He struck back, but
he lost his hold and fell. But he took them with
him! He took them with him! You are not the only
shelk-slayer now, O Lord of Loor!”
-
-
The huge Yakran was weeping as he climbed, for
his nephew had meant much to him and would have been
his successor as Lord of Yakra. Tumithak, too, felt
an ache in his heart at the realization that Thopf
was gone, but he made no answer to Datto, reserving
all of his remaining breath for the climb. And then,
Nikadur, who had been lost to sight in the web
above, gave a cry and momentarily, Tumithak’s heart
sank in increased despair. Was he to lose this
friend, too? Had the shelks somehow attacked them
from above? He hastened his climbing, wondering if
he would reach his friend in time to aid him.
-
-
He parted the ropes above him, climbed higher,
and saw a dim light filtering down through the web.
A moment later and Nikadur’s form came into view,
dimly against this new light. The light shone from
one of the walls, and as Tumithak drew himself up
beside his friend he saw the reason for his cry.
-
-
The light came from a small circular window
set in the very top of the tower, and Nikadur had
cried out involuntarily as he had looked out and
beheld his first view of the Surface in the full
light of day. As Tumithak raised his eyes to the
level of the window’s ledge, it was all that he
could do to keep from crying out himself.
-
-
The little window looked down upon the shelk
city, and from its ledge a cluster of strong ropes
hung. The other end of each rope was fastened to the
window of another tower; apparently the shelks used
these ropes to go from tower to tower without
returning to the ground. Below, Tumithak could see
the bases of the other towers, and an
ever-increasing crowd of shelks, with here and there
a lean, hairy-faced Mog.
-
-
It was not the crowd below, nor the connecting
cables, not even the vast view from the window that
had caused Nikadur to cry out in surprise, however.
It was his first view of the sun! Even in his
desperate straits, that object had been the thing
that most impressed him as he looked for the first
time on the fully lighted Surface of the earth. And
indeed, Tumithak, who had seen the sun before, was
hardly less surprised. For the sun he had seen
before had been’ a dully glowing ball of red,
setting in the west, while this great orb, dazzling
in its intense, white brilliance, hung in the exact
opposite side of the heavens. For a moment, he was
puzzled, but he quickly thrust his amazement to the
back of his mind, and strove to concentrate on some
means of escape.
-
-
The metal walls that fell away from the
window’s ledge were as smooth as the brown glassy
walls of his own home corridor—there was no chance
of escape there. Indeed, could he have clambered
down the side of the tower, it would have availed
nothing, for the crowd of shelks below had by now
grown to such proportions as to cover the ground,
and Tumithak could see them pointing and
gesticulating, exactly as a crowd of humans would do
under similar circumstances.
-
-
Datto
Joins the Other Two
-
-
Datto
suddenly drew himself up between the two Loorians,
leaning his huge form upon the ledge of the window.
His eyes were still filled with the tears that had
sprung into them at the death of Thopf, but he spoke
nothing now of his grief. His mind, too, was filled
with the problem of escape.
-
-
“They are coming Tumithak,” he said. “Other
shelks are coming up through the ropes. What shall
we do now? Turn and fight them?”
-
-
The Loorian’s heart felt a glow as he realized
Datto’s willingness to fight the shelks. This was
one man, at least, who had learned the lesson that
Tumithak had preached so long and earnestly to the
pitmen. He shook his head at Datto’s proposal,
however, and continued to look out of the window.
There did seem one course of escape left, but so
small was it that Tumithak was loath to suggest it.
At last, however, he heard sounds not far beneath
him, and knowing that the pursuing shelks would soon
reach the window, he determined to put his desperate
plan into execution.
-
-
The far ends of the cables that hung from the
window ledge, extended to towers that were, most of
them inhabited. Tumithak could see the faces of
shelks at the windows, and in one, even, the hairy
face of a Mog was visible. But two of the windows
were empty and toward the nearer of these, Tumithak
pointed.
-
-
“It is our only chance,” he said, and tried to
conceal the despair in his voice. “It is a slim
chance, but perhaps we can get across and escape
some way out of that other tower.”
-
-
Nikadur, who held the best position at the
window, seized upon the idea at once and, climbing
into the window’s opening, swung out upon the cable.
I-land over hand he passed out on the rope, and
Tumithak motioned to Datto to follow him. The big
Yakran shook his head.
-
-
“This is no time for heroics, Lord of Loor,”
he said. “The lower corridors need you far more than
me. The chances are slim enough for escape, now,
without increasing them. Go you, and I will follow
and guard from the rear.”
-
-
This arrangement was hardly to Tumithak’s
liking and for a moment, he felt inclined to argue,
but the increasing danger made him realize that time
was precious and so he took his place at the window
and followed Nikadur hand over hand across the
cable.
-
-
The Escape from the Tower—Datto’s Sacrifice
-
-
Tumithak gave one look down as he swung
apelike along the rope but the vertigo that
immediately resulted caused him to look hastily
upward again. He found himself not far behind
Nikadur and hesitated in his crawling pace long
enough to look back to see if Datto was following
him. The sight he saw in the brief glimpse he had
was something that remained in his memories for
years.
-
-
The shelks had arrived at the window’s opening
and Datto had been forced to turn and face them. As
Tumithak looked, he saw the huge chief of Yakra,
with one shelk clawing desperately at him from
behind, pick up another and hurl him, clattering
and squeaking from the window. Then he drew his
sword and called to Tumithak.
-
-
“They have me, Tumithak,” he cried, “I can’t
hold them off. There are many—” he hesitated and
then, as if an idea had suddenly occurred to him:
“Hold fast the rope, Tumithak!“
-
-
The Loorian chief gazed in puzzled despair as
Datto swung his sword. Again the Yakran cried: “Hold
fast the rope!” and then the blade struck down the
cable, half severing it. Fearful, at a loss to
understand Datto’s reason for his actions, Tumithak
gripped the cable even tighter, and then the sword
struck again, cleanly cutting the cable from its
fastening at the window.
-
-
Tumithak caught a single glimpse of Datto
being jerked back into the tower, even as he struck;
and then the Loorians were falling away from the
tower. Nothing but death was in Tumithak’s mind, yet
some inward instinct made him obey Datto’s last
command and cling like grim death to the rope. He
saw, the ground approaching with terrible
swiftness, saw that they were swinging toward the
tower to which the other end of the cable was
fastened; and then there was a terrific jolt, and
beyond, he heard Nikadur scream fearfully. The rope
had swung past the leaning tower, its end, weighted
with the Loorians, acting as a huge pendulum and
then the ground, which had approached with sickening
closeness, was dropping away again!
-
-
Dimly conscious that they had somehow escaped
death, the two had hardly realized it when
Tumithak’s precarious grip on the rope began to
slip. He grabbed at the nearest object, which
happened to be Nikadur’s leg; heard his companion
scream again, and then they were turning over and
over in the air, to land, a second later, in the
branches of a huge tree that stood beyond the group
of towers.
-
-
Their Landing
-
-
Dazed
and bruised though they were by the fall, the
Loorians, nevertheless, hesitated not a moment in
taking advantage of the opportunity for escape that
had come to them. Instantly they were tumbling
through the leafy branches, and although Tumithak
wondered vaguely at the strange object in which he
found himself, the fact that it was not inimical was
sufficient to enable him to ignore it and to focus
his attention on the business of fleeing from his
enemies.
-
-
That the shelks had been amazed by the quick
succession of events was obvious from the fact that
they did not at once attempt pursuit. The Loorians
were out of the tree, in fact, before the cries and
clatters from the towers told them that the
shelks had organized a pursuit. They looked about
them, vainly hoping to spy their own pit, but it was
far to the right, and hidden by the trees; so,
calling to Nikadur to follow him, Tumithak plunged
deeper into the forest, away from Shawm.
-
-
Breathless, bruised, with the brave thoughts
of conquest utterly driven from their minds, like
rabbits through the brush the two pitmen fled, while
behind them, ever louder, sounded the tumult of the
pursuit.
-
-
-
CHAPTER III -Tholura the Tam
-
-
It is hard for a writer of the present age to
attempt to reproduce the thoughts that passed
through the heads of the Loorians as they fled in
hopeless panic through the woods. Three thousand
years separate those heroes from tile world of
today, years of almost continued change and
progress, and, in the safe, almost uneventful life
that we lead, there is little to enable us to
reproduce their overwhelming emotions. We can, of
course, easily understand that fear, black,
unreasoning fear, such as comes to us sometimes in
nightmares, was probably uppermost in their minds.
But there must have been other sensations, other
feelings, too.
-
-
What, for instance, did they think of the
trees that rose around them in such abundance?
Strange forms of life, indeed, these must have been
to those creatures of the underworld, in whose lives
there had never been so much as a legend of
vegetation. What did they think of the frightened
cries of the birds, or of the sudden appearance,
perhaps, of a rabbit, startled by their crashing
flight? What would their reaction he to the sight of
a brook or a thicket of brambles that clutched and
tore at their clothes? Or to the great round sun
that shone through the trees, glowing ever brighter
and rising ever higher over their heads? We can well
imagine that all these made but little impression on
the Loorians in their flight, hut that they had some
effect was undeniable. And rising over all tile
tumbled thoughts of their minds were the sounds of
the pursuing shelks, ever growing closer.
-
-
It was fortunate, indeed, for the Loorians
that the shelks were too amazed to follow them
quickly. By the time that the party of pursuit was
organized the pitmen were lost in the deeply-wooded
section just beyond the edge of the town and it was
fully five minutes before the Mogs, which the
shelks called out, had picked up their trail and
started after them. By this time Tumithak and his
companion had climbed the stony, gradually rising
hillside that rose in front of them and were
descending down the other side.
-
-
They fled in the last stages of terror, fled
without thinking, the one idea in their minds was to
put as much distance as possible between themselves
and the town of their enemies. The trees thinned out
on this side of the hill, but as they descended, it
became increasingly difficult to make any progress,
due to the tall grasses and bushes which grew here.
Had they known the contour of the country, they
would have realized that they were now in the valley
of a broad shallow river that flowed not far from
Shawm. This river was normally but a few hundred
feet wide and several feet deep, but the spring
rains had come and for a few days it would be a
tumbling, turgid torrent that cut a deep curve
through the valley on its way to the sea.
-
-
Toward this stream the Loorians were speeding,
and before long, they dashed into the thick growth
of willows and alders that grew along its banks,
hoping against hope that the dense vegetation would
conceal them from their pursuers.
-
-
The Fugitives Are Seen
-
-
As
they entered the brush, Tumithak was bold enough to
cast a hurried glance behind him. Far up the hill,
he could see the pursuing party already rising over
the top and rushing down into the valley. There were
at least a dozen shelks, the majority of which
carried the strange boxes with the hoses attached,
and in the forepart of the band, he saw a group of
the hairy-faced hunting men, the Mogs.
-
-
Even as he looked, one of the Mogs spied him,
and with a hoarse bellow, called the attention of
the others to the quarry.
-
-
Despair was in Tumithak’s heart, for never,
since he had begun his adventuring, had the Loorian
been in such a dangerous predicament as this. And
had you told him that the situation could be worse,
he would not have believed it. Yet even as he turned
and plunged into the deep thicket of willows, he
heard Nikadur, ahead of him, give a cry of startled
dismay! He pushed hurriedly forward, wondering what
new disaster had befallen, and saw that his
companion had stopped his flight. Stopped because he
had come to the brink of the river and could go no
farther!
-
-
To the despairing men of the corridors, this
was the last straw. The two saw no escape at all,
for the river swung in a curve around the point on
which they stood, and there was no possibility of
fleeing to either the right or the left. And at
their back, they could hear the bellowing of the
Mogs and the strange, inhuman voices of the shelks.
-
-
Never, in all man’s history, was there a time
when the phrase “between the devil and the deep sea”
was more truly applicable.
-
-
On
the River’s Edge
-
-
Like some small animal cornered at last by a
beast of prey, Nikadur cowered on the bank and
buried his face in his arms. Tumithak would have
given anything for the ability to surrender and
feel the relief of utter resignation which he knew
that Nikadur felt, but some inner part of him urged
him to die fighting. He drew his pistol, with the
three precious bullets that still remained from the
day when he had slain his shelk; in his mind the
consoling thought that if he must die, at least he
could die fighting the enemies of man, an honor not
often accorded to a Loorian.
-
-
Had the two but known it, though, neither was
destined to die in this way for many long years. For
several days before they arrived at this spot,
Nature had been preparing the way for their escape;
for the spot on which they stood was a few feet
above the level of the river, it was a high,
crumbling bank and the waters of the spring flood
had washed away at it until the spot on which the
two stood overhung the water by several feet. The
added weight of the Loorians had weakened it until
the slightest jar would be sufficient to break it
off and hurl it into the flood. And even as they
stood there, as the shelks and their hunting men
began to push through the thicket to take them a
huge log that had been caught in an eddy and swept
shoreward, struck the bank a resounding thump —and
the work of erosion was completed! Tumithak felt the
ground dropping suddenly from beneath his feet; the
whole world, it seemed, rocked crazily about him;
and then he had splashed into the icy-cold water and
was gasping and struggling and apparently certain of
drowning. He still held his pistol with a deadly
grip, some strange, sublimated idea of
self-preservation causing him to cling to it tightly
through all the strange events that followed.
-
-
In the Icy Cold Water
-
-
When
Tumithak rose to the
surface of the water after that first chilling
splash, his arms struck out in an instinctive
attempt to keep from sinking. He knew nothing of
swimming, in fact in all his life he had never
before seen enough water to swim in, but some deep
instinct caused him to thrash about, and in so doing
his hand struck the log which had been the cause of
his sudden advent into this amazing world of water,
he grasped the log, threw an arm over it, and drew
himself up on it. The hand that held his pistol
struck a wet red-haired head and to his surprise,
his eyes met the pallid, fear-stricken face of
Nikadur, who had apparently managed to seize the log
and raise himself to the other side.
-
-
By the time the two Loorians had ceased to
gasp and sputter and had gained sufficient control
of themselves to take notice of their surroundings,
they found that the log had left the eddy into which
it had drifted and was again floating down the
stream and getting farther from the shore every
minute. For a moment, hope rose in their breast—they
were no longer in immediate danger of death from
the shelks—but a brief reflection made them realize
that they were no better off here; indeed, what
might have been sudden, merciful extinction now
threatened to be a death that was long and
lingering. Yet they continued to cling to the log
desperately, though it was only the instinct of
self-preservation that kept them fighting at all.
-
-
They watched the shore with apathetic eyes as
they were washed farther and farther away from it,
and when they had almost reached the center of the
stream, Nikadur gave an inarticulate cry and pointed
to the spot where they had been precipitated into
the water. The shelks had emerged from the thicket
and stood in amazement, wondering where the pitmen
had gone. Presently a Mog spied them and shouted the
news to his masters. Tumithak saw the shelks
unlimber the strange hoses with the long nozzles and
point them in his direction. Little spurts of steam
leaped from the water about a dozen yards from him
but apparently the range was already too great for
the weapons to do much harm. Once, indeed, he felt a
fiery breath, as though from a furnace, beat upon
his face, but it was no more than a passing
discomfort, and, shortly after, the shelks gave up
their attempt and stood watching until the Loorians
had disappeared around the bend in the river.
-
-
The Escape
-
-
As
they continued to be washed along in the main
current, the Loorians found time to look about them
and to observe the amazing details of this new world
in which they found themselves. The current was
fairly swift; yet as they moved along with it, its
swiftness was not noticeable to them; in fact, the
only discomfort they felt was the gradually
increasing fatigue in their arms. They watched the
shore, marveling at the trees and bushes that seemed
to stretch endlessly along the banks, and wondering
how they would ever be able to find a way through
their seeming impenetrability, if they should win to
the shore. They gazed at the sky, and were amazed at
the clouds, which they were now able to study for
the first time. And most of all, they were amazed at
the sun, which by this time had reached the zenith,
leaving no doubt in their minds that this astounding
light of the Surface really did move slowly across
the sky.
-
-
An hour passed, and still the pitmen were
floating down the river with the floating log, and
still the problem of reaching the shore was as
unsolved as ever. Tumithak had attempted to climb up
on the log and sit astride it; but at his first
attempt, he had almost lost his companion when the
log suddenly turned, so he had abandoned the idea at
once and now continued to cling with weary arms, as
he had since he had first been precipitated into the
stream.
-
-
Another hour passed and with aching arms and
water-soaked bodies, the Loorians were beginning to
feel that even flight from the shelks might be
preferred to this. Tumithak was beginning to wonder
what would happen if he let go the log when he felt
his feet touch something, float off and then touch
it again! He released his grip on the log a little,
and knew that it was the bottom of the river that he
touched. The log had reached another huge bend in
the stream, and unnoticed had approached the shore
at a spot where a sand bank stretched out into the
river. Tumithak cautiously released himself, sank
slightly, and stood up to his neck in the water. He
looked about him, and seeing the shore so near, let
go of the log entirely and, calling out to Nikadur
to do likewise, turned and waded to the shore. His
companion followed his example, and in a few moments
the two staggered across the sand-bar and fell,
fatigued and water-worn, into the brush beyond.
-
-
On Land Again
-
-
Once concealed in the weeds and willows, they
bent every effort to discern whether they were
followed. They looked out over the broad river for
long, and jumped with fright at every small sound
that came from the woods behind them. But as time
went on and no savage shelk appeared to slaughter
them, nor did the clacking cries come to their ears,
they at last decided that they had succeeded in
evading their pursuers. Then it was that their
over-taxed bodies began an insistent clamor for
rest, and so, unable to resist further, they gave in
to exhausted nature and in a few moments were
asleep.
-
-
“The sleep of utter exhaustion” is a phrase
that is often used to denote sound, undisturbable
slumber. That afternoon, the Loorians were to learn
what anyone who has ever been utterly exhausted can
tell, that the sleep of an extremely tired person is
anything but sound. Time and again, one or the other
of the Loorians would start into wakefulness as
some wood-sound startled them; time and again, their
over-wrought nerves would tense, and they would find
themselves sitting up and staring into the woods
with throbbing alertness, and at last, toward
evening, when they did begin to find some slumber,
dream after nightmarish dream kept their minds in a
turmoil. But rest came to them at last, and when the
next morning came, it was a refreshed and vigorous
Tumithak that opened his eyes and looked about upon
the world which had recently shown him so much
terror.
-
-
The sun was just rising and its light was
reflected gloriously upon the swollen river; the
birds were beginning to sing; and over Tumithak’s
head, the branches of a huge old pear tree showered
down a million petals. A morning breeze was blowing,
and rosy clouds scudded before it in the east; it
was a perfect spring morning, but its beauty was
lost upon Tumithak, for his mind was taken up almost
entirely with wondering which of these many things
might prove to be inimical, and just when he might
expect them to become dangerous. At last, he turned
and awakened Nikadur. The latter sat up, looked
about him and then sank down again in despair.
-
-
It Seemed Like a Dream of Terror
-
-
I had thought it was all a dream, Tumithak,”
he said mournfully.
-
-
Tumithak smiled and shrugged his shoulders.
-
-
“Unfortunately it was not,” he said
half-bitterly. “We are far from the safety of Loor,
Nikadur.”
-
-
He had removed the pack that was still
strapped to his back as he spoke, and now he seated
himself and removed from it a packet of food-cubes.
He offered half of them to Nikadur, and for a while
the two were silent as they partook of their simple
breakfast, the first meal that they had eaten since
emerging from the pit.
-
-
The meal finished, they fell to examining the
details of the wonderful place in which they found
themselves. The soil interested them most for a
while, for they were unable to decide whether it was
a thick coarse dust that had settled here or whether
the original rock floor had crumbled and decayed.
The question was abandoned, however, in the light of
further mysteries; for wherever they looked they
found new wonders to occupy their minds. A bird flew
overhead, and although they were familiar with bats
in the corridors, they wondered at the strangeness
of this Surface creature, and at the perfection of
its flight.
-
-
The flowers that were scattered in profusion
through the woods excited their admiration now, but
even as yet, they could not account for the fact
that though these things certainly appeared to be
living creatures, yet they were harmless and unable
to move about. Twice they spied small animals, one
of which fled from them, while the other peered
curiously at them from a hole beneath a rock; but
Tumithak had reached a point where he had some
control of his fear, and he felt that he was at
least the master of these small Stir-face creatures.
-
-
They had been examining this amazing world for
over an hour when Nikadur voiced a thought that had
been bothering Tumithak for some time.
-
-
“How are we to get back to our corridors,
Tumithak?" he asked.
-
-
“Have you given any thought to which way we must
go?”
-
-
Tumithak considered.
-
-
“If we could walk in the direction from which
we were carried by the hurrying of the water, we
should find ourselves near enough to the shelk city
to enable us to search for home. But perhaps the
shelks are still seeking us. Do you feel that you
could brave the dangers of Shawm again?”
-
-
The Duty of the pitmen Waiting in the Hall of
the Esthetts
-
-
Nikadur trembled, but his answer showed
Tumithak that the events of the past two clays had
somehow revived in Nikadur some trace of the ancient
spirit of courage, for he answered bravely:
“Nennapuss and our warriors wait in the Halls of the
Esthetts. Is it not our duty to try to return to
them?”
-
-
The shelk-slayer smiled, and clapped his
comrade on the back.
-
-
“Come then,” he said, and they arose and
started on their journey, keeping as close as they
could to the banks of the river and praying that no
new and unknown danger would confront them. They
had not gone far, however, when it began to be
increasingly evident that it would not be possible
to follow the stream for long. The banks grew
steeper and the vegetation grew denser and denser,
until at last the Loorians gave up the attempt to
remain close to the river, and struck off into the
woods in the hope of finding a more open section.
They had gone but a few dozen yards when they came
to a well-marked trail leading in the very direction
in which they wished to go. So ignorant were they of
wood-craft or any similar art that the idea that
this was a path made by the shelks never entered
their heads. They at once turned into the path and
continued on their way, sublimely unconscious of
their increased danger.
-
-
For over a mile, they walked on without
incident to distract their minds. A dozen times they
congratulated themselves on the fortunate discovery
of the path, and their hopes were beginning to run
high that they might succeed in reaching their pit
again, after all, when suddenly, as they topped a
slow rise, they heard a distinct commotion in the
little vale beyond. They at once darted into the
brush, and froze into silence; then after a little
while, they crawled slowly to the hill top and,
lying there on their faces, looked upon an amazing
scene.
-
-
A Fight Between Humans Watched by the
Shelks
-
-
It was the scene of a battle—and just such a
battle as they had heard described by Tlot, the Mog,
when they had hidden in the ropes and cables of the
shelk tower. There were seven figures in the little
vale, three of which were shelks and four, humans.
Three of the humans were Mogs, armed with short,
heavy javelins not unlike the ancient Roman pilum;
the other was a woman—a woman whose back was
against the bole of a great tree, and who lashed out
furiously at the Mogs with a long, needle-like sword
that was, apparently quite capable of protecting her
from the savage three. And the sight of three broken
whips that lay at her feet showed that the battle
had already occupied some time, and was evidence
that the girl had been giving good account of
herself.
-
-
The three shelks were taking no part in the
fight; they stood well back and encouraged the Mogs
with sardonic, clucking chatter. Two of them
appeared to be unarmed, tile other carried the now
familiar box and hose, the long nozzle of which he
held between two of his limbs, as a man might hold a
pencil between his thumb and forefinger. He was
watching the combat closely, and Tumithak knew that
if the battle seemed to favor the brave girl too
greatly, he could bring it to an end at once by
slaying her.
-
-
Behind the
shelks was a queer vehicle, a long, narrow,
two-wheeled car that balanced strangely on its
wheels, and that had a high, V-shaped transparent
shield in front of it, behind which were a
bewildering number of controls. Apparently the
shelks and their attendant Mogs had been traveling
some place in this car and had stopped long enough
to enjoy the slaying of this girl.
-
-
The Strange Vehicle—The Fight—The Arrow of
Nikadur
-
-
Tumithak’s brief survey of the machine noted
also a box that sat on the rear of the machine, a
box with a number of white and shining rods of metal
in it. These rods, it seemed, were made of a metal
similar to that of the plates that illuminated the
corridors. That they were not exactly the same was
apparent from the fact that their light was not
brilliant as was that of the plates, in fact, it was
little more than a luminescence.
-
-
Tumithak’s interest in the vehicle was but a
passing one, just a single hurried glance, yet when
his eyes returned to the fight, his heart leaped to
his throat— I or he saw that one of the Mogs had
struck the girl’s sword a particularly vicious blow,
and before she could return to the defense, another
Mog brought down his sword weapon, and then—There
was a swish in the air, close to Tumithak’s head,
and before the Mog could finish his blow, he jerked
violently forward and fell to the ground with an
arrow in his heart!
-
-
Tumithak turned to see Nikadur, risen to his
knees in the grass and already fitting another arrow
to his bow. He comprehended instantly what his
comrade had done, and chuckling in mingled amazement
and delight at Nikadur’s new-found courage, he drew
his pistol and turned his face again to the battle.
The shelks were filled with amazement at the sudden,
unaccountable death of the hunting man, and the
instant in which they stood in puzzled confusion had
sufficed to give the Loorians that half second
necessary to win. As Tumithak turned, he saw the
armed shelk already raising his long-nozzled
hose—and then to his surprise, the bushes to the
right of him, at which the nozzle pointed, burst
into flames!
-
-
The Marvelous Hose of the Dying Shelk
-
-
Instantly Tumithak’s pistol spat, and,
miraculously enough, the bullet struck the shelk
squarely in the body. It gave a peculiar cry, its
limbs went limp, and it collapsed on the ground, the
hose dropping from its grip. As the hose fell,
Tumithak became aware of a marvelous thing. The
hose’s long nozzle, in falling, described a vertical
circle, and wherever it pointed, the vegetation
immediately burst into flames! To the left, and high
in the trees swung the flaming path, over their
heads and back beyond the shelks; and then, as the
nozzle came to rest on the ground, a long streak of
blackened earth appeared, starting at the nozzle’s
mouth and stretching away into the forest. Somewhere
a huge branch, severed from its trunk by the heat
ray, fell crashing to the ground, and then Tumithak
jerked his mind back to the scene of the battle,
just as another of the shelks reached for the hose.
Again Tumithak fired his revolver—and missed! He was
about to fire his last remaining bullet when he
again heard the twang of Nikadur’s bow, and the
second shelk fell to the ground, its limbs feebly
twitching and attempting to claw at the arrow that
had pierced its body.
-
-
Only two Mogs and a single shelk remained now,
and the advantage was still with the Loorians. The
remaining shelk made a dash for the weapon of its
dead brother, but even as it did so, Tumithak and
Nikadur, flushed with the fever of battle, dashed
forward to prevent its reaching it. Halfway down the
hill, both stopped to discharge their weapons, and
when they reached their destination they found but a
single Mog to oppose them. For the two hunting men
had been so intent upon the battle with the girl
that they had hardly been aware of the events going
on behind them, and just as Tumithak and Nikadur
reached the bottom of the hill, the girl, with a
lucky stroke, had dispatched the second Mog and so
the remaining one had turned to appeal to his
masters. The sight of them stretched upon the ground
was quite enough for the astounded Mog; with a howl,
he abandoned the battle and fled.
-
-
Tumithak was at first inclined to let him go,
but a second thought brought to him the memory of
that other Mog who had escaped, in the shelk-tower
in Shawm; and so he gave a quick order to Nikadur,
and a swift arrow sped forward and overtook the
hunting man, silenced his howling forever. Then the
Loorians turned and approached the girl.
-
-
She still stood with her back to the tree, her
chest was still rising and falling with the exertion
of the battle, and her long hair, which was as black
as that of any Mog, was tumbled about her shoulders
and was damp with the perspiration brought out by
the fight. Her dress was a long tunic, not unlike
the belted dresses of the Loorian women, save that
her people apparently possessed the secret of some
dye, for its color was a brilliant blue. Tumithak
felt that he had never before seen any woman with
half the animation, half the determinati3n shown by
this strange girl. The shelk-slayer, Tumithak,
approached her diffidently, for the first time in
his life consciously bashful before a woman. He
spoke not at all; in fact it was Nikadur who finally
broke the silence.
-
-
Addressing the Girl in
Friendship
-
-
“We are friends,” he said, and indeed, it was
well that he said it, for the girl was holding her
sword at the guard, uncertain of how she would be
treated by these newcomers. At Nikadur’s words, she
lowered her sword slightly and relaxed her tense
pose.
-
-
‘Who are you?" she asked, and there was a
touch of amazement in her voice. “Who are you who
slay shelks and Mogs alike with strange weapons of
thunder?"
-
-
Tumithak struck his chest importantly. He had
regained his composure and at the girls words, that
queer vanity of his again swelled within him.
-
-
“I am Tumithak, slayer of shelks !“ he
announced. “Tumithak Lord of Loor chief of
Yakra and Nonone, Master of the Dark Corridors and
of the Halls of the Esthetts! I have come to the
Surface to slay shelks, and to teach Man to again
battle for his ancient heritage! This companion of
mine is Nikadur—who also slays shelks,” and as he
spoke, it seemed to dawn on Tumithak for the first
time that he was no longer “The
Shelk-slayer,’’ that now this honor was one that
must be shared with his comrade. He turned to
Nikadur and clasping him by the shoulders, kissed
him on the cheek.
-
-
“You, too. are a shelk—slayer now, old
friend,’’ he said. ‘‘Quick. take the heads, that we
may show them to our friends, when we return to our
corridors.” And so, as Nikadur, obeying, turned and
busied himself with the bodies of the shelks,
Tumithak returned to the now friendly girl.
-
-
Tumithak and the Girl Now Friends—The Tains
-
-
“These places of which you speak.” she said,
as she thrust her sword through a ring at her belt,
“I have never heard of them before. Can it be that
you come from some other pit ?‘‘
-
-
This explanation seemed plausible enough for
Tumithak, for never, in his own pit, had he seen
anyone with hair colored as was this girl’s. “I
suppose you are right,” he answered, “What do they
call your pit, and what is your name?“
-
-
“I am Tholura the Tam, and my pit is the pit
of the Tains,” and the girl pointed to her throat,
where a blue, six-pointed star was cleverly
tattooed. “This is the mark of all the Tains,” she
said.
-
-
“But what are you doing on the Surface?” asked
Tumithak. “Do your people often dare to come out on
the Surface, and face the shelks?“
-
-
There was a world of scorn in the girl’s voice
as she replied.
-
-
“Never in my life have I heard of a Tam who
would voluntarily face even a Mog.” she replied.
“The Tains are a race of rabbits! They cower in
fear, deep in the lowest corridors of
our pit, and when the shelks and foul Mogs conic
hunting them, they either flee in panic, or
sacrifice one of their own people, that the rest may
live.”
-
-
“But you—’’ insisted Tumithak, ‘‘How did you
have the courage to leave the pit ? How do you
happen to be on the Surface
-
-
“I do not know,’ Tholura answered, vaguely. “I
have always been a little different from the other
Tains. It has seemed to me a most degrading thing to
flee ever from one’s enemies. Many of my people have
thought me mad because I believed that it would he
nobler to die than to flee. But even I never dreamed
of venturing upon the Surface until three days ago,
when a party of hunting Mogs raided our part of the
corridors and slew my sister.
-
-
The Death of Tholura’s Sister – Her
Revenge
-
-
“I tried to induce my father and my brothers
to follow them for I felt sure that they could be
overtaken before they left our pit. But like the
craven cowards that all the Tains are they cowered
in our apartment and told me I was mad to think of
such a thing. Perhaps I was, for I took tip my
father’s sword and turned my face toward the Stir
face vowing that I would follow and never return
until I had taken vengeance on the murderers of my
sister.’’
-
-
She paused as Nikadur drew near and threw the
heads of the shelks at Tumithak’s feet. She glanced
at them for a moment in fascinated curiosity and
then with a little feminine grimace of disgust she
turned her head and went on: ‘I pursued my way to
the entrance of the pit hut saw no more of the Mogs
who had slain my sister. So I continued my way out
to the Surface and today after wandering for a long,
long way, I came upon this other party. I might
have tried to avoid them, but they spied me before I
could hide. So I faced them, hoping only that I
might slay Mog or two before I died.
-
-
“But I little dreamed that a hero existed who
would not only prevent my slaughter at the hands of
the Mogs, but would slay their savage masters, too,”
and the look she gave Tumithak, as she finished
speaking caused Nikadur to smile discreetly and to
turn away and busy himself with studying the various
possessions of the shelks.
-
-
-
CHAPTER IV - The White and Shining Rods
-
-
For some time, Tumithak and Tholura sat
conversing beneath the great tree, telling each
other of the lives they had lived in the corridors.
Tumithak was filled with wonder at the idea of
finding this girl whose mind was such a strange
parallel to his own and he plied her with dozens of
questions concerning her past. And of course, she
questioned hum too, and Tumithak recounted the great
adventure which had first brought him to the Surface
from his home corridors, so far below, and you may
be sure the story lost nothing in the telling.
-
-
Nikadur, meanwhile, had made several
discoveries that interested him greatly. The weapon
which cast the ray of heat still lay where it had
fallen, and now the line of burnt and blackened
earth which streaked from the nozzle had begun to
glow redly with the intensity of the heat. And some
distance away dense smoke arose, where the green
vegetation smoldered and burned. Nikadur approached
the shelk-weapon diffidently, wondering how it could
be possible for such a cool thing as the hose
appeared to be to give out such intense heat. But
this was a puzzle far beyond his intellect and so,
placing it in his mind simply as a shelk wonder, not
to he understood by men, he turned his attention to
the long narrow car.
-
-
The
machine was about twenty feet long, low and
streamlined and made of some strange yellow metal.
It still stood balanced on its two wheels, and as
Nikadur drew near to it he could hear from within it
a subdued, throbbing hum. He inspected the controls,
but was unable to comprehend them and so he turned
to the rear of the car where lay the box of white
and shining rods. He stooped over them,
half-expecting them to be white-hot, hut feeling no
glow of heat from them, he finally picked up enough
courage to take one of them in his hand and found
out to his surprise that it was quite cool.
-
-
Nikadur examined it curiously. About four feet
long it was, and a little over half an inch in
diameter, and as he swung it about his head, Nikadur
was struck with a brilliant idea. These rods of
metal would make excellent ax handles. He thought of
how proud he would be to possess such a beautiful
weapon. And then, at the thought of the word weapon,
his eyes instantly returned to the box and hose
lying to the right of him. There, indeed, he
thought, would be a real weapon, if a way could only
be found to control the heat or to turn it off and
on as the shelks apparently could. For the first
time it dawned on Nikadur that this weapon in the
hands of a man might be as dangerous to a shelk as
it had hitherto been to humans. It was an
epoch-making thought, and Nikadur must be given full
credit for it. He turned to where Tumithak and the
girl sat, still talking, and called to the Loorian
chief.
-
-
“What shall we do with the shelk weapon,
Tumithak?” he asked. “Think you there is some way to
stop this terrific blast of heat as the shelks do?
Perhaps we might find a way to control it and to
keep the weapon for our own.”
-
-
Tumithak was about to answer when Tholura gave
a vexed little laugh and started for the weapon.
-
-
“How silly of me,” she exclaimed, “I should
have noticed it before.” And picking up the long
nozzle, she snapped back a small lever—and the
weapon was harmless! The Loorians gasped.
-
-
“You know how to operate such a weapon?”
cried Tumithak. “Where did you learn? What else do
you know of the ways of the shelks? “
-
-
The girl smiled. “I know little of the ways of
the shelks,” she answered. “But of the ways of our
ancient ancestors, I think I know far more than you.
What you have been telling me of Loor and of your
corridors shows that you have little or no
knowledge of the wisdom of the ancient ones. There,
at least, the Tains excel. For many hundreds of
years, they have kept the traditions of the great
wisdom of our wise ancestors, and in our museums,
which are also our worshipping places, we have many
tools and machines that were once used by those wise
ancestors, and they are always kept in perfect
repair by the priests. But alas; the fuel,
the power that makes them operate, is unobtainable,
and so the Tains are no better off than the most
ignorant of those blind savages of which you have
been telling me. Yet if the day should come when we
again learn the secret of that lost power—” Tholura
paused, her eyes shining. “There is something to
which you might well devote your life, O
Shelk-slayer!” she cried. “Could we but find the
secret of that lost power, we might face the shelks
on equal terms. And then—”
-
-
“And then,” cried Tumithak, catching her
enthusiasm and grasping the shelk weapon from her,
“a raid on that stinking shelk-hole of Shawm
Fire-hoses blasting down tower after tower! Foul Mog
and savage shelk alike fleeing in screaming terror
to the woods! “
-
-
A Sudden Alarm from the Distance
-
-
He was not finished with his fantastic
dreaming, yet he stopped suddenly as a sound came to
him distantly from the woods in the direction of
Shawm. Nikadur heard it too, and laid a warning hand
upon his arm. The three were instantly silent,
straining every ear, listening. Unmistakably, from
afar came the faint clattering of an approaching
band of shelks, and quite clearly it was no small
party. From the heights of their dreams, Tumithak
and Tholura crashed to the depths of reality. Their
human natures betrayed them and instinctively they
turned to flee in the direction opposite to that
from which came the sound of the voices. Strangely
enough, it was Nikadur who caused them to hesitate.
He had not yet brought to Tumithak’s attention the
white and shining rods that he had discovered, and a
certain tenacity of purpose, that was characteristic
of him, made him determined to take some of them
with him as he fled, So he seized Tumithak by the
arm and restrained his flight.
-
-
“Are you going to leave without taking the
shelks’ heads, Tumithak?" he asked. “And
wouldn’t these rods make excellent ax handles? Let
us at least take a few of these rods with us, back
to our pit.”
-
-
Tumithak paused at once, rather ashamed of his
sudden panic. He picked up two of the shelk
heads and fastened them to his belt, while Nikadur
picked up the other. Then he approached the car and
for the first time, took a good look at it and at
its contents. He was struck at once, as Nikadur had
been, with the beauty as well as the utility of the
shining rods of metal. So each of the Loorians took
up about a dozen of the rods, and then Tholura, with
a practical eye to the future, carried the remaining
rods some distance away from the path and buried
them in a pile of leaves Then the three fled,
leaving the path and running in a direction pointed
out by Tholura.
-
-
“This way lies the pit of the Tains,”
explained the girl. “You could not now return to
your own corridors without passing around the party
of shelks which we hear approaching, and that would
be a heedless and unnecessary danger. And perhaps,
in their own pit you can, by example, instill some
courage into those craven cowards, the Tains.’’
-
-
Tumithak’s Caution in the Face of Danger
-
-
Tumithak
was anxious to return to his own pit, but in spite
of all his brave and boastful talk, he still
retained enough instinctive caution to wish to avoid
contact with a large group of shelks. He was no
superman, he well knew, and just at present it
seemed the better part of valor to seek safety some
place below the ground where conditions would be
more familiar to him than they were in this amazing
Surface world. His companions back in the pit of
Loor could probably take care of themselves for
another day or two, without his help, in fact, it
was most probable that they had already given him
up for dead and returned to their own cities. So it
was that Tumithak decided to turn and direct his
footsteps toward the pit of the Tains.
-
-
For a while, the three ran swiftly through the
trees while the sound of the shelks’ voices came to
them ever more distantly. At last they could be
heard no longer and the adventurers slowed down
their pace to a hurried walk. The Loorians took time
now to make a pack of the shining rods and to fasten
them on their backs so that their hands might be
free. Tumithak also fastened the shelk’s fire-hose
to his back, and then they continued their journey
in high spirits, for well they knew that in this
day they had already accomplished more than any
other man had accomplished in a dozen preceding
centuries.
-
-
The Afternoon Rest—The Alarm Is Over
-
-
By mid-afternoon, they had covered quite a
distance and the party of shelks was almost
forgotten. Tumithak amused himself by familiarizing
himself with the operation of the fire-hose, and
many a sapling and small bush burst into flame as
he directed the heat-ray upon it. Presently the
forest thinned and was replaced by a park like
expanse, thinly wooded, through which they were able
to make much better time. At last the trees
disappeared entirely and they came to a broad
shallow valley of meadow land, and here, by the side
of a great glacial boulder nearly eight feet high,
the three sat down to rest and to eat from
Tumithak’s diminishing supply of food-cubes. They
munched their food in silence for awhile and then
Tholura spoke softly: “Much may be accomplished with
the shelk weapon we have, Tumithak. I think we had
better con-stilt about it with Zar-Emo, the leader
of the priests of the Tains. He is very wise in the
wisdom of the ancients, and he can advise us how we
may best use the power that has fallen into our
hands. We should go to him at once when we reach the
pit that is my home.”
-
-
Tumithak agreed and again they fell into
silence. They were tired from their long walk, the
warm afternoon sun fell on their faces, and in the
fresh spring air, there was a drowsiness that seemed
to soak into them and permeate their very souls.
Their heads drooped and Tholura, who had slept very
little if any, the night before, had even fallen
into a little nap when suddenly Tumithak sat up,
every sense alert, his finger to his lips to caution
Nikadur to silence. Unmistakably, from the other
side of the boulder had come a familiar scratching
sound ! Some creature had moved, on the other side
of the rock; was it shelk, man or some lesser
animal?
-
-
Silently, the two Loorians stood there,
immovable, until the sound was repeated. Evidently
the creature or creatures had just arrived and had
no knowledge of the party on the other side of the
rock, for they were making no effort to avoid
producing a noise. Tumithak unloosed the shelk
weapon which he had on his back, took the nozzle in
his hand and tiptoed to the side of the rock.
Reaching the edge of it, he cautiously lowered his
head and slowly, slowly peered around the corner.
There was a sizzling spit, Tumithak jerked his head
violently, and the grass a few feet beyond him burst
into flames. Tumithak clapped his hand to his head,
where a great singed spot of hair bore witness to
the narrowness of his escape. Before he could speak
or so much as warn the others, a shelk leaped into
view, a fire-hose in its claws and a look of savage
fury in its cold eyes!
-
-
A Shelk Attacks Tumithak
-
-
Now there is no doubt at all that if such a
meeting as this one had occurred a dozen or so years
later, when Tumithak as Lord of Kaymak had made his
name a name of wonder and hate throughout shelkdom,
there would have been better chance for the Loorian
chief. But at this early day, the shelks were still
the lords of all the earth and the idea of a man
being on equal terms with a shelk was unthinkable.
Therefore, the shelk, seeing Tumithak dodge behind
the stone, thought of nothing but the sport of
killing a man, and so immediately gave chase. It
exhibited no caution in pursuing him, it probably
felt that at most he could only be armed with a
sword or perhaps a bow and arrows, and so it leaped
around the edge of the rock—swinging its heat-ray,
it leaped—straight in front of the fire-hose that
Tumithak held in his hand. The Loorian snapped the
lever, there was a hissing crackle of sound, a
clattering cry, and the shelk was no more, another
enemy of man had gone to join its fathers in that
legendary land upon the mother planet.
-
-
Tumithak’s mind was calm, yet it was
functioning rapidly. Almost immediately, he decided
that his best course was to pursue the advantage he
had gained, and suiting the action to the thought,
he again started around the rock, his weapon, this
time, playing before him. He rounded the edge of the
huge stone, half expecting to see the entire party
that they had heard earlier in the day, hut instead,
the sight that my his eyes caused him to smile
broadly and to mentally give himself several pats on
the back. There were no more shelks, but about a
hundred yards away, two Mogs were fleeing rapidly,
dodging from tree to tree ; while on the ground lay
two strange cocoon-like bundles, quite evdently
abandoned by the hunting men when they had seen the
death of their master.
-
-
Tumithak Frees the Captured Datto and Thopf
-
-
Tumithak
turned and motioned his two companions to follow
him and then, seeing that the two fleeing Mogs had
already fled beyond the range of the fire-hose, he
ignored them and approached the strange bundles. He
eyed them carefully, their size and peculiar shape
making him decidedly suspicious of what their
contents might be. Halfway toward them, he stopped
fearfully—he had caught a glimpse of a human face on
the far side of one of them—he was right, there were
men in these bundles! And then almost immediately,
his half-uttered cry of alarm turned to one of
surprise and delight and rushing to the bundles, he
began to hack at their binding threads and cords
like a madman.
-
-
Nikadur and Tholura, timidly following
Tumithak round the boulder, heard his cry and
started hack, then, realizing that it was not a cry
of fear they heard, hastened to see what had caused
their leader such surprise. They had hardly come
within sight when Tumithak called: “Nikadur! Come
and help me !“ and Nikadur, drawing his sword,
rushed forward just as Tumithak cut the last of the
binding cords from the body of —Datto, the Yakran!
-
-
For a dozen seconds, Nikadur’s mind was a
hodgepodge of jumbled thought. Tumithak had found
the Yakrans! I-low did they come to be here? Were
they alive or dead? Why had the shelks brought them
here? He was recalled from his amazement by the
voice of Tumithak: “Unbind Thopf, Nikadur! They are
weak from the tight bindings of the cords. They will
be all right in a few minutes.”
-
-
Nikadur hastened to obey and shortly the
Yakrans were freed of their bonds and Tholura was
pouring water down their throats, while Tumithak and
Nikadur rubbed their limbs to restore the
circulation. It was a long while before the Yakrans
showed any signs of interest in their surroundings,
indeed they seemed to be in a semi-conscious daze,
but at last Thopf, sitting up and beginning to rub
his own arms, said in a comically solemn tone:
-
-
“There are those in Loor and Yakra, Tumithak,
who hold that you are a superman. Never before today
have I thought as they do, but how else your
presence here, with shelk heads at your belt and
shelk weapons in your hands, can be explained, I do
not know. Tell me quickly how you came here, ere I
suspect you of being a god.”
-
-
Tumithak Tells His Story to His Rescued
Companions
-
-
Tumithak
laughed. There was nothing more pleasing to that
strange vanity of his than such a speech as this,
but he had no intention of adding to his prowess by
making himself into a mystery. So he answered at
once, giving the Yakrans a fairly detailed account
of his adventures and introducing Tholura as he did
so. Datto and Thopf were amazed at the idea of
another pit, this being one idea that had never
entered their heads before. To them, the world had
been the pits of Loor and Yakra, which, so legend
said, opened to the Surface, and the Surface, to
their minds, was merely a larger and roomier pit
with more conveniences and luxuries. But when they
heard of the pit of the Tains, they agreed at once
that the best thing for all concerned would be a
visit to that pit and an attempt to form an alliance
with its people. The Loorians and Tholura were
anxious to start, but the Yakrans were so stiff and
sore from the hours that they had spent wrapped with
the binding cords, that they implored the others to
give them a few minutes at least to rest and restore
their strength.
-
-
So it was agreed to wait awhile and as they
rested, Tumithak suggested that the Yakrans tell how
they had come to be in this place, for of course the
Loorians were as amazed at the Yakran’s presence
here as the latter had been at theirs.
-
-
The Two Yakrans Tell Their Story
-
-
Datto,
who seemed to be feeling a little better than Thopf,
acted as spokesman. “When I severed the rope that
you were swinging on, Tumithak, I had no chance to
see whether I had saved your life or only brought
you to a more merciful death, for the shelks were
swarming over me, and though I fought with all my
strength, it was sheer numbers that overcame me.
They were not able to use their weapons among the
ropes and cables where we clung, and to that I
attribute the fact that they did not kill me at
once.
-
-
“But when they had brought me to the ground,
they had apparently thought the matter over and
decided that they would not kill me until they had
given their chief a chance to see me. I was amazed
and overjoyed to see Thopf alive and but little
hurt, standing before me, when I reached tile
ground, held hand and foot by four Mogs. I was at
once put in the care of four more Mogs, and, at a
command from the shelks, we all left the tower and
proceeded to tile center of the city.
-
-
“You may be sure I looked about for signs of
you as soon as we reached the outer air, but there
was nothing at first to tell what had become of you.
One of the Mogs, however, was evidently aware of
your escape for he showed me a large party of
shelks, armed and rushing away from the scene of our
battle, and he pointed out the direction in which
they were going.
-
-
“‘They pursue your friends, Wild Man,’ he
said, with a sneer, ‘Your friends will soon rejoin
you. Half of Shawm is pursuing them, even now.’ I
didn’t answer him, Tumithak, for I thought in my
heart that he was right, that it was only a matter
of time until you, too, would be with me.
-
-
“And so, after a while, we came to a tower
that was taller than the rest and made of a
different metal. We were brought inside and sat down
on the ground, and presently a shelk dropped from
the ropes above, a shelk who wore upon his head a
crown such as you wear, Tumithak, and from that I
knew him to be the leader of this city of shelks.
The group of shelks who had captured me spoke to him
and for a while they talked back and forth in their
vile shelk speech, and I knew nothing of what they
said. Then the chief shelk spoke to TIot the Mog,
whom we had fought with.
-
-
“‘TIot,’ he said, ‘I am told that one of these
wild men, who is now being hunted in the woods, wore
a crown such as mine. Is that the truth?’ The Mog
cringingly admitted that it was.
-
-
‘Is it also true that it wore clothes such as
the Esthetts wear?’ The Mog nodded another
affirmative, and the anger of the chief shelk was
terrible to see. He turned to Thopf and me.
-
-
The Death of the Governor-Inferior of Shawm
-
-
"Three years ago," he said, in his clucking
voice, "The Governor-Inferior of the town of Shawm
was slain at the entrance to a man-pit and his head
cut off and carried away. Certain superstitious
shelks claimed that it was done by a wild man from
the depths of the pit, but they were laughed into
silence. No man, we felt, had ever been born with
the courage to do that. It seems now that they were
right and we were wrong. Whence came you, wild men?
Tell us the way to your pit, that we may wipe out
the menace that confronts us."
-
-
“I
was about to answer him, Tumithak, for I was
trembling with fear and terribly afraid that I would
die, but suddenly it seemed that a courage was born
of my very desperation. I must die anyhow, I
thought, should I die giving my enemies aid in
slaughtering my relatives and my friends? I answered
the shelk and I must have surprised him mightily
with my answer, for I surprised even myself.
-
-
“‘Foul spider,’ I said, ‘Too long have my
people quailed and fled before you! If I choose not
to answer your question, how can you force an
answer? Go and ask of your Esthetts whence came the
doom that has befallen them! Perhaps they will
satisfy your curiosity.’
-
-
Tumithak burst into laughter as did Nikadur,
and Tholura looked as if she could not believe her
ears.
-
-
“You told him that?” chuckled Tumithak,
as his laughter died. “What did he then, Datto ?“
-
-
The Anger of the Shelk at Datto’s Rejoinder
-
-
His
anger, if possible, grew even greater. He clacked
out an order, and several shelks left the room,
hastening, I doubt not, to see what had happened to
the Esthetts. Then he gave another order, but with
this order several of the other shelks seemed to
disagree. For some time they talked, and one of the
foul Mogs, to frighten me I suppose, explained that
the chief shelk, whom he called Hakh-Kiotta, desired
to slay me at once, while the others believed that
we should both be sent to a place called Kaymak, the
great town of this part of the Surface, for here
there were shelks that could force us to divulge all
that we knew, even though we would rather die than
tell. And at last these shelks prevailed over old
Hakh-Klotta and we were taken from the great tower
and thrown into another, with a shelk and a dozen
Mogs to watch over us.
-
-
“We stayed there for many hours, and the dark
time came again, and while the shelk slept, the Mogs
took turns at watching over us. When again the light
came, Thopf and I were led out and brought before
the great tower again. We waited awhile and then
there appeared a great wonder—a huge machine
that flew in the air like a bat, Tumithak! It came
over the shelk towers and settled down on the ground
near us and then the door opened and we were hurried
toward it. Shelks emerged from it and dragged us in,
and then, to our horror, the machine again rose into
the air and flew away with us
-
-
The Flying Machine Brought Down by the Captured
Datto
-
-
“We had not flown very far when Thopf noticed
a wonderful thing. One of the shelks sat in the
front of the little cabin in which we were and he
looked constantly out of a window in the front. In
his claws he held the end of a little stick, the
other end of which disappeared in the top of a box
set by the window. When he moved this stick to the
right or left, the flying machine turned as he moved
it. And when he pushed the stick down, the machine
went clown also! Thopf called my attention to this
fact and a desperate plan came to me. Without even
acquainting Thopf with the details of my plan, I
gave a sudden lunge that tore me from the grasp of
the Mogs that held me and threw myself upon the
shelk that held the stick.
-
-
“As he fell with me on top of him I seized the
stick and pushed it downward as far as it would go.
The shelks screeched with fear and all leaped upon
me, I rose to my feet, hurling them right and left
and then there was a crash and I knew no more… When
I recovered my senses, I was tied up as you saw me
and the Mogs were carrying Thopf and me through the
forest. Then you came, and the rest you know.”
-
-
“The flying machine was wrecked so that it was
useless,” spoke up Thopf, who apparently had seen
more of the crash than Datto had. ‘Two Mogs were
killed and three shelks, leaving only one shelk and
the two Mogs that escaped from you. The remaining
shelk must have decided to return to Shawm and await
the coming of another flying machine, for he gave
orders to the Mogs to carry us back to the city.
They tied us up thoroughly, to make certain that we
could do no more harm and then the shelk gave orders
to them to begin the march. We had marched about
four hours, I think, when, tired and worn out from
carrying such heavy loads, the Mogs insisted that
they take a rest beside this huge rock, where you
found us.”
-
-
“Did you learn much of the customs of the
shelks?” asked Tumithak. “How they operate their
strange machines, or what other weapons they have?
How they live, or what they eat? More and more I
feel that the greatest handicap that men have is the
lack of knowledge of our enemies.”
-
-
Datto’s Story About the Shelks
-
-
Datto
hesitated. “I learned little enough about them, O
Lord of Loor,” he answered. “But one thing I noticed
that may help us in the future. Do you remember how
silent and deserted the town seemed to us when we
first saw it? And how with the coming of the light,
the town at once awoke? Well, when the light of the
Surface again sank below the floor, and darkness
came, a silence again came over the city. For a
while, Thopf and I were at a loss to understand what
had brought that silence, and then at last we
understood. These dark periods, Tumithak, are used
by the shelks as sleeping times, and all the shelks
in the town go to sleep until the light returns,
save only a few who remain awake as guards. If ever
the time comes when we return to our own pit, and
can attack the shelks, we must be sure to attack
them during the time of darkness.”
-
-
“A discovery that may prove of value, too,”
said Tumithak, and was about to make some further
remark when Tholura interrupted him.
-
-
“These discussions, Tumithak,” she said,
“Could they not be continued later? The light sinks
toward the Floor, and we are still sonic distance
from the pit of the Tains. Let us be going.”
-
-
Tumithak saw the wisdom of her suggestion and
in a few moments the party was moving off across the
broad plain that led to the foothills in the
distance. Nikadur had armed himself with the
fire-hose of the slain shelk, and had given his bow
to Thopf, who was no mean archer, while Datto
had taken up a short sword which had been dropped by
one of the Mogs in his hasty departure.
-
-
On the Way to
the Pit of the Tains - An Interruption
by the Shelks
-
-
They
traveled for several hours and were, according to
Tholura, within a very short distance of the pit’s
opening when Thopf gave a cry of fear.
-
-
“Look behind, Tumithak!” he cried. “We are
pursued!”
-
-
Sure
enough, in the distance behind them was a large band
of shelks, a band that was rapidly drawing closer.
The pitmen were amazed at the speed with which the
beasts approached. They did not run, but came on in
great springy leaps that carried them over the
ground at a terrific speed. There was little doubt
that it was the same party that they had heard
earlier in the day, probably turned from
their original journey by the Mogs who had escaped
during the fight at the rock. There was no doubt
that the shelks were pursuing them. Tumithak uttered
an exclamation of vexation and despair and half
turned to face them, but Tholura dragged him on.
-
-
“Quickly!“ she cried. “We are almost to the
entrance to the pit. We can make it, and once in
the pit, perhaps we can elude them in its maze of
corridors.”
-
-
So they turned and fled into the low
foot-hills, and for half an hour they ran wildly
behind the girl in blue. But ever, as they glanced
behind them, they saw the shelk party drawing
nearer. At last, when it became evident to Tumithak
that they must either turn and face the shelks or
die fleeing, the girl suddenly stopped.
-
-
“Quick! Behind this stone!“ she exclaimed, and
looking where she pointed, Tumithak saw a narrow
cleft between two rocks. “Inside,” she panted.
“Perhaps we can yet elude them.”
-
-
But Tumithak knew that any attempt to escape
facing the shelks was now hopeless. The spidery
creatures were not a hundred yards away, and
already, as the party leaped into the pit, he saw
the fire-hose in the claws of the foremost shelk
point in his direction. He raised his own hose, sent
a blast of heat toward the shelks and then sped into
the cave-like pit-mouth himself.
-
-
The Party Ordered to Divide at the Tains’ Pit
-
-
“We are too close to them,’
he called to
Tholura.
-
-
“Datto, Thopf and you must take Tholura on, to
her people. Nikadur, you and I are armed with shelk
weapons; we must stay here and attempt to drive off
this party of shelks. If we all fled now they would
follow us to the town and wipe out the whole city of
the Tains. Conic, Nikadur,” and Tumithak stepped
back toward the entrance.
-
-
For a moment, the others hesitated. Then
Nikadur stepped to his chief’s left, his fire hose
ready in his hand. And to Tumithak’s surprise,
Tholura took her place at his other side.
-
-
“I cannot leave you, Tumithak,” she said, ‘Not
while you prepare to die for me and my people.”
-
-
Tumithak gave a gesture of impatience. “I am
not so foolish as to die for a city of people of
whom I know nothing, Tholura. This will not be as
hard as you think. I am well protected, here in the
entrance, and am armed as well as they; while they
are in the open and are ignorant of the fact that I
possess and can operate one of their fire-hoses.
See, I will soon wipe them out.”
-
-
He raised his fire-hose as
he spoke, and sent
a blast out of the pit mouth. A clattering screech
of surprise broke from the shelks without, and
Tholura, glancing over his shoulder, saw them
suddenly break for shelter. Three of them already
lay upon the ground, one quite dead, the others
hopelessly burned. Tumithak laughed, and again his
fire-hose spat its invisible ray toward them. A
fourth shelk dropped, and then he darted back, and
the wall at one side of the cave glowed for a second
and hot splinters of rock flew off and scattered
about them. When they ventured to look out again,
the shelks had managed to conceal themselves behind
rocks and trees, and the battle settled down into a
game of waiting. Presently Nikadur uttered a soft
pleased ejaculation and raised his hose. One of the
huge trees began to splutter, close to the ground,
where his heat-ray touched it, and then, with a
clacking cry of anguish, a shelk sped from the
shelter which the heat had made untenable and fled
for a nearby rock. Halfway there, Nikadur’s ray met
him, and he fell, an unrecognizable cinder.
-
-
The Loorians’ Laughter as They Fight the Shelks
-
-
The Loorians
laughed again. So successful had the day’s fighting
been that they were beginning to underestimate the
shelks, beginning to believe that these enemies were
riot as dangerous as they seemed. But now something
was to happen that was to revive their respect for
the shelks, to make them realize that after all they
knew little of the uses of the shelk weapons, and
that it would be many a day before they could really
meet the savage beasts on even terms.
-
-
The first knowledge they had of anything
strange happening was when Tholura pointed to the
roof of the cave. It was glowing, a dull red, where
the fire-hose of some invisible shelk was playing on
it. There was little danger to them, Tumithak
thought, for it was several feet above their heads,
but nevertheless the shelk persisted in his burning
of the roof... And then—Tholura screamed, and
seizing Tumithak by the shoulder dragged him
backward into tile cave.
-
-
“Back, Loorians, quickly,” she shouted to the
others, and it was only the old instinctive timidity
in them that enabled them to rush back quickly
enough. With a crash and a roar that almost deafened
them in the closely confined corridor, the entire
entrance collapsed and fell inward. Had they been
but a second later, they must have all been crushed
beneath the rock as it came tumbling down.
-
-
CHAPTER V - The Wisdom of Zar-Emo
-
-
The
narrowness of their escape temporarily shook the
entire party. Thopf and Nikadur both had several
small cuts where flying bits of rock had struck
them, and for a little while, Tumithak was frankly
dazed. Presently Tholura gave a trembling little
laugh.
-
-
“We still live, Loorians,” she said. “Truly, I
am beginning to believe, Tumithak, that you really
do bear a charmed life. The shelks evidently meant
to crush us beneath the rock of the entrance, but
they have defeated their own ends. We are not only
alive and almost unhurt, hut we have escaped from
them, at least for the present.”
-
-
The men made no reply to this. They did not
share the relief of Tholura, for they realized that
even if they were cut off from the shelks, they were
also effectively cut off from their return home;
marooned in a corridor whose occupants might even
yet prove to be inimical. Presently, Tholura turned
and began the descent of the corridor. The others
followed in silence, still shaken from their recent
adventure, but presently they began to observe the
corridors that they were passing through. Such a
maze of blind alleys and false apartments, Tumithak
had never seen, and his head was soon spinning with
the attempt to remember the way that he had come.
They had walked for but little more than an hour
when they began to notice signs of occupancy of the
apartments. Tumithak was amazed. He had heard, first
from the conversation of the Mogs in the tower, and
later from Tholura herself, that the pit of the
Tains was very shallow; but that people would be
living only an hour’s walk or so from the Surface
seemed foolhardy in the extreme. No wonder the
shelks preferred to hunt in the pit of tile Tains.
Compared with a hunt in this pit, a raid on Yakra
would take on the appearance of an extended
expedition.
-
-
In the Pit of the Tains—The Great City
-
-
However,
Tumithak was to learn that the Tains had some small
protection at least, in this labyrinthine maze of
corridors. Tholura led them for at least two more
miles through a series of pits and corridors that
left them hopelessly puzzled. At last she paused as
they reached the bottom of a ladder that led into a
long, broad corridor.
-
-
“Here begins the city of the Tains, Tumithak,”
she said. “I think I had better go on ahead to tell
of your coming. You wait here until—” She broke off
with a gasp as a figure suddenly burst from a
nearby apartment and hurled itself upon Tumithak.
It was a boy, a youngster of perhaps sixteen, armed
only with a short sword, but so fierce was his
attack that for a moment Tumithak was hard to put to
defend himself.
-
-
“Flee, Tholura,” cried the lad, his sword
sweeping and darting through the air with amazing
skill, “flee while I can hold them from you! “ And
then to the Loorians “Foul Mogs! You shall never
touch my sister while I live! Defend yourselves
before I slay you!”
-
-
Datto was about to smite the boy with his
sword, his only thought to protect Tumithak; but
Tholura stopped him with her next words.
-
-
“Stop, Luramo,” she cried. “Stop, I say! These
are friends! “And then to Tumithak: “Oh, don’t hurt
him! He is my brother!”
-
-
Tumithak and Datto dropped their swords, and
after a moment, the boy followed their example, a
sheepish half-smile coming to his lips.
-
-
“This is my brother Luramo,” announced
Tholura, placing her arm about the youth’s shoulder.
“He is the youngest of my brothers, but I think he
is also the bravest.”
-
-
Luramo grinned happily.
-
-
“You bring strange friends, Tholura,” he
exclaimed, “These are not Tains, nor are they Mogs,
I see now. Tell me, who are they? “
-
-
“Greater than Tains or Mogs are the ones that
are here,” answered Tholura. “This is Tumithak,
Slayer of Shelks, and his companions, who have also
slain shelks! I was out upon the Surface, Luramo,
and there I was beset by three Mogs and three
shelks! And while I fought with the Mogs Tumithak,
with but one of his friends to help him, slew all
six of them and saved me! Behold the evidence of his
greatness! “and she turned Tumithak around that
Luramo might see the shelk’s beach that hung from
his belt.
-
-
Luramo stared in awe. For fully a minute he
stared, and his thoughts can better be imagined than
written. Then slowly he held his sword out to
Tumithak in the age-old symbol of allegiance.
Tumithak smiled a little and touching the sword
lightly accepted he boy’s fealty. Though he thought
little of that act at the time in after years he was
to value that allegiance over almost any other’s,
and Luramo became one of Tumithak’s bravest
warriors.
-
-
-
The Allegiance of the Boy, Luramo
-
-
And now Tholura was looking at Luramo
anxiously, “What was it, brother,” she asked, suddenly,
“that brought you here to the edge of the city? Is
all well with them at home?"
-
-
“Well enough, I suppose,” answered Luramo,
scornfully. “Father still cowers in his apartment
and bemoans the fact that his two daughters have
died at the hands of the Mogs, for of course he
thinks you dead, too. And Larger and Bathlura try to
comfort him, and swear that you will be avenged if
the Mogs ever come to the city again. But they make
no attempt to follow you, though they know that when
you left the pit you went to almost certain death.
-
-
“I spent many hours trying to stir them up to
go in search of you, Tholura; but they found one
excuse after another to remain at home, and so at
last I decided to find you myself. You see,” he
made his confession somewhat shamefacedly “I didn’t
dream that you would actually go all the way to the
Surface. I thought you might wander here in the
corridors and that here I would find you. I—I think
I would have been afraid to venture on the Surface
by myself.”
-
-
Tumithak suddenly laughed and gripped the
lad’s hand in his.
-
-
“Luramo” he said, in a delighted tone, “surely
I have found two after my own heart, in you and your
wonderful sister. Do not be ashamed of what you have
not done. I doubt if there is another man, in all
the city of the Tains, who would be bold enough to
do as much as you have.”
-
-
Luramo smiled a trifle proudly, and as Tholura
turned to resume the interrupted journey, he
sheathed his sword and fell in behind Tumithak,
taking his place with the Yakrans and Nikadur. After
a while, Tholura called to him and said: “It would
be well, Luramo, if you were to hurry ahead of us,
to inform the people that we are coming. If you do
not, some one else may make the same mistake you did
and trouble may ensue.”
-
-
So Luramo ran ahead, and in a few minutes
disappeared from sight around a bend in the
passage. Some fifteen minutes elapsed, during which
the party strolled slowly down the corridor, and
then Luramo was seen approaching at the head of a
great crowd of people. The crowd moved cautiously,
half fearfully as was the custom with men, but one
could see that they were very curious, and all
excited at the new wonder of which Luramo had told
them. In the midst of them, an old man strode, a man
dressed in a tunic all of white, and whose long,
thin beard reached almost to his waist.
-
-
“Zar-Emo,” whispered Tholura pointing at him,
“There is the priest of the Tains, the wisest of all
the Tains in the wisdom of our wise ancestors.”
-
-
The High-Priest, Zar-Emo
-
-
He
came, his right hand extended upward and
out-outward, a sign of peace which Tumithak
recognized and returned. The party of Tains halted
a short distance away, and for a while the two
groups stood, appraising one another. Then Tholura
spoke.
-
-
“I have been to the Surface, Zar-Emo, and I
return bringing guests. No doubt Luramo has already
told you of how these men saved me, slaying shelk
and Mog alike with their strange weapons. This one
is Tumithak, their chief and the greatest
shelk-slayer, behind him stands Nikadur, Datto and
Thopf.”
-
-
Zar-Emo acknowledged the introductions and
then said: “Welcome to the city of the Tains,
strange ones. It is many generations since one came
here from without, other than foul Mogs and savage
shelks. Yet we have had for long a prophecy that
some day a hero would come from the Surface to teach
us again the use of our ancestors’ mighty weapons.
is it possible that you are he? “
-
-
Tumithak shook his head ruefully.
-
-
“No, Zar-Emo. I have heard of our wise
ancestors’ great wisdom, but I know far less of it
than you do, if what Tholura tells me is true.
Nevertheless, by a lucky chance, I have with me this
shelk weapon. Perhaps from it you can learn
something of the machines and weapons of old.”
-
-
He unstrapped the fire-hose as he spoke and
held it out to the old priest. The latter was about
to take it, when his eyes fell upon the white and
shining rods that Tumithak still carried strapped to
his back. As he looked at them, the priest’s eyes
grew large with wonder, and his hands, which had
been extended for the fire-hose, dropped empty to
his sides. He was silent with a sort of awe, and
then at last he spoke.
-
-
-
The Story of the Rods Found in the Car
-
-
“There is something that you carry, O
Shelkslayer, that is mightier and more potent than
either the shelk’s head or the fire-hose! Whence did
you get those white and shining rods? “
-
-
Tumithak told him briefly of the battle that
had resulted in Tholura’s rescue, and of the
finding of the rods in the car, after their victory.
Zar-Emo nodded.
-
-
“I do not think I can be wrong,’’ he said, a
trifle dubiously, and then, taking the fire—hose
from Tumithak’s still extended hand, he turned the
screw in the long nozzle, opened a cap at its
end—and drew out from its interiors the half
consumed end of one of the white rods!
-
-
“Behold the Power!“ he cried, dramatically.
‘‘The fuel by which the shelks operate their
machines! And you, O Tumithak, are truly the one
spoken of in our prophecy, for you have brought the
one thing needed to enable us to operate the many
machines that we have in our museums !“
-
-
As he spoke. his many followers bowed their
heads in worship and in awe, and Zar-Emo stood,
waving the stub of the rod at Tumithak while he
continued in almost a frenzy of fanaticism: “With
these can the Tains power the fire-hoses which we
keep in our museums! With these, we can power the
strange machines that blast the corridors into the
ground! We may make new corridors, far deeper than
the ones we now live in, corridors so deep that the
shelks and foul Mogs will never reach us! With
these the Tains will know safety at last.”
-
-
With these,’’ interrupted Tumithak, waving the
priest to silence, “we will teach the savage shelks
that man still knows his destiny With these, we
shall drive the shelks from their stinking towers at
Shawm, and with these, at the last, we shall slay,
to the last one, the beasts that have for so long
attempted to rule the earth
-
-
Behind him, the boy Luramo gave a cheer. Datto
slapped his chief resoundingly on the back, while
Tholura nodded her head eagerly in approval. Zar-Emo
and the other Tains looked as if they could scarcely
believe their ears. Tumithak decided that now was a
favorable time to convert them to his beliefs, and
so he launched into a speech, much as he had done
many times before in Loor and Yakra.
-
-
-
Tumithak’s Speech
-
-
He
told of his own life, and of his mission; he told of
his first long journey through the corridors; and
lastly he told of how he had slain his first shelk
and of his subsequent elevation to the lordship of
the lower corridors. Then he begged the Tains to
look at him, to realize that he was but an ordinary
man, and that what he had done, any man could do.
And in the end, the result of his speech was just as
it had always been. The Tains looked upon him as
something more than human; from Zar-Emo down, they
swore allegiance to him; but almost to a man,
they refused to believe that it was possible for
them to even attempt to fight against the shelks.
-
-
At last Tumithak turned to tile old priest and
asked that he be assigned an apartment.
-
-
“I shall probably be here for some time,”
he
said. “For the road to the Surface is blocked and I
see no way to return to my own people until it is
opened again. And it will be many sleeps before that
can be accomplished.”
-
-
“Perhaps less than you think,’’ answered the
priest. “I do not want to raise your hopes, hut
there may be a way to your corridors without
returning to the Surface. I shall tell you more
when l am sure of it,’’ and turning, Zar-Emo led the
way into the inhabited corridors,
-
-
For a period equal to three
days, Tumithak
lived in tile city and the Tains lavished upon him
their hospitality. He was astounded at their food,
for the Tains had preserved the method of making
their synthetic food— cubes taste, and for
the first time ill his life, Tumithak found that
eating could be a pleasure, rather than a mere dull
duty. Indeed, not only he, but Datto, Nikadur and
Thopf as well, were in danger of stuffing
themselves into a state of indigestion.
-
-
Life Among the Tains
-
-
Most
of the time when not employed in eating or sleeping,
Tumithak and his companions spent in the great
temple or museum corridor, studying the wonderful
machines that had been built by the ancestors of
the Tains. The Tains had kept them in perfect
condition, and they were all in perfect working
order, even after so many hundred of years. Zar-Emo
powered a fire hose and a disintegrating machine,
and showed the party how well they still worked.
These two machines were of especial interest to
Tumithak, for the one he knew how to operate and the
other had been mentioned frequently in that famous
book that he had found, so long ago, in the deserted
corridor in Loor.
-
-
But these were not the only’ machines that the
Tains had preserved, or that Zar-Emo knew the use or
meaning of. The priest showed the strangers
marvelous weapons that slew with shrill sounds ;
others that, so he said, turned the very air into a
deadly poison that killed all who breathed it; and
then, too, there were machines that helped man,
among these being the machines that made the cool
white lights that illuminated these corridors.
-
-
And all of these could now be used again,
although sparingly, for even the rods that the
Loorians had brought with them could not last
forever. These rods were composed of a metal that
had been activated by treatment which caused its
atoms to break down at a terrific rate. And when it
was exposed to a certain ray created in the machines
its collapse into energy was greatly’ increased.
But, although this method of securing energy allowed
an enormous amount of fuel to be stored in a very
small space, eventually even the white rods were
burned up and gone. So Tumithak decided that he
must have a talk with Zar-Emo concerning the best
use that the rods might be put to, in order that the
greatest advantage might accrue. He suggested to the
priest that he and his companions arm themselves
with fire-hoses and attempt a return to their pit.
Zar-Emo shook his head.
-
-
A Possible Alliance Suggested
-
-
“It would be a great danger to attempt to
fight your way back to the pit from which you came,
Tumithak,’’ he said gravely. I think I can help you
in a way that will not only remove all the danger,
but will bring your people and mine into an alliance
that will be closer than you have dreamed.
-
-
Puzzled, Tumithak asked the Tam to explain
himself, but Zar-Emo only shook his head.
-
-
“I am not at all sure that I can do what I
hope to do,” he explained, ‘‘and until I am,
I prefer not to raise hopes that I may not be able
to gratify.’’
-
-
But the next day, the old man called Tumithak
and Nikadur to him and led them to a deserted
corridor where a strange machine was set tip. It was
a machine far too complicated for Tumithak to
understand. In appearance it was a metal box five
feet high with a number of strange transparent tubes
on the top of it, inside of which tubes there glowed
strange lights. Out of the side of this metal box
extended a long arm, at the end of which a great
soft pad was fastened, apparently by suction, to the
wall of the corridor. Zar-Emo pointed down the
corridor, and there, approximately a hundred yards
away, was another machine, identical in every
respect to this one.
-
-
One of Zar-Emo’s lesser priests was seated on
a little stool that was fastened on the side of the
metal box, and now, at a word from his master,
reached up and placed on his head a strange piece of
apparatus that entirely covered his ears. Then he
turned a small knob on the box, and turning, called
to the man that controlled the farther machine. The
latter also placed the strange headgear on his head,
and brought his own machine into play.
-
-
Trying a Sounding Machine in the Corridors
-
-
For
several minutes, the two turned and twisted the
little knobs and at each twist they listened
intently, as though they could hear some distant
sound that was inaudible to the others. Then the
nearer of them turned to Zar-Emo.
-
-
“There is a different tune here, Zar-Emo,” he
said, ‘How are we to tell what it represents?”
-
-
The priest motioned him to get up from his
seat, and then told Tumithak to take his place.
Hesitatingly, the Loorian did as he was requested,
and gingerly put the headpiece over his ears. As he
did so a strange tone suddenly filled his ears, a
continuous monotonous hum. Tumithak took the
headpiece off and looked at the chief priest
inquiringly.
-
-
‘The machine, Tumithak,” explained Zar-Emo,
seeing the puzzled look in Tumithak’s eyes, “was
used by our ancestors to detect underground veins of
metal, or water or even underground caverns. It is
based on the principle of the echo. One part of this
arm which is fastened to the corridor wall sends out
a sound into the rock, a sound of so high a pitch
that human ears cannot detect it. This sound travels
through the rock until it strikes some different
substance and there a portion of it is reflected
hack to another pert of the arm, a receiver which
picks it tip and so alters it that it can he heard
in the earpieces fastened on Coritac’s head.
-
-
Now this sound is not like the sounds that we
are used to thinking of. As I have said, it is far
too shrill to he heard by human ears, and such
sounds act quite differently from common sounds. In
the first place, these sound waves can be sent in a
beam, as light waves are; and in the second place,
they are slightly altered by the density of the
material that reflects them. Thus it is possible to
tell in just what direction the reflecting material
is, and whether it is liquid, solid, or, say, a
cavern or hole.
-
-
“Now it has been my thought, Tumithak, that if
with this we could discover a long straight cavern
running through the ground we could be fairly sure
that it would be your home corridors and thus we
would know in just what direction they lie. And by
the help of another machine, some distance away, we
could tell the exact distance of your corridors from
here.”
-
-
-
Locating the Loorian Corridors by Sound
-
-
Tumithak
had listened in a daze. Vaguely he had understood
some part of what the Tam had said, but this last
was too much for him. It was necessary for Zar-Emo
to explain to him the mystery of the two angles and
an included side in great detail before he finally
saw how it would be possible to measure the distance
to his home from this far-off corridor. And when he
did understand his wonder was increased.
-
-
“Truly, Zar-Emo,” he cried, “the wonders of
our ancestors were unending. But tell me. why have
you gone to all this trouble to locate my home
corridors ?“
-
-
The Tam smiled proudly as he moved to take his
place on the seat from which Tumithak, in his
excitement, had moved,
-
-
“Have you forgotten the disintegrating
machine?“ he asked. “Tumithak, I intend to drive a
new corridor from the pit of the Tains to the pit of
the Loorians !“
-
-
The hours that followed were exciting ones.
Time and again, the workers thought they had
discovered the distant corridor, only to find on
further examination, that their discovery was only
some small cavern or underground stream. But at
last they detected what, from its straightness and
regularity, could be nothing other than a man-made
corridor. Then Zar-Emo and his men began a series of
tests and problems that ended, at last, with the
verification of the exact distance and direction of
Tumithak’s home corridor.
-
-
The party returned to the inhabited portion of
the pit and jubilantly prepared for the work of the
next day. The disintegrating machine was taken to
the spot where the detectors had been and there set
up, a queer, monstrous thing with a great
trumpet-shaped ray projector in front, and with
three seats on the back of it to accommodate the men
that worked it. Zar-Emo left his men working over it
and, taking Tumithak with him, returned to the city
for supper.
-
-
“I feel that you should be one of the men to
take the machine through the rock, Tumithak,” he
told the Loorian, as they finished the meal. “Not
only because the honor surely belongs to you, but
because it may be necessary to have someone to
convince your friends that our mission is friendly.
You will have little to do with the operation of the
machine and that little will not be hard to learn.”
-
-
So, after the time of sleep was over, the
party assembled in the ball that contained the
disintegrating ray machine. Nikadur and the Yakrans,
who planned to follow Tumithak as quickly as
possible, were each given one of the ancient
fire-hoses, as was the boy Luramo, who insisted that
he be considered one of Tumithak’s party. And to
Tumithak’s surprise, another insisted that she, too,
be considered a warrior - none other than Tholura,
who declared that she would not let her new friends
go forth to any danger without also going along. So
at last it was decided to let her go with them, and
then Zar-Emo approached Tumithak, who already was at
his seat on the machine, and proceeded to instruct
him in his duties.
-
-
The Operation of the Machine
-
-
See here, Loorian,” explained the priest.
“Behind you on this wall is a large white cross.
Looking through this eyepiece in front of you, you
will see another cross painted on this mirror in
which you will also see a reflection of the’ first
cross. As long as the reflected cross is
superimposed on the other, your machine is going in
the right direction. Should it vary by even so much
as a hair’s breadth, you must at once call it to the
attention of these other men who work the machine.
That is all that is necessary; my men will attend to
all the rest. Your party will follow you as soon as
the rock becomes cool enough to walk on. Goodbye,
and let us hope that everything turns out as we have
planned it.”
-
-
He turned as he spoke and gave an order to the
men seated with Tumithak. One of them turned a
lever, there was a blinding flash of light, and as
it dulled to a faint violet glow, Tumithak saw a
great hole appear in the side of the wall toward
which the trumpet-like projector pointed. The other
man now pulled back on his lever, pushed a button of
some kind, and the. great machine moved slowly into
the hole it had made. As it moved the hole grew
deeper, and a hot gust of queer-smelling air swept
out of it. Again the machine pushed into the hole,
and again the further wall retreated. Tumithak and
his friends were successfully engaged in an act
that had not been performed by men for nearly two
thousand years!
-
-
Boring the Tunnel
-
-
For
hours thereafter, Tumithak kept his eyes fixed to
the eye-pieces of the machine. It was tedious work,
for it was not often that the machine varied from
the straight path on which it had been set. Once in
a while, it would strike sonic new vein of rock, and
this might cause it to change its direction
slightly, but then Tumithak would call this to the
attention of the others and the fault would be at
once corrected.
-
-
The huge white cross which Zar-Emo had painted
on the back corridor wall grew smaller and smaller
as the machine crept away from it, but when Tumithak
could no longer see it clearly he focused the center
of his own cross on the distant mouth of the new
corridor and the machine continued on its way.
-
-
The heat was terrific. Sweat was soon
streaming down Tumithak’s face and the faces of the
two priests. At last after what seemed to be hours
of continuous moving they unanimously agreed that
they must call a temporary halt. The machine was
stopped and all three lay back in their seats for a
much-needed rest.
-
-
After about an hour they started the machine
again. “We are probably more than half-way there,”
said one of the priests, ‘but this second half will
seem much worse than the first. It is not so easy
for the heat to escape now as it was when we were
close to the city.”
-
-
He was right. Never had Tumithak felt such
heat before, and never had time dragged so. It
seemed days, days of scorching merciless misery
before one of the men announced that they were at
last nearing their goal. Tumithak became eager now,
and so, of course, the time began to pass more
rapidly. And then, at last, a strange hollow roar
began to sound from the rock in front of them, and
in a moment, a small hole appeared that rapidly
widened and as the priests hastened to shut off the
power of the machine, Tumithak leaped from his seat
and found himself in an old familiar corridor.
-
-
A Corridor Familiar to Tumithak—A Letter from
His Father Scratched on the Wall
-
-
He
stood in a section of that roughly unfinished
corridor that lay between the Surface and the Halls
of the Esthetts. Not far from here, he had once
watched a group of shelks slay a group of Esthetts,
and trembling with horror, had wondered why they did
so. And not more than two miles down this corridor,
if memory served him right, his band of warriors
should be waiting. “Were they still there,’’ he
wondered,” or had they given his party up for dead
and returned to Loor and Yakra? Or had the shelks
discovered them and slain them all?” Tumithak
remembered with sudden misgivings the fact that
Datto had told him of boasting to the shelk chief of
having raided the Halls of the Esthetts. And the
shelk chief had ordered an investigation! Unable to
control his anxiety, thinking of a thousand and one
things that might have happened, he beckoned to the
two priests to follow him, and spec! down the
corridor.
-
-
As he neared the spot where his party should
be, his anxiety increased, for a silence reigned
that told him that the corridor was deserted. At
last, he reached the place where his men should have
been, to find that his fears were verified. But on
one side of the wall a message had been scrawled, a
message from his father
-
-
“Tumithak,” it read, “Our guards have reported
the approach of a band of shelks. The savages of the
dark corridors have offered to conceal us in the
clefts and caverns of their home, and so we are
leaving this place. If you ever return, seek for us
in the dark corridors Tumlook.’’
-
-
Tumithak, at first, was for starting for the
dark corridors at once, but on second thought he
decided to wait until the coming of the party that
would soon be arriving from the city of the Tains, for
he knew that they would follow as closely as
possible. So he and the two priests sat down and ate
some of the food they had brought with them and
then, entering a concealing apartment, they prepared
to take a much-needed sleep.
-
-
The Meeting
-
-
They
were awakened by sounds in the corridor without, and
emerged to find Nikadur, Tholura and all the others
who had arrived while they slept and had been much
worried over their disappearance. Nikadur had
discovered Tumlook’s message, at last, and was about
to make the attempt to lead the party down into the
dark corridors when Tumithak and his companions
were discovered. The party, reunited now, decided to
begin at once the attempt to find Nennapuss and the
other warriors, and so they began the descent; but
they had not gone a mile when they came upon the
entire party, warily returning to their former
camping place. They had hidden in the dark corridors
while the shelks held an investigation in the
corridors above, and when they felt sure that the
latter had again returned to the surface, they had
boldly set out to return to the Halls of the
Esthetts.
-
-
Nennapuss and Tumlook, who were leading them,
were overjoyed to see their comrades safe again, and
they eagerly plied them with questions. Tumithak
related their story briefly and told of the
wonderful machines that they had managed to
procure. The enthusiasm of the Loorians and Yakrans
knew no bounds; they even so far forgot themselves
as to give a cheer that echoed again and again
through the corridors. And then the leaders sat down
and began to formulate a plan of attack upon the
city of Shawm.
-
-
-
CHAPTER VI - The Whelming of Shawm
-
-
The
ensuing hundred hours were busy ones for the people
of the pits. The six or seven miles of new corridor
became a teeming thoroughfare, through which Tains,
Loorians and Yakrans hurried busily back and forth,
trading the captured beauties of the Esthetts for
the wonderful food that was the secret of the Tains,
and for the ancient weapons that were now so
precious.
-
-
Tumithak returned to the city of the Tains and
brought Zar-Emo through the new corridor to confer
with his other chiefs on the possibility of
attacking Shawm. For several days they plotted and
planned, and at last a feasible method was devised.
Nikadur, with Tumlook, Nennapuss and the Loorians
and Nononese, would remain in the home corridor,
while Tumithak, with Datto, Thopf and the Yakrans,
was to go through the corridor and the pit of the
Tains, and, returning over the Surface, was to
attack the town from the other side.
-
-
The ones who remained in the pit were to wait
for fifty hours, and then, in the third hour of the
night following the expiration of the fifty hours,
they were to attack. Thus if their plans went well
the two attacks would be simultaneous unexpected
and they hoped, overwhelming. The shelks would be
caught between two fires and, so the pitmen hoped,
wiped out to the last one. The city of Shawm would
be in the hands of men, together with all its
wonderful engines and. machines, and man would again
have a place in the sun, on the Surface of the
world.
-
-
It was a proud Tumithak that led his bravely
singing Yakrans through the city of the Tains and
up the labyrinthine corridors to the place where the
entrance had been blasted shut by the shelks. They
paused for a time, while a Tam with a small
disintegrating machine opened the way for them
again, and then they resumed their march, out over
the Surface. And here Tumithak was halted by a party
of Tains who had followed them up the corridor.
There were about ten of them and leading them was
the boy, Luramo.
-
-
Wait, Tumithak,” he called, ‘Here are a few
more warriors to go with you. Not all the Tains are
the cowards you seem to think them.” He turned and
beckoned the party to advance, and Tumithak
perceived that the majority of them were mere boys,
youths who. had not yet completely developed the
terrible fear that was so much more noticeable in
the older folk. His eyes roved over the group and
suddenly halted in surprise.
-
-
“You, Tholura?“ he exclaimed in amazement.
“You are going with these warriors? I fear this war
party is no place for a woman, Tholura.”
-
-
The girl answered him indignantly.
-
-
“I hope you spoke without thinking, Tumithak,”
she said, “Surely, if you but think, you will
remember that of all the Tains, I was the first to
dare look upon the Surface. Have you forgotten how
you said that I was one after your own heart? And
would such a one cower in the corridors while others
went to fight the enemies of man?”
-
-
Tholura Is to Fight with the Warriors
-
-
Tumithak
smiled. The girl had convicted him by his own words,
and now that he stopped to think, he wondered why he
had suggested that she remain behind. He only knew
that he felt a sudden unexplainable feeling that it
would be terrible to live in this world if Tholura
were slain in the fight. He had sought to protect
her in the easiest way - by ordering her back to the
corridors.
-
-
But now he knew this was impossible, and so,
with a shrug, he motioned her to take a place beside
him, along with Datto and Thopf.
-
-
The party left the foothills and marched
across the grassy plain without incident or
adventure. Once in the forest, Tumithak felt safer,
especially as night was approaching and he knew
that, although this would make marching much slower,
nevertheless, there would be practically no danger
at all from the enemy. Dawn found them close to the
spot where the other white and shining rods had been
hidden, and soon after, to their great delight, they
came upon them, still hidden in the leaves where
Tholura had concealed them.
-
-
They realized that
they could not be far from the city of Shawm now,
and it was a cautious group of warriors that moved
slowly behind Tumithak as he darted from tree to
tree or crept along through the underbrush, whenever
it was thick enough to conceal him. At last, they
reached the summit of a rocky, sparsely wooded hill
and looked down across the wood at its base to see
the towers of Shawm in the distance.
-
-
The needle-like towers, with their connecting
cables and gleaming metal sides presented a strange
appearance to the pitmen, but the day had been so
lull of strange appearances that the only feeling
they had was one of satisfaction that here was their
goal. Tumithak continued to look out over the towers
as if in search of something, and presently uttered
a pleased cry.
-
-
The Entrance Opening to
Loor
-
-
“Look there, Datto!” he cried. “See there, the
opening to our pit?” and sure enough, beyond the
group of towers could be faintly distinguished the
shallow hole that held the opening to the vast
corridors that led to Loor. Somewhere, not far
below, Tumlook and Nennapuss waited with their army
for the moment to arrive when they could sweep out
and begin the conquest of Shawm.
-
-
Tumithak pointed out the pit-mouth to the
others, Tholura and Luramo being especially
interested in the location of the hole. While they
were still looking at it, a cry arose from one of
the Tains and turning, Tumithak saw him pointing up
into the sky. The Loorian looked and gave a cry of
fear, for sweeping down on them was one of the
shelks’ flying machines, a huge one, one that must
have, concealed within it, at least a dozen shelks!
-
-
In a moment, the scene was one of
indescribable confusion. Gone were the brave
thoughts of conquest, the minds of the men were
taken up only with the great hereditary fear that
had for so many generations oppressed them. The
Tains, and indeed most of the braver Yakrans, broke
from the group and fled, vainly trying to hide
themselves behind rocks, trees, bushes or whatever
seemed to profuse shelter. Ere two minutes had
passed, the only ones who remained with Tumithak
were Datto, Thopf, Tholura, the boy Luramo and three
other Yakrans. These, all of whom were armed with
fire-hoses, stood their ground and watched the
oncoming flyer. Like a huge bird, its wings
outspread, the machine hovered for a moment and then
sank to the ground. A door in its side opened—and
Tumithak sent a blast from his fire-hose into the
opening! There was a clattering cry and the door
closed again. Tumithak smiled grimly and motioned
the rest of the party back. A large rock stood about
twenty yards away, and to this he led them
hurriedly, taking a position behind it and awaiting
further movement from the shelks.
-
-
Now it was fortunate for Tumithak that this
flyer was a freighter and as such was not equipped
for fighting. Several of the shelks within it were
armed, of course, but there were no guns mounted on
the outside, nor was it possible to use a fire-hose
from within, when the doors were closed. So the
shelks could not attack the men from within, and,
strange as it may seem, it never dawned on either
Tumithak or his companions that the plane was
absolutely at their mercy. For so many years had the
weapons of man been directed only at their enemies,
that the idea of destroying the shelks by burning
down flyer and all never entered Tumithak’s head.
And so the battle seemed to have reached a deadlock.
-
-
The Flying Machine Captures Tholura and Two
Others
-
-
And
then, suddenly, as though a decision had been
reached within, the shelk flyer rose about fifty
feet and swung above the rock that concealed the
little party. It hung there for a moment, and then
from beneath its hull, a huge claw-like hand of
metal reached out, the car dropped with dizzying
suddenness, and the claw closed over three of the
party and swept them aloft! Tumithak gave a wild
cry, as did the others, for one of the three who
were seized was Tholura!
-
-
The thoughts that swept over Tumithak as he
watched the flyer swing aloft again were puzzling in
the extreme. He saw, in his mind’s eye, the battle
in which he met Tholura; he remembered her bravery
and her beauty; he thought of how dull and
uninteresting his world would he if she were
suddenly taken out of it— and then, suddenly, he
realized that he loved her. And she was being taken
from him! Madly he cast about in his mind for some
method whereby he might save her. Now the idea of
blasting the flyer with his fire-hose came belatedly
to him, but already it was so high that if he
attempted this, Tholura was almost certain to be
killed in the crash. While he sought some means of
rescuing her, he saw the flyer sweep down over the
forest and disappear among the towers of Shawm.
Tholura, if not already dead, was a prisoner of the
shelks!
-
-
For awhile, Tumithak gave way to grief. Little
Luramo came up to him and took his hand, and
Tumithak saw great tears in the lad’s eyes, yet
when the Loorian looked at him, the boy forced a
smile and said bravely: “There is still work for us,
Tumithak. Let us mourn my sister after we have
avenged her.”
-
-
The brave words gave Tumithak a new grip on
himself. Luramo, he knew, truly loved his sister,
yet the lad remembered their mission was one that
called for sacrifices even greater than this, if
possible. It behooved Tumithak to remember it also.
-
-
Tumithak’s Grief and His Recovery to Fight
-
-
So,
a few minutes later, Tumithak was his old self
again; and calling back to him such of the Yakrans
and Tains as could be found, he berated them roundly
for their cowardice and urged them to redeem
themselves as well as they might in the coining
battle. Then he called to Luramo, and pointing to
the distantly seen pit mouth of the Loorian pit, he
asked: “Do you think that you could find your way
through the forest to the pit mouth, Luramo ?“ And
when the lad answered in the affirmative, he went
on: “You must go straight-way and inform Nikadur
that the attack must begin at once. The shelks in
the flyer will surely warn Shawm of our presence,
and so we can no longer delay the attack. Meanwhile,
we who are here will attack at once. So hurry,
Luramo!”
-
-
The little Tain sped off down the hill, and in
a moment, disappeared into the wood at its base.
Then Tumithak gave the command and the party moved
to the attack of Shawm.
-
-
Strange events had been happening in the shelk
city of Shawm. It was not a large town, nor an old
one, as towns go; it was little more than a recent
settlement in this wild unsettled land, which had
for many centuries been abandoned by the shelks.
Yet in all the history of the town, nothing similar
to these recent events had been heard of. From
somewhere deep in the corridors, a race of men had
made their appearance that were apparently wild and
decidedly vicious. First had come the strange
slaughter of a Mog with the accompanying pursuit and
escape of the creatures that slew him; then close on
the heels of that strange catastrophe had come the
news that a party of shelks and Mogs had been slain
by their own weapons in the woods beyond Shawm. The
party that went to investigate had been wiped out
almost to the last one, those who escaped returning
to tell of men armed with fire-hoses, who had fled
into the pit of the Tains. And this was most
puzzling, for one of the wild men, who had been
captured and supposedly sent to Kaymak, had
intimated, while captured, that he had come from the
pit that held the Halls of the Esthetts.
-
-
The shelks had at last begun to make
preparations to invade both of the pits and make
certain of their safety by completely wiping out all
traces of men in them, when a flyer arrived in the
city, telling of a large force of men armed with
heat-rays, which were near the city, and bringing
three armed specimens, in its claw, for proof.
-
-
At once the wildest excitement prevailed. The
shelks rushed hither and thither, arming themselves,
taking posts in various portions of the city where a
watch was maintained on that part of the wood from
which the danger might be expected to appear, and
getting ready all the strange weapons that the
little town could boast. Hakh-Klotta, the
Governor-Inferior, unable to believe that men could
actually be intelligent enough to use heat-rays,
called together a group of trained hunting men, and
sent them off in the direction from which the flyer
had come. He watched them from a tower as they
crossed the cleared space between the towers and the
trees, and smiled a savage smile as he noticed them
near the trees in safety. Certainly, if there had
been any wild men in the woods they would have
burned down the Mogs before the latter reached the
comparative protection of the trees, he thought. But
hardly had these thoughts taken form in his mind
before he saw a burst of smoke from the ground in
front of the Mogs, and then another, and another;
and before his very eyes, his Mogs fell to the
ground, and slowly burned to cinders beneath the
heat-rays directed on them from the forest.
-
-
A Real Danger Threatens the City
-
-
This
convinced Hakh-Klotta that the danger was a very
real one, and made him more cautious in his
movements. He began to wonder if it would be
possible to attack these strange men at all, seeing
that they were hiding among the trees at a distance
beyond the reach of the heat-rays. He knew that the
pitmen dared not leave the shelter of the trees, but
then, the shelks dared not leave the shelter of the
towers. And so it began to seem as if the battle
might take on the appearance of a siege.
-
-
But, meanwhile, the idea of a siege was very
far from Tumithak’s mind. He knew that he would be
unable to approach Shawm from this point, for there
was a broad open space of nearly four hundred yards
between the forest and the towers; but the Loorian
remembered that at the point where he had first
escaped from Shawm, the trees had approached almost
to the towers, and so, leaving a detachment of men
under Datto and Thopf to besiege this portion of the
town, Tumithak, with a dozen others, set off to
attack the town on that side where the trees were
closest to it.
-
-
The Attack
-
-
It
was fortunate for Tumithak that he formed the
idea when he did, for the mind of old
Hakh-Klotta was not slow and the thought of this
danger came to him almost as soon as it came to
Tumithak. As soon as he thought of it, he
immediately dispatched a group of shelks to
defend the spot, and so, as Tumithak and his
warriors approached through the trees, they saw
the shelks wending their way through the towers.
-
-
Instantly, Tumithak called his men to attack,
while at the same moment, several blasts of heat
flashed at him from the party of shelks. He darted
behind a tree, calling to his men to likewise
conceal themselves, and then, turning on his
fire-rose, he directed its beam at one of the towers
beneath which the shelks were cowering.
-
-
The shelks at once turned their rays upon the
bases of the trees behind which the men were
concealed, their idea obviously being to burn down
each tree and then strike the man behind it. But
Tumithak had been seized with a better idea, and so
he called softly to his men to direct their fire at
the towers to the right and left of the shelks,
burning only those sides that were nearest the
group. The others grasped his idea and at once began
to carry it out. The trees were filled with the sap
of early spring and so they heated slowly, but metal
towers absorbed the heat rapidly and before the
heat-rays could burn through the trees, Tumithak’s
object had been accomplished. Two of the towers, one
to the right and one to the left of the shelks,
suddenly collapsed, their foundations melting
beneath them, and down they came with a crash,
burying the entire group of shelks beneath them.
Most of the shelks were killed outright, others were
seriously injured, and the only one that was
apparently unhurt, turned and sped like lightning
farther into the city. The men looked on in
amazement, unable to believe their eyes. Yet,
incredible as the fact was, they were actually
looking at a shelk, fleeing from a group of men. For
a space, they stared in wonder and then it dawned on
them that their brush with this party of shelks had
been successful. The defenders were all dead or
dying, and the way into Shawm was opened!
-
-
It was not the plan of Tumithak to dash
recklessly into the city, however. He at once gave
orders that began a steady, methodical burning of
the towers in this portion of Shawm. One after
another tile towers crashed to the ground, their
foundations blasted away by the terrific heat of the
fire hoses in the hands of the Yakrans.
-
-
The Towers Fallen, the City Exposed
-
-
And as the towers fell, the pitmen moved
forward into the ruins, and, concealing themselves,
began the destruction of towers farther within the
city. But they were not to continue their work of
destruction for many minutes. Before a half dozen
towers were destroyed, they found new parties of
shelks opposing them, and in a moment of
carelessness, two of tile Yakrans were slain before
they could property conceal themselves.
-
-
Within the city, now, the men from the Pit
were at an advantage. The shelks, however desperate,
did their best to slay their enemies without
destroying their homes, while the men had no such
compunction, and would have gladly destroyed all
Shawn to kill a single shelk. And so, in spite of a
number of casualties, Tumithak and his men moved
forward until he reached a spot where he could
attack, from a little elevation, the party that was
defending the town from Datto and his men.
-
-
Then the huge Yakran chief, his even huger
nephew, and their savage warriors, dashed across the
open space before the city and in a moment were in
the town. With wild cries, they attacked the shelks,
forgetful, now that they were at close grips with
the creatures, of either fire-hose or disintegrating
ray. And indeed, at such close quarters, the rays
became double-edged weapons, liable to slay friend
and foe alike, and even the shelks seemed to realize
their danger and ceased to use them. Strange
knife-like weapons appeared in their claws, sharp
disks of steel mounted on sticks and rotating
rapidly, like a child’s pinwheel; dangerous weapons,
indeed, for whenever they touched an arm or leg or
head, it was sheered off instantly.
-
-
And so the battle raged in hand-to-hand
conflict, like the battles of the ancient world,
before the dawn of modern knowledge. For the first
time in nearly two thousand years, Man was facing
his enemies on equal ground, and a good showing he
was making, too. The shelks already were yielding
ground to the men, when a cry from beyond them told
Tumithak that Nikadur and the Loorians had emerged
from the pit. He gave a triumphant answering cry and
attacked the shelks with renewed vigor.
-
-
To tell all the details of the battle would
require a story longer than all of this one. It had
become a vast series of individual encounters, and
in such a fight, heroes are made by the dozen.
Thurranen of Nonone first distinguished himself in
this fight, as did several others, who were
afterward to become famous knights in Tumithak’s
kingdom; Luramo verified Tumithak’s belief in him;
while the others, Datto, Nikadur, Thopf, Nennapuss
and Tumlook and their ilk showed added prowess by
the fearful way in which they brought down shelk
after shelk.
-
-
The Battle Reaching Its End
-
-
Twice
Tumithak faced old Hakh-Klotta himself twice lesser
shelks bravely died to allow the old governor a
chance to avoid the leader of the pitmen. It was
astounding to Tumithak to see how willing the shelks
were to die defending this old ruler. It was his
first contact with that strange social instinct that
was afterwards to enable him to gain such great
advantages over tile shelks. He was in after years
to learn that a battle with the shelks was somewhat
like a game of chess - capture the king and you
capture all.
-
-
But now the Loorian was ignorant of this fact
and so when Hakh-Klotta avoided him he was content
to attack some lesser shelk. And the battle
continued, while shelk after shelk died in a manner
that must have seemed strange beyond telling, to
them. Imagine a man dying in a battle with sheep and
hogs, with sheep and hogs that used guns, knives and
that united together to destroy a village! That is
probably as close an analogy to this strange raid as
we of today can conceive.
-
-
We must not suppose that the battle was
entirely with the pitmen. In places the shelks would
be temporarily victorious and dozens of men would
die under the whirling knives of the shelks. In
places, too, men would be isolated from the main
battle, and then a fire-hose, wielded by some shelk,
would blast them to cinders before they could flee.
-
-
But for every man that died beneath the
shelks’ whirling knives, two shelks would perish
beneath the swords or the arrows of the men; and for
every group that died under the fire-hoses of the
shelks, another perished beneath the fire-hoses of
the men of the Pits.
-
-
Retreat to the Flying Machine
-
-
Until
at last, as the sun sank low in the heavens, the
last group of shelks gathered close to the huge
flying machine that lay in the center of the
village, and attempted to make a last stand. They
had hoped, much earlier in the day, to enter the
flyer and escape, in order to bring help from the
large city of Kaymak, some distance away; but
Tumithak had forestalled them by ordering one of his
men to play a fire-hose across the entrance from the
protection of a nearby tower. And so they had been
balked of their desire. They had made their last
stand here however hoping that some last minute
accident would enable them to enter the flyer and
escape.
-
-
It seemed that there would be little chance
for them now. It would be but a moment until they
were cut down. And then the Loorian, who had been
guarding the entrance to the flyer, gave a
cry and fell backward, his head burned to a cinder
by the heat-ray of some concealed shelk sniper.
Nikadur immediately directed his own fire-hose in
the direction from which the ray had come, and had
the satisfaction of seeing a burned shelk tumble
screaming from the window of the tower, but the few
seconds during which the door of the flyer was
unguarded enabled fully half of the remaining shelks
to enter the flyer and swing shut the door. Hakh-Klotta was the first to enter, needless to say,
and then, as the door swung shut, the few remaining
shelks died instantly under the rays of the Yakrans.
Tumithak was just about to order the fire-hoses to
blast the flyer to molten metal when a terrifying
thought came to him. Tholura and the two captured
Yakrans had not been seen in any part of Shawm
during the fight. Was it possible that they were
still in the flyer? If they were, to blast the flyer
would mean their certain death. Tumithak turned sick
at the thought of how close he had come to giving
the order that would have slain them. He ordered his
men back from the flyer and waited in anxiety to see
if it would rise, bearing away with it the shelk
chief and the one in all the world that Tumithak
loved most. But as moment after moment passed, and
the flyer did not move, he gained renewed hope.
Perhaps the flyer was injured in some way, and could
not rise.
-
-
Tholura Is Now a Slayer of Shelks
-
-
Perhaps the shelks were so seriously
wounded that they could not operate the machine.
And then, just as he was about to give an order
to attack the machine and try to get within it,
the door of the flyer flew open and a
disheveled, white-faced figure stood in the
doorway. It was Tholura; and on her head was a
golden band such as the Governor-Inferior of
Shawm had worn. And in her hand was a charred
and dripping head—the head of Hakh-Klotta of
Shawm!
-
-
“Tumithak!” she called weakly, and then,
spying him rushing toward her: “Tumithak,” she
cried. “Take me. I love you and now I am worthy
of you . . . and I too am a slayer of shelks.”
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CHAPTER VII - The Walls of Shawm
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Tholura’s story was soon told. As the flyer
had swept toward Shawm, she and the two Yakrans had
been drawn up into the body of the machine,
disarmed, and thrown unceremoniously into a corner,
where they had cowered in terror, wondering what
was coming next. The excitement caused by the news
which the shelks in the flyer told on their arrival,
and the tumult of the battle which immediately
followed, evidently caused the shelks to entirely
forget them; and so they remained locked in the
flyer all during the fight. Toward the last,
Tholura so far regained her courage as to begin a
search of the flyer. She went looking around here
and there, examined the controls and decided that
they were too complicated to experiment with, looked
here, there and everyplace in search of some sort of
a weapon, and finally, to her surprise and delight,
found the very arms which had been taken from them
earlier in the day. The shelks had evidently tossed
them carelessly into a chest used for storing
baggage, and it was here that the girl found them..
It was obvious that here, as all through the battle
without, the shelks had under-estimated the
intelligence of the men against whom they were
fighting, and here, as in the fighting without, they
were to pay dearly for their mistake.
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Grimly, Tholura strapped the box to her back
and sat down at the entrance to await the return of
the shelks. When the door opened, she hid herself
until the entire party was safely within the cabin,
and then she opened fire on them with the heat-ray.
The shelks did not have a chance, but in her
excitement, Tholura forgot how the use of the
fire-hose in such confined quarters would raise the
surrounding temperature. She and the two Yakrans
also had almost been overcome by the heat, before
they could manage to get the door open and escape to
the cooler air of the outside.
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The Battle Was Ended—The’ Last Shelk Was Killed
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But now the battle was over, the shelks were
dead to the last one, Tumithak and Tholura were
united again, and the pitmen had cheered themselves
hoarse when Tumithak announced his intention of
marrying Tholura at the earliest opportunity.
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Then Tumithak, at Datto’s suggestion, allowed
the warriors to disband and turned the city over to
them for looting; while he gathered together his
others to discuss ways and means of properly
protecting the city proper.
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Next morning Nennapuss approached the Loorian chief
with a very business-like air and asked permission
to read a list he had compiled. Tumithak nodded
permission and the Nononese cleared his throat, and,
in the oratorical voice that was so characteristic
of him began:
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“This is a list of all the engines and
machines that have been captured in the taking of
the city. I took the liberty of ordering all men who
had obtained these machines to make a report of
them, and the following is a summation of their
reports. We have secured twenty-seven fire-hoses,
which, added to the forty-four which the Tains
provided, makes seventy-one in all. We have two
hundred and fifty rods of the power metal, a cache
of which was found in the tower of the chief shelk.
Twenty-six small machines of the type that makes
nothing of things, four strange going-machines which
no one can make to go, one machine with strong arms
that seems to be made for lifting large objects, one
machine to fly through the air, and seventy-two
machines of which at present we know not the use.”
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Tumithak smiled at the formidable list which
the chief of Nonone had so carefully compiled, and
then considered seriously for a moment.
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“The fire-hoses,” he announced at last, “and the
rods of metal may become the property of those who
found them. The machines of which we know not the
use shall remain in the possession of those who have
them until we find out their use. But the
disintegrating machines shall become the property of
the council, to be used for the protection of the
city. Tell Datto and Zar-Emo to report to me.”
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The two chiefs came and Tumithak laid before
them the plan which he had conceived for the
protection of the city. Enthusiastically, Zar-Emo
and Datto departed and busied themselves in setting
up the disintegrating machines in the manner agreed
upon. A huge circle was drawn on the ground all
about Shawm and then, at equal intervals about this
circle, the machines were set up, and Tains spent
some time teaching the use of them to warriors who
were assigned to operate them.
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For a guard, one of the many that Tumithak had
placed in the towers and on the higher elevations of
land beyond the city, came rushing to the chief to
announce, in a voice laden with terror, that a
number of great bird-like shapes had appeared on the
distant horizon, and were moving rapidly toward
Shawm.
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“They are shelk-flyers, Tumithak!" he cried in fear.
“Let us flee to the Pits at once, Tumithak.”
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The shelk-slayer silenced him with a stern
gesture, and, turning, ordered a messenger to summon
the other chiefs. \When they arrived he began at
once to give them instructions for the defense of
the city. Messengers were sent rushing to the guards
who maintained a constant watch at the
disintegrating machines, others assembled the
possessors of fire-hoses in the center of the city,
while still others busied themselves with the work
of herding the women and children into the Pits,
that they might be safe in the event that the battle
went against the defenders.
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By the time that all these preparations were
completed, the shelk fleet (which, although
Tumithak could not know it, was probably little more
than a group of freighters, ignorant of the conquest
of Shawm, which were bringing supplies to the little
city from some larger metropolis), had reached a
point not over a few miles from the town. Standing
on the little elevation near the center of Shawm,
Tumithak, with Tholura at his side and his chiefs
behind him, watched its approach. The shelk flyers
were ornithopters and the lazy flap-flap of the
metal wings caused them to flash intermittently in
the sun.
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On they came, suspecting nothing, until they
reached a point but a few hundred yards away from
the city and then they began to descend. The
clattering hum of their engines could be heard
plainly now, and Tumithak began to look anxiously
toward the ground beyond the city. Would his plan
work, or were the pitmen about to participate in a
desperate battle that would question their very
existence?
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The End of the Fleet
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And then, just when the Loorian had given up
hope, came tile event that he had been waiting for.
There came a splitting roar from tile foremost of
tile flyers, it gleamed momentarily with a brilliant
a dazzling light—and then it was gone! There was a
clap of thunder as tile sound of air rushing in to
take the place of that destroyed by the ray reached
their ears and that was all.
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Tumithak smiled a relieved smile and turned to
Tholura.
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“The disintegrating machines” he explained.
“They have been set up so as to form a huge cone of
rays over Shawm through which nothing can pass until
we shut off our machines. There is a watch over the
machines, day and night, and whenever anything
strange appears in the sky, the power is immediately
turned on.”
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He turned and watched the remaining flyers.
The main body of the machines, about seven of them,
had been flying immediately behind the leader, and
had not attempted to stop when the leader was
struck. They had no cause to believe that the
machine had been attacked from the ground, and
apparently those who noticed its collapse credited
it to some accident within the flyer.
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And so, before they could help themselves,
they, too, had moved on within reach of the rays and
in less than a minute they, too, had roared into
oblivion. One straggler, indeed, managed to avoid
the general fate for a few moments, and Tumithak
watched it anxiously, fearful that it might succeed
in escaping entirely, and reach some distant shelk
center from which it could bring an army that would
wipe out the pitmen entirely. But fortunately this
was not to happen, the men who controlled the
disintegrators, considering it a point of honor to
completely wipe out the entire shelk fleet, directed
the whole battery of sixteen machines against it and
under such a barrage escape was impossible. The last
flyer exploded noisily (the disintegrating rays were
weak at that distance) and a fine rain of dust over
the forest marked the last of the fleet.
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Tile breeze that had sprung up at tile moment
of the turning on of the disintegrators, and which
had grown until it was a brisk wind, died down now,
and Tumithak turned to Tholura and gave her a kiss
of triumph. Then he gave a sigil of fervent relief,
for he had been uncertain as to how this method of
defense was going to work.
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“We have triumphed once more,” he said softly,
and then: “But they will come again, Tholura, they
will surely come again . . . But when they do, we
will be ready for them.”
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THE
END.
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