CHAPTER X
_A Mysterious Rescuer_
Their way led through tangled growths of trees and vines that were likeunreal things of a dream. Unreal they were, too, in their strange degreeof livingness, for there were snaky tendrils that drew back as if infear at their approach and stalks that folded great, thorny leavesprotectingly about pulpy centers at the first touch of a hand. The worldof vegetation seemed strangely sentient and aware of their approach.Only the leprous-white trees remained motionless; their red-veinedtrunks towered high in air, and the sun of late afternoon shotslantingly through a leafy roof overhead.
Twice Chet let the others go on ahead while he slipped silently intosome rocky concealment and watched with staring, anxious eyes back alongtheir trail. But the little stream's gurgling whisper was the onlyvoice, and in all the weird jungle there was no movement but for theunfolding of the vegetation where they had passed.
"Nerves!" he reproached himself. "You're getting jumpy, and that won'tdo." But once more he let the others climb on while he stepped quicklybehind a projecting rock over which he could look.
Again there was silence; again the leaves unfolded their thornywrappings while vermiform tendrils crept across the ground or reachedtentatively into the air. And then, while the silence was unbroken,while no evidence came through his feeble, human senses, somethingapproached.
Neither sight nor sound betrayed it--this something, that camenoiselessly after--but a tell-tale plant whipped its leaves into theirformer wrapping; a vine drew its hanging clusters of flowers sharplyinto the air. The unseeing watchers of the forest had sensed what wasunheard and unseen, and Chet knew that his own inner warning had beentrue.
He waited to see this mysterious pursuer come into view; and afterwaiting in vain he realized the folly of thinking himself concealed. Heglanced about him; every plant was drawn tightly upon itself. Withsilent voices they were proclaiming his hiding place, warning this otherto wait, telling him that someone was hidden here.
Chet's face, despite his apprehension, drew into a whimsical, silentgrin. "No chance to ambush him, whoever he is or whatever it is," hetold himself. "But that works two ways: he can't jump us when we'reprepared; not in daylight, anyway."
And he asked himself a question he could not answer: "I wonder," hewhispered softly, "--I wonder what these plants will do at night!"
* * * * *
Almost they could see the swift descent of the sun. Each flashing glintof light through the dense growth came from lower down toward theinvisible horizon. It shone at last where Chet cast anxious glancesabout upon a mound of rocks.
Rough blocks of tremendous size had been left here from some seismicdisturbance. Like the ruins of a castle they were heaped high in air.Even the tree growths stopped at their base, and above them was anopening in the roof of tangled branches and leaves--a rough circle ofclear, blue sky.
"How about making camp?" Chet asked. "This place looks good to me. Iwould just as soon be up off the ground a bit."
Harkness looked at the pile of rocks; glanced once toward the sun."Right!" he agreed. "This will do for our first camp."
"You've named it," Chet told him as he scrambled to the top of a greatblock. He extended a hand to Diane, standing tired and breathless at itsside.
"Welcome to First Camp!" he told her. "Take this elevator for the firstten floors."
He drew her up to the top of the block. Harkness joined them, and Diane,though she tried to smile in response to Chet, did not refuse their helpin making the ascent; the day's experiences had told on all of them.
Thirty or forty feet above the ground was Chet's estimate. From the topof their little fort they watched the shadows of night sweep swiftlydown. Scrub tree growths whose roots had anchored among the rocks gavethem shelter, while vines and mosses softened the hard outlines of thelabyrinth of stones.
* * * * *
Chet undid the package of meat and passed it out freely. There had beenscurryings and rustlings in the jungle growth that had reassured him inthe matter of food. Darkness fell as they ate; then it gave way to a newflood of light.
Golden light from a monstrous moon! It sent searching fingers throughrifts in the leafy roof, then poured itself over the edge of the openingabove in a cascade of glory. And, though each one of the four raised hiseyes toward that distant globe and knew it for the Earth, no word wassaid; they ate their food in silence while the silent night wrapped themabout.
Still in silence they prepared for the night. Chet and Harknessimprovised a bed for Diane in the shelter of a sheer-rising rock. Theytore off pieces of moss and stripped leaves from the climbing vines tomake a mattress for her; then withdrew with Kreiss to a short distancewhile Chet told them of his suspicions.
"Six hours of night," he said at last; "that means two hours for each ofus. We'll take turns standing guard."
Harkness insisted upon being first. Chet flipped a coin with Kreiss anddrew the last turn of guard duty. He stretched himself out on a bit ofground where vegetation had gained a foothold among the rocks.
"It's going to take me a while to get used to these short days," hesaid. "Six hours of daylight; six hours of night. This is a funny,little world--but it's the only one we've got."
The night air was softly warm; the day had been hard on muscles andnerves. Chet stared toward the glorious ball of light that was theirmoon. There were men and women there who were going about their normalaffairs. Ships were roaring through the air at their appointed levels;their pilots were checking their courses, laughing, joking.
* * * * *
Chet resolutely withdrew his eyes. Think? Hell, no! That was one thingthat he must not do. He threw one arm across his eyes to shut out thelight that brought visions of a world he would never see again--thatemphasized the utter hopelessness of their position.... His nextconscious sensation was of his shoulder being shaken, while the hushedvoice of Doctor Kreiss said:
"Your turn now, Herr Bullard; four hours have you slept."
From Kreiss, Chet took the pistol with its seven precious shells. "Allquiet," Kreiss told him as he prepared to take Chet's place on the softleaves; "strange, flying things have I seen, but they do not come near.And of your mysterious pursuer we have seen nothing. You imagined it,perhaps."
"I might have imagined it," Chet answered, "but don't try to tell methat the plants did. I'll give this vegetation credit for some damneduncanny powers but not for imagination--I draw the line there."
He looked toward the highest point of rock and shook his head. "Tooplain a target if I'm up there," he argued, and took up his position inthe shadows instead.
Once he moved cautiously toward the place they had prepared for Diane.She was breathing softly and regularly. And on the rock at her side,with only his jacket for a bed, lay Harkness. Their hands were clasped,and Chet knew that the girl slept peacefully in the assurance of thattouch.
"They don't make 'em any finer!" he was telling himself, and at the samemoment he stiffened abruptly to attention.
Something was moving! Through and above the hushed noises of the nighthad come a gliding sound. It was an indescribable sound, too elusive foridentification; and Chet, in the next instant, could not be sure of itsreality. He did not call, but swung alertly back on guard and slippedfrom shadow to shadow as he made his way across the welter of rocks.
* * * * *
He stopped at last in strained listening to the silent night. One handupon a great stone block at his side steadied his body in tense, poisedconcentration.
From afar came a whistling note whose thin keenness was mingled with asqueal of fright: some marauder of the night had found its prey. Fromthe leafy canopy above him voices whispered as the night wind set amyriad leaves in motion. The thousand tiny sounds that blend to make thesilence of the dark! These he heard, and nothing more, while he forcedhimself to listen beyond them. He followed with his eyes the creepi
ngflood of Earth-light that came slantingly now through the opening aboveto half-illumine this rocky world; and then, in the far margin of thatlight he found something on which his eyes focused sharply--somethingthat moved!
Walt!--Kreiss--he must arouse them! A shout of alarm was in histhroat--a shout that was never uttered. For, from the darkness at hisback--not where this moving thing had been disclosed by the friendlyEarth-light, but from the place he had just left--came a scream of pureterror. It was the shocking scream of a person roused from sleep inutter fright, and the voice was that of Diane.
"Walter!" she cried! "Walt!" There were other words that ended in astrangling, choking sound, while a hoarse shout from Harkness mergedinto a discord that rang horribly through the still night.
* * * * *
Chet was racing across the rocks; the pistol was in his hand. Whatfearful thing would he face? What was it that had attacked? He forcedhis leaden feet to carry him on in a succession of wild leaps. Forgottenwas the menace behind him, although he half saw, half sensed, a shadowthat moved faster than he along the upper rocks. He thought only of theunknown horror that was ahead, that had drawn that despairing shriekfrom the brave lips of Diane. The few seconds of his crossing were anage in length.
One last spring, one vivid instant while the Earth-light marked in sharpdistinctness the figure of a leaping man! It was Harkness, throwinghimself into the air, trying vainly to reach the struggling form ofDiane Delacouer. She was held high above his head, and she was wrappedin the coils of a monster serpent--coils that finished in asmoothly-rounded end. And Chet knew in that instant of horror that thething was headless!
He was raising his pistol to fire; the long moments that seemed never toend were in actuality an instant. Where should he aim? He must notinjure Diane.
From the high rocks beside him came a glint of light, a straight line ofreflected brilliance as from a poised and slender shaft. It moved, itflashed downward, it hissed angrily as it passed close to Chet's head.It went on, a spear like a flash of light--on and down, to drive sharplyinto the body of that serpent shape! And the coils, at that blow,relaxed, while the figure of Diane Delacouer fell limply to theoutstretched, cushioning arms of the man below....
* * * * *
Had the weapon been thrown with uncanny accuracy, or had it been meantfor him? Chet could not be sure. But he knew that before him WaltHarkness was bending protectingly above the unconscious figure of agirl, while above and about the two there flailed a terrible, headlessthing that beat the rocks with sledge-hammer blows. It struck Harknessonce and sent him staggering, and once it came close to Chet so that hishands closed upon it for an instant. And with the touch he knew thatthis serpent was no animal shape, but worse--a creeping tendril fromsome flesh-eating horror of the vegetable world.
He dashed in beside Walt; he saw Kreiss hurrying across the rocks. Theyhad Diane safely out of reach of the threshing, striking thing beforethe scientist arrived.
The spear that had passed close to Chet had pinned this deadly thing toearth; it tore loose as they watched, and the wounded tendril, with thespear still hanging from its side, slid swiftly down the slope and intothe darkness at the foot of the rocks.
Even the calm preciseness of Herr Kreiss was shattered by the attack. Ina confusion of words he stammered questions that went unanswered. Chetthrust his pistol into Harkness' hands and was off down the rocky slopetoward the springs where they had got water for their evening meal. Arolled leaf made a cup that he held carefully while he climbed back. Afew minutes later the pallid face of Diane showed a faint flush, whileshe drew a choking breath.
* * * * *
Harkness held the girl's head in his arms; he was uttering words ofendearment that were mingled with vicious curses for the thing that hadescaped.
"Never mind that," argued Chet; "that one won't bother us again, andafter this we will be on guard. But here is something to wonder about.What about this spear? Where did it come from?"
Harkness had eyes only for Diane's tremulous smile. "I am all right,truly," she assured him. Only then did he turn in bewilderment to Chet.
"I thought you threw it! But of course not; you couldn't; we didn't haveany spears."
"No," said Chet; "I didn't throw it. I saw something moving over acrossthere"--he pointed toward the farther rocks where he had been--"I wasgoing to call when Diane's scream beat me to it. But what I saw wasn'tthe thing that attacked her. And if it was the same one who threw thatspear he must have come across here in a hurry. And that spear, by theway, came uncomfortably close to my head. I'm not at all sure but it wasmeant for me."
Harkness released his arms from Diane, for she was now able to siterect. He picked up the crude bow that had been beside him and fitted anarrow to the string.
"I'll go and have a look," he promised grimly. But Chet held him back.
"You're not thinking straight; this shock has knocked you out ofcontrol. If that little stranger with the spear meant to help us there'sno need of hunting him out; he doesn't seem anxious to show himself. Andif he meant it for me, he's still too good a shot to fool with in thedark. You stick here until daylight."
"That is good advice," Herr Kreiss agreed. "The night, it will soon begone." He was looking at the leafy opening overhead where the goldenlight of a distant Earth was fading before the glow of approaching day.