CHAPTER XI
_The Sacrificial Altar_
"I am off the trail," Harkness admitted. "Towahg guided me before; Iwish he were here to do it now."
They had pushed on for another short day, Harkness leading, and Chetbringing up the rear and casting frequent backward glances in a vaineffort to catch a glimpse of some other moving figure.
Smothered at times in a dense tangle of vegetation, where they sweatedand worked with aching muscles to tear a path; watching always for theflaming, crimson buds on grotesque trees, whose limbs were waving,undulating arms and from which came tendrils like the one that hadnearly ended Diane's life, they fought their way on.
They had seen the buds on that earlier trip; had seen the revoltingbeauty of them--the fleshy lips that opened above a pool of death intowhich those reaching arms would drop any living thing they touched. Theykept well out of reach when a splash of crimson against the white treesflashed in warning.
Again they would traverse an open space, where outcropping rocks wouldsend Kreiss into transports of delight over their rich mineral contents.But always their leader's eyes were turned toward a range of hills.
"It is beyond there," he assured them, "if only we can reach it."Harkness pointed to a scar on a mountainside where a crystal outcrop ina sheer face of rock sparkled brilliantly in the sunlight. "I rememberthat--it isn't so very far--and we can look back down the valley fromthere and see our ship."
"But we'll never make it to-night," said Chet; "it's a case of makingcamp again."
They had gained an altitude of perhaps a thousand feet. No longer didthe jungle press so hard upon them. Even the single file that had beentheir manner of marching could be abandoned, and Harkness drew Diane tohis side that he might lend her some of his own strength.
Again the soft contours of the rolling ground had been disturbed: alandslide in some other century had sent a torrent of boulders from thehigh slopes above. Harkness threaded his way among great masses ofgranite to come at last to an opening where massive monoliths formed agateway.
* * * * *
It was an entrance to another valley. They did not need to enter, forthey could skirt it and continue toward the high pass in the hills. Butthe gateway seemed inviting. Harkness took Diane's hand to help hertoward it; the others followed.
The fast sinking sun had buried itself behind a distant range, and longshadows swept swiftly across the world, as if the oncoming night werealive--as if it were rousing from the somnolence of its daytime sleepand reaching out with black and clutching hands toward a fearful,waiting world.
"No twilight here," Chet observed; "let's find a hide-out--a cave, bychoice--where we can guard the entrance and--"
A gasp from Diane checked him. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "It is not real!_C'est impossible!_"
Chet had been busied with the matter of a secure footing; he looked upnow and took a step forward where Harkness and Diane stood motionless ina gateway of stone. And he, too, stopped as if stunned by the weirdbeauty of the scene.
A valley. Its length reached out before them to end some half mile away.Sides that might once have sloped evenly seemed weathered to a series ofgreat steps, and an alternation of striations in black and white made abanding that encircled the entire oval. Each step was dead-black stone,each riser was snow-white marble; and the steps mounted up and up untilthey resembled the sides of a great bowl. In the center, like an altarfor the worship of some wild, gargantuan god, was a stepped pyramid ofthe same startling black and white. Banded like the walls, it rose tohalf their height to finish in a capstone cut square and true.
An altar, perhaps; an arena, beyond a doubt, or so it seemed to Chet. Hewas first to put the impression in words.
"A stadium!" he marvelled; "an arena for the games of the gods!"
"The gods," Diane breathed softly, "of a wild, lost world--" But Chetheld to another thought.
"Who--who built it?" he asked. "It's tremendous! There is nothing likeit on Earth!"
* * * * *
Only Kreiss seemed oblivious to the weird beauty of the spectacle. ToProfessor Kreiss dolomite and black flint rock were dolomite and blackflint; interesting specimens--a peculiar arrangement--but nature must bepermitted her little vagaries.
"Who built it?" He repeated Chet's question and gave a short laughbefore answering in words. "The rains, Herr Bullard, and the winds ofages past. Yes, yes! A most remarkable example of erosion--mostremarkable! I must return this way some time and give it my seriousattention."
Harkness had not spoken; he was shaking his head doubtfully at Kreiss'words. "I am inclined to agree with Chet," he said slowly. "But whocould have built a gigantic work like this? Have there been formercivilisations here?"
He straightened up and shook himself free from the effects of the wild,barbaric scene.
"And you needn't come back," he told Kreiss; "you can have a look now,to-night, by moonlight. We can't go on. I think we'll be safest on thatbig altar rock; nothing will get near us without our knowing."
Chet felt Diane Delacouer's hand on his arm; her other hand was grippingat Harkness. The shiver that passed through her was plainly perceptible."I'm afraid," she confessed in a half-whisper; "there's something aboutit: I do not like it. There is evil there--danger. We should not enter."
Walt Harkness gently patted the hand that trembled on his arm. "I don'twonder that you are all shot to pieces," he assured her. "After lastnight, you've a right to be. But I really believe this is the safestspot we can find."
* * * * *
He stepped forward beyond the great stones that were like a gateway fromone wildly impossible world to another. A rock slide, it seemed, hadsmoothed off the great steps from where they stood, for there was adescending slope that gave easy footing. He took one step, and thenanother, to show the girl how foolish were her fears; then he startedback. In the fading light something had flashed from the jungle they hadleft. Across the rocky expanse it came, to bury itself in the loose soiland rubble, not two paces in advance of the startled man. An arrow!--andit stood quivering in silent warning on the path ahead.
Chet quietly unslung his bow where he had looped it over one shoulder,but Harkness motioned him back. The pistol was in his hand, but after amoment's hesitation he returned that to his belt. His voice was low andtense.
"Listen," he said: "we're no match for them with our bows. They arehidden; they could pick us off as we came. And I can't waste a singledetonite shell on them while they keep out of sight. We can't go back;we must go ahead. We will all make a break for it and run as fast as wecan toward the big altar--the pyramid. From there we can stand them offfor a while. And we will go now and take them by surprise."
He seized Diane firmly by one arm and steadied her as they dashed downthe slope. Chet and the professor were close behind. Each spine musthave tingled in anticipation of a shower of arrows. Chet threw one hastylook toward the rear; the air was clear; no slender shafts pursued them.But from the cover of the jungle growth came a peculiar sound, almostlike a human in distress--a call like a moaning cry.
* * * * *
They slackened their breath-taking pace and approached the great pyramidmore slowly. As they drew near, the great steps took on their real size;each block was taller even than Chet, and he had to reach above his headto touch the edge of the stone.
They walked quickly about; found a place where the great blocks werebroken down, where the slope was littered with debris from thedisintegrating stone that had sifted down from above. They could climbhere; it was almost like a crudely formed set of more normally sizedsteps. They made their way upward while Chet counted the courses ofstone. Six, then eight--ten--and here Harkness called a halt.
"This--will do," he gasped between labored breaths. "Safe enough here.Chet, you and Kreiss--spread out--watch from all--sides."
The pilot was not as badly winded as Harkness who bad been helpi
ngDiane. "Stay here," he told Harkness; "you too, Kreiss; make yourselvescomfortable. I will go on up to the top. The moon--or the Earth,rather--will be up pretty soon; I can keep watch in all directions fromup there. We've got to get some sleep; can't let whoever it is that istrailing us rob us of our rest or we'll soon be no good. I'll call youafter a while."
* * * * *
The great capstone projected beyond the blocks that supported it; thatmuch had been apparent from the ground. But Chet was amazed at the sizeof the monolith when he stood at last on the broad step over which thiscapstone projected like a roof.
The shadows were deep beneath, and Chet, knowing that he could neverdraw himself to the top of the great slab whose under side he couldbarely touch, knew also that he must watch from all sides. The shadowedfloor beneath the big stone made a shelter from any watchful eyes outthere in the night; here would be his beat as sentry. He walked slowlyto the side of the pyramid, then around toward the front.
It was the front to Chet because it faced the entrance, the rockygateway, where they had come in. He did not expect to find that side inany way differing from the first. Each side was twenty paces in length;Chet measured them carefully, astounded still at the size of thestructure.
"Carved by the winds and rains," he said, repeating the opinion ofProfessor Kreiss. "Now, I wonder.... It seems too regular, too much asif--" He paused in his thoughts as he reached the corner; waited tostare watchfully out into the night; turned the corner, and, still inshadow, moved on. "Too much as if nature had had some help!"
His meditation ended as abruptly as did his steady pacing: he waschecked in midstride, one foot outstretched, while he struggled forbalance and fought to keep from taking that forward step.
In the shelter of the capstone was a darker shadow; there was ablackness there that could mean only the opening of a cave--a cavern,whose regular outlines and square-cut portal dismissed for all time thethought of a natural opening in the rock. But it was not this alone thathad brought the man up short in his stealthy stride: it had jolted himas if he had walked head on into the great monolith itself. It was notthis but a flat platform before the cave, a raised stone surface sometwo feet above the floor. And on it, pale and unreal in the first lightof the rising Earth was a naked, human form--a face that grimaced withdistorted features.
* * * * *
Chet had known the ape-men on that earlier visit: he knew that whilemost of them were heavily covered with hair there were some who werealmost human in their hairlessness. The body before him was one ofthese.
It lay limply across the stone platform, the listless head hangingdownward over one edge. It had high cheekbones, a retreating forehead,glassy, staring eyes, and grinning teeth that projected from betweenloose lips. And the evening wind stirred the black, stringy hair whileit touched lightly upon the ends of a short length of vine about theape-man's neck, where only the ends could be seen, for the rest of thepliant vine was sunk deeply into the flesh of the neck. It had been theinstrument of death; the ape-man had been strangled.
Chet tore his fascinated eyes from the revolting features of that purpleface; he forced himself to look beyond at what else might be on thissacrificial stone. And, as he saw the assortment of fruit that was thereon a green mat of leaves, the surprise was even greater than would havefollowed a repetition of the first discovery.
A naked, murdered man!--and ripe fruit! What was the meaning of this?Chet asked himself a score of questions and found the answer to none.But one thing he knew now beyond a doubt: Herr Professor Kreiss had beenwrong. This was truly an altar for the performance of unknown and savagerites, and the altar itself and the whole encircling arena had beencreated by some intelligence. People--things--embodied intelligences ofsome sort had carved these stones. Chet was oppressed by a feeling ofimpending danger.
His thoughts came back sharply to the things on the stone: the absurdlycontrasting exhibits: a naked body and fruit! But were they sodifferent? he asked himself, and knew in the same instant that they werenot. They were one and the same; they differed only in kind. They wereboth food!
* * * * *
From the darkness beyond came a shuffling of feet. From the blackpassage someone was coming--drawing near to the portal--and comingslowly, steadily through the dark. The pad of animal feet would havebeen unnerving--or the stealthy footfalls of an approaching savage--butthis was neither; it was a scuffing, shuffling sound. The sweat stoodout in beads on Chet's forehead and a trickle of it reached his eyes. Hedashed it away with the back of his hand while he drew silently into theshadow of the overhanging stone. He held his breath as he watched in thedarkness.
His pistol came noiselessly from his belt. Yet, how could he fire it? heasked himself in a moment of frantic planning. Only seven cartridgesleft!--they would need them all; and to fire now would bring moreenemies upon them. He returned the gun to his belt and stooped to weigha fragment of stone in his hand: this must serve him as a weapon.
The dragging footsteps were near, where the passage mouth loomed black.The light of a distant Earth, struck slantingly across to leave thisface of the pyramid in half-darkness. From that far and peaceful worldthe light poured floodingly down; it shone in under the projectingcapstone; it struck upon the raised altar and revealed in ghastliestdetail the gruesome offering there. And surely the strangest sight ofall that that Earth-light disclosed was when it shone golden upon ablack and hairy body of a beast that was half man, half ape. Thecreature moved slowly forward, walking erect, with its furry armsstretched gropingly ahead. In the full light it went shuffling on likeone who is blind or who walks in the dark, until it stopped before thealtar stone and stood rigidly waiting.
* * * * *
Waiting for what? Chet was making demands upon his reason that wasalready taxed beyond its capacity. He heard nothing, and he knew withentire certainty that there was no audible call, yet he sensed themessage at the instant the ape-man moved.
"Flesh!" said the message. "Bring flesh! Bring it now!"
And, with glazed, wide-open eyes which plainly saw, but could notcomprehend, the ape-thing stared at the altar-stone. It bent forward,took the fresh-killed body by the throat, and slung it across oneshoulder as easily as a child might handle a doll; then it turned andvanished once more into the waiting dark.
"God!" breathed Chet when the vision had passed. "God help us! What doesit mean?"
He took one backward step, then another, and made his way in silencealong the path he had come. He must get back to the others to tell themof what he had seen; to help them to flee from this place of horror thatwas more terrible for its qualities of the unknown.
* * * * *
He gave his companions the story in staccato sentences. "And the ape-manwas unconscious," he concluded; "he was an automaton only, directed byanother brain. I know it. I got that message, I tell you; it was radioedby someone or by something--sent direct to that big ape's brain.
"Now let's get out of here. Diane had it right when she said that theplace was evil. But she didn't make it strong enough. It's foul withevil! It's damned! Come on, I'm leaving now!"
Chet's whispered words were uttered with all the emphasis that horrorcould instill. He knew that he spoke truth. But he could not know howmistaken was his last positive assertion.
"I'm leaving now!" Chet had said, and how desperately he wanted to putthis place behind him only he himself could know. He took one steptoward the place where they could descend; then Harkness' hand pulledhim roughly to his knees.
"Down!" Harkness was commanding; "get down, Chet! They're coming--aswarm of them--through the gate!"
The pilot heard them before he saw them. They began a chant as theypoured through the entrance, a weird, wailing note like the cry of astricken animal that cries on and on. Then he saw the swarm.
They came in a cataract of black bodies that spilled through
that stoneportal and down the long slope. They formed a ragged column on theground and came on toward the pyramid, where, unseen, three men and agirl from another world were crouching.
"Back!" Chet ordered in a whisper. "Keep low--in the shadow! Get aroundin back of the pyramid. We can make a run for it!"
* * * * *
They crept swiftly along the rocky step where the deep angle was inshadow. They reached the rear slope where Chet had climbed. And each oneknew without the speaking of a word that retreat was not to beconsidered. The open arena!--the high bank of great steps in their boldmarkings of black and white! They could never hope to scale them; theywould never even reach them alive, for the savage horde would overwhelmthem before they had crossed the Earth-lit ground.
"All right," said Chet in acceptance of their unspoken thoughts, "up itis! Here's a hand, Diane--up you go! Now watch your step, and climb asif a thousand devils were after you, for there's all of that!"
The wave of bodies was washing against the pyramid's base when Chet drewKreiss, the last of the four, into the shadow of the huge capstone. Thenoise of their climbing had been covered by the wailing cry that camepiercing shrilly from the throng far below. And they had been unseen,Chet was sure; unless the one furtive shadow that he had seen draw awayfrom the crowd and slip around toward the rear of the pyramid meant thatsome one of the tribe had found their trail.
From the front of the shadowed top came the shuffling of heavy, draggingfeet on the stone. It was the same as before. Chet had held some vagueidea of fighting off the horde from the top of the steps, for here wasthe only place where they could ascend. He had forgotten this other onefor the moment, and he realized in a single flashing instant that herewas a worse menace than the pack.
Only one, it was true, one ape-man who would be no match for them! ButChet remembered those blind, staring eyes and the message that had cometo him. Those eyes had seen the horrible food upon the altar; some otherbrain had seen it too. The ape-man was an instrument only; there wassome hidden horror in back of him, something that saw with his eyes,something that must never see them, cowering and huddled in the shadowof that great stone.
* * * * *
The shuffling was coming from the right; Chet clutched silently at theothers to draw them away and toward the left. They retreated to thecorner, turned it, and went on toward the front; then stopped in silentwaiting where the shadow ended. The front, where the altar stood, was inthe full glare of Earth.
For the moment they were safe, but what of the time when the ape-manreturned? He had descended to the ground; when he climbed back againwould he retrace his steps? Or would he come this side and trap themhere where the light of their own Earth made any forward stepimpossible?
Below them the wailing ceased. Chet leaned forward to see the blackhorde, silent and motionless. Approaching them was the "big ape" he hadseen at the altar. His hands were reaching blindly before him and hemoved as would a human when entranced.
He reached the huddled blacks; his groping hands hovered hesitantlyabove a cowering, hairy form. Presently the ape-man passed on to thenext, and his hands rested on the creature's face. From the massedfigures there rose a moan, and Chet felt poignantly the animal misery ofit. Suddenly all emotion was transformed to startled attention. From theslope at the rear had come the rattle of loose stones!
Far below, in plain view, was the one who had descended--Chet knew thathis eyes could never mistake that blind, groping figure--but from theslope they could not see, from around the far edge of the pyramid, aclicking stone sent a repeated warning.
Chet laid a hand on Harkness' arm. "Get set, Walt!" he warned. "Getready for trouble. There's something coming: it may come this way!"