CHAPTER XIX
"_One for Each of Us_"
For men who had come from a world where wars and warfare were things ofthe past, Chet, and Harkness had done effective work in preparing adefense. The knoll made a height of land that any military man wouldhave chosen to defend, and the top of the gentle slope was protected bythe barricade.
On each side of the inverted U that ended at the water's edge an openinghad been left, where they passed in and out. But even here the wall hadbeen doubled and carried past itself: no place was left for an easyassault, and on the open end the water was their protection.
Within the barricade, at about the center, the top of the knoll showedan outcrop of rocks that rose high enough to be exposed to fire fromoutside, but their little shelters were on nearly level ground at thebase of the rocks. The whole enclosure was some thirty feet in width andperhaps a hundred feet long. Plenty to protect in case of an attack, asChet had remarked, but it could not have been much smaller and have doneits work effectively.
There was no one of the four white persons but gave unspoken thanks forthe barricade of sharp stakes, and even Towahg, although his fangs werebared in an animal snarl at the sound of Schwartzmann's voice, must havebeen glad to keep his bruised body out of sight behind the shelteringwall.
No one of them replied to Schwartzmann's taunt. Harkness wrinkled hiseyes to stare through the bright sunlight and see the pistol in theman's belt.
"He still has it," he said, half to himself: "he's got the gun. I wasrather hoping something might have happened to it. Just one gun; but hehas plenty of ammunition--"
"And we haven't--" It was Chet, now, who seemed thinking aloud. "But, Iwonder--can we bluff him a bit?"
* * * * *
He dropped behind the barricade and crawled into one of the huts to comeout with three extra pistols clutched in his hand. Empty, of course, butthey had brought them with them with some faint hope that some day theship might be reached and ammunition secured. Chet handed one to Dianeand another to Kreiss; the third weapon he stuck in his own belt whereit would show plainly. Harkness was already armed.
"Now let's get up where they can see us," was Chet's answer to theirwondering looks; "let's show off our armament. How can he know how muchammunition we have left? For that matter, he may be getting a littleshort of shells himself, and he won't know that his solitary pistol isthe thing we are most afraid of."
"Good," Harkness agreed; "we will play a little good old-fashioned pokerwith the gentleman, but don't overdo it, just casually let him see theguns."
Schwartzmann, far across the open ground, must have seen them as plainlyas they saw him as they climbed the little hummock of rocks. He couldnot fail to note the pistols in the men's belts, nor overlook thesignificance of the weapon that gleamed brightly in the pilot's hand.Chet saw him return his pistol to his belt as he backed slowly into theshadows, and he knew that Schwartzmann had no wish for an exchange ofshots, even at long range, with so many guns against him. But from theirslight elevation he saw something else.
The grass was trampled flat all about their enclosure, but, beyond, itstood half the height of a man; it was a sea of rippling green where thelight wind brushed across it. And throughout that sea that intervenedbetween them and the jungle Chet saw other ripples forming, littlequiverings of shaken stalks that came here and there until the wholeexpanse seemed trembling.
"Down--and get ready for trouble!" he ordered crisply, then added as hesprang for his own long bow: "Their commanding officer doesn't want tomix it with us--not just yet--but the rest are coming, and there's amillion of them, it looks like."
* * * * *
The apes broke cover with all the suddenness of a covey of quail, butthey charged like wild, hungry beasts that have sighted prey. Only thelong spears in their bunchy fists and the shorter throwing spears thatcame through the air marked them as primitive men.
The standing grass at the end of the clearing beyond their barricade wasabruptly black with naked bodies. To Chet, that charging horde was aformless dark wave that came rolling up toward them; then, as suddenlyas the black wave had appeared, it ceased to be a mere mass and Chet sawindividual units. A black-haired one was springing in advance. The manbehind the barricade heard the twang of his bow as if it were a soundfrom afar off; but he saw the arrow projecting from a barrel-shapedchest, and the ape-man tottering over.
He loosed his arrows as rapidly as he could draw the bow; he knew thatothers were shooting too. Where naked feet were stumbling over prostratebodies the black wave broke in confusion and came on unsteadily into thehail of winged barbs.
But the wave rushed on and up to the barricade in a scattering ofshrieking, leaping ape-man, and Chet spared a second for unspoken thanksfor the height of the barrier. A full six feet it stood from the ground,and the ends that had been burned, then pointed with a crude ax, wereaimed outward. Inside the enclosure Chet had wanted to throw up a benchor mound of earth on which they could stand to fire above the highbarrier, but lack of tools had prevented them. Instead they had laidcribbing of short poles at intervals and on each of these had built aplatform of branches.
* * * * *
Close to the barricade of poles and vines, these platforms enabled thedefenders to shield themselves from thrown spears and rise as theywished to fire out and down into the mob. But with the rush of a scoreor more of the man-beasts to the barricade itself, Chet suddenly knewthat they were vulnerable to an attack with long lances.
A leaping body was hanging on the barrier; huge hands tore and clawed atthe inner side for a grip. From the platform where Diane stood came anarrow at the same instant Chet shot. One matched the other for accuracy,and the clawing figure fell limply from sight. But there wereothers--and a lance tipped with the jagged fin, needle-sharp, of apoison fish was thrusting wickedly toward Diane.
This time Harkness' arrow did the work, but Chet ordered a retreat.Above the pandemonium of snarling growls, he shouted.
"Back to the rocks, Walt," he ordered; "you and Diane! Quick! The restof us will hold 'em till you are ready. Then you keep 'em off until wecome!" And the two obeyed the cool, crisp voice that was interruptedonly when its owner, with the others, had to duck quickly to avoid abarrage of spears.
* * * * *
Kreiss was wounded. Chet found him dropped beside his firing platformworking methodically to extract the broad blade of a spear from hisshoulder where it was embedded.
Chet's first thought was of poison, and he shouted for Towahg. But thesavage only looked once at the spear, seized it and with one quick jerkdrew the weapon from the wound; then, when the blood flowed freely, hemotioned to Chet that the man was all right.
The savage wadded a handful of leaves into a ball and pressed it againstthe wound, and Chet improvised a first-aid bandage from Kreiss' raggedblouse before they put him from sight in one of the shelters and ran torejoin Harkness and Diane on the rocks.
But the first wave was spent. There were no more snarling, white-toothedfaces above the barricade, and in the open space beyond were shamblingforms that hid themselves in the long grass while others draggedthemselves to the same concealment or lay limply inert on the open,sunlit ground.
And within the enclosure one solitary ape-man forgot his bruised bodywhile he stamped up and down or whirled absurdly in a dance thatexpressed his joy in victory.
"Better come down," said Chet. "Schwartzmann might take a shot at you,although I think we are out of pistol range. We're lucky that isn't aservice gun he's got, but come down anyway, and we'll see what's next.This time we've had the breaks, but there's more coming. Schwartzmannisn't through."
But Schwartzmann was through for the day; Chet was mistaken in expectinga second assault so soon. He posted Towahg as sentry, and, with Dianeand Harkness, threw himself before the door-flap of the shelter whereKreiss had been hidden, and was now sitting up, his arm in a sling
.
"Either you're a 'mighty hard man to kill,'" he told Kreiss, "or elseTowahg is a powerful medicine man."
"I am still in the fight," the scientist assured him. "I can't do anymore work with bow and arrow, but I can keep the rest of you supplied."
"We'll need you," Chet assured him grimly.
* * * * *
They ate in silence as the afternoon drew on toward evening.
Back by their little fire, with Towahg on guard, Chet shot anappreciative glance at a white disk in the southern sky. "Still gettingthe breaks," he exulted. "The moon is up; it will give us some lightafter sunset, and later the Earth will rise and light things up aroundhere in good shape."
That white disk turned golden as the sun vanished where mountainousclouds loomed blackly far across the jungle-clad hills. Then the quicknight blanketed everything, and the golden moon made black the fringe offorest trees while it sent long lines of light through their waving,sinuous branches, to cast moving shadows that seemed strangely alive onthe open ground. Muffled by the jungle-sea that absorbed the soundwaves, faint grumblings came to them, and at a quiver of light in theblackness where the clouds had been, Harkness turned to Chet.
"We had all better get on the job," Chet was saying, as he took his bowand a supply of arrows, "we've got our work cut out for us to-night."
And Harkness nodded grimly as the flickering lightning played fitfullyover far-distant trees. "We crowed a bit too soon," he told Chet;"there's a big storm coming, and that's a break for Schwartzmann. Nolight from either moon or Earth to-night."
The moon-disk, as he spoke, lost its first clear brilliance in the hazeof the expanding clouds.
"Watch sharp, Towahg!" Chet ordered. And, to the others: "Get this firemoved away from the huts--here. I'll do that, Walt. You bring a supplyof wood; some of those dried leaves, too. We'll build a big fire, wehave to depend on that for light."
* * * * *
With the skeleton of a huge palm leaf he raked the fire out into an openspace; they had plenty of fuel and they fed the blaze until its mountingflames lighted the entire enclosure. But outside the barricade were darkshadows, and Chet saw that this light would only make targets of thedefenders, while the attackers could creep up in safety.
"'Way up," he ordered; "we've got to have the fire on the top of therocks." He clambered to the topmost level of the rocky outcrop anddragged a blazing stick with him. Harkness handed him more; and now thelight struck down and over the stockade and illumined the groundoutside.
"Here's your job, Kreiss," said Chet, "if you're equal to it. You keepthat fire going and have a pile of dried husks handy if I call for abright blaze.
"We've got to defend the whole works," he explained. "That bunch todaytried to jump us just from one side, but trust Schwartzmann to dividehis force and hit us from all sides next time.
"But we'll hold the fort," he said and he forced a confidence into hisvoice that his inner thoughts did not warrant. To Harkness he whisperedwhen Diane was away: "Six shells in the gun, Walt; we won't waste themon the apes. There's one for each of us including Towahg, and one extrain case you miss. We'll fight as long as we are able; then it's up toyou to shoot quick and straight."
But Walt Harkness felt for the pistol in his belt and handed it to Chet."I couldn't," he said, and his voice was harsh and strained, "--notDiane; you'll have to, Chet." And Chet Bullard dropped his own uselesspistol to the ground while he slipped the other into its holster on thebelt that bound his ragged clothes about him, but he said nothing. Hewas facing a situation where words were hardly adequate to express thesurging emotion within.
* * * * *
Diane had returned when he addressed Walt casually. "Wonder why thebeggars didn't attack again," he pondered. "Why has Schwartzmann waited;why hasn't he or one of his men crept up in the grass for a shot at us?He's got some deviltry brewing."
"Waiting for night," hazarded Walt. He looked up to see Kreiss who hadjoined them.
"If Towahg could tend the fire," suggested the scientist, "I could firemy little catapult with one hand. I think I could do some damage." ButChet shook his head and answered gently:
"I'm afraid Towahg's the better man to-night, Kreiss. You can help bestby giving us light. That's the province of science, you know," he added,and grinned up at the anxious man.
Each moment of this companionship meant much to Chet. It was the lastconference, he knew. They would be swamped, overwhelmed, and then--onlythe pistol with its six shells was left. But he drew his thoughts backto the peaceful quiet of the present moment, though the hush was ominouswith the threat of the approaching storm and of the other assault thatmust come in the storm's concealing darkness. He looked at Diane andWalt--comrades true and tender. The leaping flames from the rocks abovemade flickering shadows on their upturned faces.
* * * * *
The moment ended. A growl from where Towahg was on guard brought themscrambling to their feet. "Gr-r-ranga!" Towahg was warning. "Grangacome!"
They fired from their platforms as before, then raced for the rocks andthe elevation they afforded, for the black bodies had reached thestockade quickly in the half light. But they came again from onepoint--the farthest curve of the U-shaped fence this time--and though ascore of black animal faces showed staring eyes and snarling fangs whereheavy bodies were drawn up on the barricade, no one of them reached theinside.
"We're holding them!" Chet was shouting. But the easy victory was toogood to believe; he knew there were more to come; this force of somethirty or forty was not all that Schwartzmann could throw into thefight. And Schwartzmann, himself! Chet had seen the bronzed faces of Maxand another standing back of the assaulting force, but where wasSchwartzmann?
It was Kreiss who answered the insistent question. From above on therocks, where he had kept the fire blazing, Kreiss was calling in ahigh-pitched voice.
"The water!" he shouted, "they're attacking from the water!" And Chetrushed around the broken rock-heap to see a lake like an inky pool,where the firelight showed faint reflections from black, shining faces;where rippling lines of phosphorescence marked each swimming savage; andwhere larger waves of ghostly light came from a log raft on which was afamiliar figure whose face, through its black beard, showed white incontrast with the faces of his companions.
* * * * *
Still a hundred feet from the shore, they were approaching steadily,inexorably; and the storm, at that instant, broke with a ripping flashof light that tore the heavens apart, and that seared the picture of theattackers upon the eyeballs of the man who stared down.
From behind him came sounds of a renewed attack. He heard Harkness:"Shoot, Diane! Nail 'em, Towahg! There's a hundred of them!" And thewind that came with the lightning flash, though it brought no rain,whipped the black water of the lake to waves that drove the raft and theswimming savages closer--closer--
Chet glanced above him. "Come down, Kreiss!" he ordered. "Get down here,quick! This is the finish. We could have licked them on land, but theseothers will get us." He stood, dumb with amazement, as he saw the thinfigure of Kreiss leap excitedly from his rocky perch and vanish like aterrified rabbit into the cave in the rocks.
"I didn't think--" he was telling himself in wondering disbelief at thiscowardice, when Kreiss reappeared. His one hand was white with a rubberycoating that Chet vaguely knew for latex. He was holding a gray, earthymass, and he threw himself forward to the catapult where it stood idlyerect in the wind that beat and whipped at it.
"Help me!" It was Kreiss who ordered, and once more he spoke as if hewere conducting only an interesting experiment. "Pull here! Bendit--bend it! Now hold steady; this is metallic sodium, a deposit I founddeep in the earth."
The gray mass was in the crude bucket of the machine. Kreiss' knife wasready. He slashed at the vine that he'd the bent sapling, and a graymass whirled out into the dark; out
and down--and the inky waters werein that instant ablaze with fire.
_The inky waters were ablaze with fire._]
Fire that threw itself in flaming balls; that broke into many parts andeach part, like a living thing, darted crazily about; that leaped intothe air to fall again among ape-men who screamed frenziedly in animalterror.
* * * * *
"It unites with water," Kreiss was saying: "a spontaneous liberation andignition of hydrogen." The white-coated hand had dumped another massinto the primitive engine of war. "Now pull--so--and I cut it!" And theleaping, flashing fires tore furiously in redoubled madness where ashrieking mob of terrified beasts, and one white man among them, droveashore beyond the end of a barricade.
Chet felt Harkness beside him. "We drove 'em off in back. What the devilis going on here?" Walt was demanding. But Chet was watching the retreatof the blacks straight off and down the shore where the sand was smoothand neither grass nor trees could hinder their wild flight.
"You've got them licked," Harkness was exulting: "and we've cleaned themup on our side. Just came over to see if you needed help."
"We sure would have," said Chet; "more than you could give if it hadn'tbeen for Kreiss."
"We've got 'em licked!" Harkness repeated wonderingly; "we've won!" Itwas too much to grasp all at once. The victory had been so quick, and hehad already given up hope.
The two had clasped hands; they stood so for silent minutes. Chet hadbeen nerved to the point of destroying his companions and himself; therevulsion of feeling that victory brought was more stupefying than thethreat of impending defeat.
* * * * *
Staring out over the black waters, he knew only vaguely when Harknessleft; a moment later he followed him gropingly around the jagged rocks,while there came to him, blurred by his own mental numbness, a shoutedcall.... But a moment elapsed before he was aroused, before he knew itfor Walt's voice. He recognized the agonized tone and sprang forwardinto the clearing.
The fire still blazed on the rocky platform above; its uncertain lightreached the figure of a running man who was making madly for the openingin the wall. As he ran he screamed over and over, in a voice hoarse andhorrible like one seized in the fright of a fearful dream: "Diane!Diane, wait! For God's sake, Diane, don't go!"
And the driven clouds were torn apart for a space to let through a cleargolden light. The great lantern of Earth was flashing down through spaceto light a grassy opening in a jungle of another world, where, stark andrigid, a girl was walking toward the shadow-world beyond, while beforeher went a black shape, huge and powerful, in whose head were eyes likeburning lights, and whose arms were rigidly extended as if to draw thestricken girl on and on.
The running figure overtook them. Chet saw him checked in mid-spring,and Harkness, too, stood rigid as if carved from stone, then followed asdid Diane, where the ape-thing led.... From the far side of theclearing, where Schwartzmann's men had gone, came a great shout oflaughter that jarred Chet from the stupor that bound him.
"The messenger!" he said aloud. "God help them; it's the messenger--andhe's taking them to the pyramid!"
Then the torn clouds closed that the greater darkness might cover thosewho vanished in the shadowed fringe of a stormy, wind-whipped jungle....