We were sitting before a little fire inside a safe grotto onenight shortly after we had quit the cliff-dwellings of theBand-lu, when So-al raised a question which it had neveroccurred to me to propound to Ajor. She asked her why she hadleft her own people and how she had come so far south as thecountry of the Alus, where I had found her.

At first Ajor hesitated to explain; but at last she consented,and for the first time I heard the complete story of her originand experiences. For my benefit she entered into greaterdetail of explanation than would have been necessary had I beena native Caspakian.

"I am a cos-ata-lo," commenced Ajor, and then she turnedtoward me. "A cos-ata-lo, my Tom, is a woman" (lo)"who did not come from an egg and thus on up from the beginning." (Cor sva jo.) "I was a babe at my mother's breast. Only amongthe Galus are such, and then but infrequently. The Wieroo getmost of us; but my mother hid me until I had attained such sizethat the Wieroo could not readily distinguish me from one whohad come up from the beginning. I knew both my mother and myfather, as only such as I may. My father is high chief amongthe Galus. His name is Jor, and both he and my mother came upfrom the beginning; but one of them, probably my mother, hadcompleted the seven cycles" (approximately seven hundred years),"with the result that their offspring might be cos-ata-lo,or born as are all the children of your race, my Tom, as youtell me is the fact. I was therefore apart from my fellows inthat my children would probably be as I, of a higher state ofevolution, and so I was sought by the men of my people; butnone of them appealed to me. I cared for none. The mostpersistent was Du-seen, a huge warrior of whom my father stoodin considerable fear, since it was quite possible that Du-seencould wrest from him his chieftainship of the Galus. He has alarge following of the newer Galus, those most recently come upfrom the Kro-lu, and as this class is usually much morepowerful numerically than the older Galus, and as Du-seen'sambition knows no bounds, we have for a long time beenexpecting him to find some excuse for a break with Jor the HighChief, my father.

"A further complication lay in the fact that Duseen wanted me,while I would have none of him, and then came evidence to myfather's ears that he was in league with the Wieroo; a hunter,returning late at night, came trembling to my father, sayingthat he had seen Du-seen talking with a Wieroo in a lonely spotfar from the village, and that plainly he had heard the words: `If you will help me, I will help you--I will deliver into yourhands all cos-ata-lo among the Galus, now and hereafter;but for that service you must slay Jor the High Chief and bringterror and confusion to his followers.'

"Now, when my father heard this, he was angry; but he was alsoafraid--afraid for me, who am cosata-lo. He called me tohim and told me what he had heard, pointing out two ways inwhich we might frustrate Du-seen. The first was that I go toDu-seen as his mate, after which he would be loath to give meinto the hands of the Wieroo or to further abide by the wickedcompact he had made--a compact which would doom his ownoffspring, who would doubtless be as am I, their mother. The alternative was flight until Du-seen should have been overcomeand punished. I chose the latter and fled toward the south. Beyond the confines of the Galu country is little danger fromthe Wieroo, who seek ordinarily only Galus of the highest orders. There are two excellent reasons for this: One is that fromthe beginning of time jealousy had existed between the Wierooand the Galus as to which would eventually dominate the world.It seems generally conceded that that race which firstreaches a point of evolution which permits them to produceyoung of their own species and of both sexes must dominate allother creatures. The Wieroo first began to produce their ownkind--after which evolution from Galu to Wieroo ceasedgradually until now it is unknown; but the Wieroo produce onlymales--which is why they steal our female young, and by stealingcos-ata-lo they increase their own chances of eventuallyreproducing both sexes and at the same time lessen ours. Already the Galus produce both male and female; but socarefully do the Wieroo watch us that few of the males evergrow to manhood, while even fewer are the females that are notstolen away. It is indeed a strange condition, for while ourgreatest enemies hate and fear us, they dare not exterminateus, knowing that they too would become extinct but for us.

"Ah, but could we once get a start, I am sure that when allwere true cos-ata-lo there would have been evolved at lastthe true dominant race before which all the world would beforced to bow."

Ajor always spoke of the world as though nothing existedbeyond Caspak. She could not seem to grasp the truth of myorigin or the fact that there were countless other peoplesoutside her stern barrier-cliffs. She apparently felt thatI came from an entirely different world. Where it was andhow I came to Caspak from it were matters quite beyond herwith which she refused to trouble her pretty head.

"Well," she continued, "and so I ran away to hide, intendingto pass the cliffs to the south of Galu and find a retreat inthe Kro-lu country. It would be dangerous, but there seemed noother way.

"The third night I took refuge in a large cave in the cliffs atthe edge of my own country; upon the following day I wouldcross over into the Kro-lu country, where I felt that I shouldbe reasonably safe from the Wieroo, though menaced by countlessother dangers. However, to a cos-ata-lo any fate ispreferable to that of falling into the clutches of thefrightful Wieroo, from whose land none returns.

"I had been sleeping peacefully for several hours when I wasawakened by a slight noise within the cavern. The moon wasshining brightly, illumining the entrance, against which I sawsilhouetted the dread figure of a Wieroo. There was no escape. The cave was shallow, the entrance narrow. I lay very still,hoping against hope, that the creature had but paused here torest and might soon depart without discovering me; yet all thewhile I knew that he came seeking me.

"I waited, scarce breathing, watching the thing creepstealthily toward me, its great eyes luminous in the darknessof the cave's interior, and at last I knew that those eyes weredirected upon me, for the Wieroo can see in the darkness betterthan even the lion or the tiger. But a few feet separated uswhen I sprang to my feet and dashed madly toward my menacer ina vain effort to dodge past him and reach the outside world. It was madness of course, for even had I succeeded temporarily,the Wieroo would have but followed and swooped down upon mefrom above. As it was, he reached forth and seized me, andthough I struggled, he overpowered me. In the duel his long,white robe was nearly torn from him, and he became very angry,so that he trembled and beat his wings together in his rage.

"He asked me my name; but I would not answer him, and thatangered him still more. At last he dragged me to the entranceof the cave, lifted me in his arms, spread his great wings andleaping into the air, flapped dismally through the night. I saw the moonlit landscape sliding away beneath me, and thenwe were out above the sea and on our way to Oo-oh, the countryof the Wieroo.

"The dim outlines of Oo-oh were unfolding below us when therecame from above a loud whirring of giant wings. The Wieroo andI glanced up simultaneously, to see a pair of huge jo-oos"(flying reptiles--pterodactyls) "swooping down upon us. The Wieroowheeled and dropped almost to sea-level, and then raced southwardin an effort to outdistance our pursuers. The great creatures,notwithstanding their enormous weight, are swift on their wings;but the Wieroo are swifter. Even with my added weight, thecreature that bore me maintained his lead, though he could notincrease it. Faster than the fastest wind we raced through thenight, southward along the coast. Sometimes we rose to greatheights, where the air was chill and the world below but a blurof dim outlines; but always the jo-oos stuck behind us.

"I knew that we had covered a great distance, for the rush ofthe wind by my face attested the speed of our progress, but Ihad no idea where we were when at last I realized that theWieroo was weakening. One of the jo-oos gained on us andsucceeded in heading us, so that my captor had to turn intoward the coast. Further and further they forced him to theleft; lower and lower he sank. More labored was his breathing,and weaker the stroke of his once powerful wings. We were notten feet above the ground when they overtook us, and at theedge of a forest. One of them seized the Wieroo by his rightwing, and in an effort to free himself, he loosed his graspupon me, dropping me to earth. Like a frightened ecca Ileaped to my feet and raced for the sheltering sanctuary of theforest, where I knew neither could follow or seize me. Then Iturned and looked back to see two great reptiles tear myabductor asunder and devour him on the spot.

"I was saved; yet I felt that I was lost. How far I was fromthe country of the Galus I could not guess; nor did it seemprobable that I ever could make my way in safety to my native land.

"Day was breaking; soon the carnivora would stalk forth fortheir first kill; I was armed only with my knife. About me wasa strange landscape--the flowers, the trees, the grasses, even,were different from those of my northern world, and presentlythere appeared before me a creature fully as hideous as theWieroo--a hairy manthing that barely walked erect. I shuddered,and then I fled. Through the hideous dangers that my forebearshad endured in the earlier stages of their human evolution Ifled; and always pursuing was the hairy monster that haddiscovered me. Later he was joined by others of his kind. They were the speechless men, the Alus, from whom you rescuedme, my Tom. From then on, you know the story of my adventures,and from the first, I would endure them all again because theyled me to you!"

It was very nice of her to say that, and I appreciated it. I felt that she was a mighty nice little girl whose friendshipanyone might be glad to have; but I wished that when shetouched me, those peculiar thrills would not run through me. It was most discomforting, because it reminded me of love; andI knew that I never could love this half-baked little barbarian. I was very much interested in her account of the Wieroo, whichup to this time I had considered a purely mythological creature;but Ajor shuddered so at even the veriest mention of the namethat I was loath to press the subject upon her, and so theWieroo still remained a mystery to me.

While the Wieroo interested me greatly, I had little time tothink about them, as our waking hours were filled with thenecessities of existence--the constant battle for survivalwhich is the chief occupation of Caspakians. To-mar and So-alwere now about fitted for their advent into Kro-lu society andmust therefore leave us, as we could not accompany them withoutincurring great danger ourselves and running the chance ofendangering them; but each swore to be always our friend andassured us that should we need their aid at any time we had butto ask it; nor could I doubt their sincerity, since we had beenso instrumental in bringing them safely upon their journeytoward the Kro-lu village.

This was our last day together. In the afternoon we shouldseparate, To-mar and So-al going directly to the Kro-luvillage, while Ajor and I made a detour to avoid a conflictwith the archers. The former both showed evidence of nervousapprehension as the time approached for them to make theirentry into the village of their new people, and yet both werevery proud and happy. They told us that they would be wellreceived as additions to a tribe always are welcomed, and themore so as the distance from the beginning increased, thehigher tribes or races being far weaker numerically thanthe lower. The southern end of the island fairly swarms with theHo-lu, or apes; next above these are the Alus, who are slightlyfewer in number than the Ho-lu; and again there are fewer Boluthan Alus, and fewer Sto-lu than Bo-lu. Thus it goes until theKro-lu are fewer in number than any of the others; and here thelaw reverses, for the Galus outnumber the Kro-lu. As Ajorexplained it to me, the reason for this is that as evolutionpractically ceases with the Galus, there is no less among themon this score, for even the cos-ata-lo are still consideredGalus and remain with them. And Galus come up both from thewest and east coasts. There are, too, fewer carnivorousreptiles at the north end of the island, and not so many of thegreat and ferocious members of the cat family as take theirhideous toll of life among the races further south.

By now I was obtaining some idea of the Caspakian scheme ofevolution, which partly accounted for the lack of young amongthe races I had so far seen. Coming up from the beginning, theCaspakian passes, during a single existence, through the variousstages of evolution, or at least many of them, through which thehuman race has passed during the countless ages since life firststirred upon a new world; but the question which continued topuzzle me was: What creates life at the beginning, cor sva jo?

I had noticed that as we traveled northward from the Alus'country the land had gradually risen until we were now severalhundred feet above the level of the inland sea. Ajor told methat the Galus country was still higher and considerably colder,which accounted for the scarcity of reptiles. The change inform and kinds of the lower animals was even more marked thanthe evolutionary stages of man. The diminutive ecca, orsmall horse, became a rough-coated and sturdy little pony inthe Kro-lu country. I saw a greater number of small lionsand tigers, though many of the huge ones still persisted,while the woolly mammoth was more in evidence, as were severalvarieties of the Labyrinthadonta. These creatures, from whichGod save me, I should have expected to find further south; butfor some unaccountable reason they gain their greatest bulk inthe Kro-lu and Galu countries, though fortunately they are rare. I rather imagine that they are a very early life which israpidly nearing extinction in Caspak, though wherever theyare found, they constitute a menace to all forms of life.

It was mid-afternoon when To-mar and So-al bade us good-bye. We were not far from Kro-lu village; in fact, we had approachedit much closer than we had intended, and now Ajor and I were tomake a detour toward the sea while our companions went directlyin search of the Kro-lu chief.

Ajor and I had gone perhaps a mile or two and were just aboutto emerge from a dense wood when I saw that ahead of us whichcaused me to draw back into concealment, at the same timepushing Ajor behind me. What I saw was a party of Band-luwarriors--large, fierce-appearing men. From the direction oftheir march I saw that they were returning to their caves, andthat if we remained where we were, they would pass withoutdiscovering us.

Presently Ajor nudged me. "They have a prisoner," she whispered. "He is a Kro-lu."

And then I saw him, the first fully developed Krolu I had seen. He was a fine-looking savage, tall and straight with a regal carriage. To-mar was a handsome fellow; but this Kro-lu showed plainly inhis every physical attribute a higher plane of evolution. While To-mar was just entering the Kro-lu sphere, this man,it seemed to me, must be close indeed to the next stage ofhis development, which would see him an envied Galu.

"They will kill him?" I whispered to Ajor.

"The dance of death," she replied, and I shuddered, so recentlyhad I escaped the same fate. It seemed cruel that one who musthave passed safely up through all the frightful stages of humanevolution within Caspak, should die at the very foot of his goal. I raised my rifle to my shoulder and took careful aim at one ofthe Band-lu. If I hit him, I would hit two, for another wasdirectly behind the first.

Ajor touched my arm. "What would you do?" she asked. "They areall our enemies."

"I am going to save him from the dance of death," I replied,"enemy or no enemy," and I squeezed the trigger. At thereport, the two Band-lu lunged forward upon their faces. I handed my rifle to Ajor, and drawing my pistol, stepped outin full view of the startled party. The Band-lu did not runaway as had some of the lower orders of Caspakians at the soundof the rifle. Instead, the moment they saw me, they let out aseries of demoniac war-cries, and raising their spears abovetheir heads, charged me.

The Kro-lu stood silent and statuesque, watching the proceedings. He made no attempt to escape, though his feet were not boundand none of the warriors remained to guard him. There wereten of the Band-lu coming for me. I dropped three of themwith my pistol as rapidly as a man might count by three, andthen my rifle spoke close to my left shoulder, and another ofthem stumbled and rolled over and over upon the ground. Plucky little Ajor! She had never fired a shot before in allher life, though I had taught her to sight and aim and how tosqueeze the trigger instead of pulling it. She had practicedthese new accomplishments often, but little had I thought theywould make a marksman of her so quickly.

With six of their fellows put out of the fight so easily, theremaining six sought cover behind some low bushes and commenceda council of war. I wished that they would go away, as I hadno ammunition to waste, and I was fearful that should theyinstitute another charge, some of them would reach us, for theywere already quite close. Suddenly one of them rose andlaunched his spear. It was the most marvelous exhibition ofspeed I have ever witnessed. It seemed to me that he hadscarce gained an upright position when the weapon was half-wayupon its journey, speeding like an arrow toward Ajor. And thenit was, with that little life in danger, that I made the bestshot I have ever made in my life! I took no conscious aim; itwas as though my subconscious mind, impelled by a strongerpower even than that of self-preservation, directed my hand. Ajor was in danger! Simultaneously with the thought my pistolflew to position, a streak of incandescent powder marked thepath of the bullet from its muzzle; and the spear, its pointshattered, was deflected from its path. With a howl of dismaythe six Band-lu rose from their shelter and raced away towardthe south.

I turned toward Ajor. She was very white and wide-eyed, forthe clutching fingers of death had all but seized her; but alittle smile came to her lips and an expression of great prideto her eyes. "My Tom!" she said, and took my hand in hers. That was all--"My Tom!" and a pressure of the hand. Her Tom!Something stirred within my bosom. Was it exaltation or was itconsternation? Impossible! I turned away almost brusquely.

"Come!" I said, and strode off toward the Kro-lu prisoner.

The Kro-lu stood watching us with stolid indifference. I presume that he expected to be killed; but if he did, he showedno outward sign of fear. His eyes, indicating his greatestinterest, were fixed upon my pistol or the rifle which Ajorstill carried. I cut his bonds with my knife. As I did so, anexpression of surprise tinged and animated the haughty reserveof his countenance. He eyed me quizzically.

"What are you going to do with me?" he asked.

"You are free," I replied. "Go home, if you wish."

"Why don't you kill me?" he inquired. "I am defenseless."

"Why should I kill you? I have risked my life and that of thisyoung lady to save your life. Why, therefore should I now take it?" Of course, I didn't say "young lady" as there is no Caspakianequivalent for that term; but I have to allow myself considerablelatitude in the translation of Caspakian conversations. To speakalways of a beautiful young girl as a "she" may be literal; butit seems far from gallant.

The Kro-lu concentrated his steady, level gaze upon me for atleast a full minute. Then he spoke again.

"Who are you, man of strange skins?" he asked. "Your she isGalu; but you are neither Galu nor Krolu nor Band-lu, nor anyother sort of man which I have seen before. Tell me fromwhence comes so mighty a warrior and so generous a foe."

"It is a long story," I replied, "but suffice it to say that Iam not of Caspak. I am a stranger here, and--let this sinkin--I am not a foe. I have no wish to be an enemy of any manin Caspak, with the possible exception of the Galu warrior Du-seen."

"Du-seen!" he exclaimed. "You are an enemy of Du-seen? And why?"

"Because he would harm Ajor," I replied. "You know him?"

"He cannot know him," said Ajor. "Du-seen rose from the Kro-lulong ago, taking a new name, as all do when they enter a new sphere. He cannot know him, as there is no intercourse between the Kro-luand the Galu."

The warrior smiled. "Du-seen rose not so long ago," he said,"that I do not recall him well, and recently he has taken itupon himself to abrogate the ancient laws of Caspak; he had hadintercourse with the Kro-lu. Du-seen would be chief of theGalus, and he has come to the Kro-lu for help.

Ajor was aghast. The thing was incredible. Never had Kro-luand Galu had friendly relations; by the savage laws of Caspakthey were deadly enemies, for only so can the several racesmaintain their individuality.

"Will the Kro-lu join him?" asked Ajor. "Will they invade thecountry of Jor my father?"

"The younger Kro-lu favor the plan," replied the warrior,"since they believe they will thus become Galus immediately. They hope to span the long years of change through which theymust pass in the ordinary course of events and at a singlestride become Galus. We of the older Kro-lu tell them thatthough they occupy the land of the Galu and wear the skins andornaments of the golden people, still they will not be Galustill the time arrives that they are ripe to rise. We also tellthem that even then they will never become a true Galu race,since there will still be those among them who can never rise. It is all right to raid the Galu country occasionally forplunder, as our people do; but to attempt to conquer it andhold it is madness. For my part, I have been content to waituntil the call came to me. I feel that it cannot now be long."

"What is your name?" asked Ajor.

"Chal-az, " replied the man.

"You are chief of the Kro-lu?" Ajor continued.

"No, it is Al-tan who is chief of the Kro-lu of the east,"answered Chal-az.

"And he is against this plan to invade my father's country?"

"Unfortunately he is rather in favor of it," replied the man,"since he has about come to the conclusion that he is batu. He has been chief ever since, before I came up from theBand-lu, and I can see no change in him in all those years. In fact, he still appears to be more Band-lu than Kro-lu. However, he is a good chief and a mighty warrior, and ifDu-seen persuades him to his cause, the Galus may findthemselves under a Kro-lu chieftain before long--Du-seen aswell as the others, for Al-tan would never consent to occupy asubordinate position, and once he plants a victorious foot inGalu, he will not withdraw it without a struggle."

I asked them what batu meant, as I had not before heardthe word. Literally translated, it is equivalent to through,finished, done-for, as applied to an individual's evolutionaryprogress in Caspak, and with this information was developed theinteresting fact that not every individual is capable of risingthrough every stage to that of Galu. Some never progressbeyond the Alu stage; others stop as Bo-lu, as Sto-lu, asBandlu or as Kro-lu. The Ho-lu of the first generation mayrise to become Alus; the Alus of the second generation maybecome Bo-lu, while it requires three generations of Bo-lu tobecome Band-lu, and so on until Kro-lu's parent on one sidemust be of the sixth generation.

It was not entirely plain to me even with this explanation,since I couldn't understand how there could be differentgenerations of peoples who apparently had no offspring. Yet Iwas commencing to get a slight glimmer of the strange lawswhich govern propagation and evolution in this weird land. Already I knew that the warm pools which always lie close toevery tribal abiding-place were closely linked with theCaspakian scheme of evolution, and that the daily immersion ofthe females in the greenish slimy water was in response to somenatural law, since neither pleasure nor cleanliness could bederived from what seemed almost a religious rite. Yet I wasstill at sea; nor, seemingly, could Ajor enlighten me, sinceshe was compelled to use words which I could not understand andwhich it was impossible for her to explain the meanings of.

As we stood talking, we were suddenly startled by a commotionin the bushes and among the boles of the trees surrounding us,and simultaneously a hundred Kro-lu warriors appeared in arough circle about us. They greeted Chal-az with a volley ofquestions as they approached slowly from all sides, their heavybows fitted with long, sharp arrows. Upon Ajor and me theylooked with covetousness in the one instance and suspicion inthe other; but after they had heard Chal-az's story, theirattitude was more friendly. A huge savage did all the talking. He was a mountain of a man, yet perfectly proportioned.

"This is Al-tan the chief," said Chal-az by way of introduction. Then he told something of my story, and Al-tan asked me manyquestions of the land from which I came. The warriors crowdedaround close to hear my replies, and there were many expressionsof incredulity as I spoke of what was to them another world, ofthe yacht which had brought me over vast waters, and of theplane that had borne me Jo-oo-like over the summit of thebarrier-cliffs. It was the mention of the hydroaeroplanewhich precipitated the first outspoken skepticism, and thenAjor came to my defense.

"I saw it with my own eyes!" she exclaimed. "I saw him flyingthrough the air in battle with a Jo-oo. The Alus were chasingme, and they saw and ran away."

"Whose is this she?" demanded Al-tan suddenly, his eyes fixedfiercely upon Ajor.

For a moment there was silence. Ajor looked up at me, a hurtand questioning expression on her face. "Whose she is this?"repeated Al-tan.

"She is mine," I replied, though what force it was thatimpelled me to say it I could not have told; but an instantlater I was glad that I had spoken the words, for the rewardof Ajor's proud and happy face was reward indeed.

Al-tan eyed her for several minutes and then turned to me. "Can you keep her?" he asked, just the tinge of a sneer uponhis face.

I laid my palm upon the grip of my pistol and answered thatI could. He saw the move, glanced at the butt of the automaticwhere it protruded from its holster, and smiled. Then heturned and raising his great bow, fitted an arrow and drew theshaft far back. His warriors, supercilious smiles upon theirfaces, stood silently watching him. His bow was the longestand the heaviest among them all. A mighty man indeed must hebe to bend it; yet Al-tan drew the shaft back until the stonepoint touched his left forefinger, and he did it withconsummate ease. Then he raised the shaft to the level ofhis right eye, held it there for an instant and released it. When the arrow stopped, half its length protruded from theopposite side of a six-inch tree fifty feet away. Al-tan andhis warriors turned toward me with expressions of immensesatisfaction upon their faces, and then, apparently for Ajor'sbenefit, the chieftain swaggered to and fro a couple of times,swinging his great arms and his bulky shoulders for all theworld like a drunken prize-fighter at a beach dancehall.

I saw that some reply was necessary, and so in a single motion,I drew my gun, dropped it on the still quivering arrow andpulled the trigger. At the sound of the report, the Kro-luleaped back and raised their weapons; but as I was smiling,they took heart and lowered them again, following my eyes tothe tree; the shaft of their chief was gone, and through thebole was a little round hole marking the path of my bullet. It was a good shot if I do say it myself, "as shouldn't" butnecessity must have guided that bullet; I simply had tomake a good shot, that I might immediately establish my positionamong those savage and warlike Caspakians of the sixth sphere. That it had its effect was immediately noticeable, but I am nonetoo sure that it helped my cause with Al-tan. Whereas he mighthave condescended to tolerate me as a harmless and interestingcuriosity, he now, by the change in his expression, appeared toconsider me in a new and unfavorable light. Nor can I wonder,knowing this type as I did, for had I not made him ridiculousin the eyes of his warriors, beating him at his own game? What king, savage or civilized, could condone such impudence? Seeing his black scowls, I deemed it expedient, especially onAjor's account, to terminate the interview and continue uponour way; but when I would have done so, Al-tan detained us witha gesture, and his warriors pressed around us.

"What is the meaning of this?" I demanded, and before Al-tancould reply, Chal-az raised his voice in our behalf.

"Is this the gratitude of a Kro-lu chieftain, Al-tan," heasked, "to one who has served you by saving one of yourwarriors from the enemy--saving him from the death dance ofthe Band-lu?"

Al-tan was silent for a moment, and then his brow cleared, andthe faint imitation of a pleasant expression struggled forexistence as he said: "The stranger will not be harmed. I wished only to detain him that he may be feasted tonight inthe village of Al-tan the Kro-lu. In the morning he may gohis way. Al-tan will not hinder him."

I was not entirely reassured; but I wanted to see the interiorof the Kro-lu village, and anyway I knew that if Al-tanintended treachery I would be no more in his power in themorning than I now was--in fact, during the night I mightfind opportunity to escape with Ajor, while at the instantneither of us could hope to escape unscathed from theencircling warriors. Therefore, in order to disarm him ofany thought that I might entertain suspicion as to hissincerity, I promptly and courteously accepted his invitation. His satisfaction was evident, and as we set off toward his village,he walked beside me, asking many questions as to the countryfrom which I came, its peoples and their customs. He seemedmuch mystified by the fact that we could walk abroad by day ornight without fear of being devoured by wild beasts or savagereptiles, and when I told him of the great armies which wemaintained, his simple mind could not grasp the fact that theyexisted solely for the slaughtering of human beings.

"I am glad," he said, "that I do not dwell in your countryamong such savage peoples. Here, in Caspak, men fight with menwhen they meet--men of different races--but their weapons arefirst for the slaying of beasts in the chase and in defense. We do not fashion weapons solely for the killing of man as doyour peoples. Your country must indeed be a savage country,from which you are fortunate to have escaped to the peace andsecurity of Caspak."

Here was a new and refreshing viewpoint; nor could I takeexception to it after what I had told Altan of the great warwhich had been raging in Europe for over two years before Ileft home.

On the march to the Kro-lu village we were continually stalkedby innumerable beasts of prey, and three times we were attackedby frightful creatures; but Altan took it all as a matter ofcourse, rushing forward with raised spear or sending a heavyshaft into the body of the attacker and then returning to ourconversation as though no interruption had occurred. Twice weremembers of his band mauled, and one was killed by a huge andbellicose rhinoceros; but the instant the action was over,it was as though it never had occurred. The dead man wasstripped of his belongings and left where he had died; thecarnivora would take care of his burial. The trophies thatthese Kro-lu left to the meat-eaters would have turned anEnglish big-game hunter green with envy. They did, it is true,cut all the edible parts from the rhino and carry them home;but already they were pretty well weighted down with the spoilsof the chase, and only the fact that they are particularly fondof rhino-meat caused them to do so.

They left the hide on the pieces they selected, as they use itfor sandals, shield-covers, the hilts of their knives andvarious other purposes where tough hide is desirable. I wasmuch interested in their shields, especially after I saw oneused in defense against the attack of a saber-tooth tiger. The huge creature had charged us without warning from a clump ofdense bushes where it was lying up after eating. It was metwith an avalanche of spears, some of which passed entirelythrough its body, with such force were they hurled. The chargewas from a very short distance, requiring the use of the spearrather than the bow and arrow; but after the launching of thespears, the men not directly in the path of the charge sent boltafter bolt into the great carcass with almost incredible rapidity. The beast, screaming with pain and rage, bore down upon Chal-azwhile I stood helpless with my rifle for fear of hitting one ofthe warriors who were closing in upon it. But Chal-az was ready. Throwing aside his bow, he crouched behind his large oval shield,in the center of which was a hole about six inches in diameter. The shield was held by tight loops to his left arm, while in hisright hand he grasped his heavy knife. Bristling with spearsand arrows, the great cat hurled itself upon the shield, and downwent Chal-az upon his back with the shield entirely covering him. The tiger clawed and bit at the heavy rhinoceros hide with whichthe shield was faced, while Chal-az, through the round hole inthe shield's center, plunged his blade repeatedly into the vitalsof the savage animal. Doubtless the battle would have gone toChal-az even though I had not interfered; but the moment that Isaw a clean opening, with no Kro-lu beyond, I raised my rifle andkilled the beast.

When Chal-az arose, he glanced at the sky and remarked that itlooked like rain. The others already had resumed the marchtoward the village. The incident was closed. For someunaccountable reason the whole thing reminded me of a friendwho once shot a cat in his backyard. For three weeks he talkedof nothing else.

It was almost dark when we reached the village--a largepalisaded enclosure of several hundred leaf-thatched huts setin groups of from two to seven. The huts were hexagonal inform, and where grouped were joined so that they resembled thecells of a bee-hive. One hut meant a warrior and his mate, andeach additional hut in a group indicated an additional female. The palisade which surrounded the village was of logs set closetogether and woven into a solid wall with tough creepers whichwere planted at their base and trained to weave in and out tobind the logs together. The logs slanted outward at an angleof about thirty degrees, in which position they were held byshorter logs embedded in the ground at right angles to them andwith their upper ends supporting the longer pieces a trifleabove their centers of equilibrium. Along the top of thepalisade sharpened stakes had been driven at all sorts of angles.

The only opening into the inclosure was through a smallaperture three feet wide and three feet high, which was closedfrom the inside by logs about six feet long laid horizontally,one upon another, between the inside face of the palisade andtwo other braced logs which paralleled the face of the wallupon the inside.

As we entered the village, we were greeted by a not unfriendlycrowd of curious warriors and women, to whom Chal-az generouslyexplained the service we had rendered him, whereupon theyshowered us with the most well-meant attentions, for Chal-az, itseemed, was a most popular member of the tribe. Necklaces oflion and tiger-teeth, bits of dried meat, finely tanned hidesand earthen pots, beautifully decorated, they thrust upon usuntil we were loaded down, and all the while Al-tan glaredbalefully upon us, seemingly jealous of the attentions heapedupon us because we had served Chal-az.

At last we reached a hut that they set apart for us, and therewe cooked our meat and some vegetables the women brought us,and had milk from cows--the first I had had in Caspak--andcheese from the milk of wild goats, with honey and thin breadmade from wheat flour of their own grinding, and grapes and thefermented juice of grapes. It was quite the most wonderfulmeal I had eaten since I quit the Toreador and Bowen J.Tyler's colored chef, who could make pork-chops taste likechicken, and chicken taste like heaven.