CHAPTER XVII
THE DISTANT MENACE
Stern never knew when he, too, drifted off to sleep; but heawoke to find Zangamon sitting beside him, with his cloak drawn overhis head, while Beatrice and Bremilu still slept.
"The light, master--it is like knives to me! Like spears to my eyes,master! I cannot bear it!" whispered the Merucaan, pointing to where,around the interstices of the doorway, bright white gleams werestreaming in.
Allan considered with perplexity.
"It hurts, you say?"
"Yes, Kromno! Once or twice I have tried to watch that strange fire,but I cannot. The pain is very great!"
"Humph!" thought Allan. "This may be a more serious factor than I'vereckoned on. These people are albinos. White hair and pink eyes--not aparticle of protecting pigmentation. For thirty or so generationsthey've been subjected to nothing but torchlight. The actinic rays ofthe sun are infinitely more penetrating than anything they've everknown. It may take months, years even, to accustom them to sunlight!"
And disquieting situations presented themselves to his mind. True, ifit were necessary, the Folk could work and take the air only at night.
They could fish, hunt and till the soil by star and moonlight, andsleep by day; but this was by no means the veritable reestablishmentof a real, human civilization.
Then an idea struck him.
"The very thing!" cried he. "Once I can put it into effect, it willsolve the question. And the second generation, at the outside, will benormal. They'll 'throw back' to remote ancestry under changedconditions. In time, even if only a long time, all will yet be well!"
But now immediate labors and difficult problems were pressing. Thefuture would have to look out for itself.
Stern felt positive that to let the Merucaans out of the cave wouldnot only blind them, but might also kill them outright as well.
Their unprotected skins would inevitably burn to a blister under therays of the sun, and they would in all probability die. So said he:
"Listen, Zangamon! You must stay here till the dark comes again, whichwill not be very long. The woman and I will prepare another cave foryour dwelling. When it is dark you can fish in the flowing waterbeneath. In the mean time we will bring you your accustomed food andyour nets from the flying boat.
"You must be patient. In a short time all things shall be as you wish,and you shall see the wonderful and beautiful world up into which Ihave brought you!"
The man nodded, yet Stern clearly saw his face betrayed uneasiness,distrust and pain. In all fairness, the Merucaans' first experience ofthe upper world had been enough to shake the faith even of aphilosopher--how much more so that of simple and untaught barbarians!
Terror, violence, slaughter and insecurity--these all had greeted thecolonists; and now, in addition, they found the patriarch was dead.Above all, they were virtually prisoners in this gloomy cavern of therock.
But Stern was very wise. He by no means thought of commiserating orexcusing. His only course was to make light of trials and hardships,and, if need were, to command.
He arose, carefully stopped up the chinks around the rock at thedoorway, and bade Zangamon replenish the fire with dry sticks. Then,Bremilu awakening, they prepared food.
Now Beatrice, too, awoke. Allan took her in his arms, unmindful of thenewcomers, and there were words of love and joy, and self-reproaches,and a new faith plighted between them once again.
She was unharmed, except for a few bruises and scratches. Her nerveshad already recovered something of their usual strength. But at sightof Allan's bandaged arni she turned pale, and not even his assurancescould comfort her.
They talked of the terrible adventure.
"It was all my fault, Allan--every bit my fault!" she exclaimedremorsefully. "It all came from my not obeying orders. You see, I wasexpecting you last night. Instead of staying in the cave, with thedoor barricaded, I lingered on the terrace, after having piled thesignal-fire high with wood.
"I sat down and watched the sky, and listened to the river down below,and thought of you. I must have dozed a little, for all of a sudden Icame wide-awake, shuddering with a terror I couldn't understand. ThenI heard something moving down the path--something that grunted andsnuffled savagely.
"I started up, ran for the cave, and just got inside when the brutereached it. I rolled the stone in place, Allan, but before I couldbrace it with the pole it was hurled back, and in crawled the gorilla,roaring and snapping like a demon!"
She hid her face in both hands, shuddering at the terrible memory.But, forcing herself to be calm, she went on again:
"I snatched up the pistol and fired. Then--"
"You hit him?"
"I must have, for he screeched most horribly and pawed at hisbreast--"
"So, then, that explains the blood-marks on the floor and the greathand-print on the wall?"
"Hand-print? Was there one?"
"Yes; but no matter now. Go on!"
"After that--oh, it was too ghastly! He seized me and I fought--Istruggled against that huge, hairy chest; he gripped me like iron. Myblows were no more than so many pats to him.
"I tried to fire again, but he wrenched the pistol away, and bent itin his huge teeth and flung it down. But, though he was raging, hedidn't wound me--didn't try to kill me, or anything. He seemed to wantto capture me alive--"
Allan shuddered. Only too well he understood. Gorilla nature had notchanged in fifteen hundred years.
"After that?" he questioned eagerly.
"Oh, after that I don't remember much. I must have fainted. Next thingI knew, everything was dark and the forest was all about. I screamedand then again I knew nothing. Once more I seemed to sense things, andonce more all grew black. And after that--"
"Well?"
"Why--I was here on the bed, and you were beside me, Allan--and thesemen of our Folk were here! But how it all happened, God knows!"
"I'll tell you some time. You shall have the story from our side someday, but not now. Only one thing--if it hadn't been for Zangamon hereand Bremilu--well--"
"You mean they helped rescue me?"
He nodded.
"Without them I'd have been helpless as a child. They traced you inthe dark, for they could see as plainly as we see by day. It was ablow from Bremilu's stone ax that killed the brute. _They_ saved you,Beatrice! Not I!"
She kept a little silence, then said thoughtfully:
"How can I ever thank them, Allan? How can I thank them best?"
"You can't thank them. There's no way. I tried it, but they didn'tunderstand. They only did what seemed natural to them. They'resavages, remember; not civilized men. It's impossible to thank them!The only thing you can do, or I can do, is work for them now. Thegreatest efforts and sacrifices for these men will be small paymentfor their deed. And if--as I believe--the whole race is dowered withthe same spirit and indomitable courage--the courage we certainly didsee in the Battle of the Wall--then we need have no fear of ourtransplanted nation dying out!"
Much more there might have been to say, but now the meal was ready,and hunger spoke in no uncertain tones. All four of the adventurersate in silence, thoughtful and grave, cross-legged, about the meat anddrink, which lay on palm-leaves or in clay bowls hard-burned and red.
A kind of embarrassment seemed to rest on all, for this was the firsttime they had eaten together--these barbarians with the two folk ofthe upper world.
But the meal was soon at an end, and the prospect of labors to beundertaken cheered Allan's spirit. Despite his stiff and painful arm,he felt courage and energy throbbing in his veins, and longed to be atwork.
"The very first thing we must do," said he, "is fix up a place for ourguests. They've got to stay here, out of the light, till nightfall.That will give us plenty of time. I want to get them settled in theirown quarters, and bring them into some regular routine of life andlabor, before they have a chance to get homesick and dejected."
He warned the Merucaans to cover their heads with their cloaks w
hileBeatrice and he opened the doorway.
He closed it then, with other rocks outside, and covered it with hisown outer cloak; then, wearing only his belted tunic, he rejoinedBeatrice half-way up the path to the cliff-top. Both were armed; hewith his own automatic, she with the one they had found in the crypt.
"Our first move," said he, "will be to transport the various thingsfrom the aeroplane. It will be something of a task, but I don't dareleave them out there on the barrens till night, when the menthemselves could bring them in. The sooner we get things to rights thebetter."
She agreed, and together they took the path toward the landing-place,which they had christened Newport Heights. Stern felt grateful thathis right arm, his gun arm, was uninjured. The other mattered littlefor the present.
An idea crossed his mind to seek out the dead gorilla and make atrophy of the pelt; but he dismissed it at once. The beast was sorepellent that the very thought of it fair sickened him.
They reached the plane in some few minutes, found everythinguninjured, and loaded themselves with the Merucaans' goods andchattels. Stern took the bags of edible seaweed and the metal crate offowl; she draped the big net over her shoulders, and together, notwithout difficulty, they returned to Settlement Cliffs.
Pass, now, all the minute details of the installation. By noon theyhad prepared a habitation for the newcomers, deep in a far recess of awinding gallery which thoroughly excluded all direct sunlight.
Only the dimmest glow penetrated even at high noon. Here they stowedthe freight, built a rock fireplace, and threw down quantities of thelong, fragrant grass for bedding.
They returned to their own cave, bade the colonists once more covertheir heads, and entered, carefully closing the doorway after them.All four dined together, in true Merucaan style, on the familiar foodof the Abyss. The colonists seemed a little more reassured, but talklanguished none the less.
The afternoon was spent in preparing a second cave; for, in spite ofall the girl's entreaties, Allan was determined to make another visitto the village of the Lost Folk as soon as his arm should permit.
"Nothing can happen this time, dear girl," he assured her as they satresting by the mouth of the newly prepared dwelling. "You'll have twoabsolutely faithful and efficient guards always within call by night.By day you can barricade yourself with them, if there's any sign ofdanger."
"I know, Allan, but--"
"There's no other way! Our work is just begun!"
She nodded silently, then said in a low tone:
"Yours the labor; mine the waiting, the watching, and the fear!"
"The fear? Since when have you grown timid?"
"Only for you, Allan! Only for you! Suppose, some time, you should notcome back!"
He laughed.
"We thrashed that all out the first time. It's old straw, Beta. My endof the task is getting these people here. Yours is waiting,watching--and being strong!"
Her hand tightened on his, and for a little while they sat quite stilland without speech, watching the day draw to its close.
Far below, New Hope River chattered its incessant gossip to the vexingboulders. Above, in the sky, lazy June clouds, wool-white, drifted towestward, as though seeking the glory that there promised to transmutethem into gold and crimson.
A pleasant wind swayed the forest, wherein the scarlet birds flittedlike flashes of flame. The beauty of the outlook thrilled theirhearts, leaving no room for words.
But suddenly Allan's eyes narrowed, and with a singular hardening ofexpression, a tightening of the jaw, he peered away at the dim,haze-shrouded line of far horizon to northeastward.
He cast a sidelong glance at Beatrice. She had noticed nothing.
One moment he made as though to speak, then repressed the words, andonce more gazed at the horizon.
There, so vague as almost to leave a doubt in mind, yet, after all,only too terribly real, his keen sight had detected something whichcaused his heart to throb the quicker and his eye to gleam with hate.
For, at the very rim of the world, dim, pale, ominous, three tinythreads of smoke were hanging in the evening air.