I'll never forget my first impressions of Caspak as I circledin, high over the surrounding cliffs. From the plane I lookeddown through a mist upon the blurred landscape beneath me. The hot, humid atmosphere of Caspak condenses as it is fannedby the cold Antarctic air-currents which sweep across thecrater's top, sending a tenuous ribbon of vapor far out acrossthe Pacific. Through this the picture gave one the suggestionof a colossal impressionistic canvas in greens and browns andscarlets and yellows surrounding the deep blue of the inlandsea--just blobs of color taking form through the tumbling mist.

I dived close to the cliffs and skirted them for several mileswithout finding the least indication of a suitable landing-place;and then I swung back at a lower level, looking for a clearingclose to the bottom of the mighty escarpment; but I could findnone of sufficient area to insure safety. I was flying prettylow by this time, not only looking for landing places but watchingthe myriad life beneath me. I was down pretty well toward thesouth end of the island, where an arm of the lake reaches farinland, and I could see the surface of the water literallyblack with creatures of some sort. I was too far up to recognizeindividuals, but the general impression was of a vast army ofamphibious monsters. The land was almost equally alive withcrawling, leaping, running, flying things. It was one of thelatter which nearly did for me while my attention was fixedupon the weird scene below.

The first intimation I had of it was the sudden blotting out ofthe sunlight from above, and as I glanced quickly up, I saw amost terrific creature swooping down upon me. It must havebeen fully eighty feet long from the end of its long, hideousbeak to the tip of its thick, short tail, with an equal spreadof wings. It was coming straight for me and hissing frightfully--I could hear it above the whir of the propeller. It was comingstraight down toward the muzzle of the machine-gun and I let ithave it right in the breast; but still it came for me, so thatI had to dive and turn, though I was dangerously close to earth.

The thing didn't miss me by a dozen feet, and when I rose, itwheeled and followed me, but only to the cooler air close tothe level of the cliff-tops; there it turned again and dropped. Something--man's natural love of battle and the chase, I presume--impelled me to pursue it, and so I too circled and dived. The moment I came down into the warm atmosphere of Caspak, thecreature came for me again, rising above me so that it mightswoop down upon me. Nothing could better have suited my armament,since my machine-gun was pointed upward at an angle of about degrees and could not be either depressed or elevated by the pilot. If I had brought someone along with me, we could have raked thegreat reptile from almost any position, but as the creature'smode of attack was always from above, he always found me readywith a hail of bullets. The battle must have lasted a minuteor more before the thing suddenly turned completely over in theair and fell to the ground.

Bowen and I roomed together at college, and I learned a lotfrom him outside my regular course. He was a pretty goodscholar despite his love of fun, and his particular hobbywas paleontology. He used to tell me about the various formsof animal and vegetable life which had covered the globe duringformer eras, and so I was pretty well acquainted with thefishes, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals of paleolithic times. I knew that the thing that had attacked me was some sort ofpterodactyl which should have been extinct millions of years ago. It was all that I needed to realize that Bowen had exaggeratednothing in his manuscript.

Having disposed of my first foe, I set myself once more tosearch for a landing-place near to the base of the cliffsbeyond which my party awaited me. I knew how anxious theywould be for word from me, and I was equally anxious to relievetheir minds and also to get them and our supplies well withinCaspak, so that we might set off about our business of findingand rescuing Bowen Tyler; but the pterodactyl's carcass hadscarcely fallen before I was surrounded by at least a dozen ofthe hideous things, some large, some small, but all bent uponmy destruction. I could not cope with them all, and so I roserapidly from among them to the cooler strata wherein they darednot follow; and then I recalled that Bowen's narrativedistinctly indicated that the farther north one traveled inCaspak, the fewer were the terrible reptiles which renderedhuman life impossible at the southern end of the island.

There seemed nothing now but to search out a more northerlylanding-place and then return to the Toreador and transportmy companions, two by two, over the cliffs and deposit them atthe rendezvous. As I flew north, the temptation to exploreovercame me. I knew that I could easily cover Caspak andreturn to the beach with less petrol than I had in my tanks;and there was the hope, too, that I might find Bowen or some ofhis party. The broad expanse of the inland sea lured me outover its waters, and as I crossed, I saw at either extremity ofthe great body of water an island--one to the south and one tothe north; but I did not alter my course to examine eitherclosely, leaving that to a later time.

The further shore of the sea revealed a much narrower strip ofland between the cliffs and the water than upon the westernside; but it was a hillier and more open country. There weresplendid landing-places, and in the distance, toward the north,I thought I descried a village; but of that I was not positive. However, as I approached the land, I saw a number of human figuresapparently pursuing one who fled across a broad expanse of meadow. As I dropped lower to have a better look at these people, theycaught the whirring of my propellers and looked aloft. They pausedan instant--pursuers and pursued; and then they broke and racedfor the shelter of the nearest wood. Almost instantaneously ahuge bulk swooped down upon me, and as I looked up, I realizedthat there were flying reptiles even in this part of Caspak. The creature dived for my right wing so quickly that nothing buta sheer drop could have saved me. I was already close to theground, so that my maneuver was extremely dangerous; but I wasin a fair way of making it successfully when I saw that I wastoo closely approaching a large tree. My effort to dodge thetree and the pterodactyl at the same time resulted disastrously. One wing touched an upper branch; the plane tipped and swungaround, and then, out of control, dashed into the branches ofthe tree, where it came to rest, battered and torn, forty feetabove the ground.

Hissing loudly, the huge reptile swept close above the tree inwhich my plane had lodged, circled twice over me and thenflapped away toward the south. As I guessed then and was tolearn later, forests are the surest sanctuary from thesehideous creatures, which, with their enormous spread of wingand their great weight, are as much out of place among treesas is a seaplane.

For a minute or so I clung there to my battered flyer, nowuseless beyond redemption, my brain numbed by the frightfulcatastrophe that had befallen me. All my plans for the succorof Bowen and Miss La Rue had depended upon this craft, and in afew brief minutes my own selfish love of adventure had wreckedtheir hopes and mine. And what effect it might have upon thefuture of the balance of the rescuing expedition I could noteven guess. Their lives, too, might be sacrificed to mysuicidal foolishness. That I was doomed seemed inevitable; butI can honestly say that the fate of my friends concerned memore greatly than did my own.

Beyond the barrier cliffs my party was even now nervouslyawaiting my return. Presently apprehension and fear wouldclaim them--and they would never know! They would attempt toscale the cliffs--of that I was sure; but I was not so positivethat they would succeed; and after a while they would turnback, what there were left of them, and go sadly and mournfullyupon their return journey to home. Home! I set my jaws andtried to forget the word, for I knew that I should never againsee home.

And what of Bowen and his girl? I had doomed them too. They wouldnever even know that an attempt had been made to rescue them. If they still lived, they might some day come upon the ruinedremnants of this great plane hanging in its lofty sepulcher andhazard vain guesses and be filled with wonder; but they wouldnever know; and I could not but be glad that they would notknow that Tom Billings had sealed their death-warrants by hiscriminal selfishness.

All these useless regrets were getting me in a bad way; but atlast I shook myself and tried to put such things out of my mindand take hold of conditions as they existed and do my levelbest to wrest victory from defeat. I was badly shaken up andbruised, but considered myself mighty lucky to escape with my life. The plane hung at a precarious angle, so that it was withdifficulty and considerable danger that I climbed from it intothe tree and then to the ground.

My predicament was grave. Between me and my friends lay aninland sea fully sixty miles wide at this point and anestimated land-distance of some three hundred miles around thenorthern end of the sea, through such hideous dangers as I amperfectly free to admit had me pretty well buffaloed. I hadseen quite enough of Caspak this day to assure me that Bowenhad in no way exaggerated its perils. As a matter of fact, Iam inclined to believe that he had become so accustomed to thembefore he started upon his manuscript that he rather slighted them. As I stood there beneath that tree--a tree which should have beenpart of a coal-bed countless ages since--and looked out acrossa sea teeming with frightful life--life which should have beenfossil before God conceived of Adam--I would not have given aminim of stale beer for my chances of ever seeing my friends orthe outside world again; yet then and there I swore to fight myway as far through this hideous land as circumstances would permit. I had plenty of ammunition, an automatic pistol and a heavy rifle--the latter one of twenty added to our equipment on the strength ofBowen's description of the huge beasts of prey which ravaged Caspak. My greatest danger lay in the hideous reptilia whose low nervousorganizations permitted their carnivorous instincts to functionfor several minutes after they had ceased to live.

But to these things I gave less thought than to the suddenfrustration of all our plans. With the bitterest of thoughts Icondemned myself for the foolish weakness that had permitted meto be drawn from the main object of my flight into prematureand useless exploration. It seemed to me then that I must betotally eliminated from further search for Bowen, since, as Iestimated it, the three hundred miles of Caspakian territory Imust traverse to reach the base of the cliffs beyond which myparty awaited me were practically impassable for a singleindividual unaccustomed to Caspakian life and ignorant of allthat lay before him. Yet I could not give up hope entirely. My duty lay clear before me; I must follow it while liferemained to me, and so I set forth toward the north.

The country through which I took my way was as lovely as it wasunusual--I had almost said unearthly, for the plants, thetrees, the blooms were not of the earth that I knew. They werelarger, the colors more brilliant and the shapes startling,some almost to grotesqueness, though even such added to thecharm and romance of the landscape as the giant cacti renderweirdly beautiful the waste spots of the sad Mohave. And overall the sun shone huge and round and red, a monster sun above amonstrous world, its light dispersed by the humid air ofCaspak--the warm, moist air which lies sluggish upon the breastof this great mother of life, Nature's mightiest incubator.

All about me, in every direction, was life. It moved throughthe tree-tops and among the boles; it displayed itself inwidening and intermingling circles upon the bosom of the sea;it leaped from the depths; I could hear it in a dense wood atmy right, the murmur of it rising and falling in ceaselessvolumes of sound, riven at intervals by a horrid scream or athunderous roar which shook the earth; and always I was hauntedby that inexplicable sensation that unseen eyes were watchingme, that soundless feet dogged my trail. I am neither nervousnor highstrung; but the burden of responsibility upon meweighed heavily, so that I was more cautious than is my wont. I turned often to right and left and rear lest I be surprised,and I carried my rifle at the ready in my hand. Once I couldhave sworn that among the many creatures dimly perceived amidstthe shadows of the wood I saw a human figure dart from onecover to another, but I could not be sure.

For the most part I skirted the wood, making occasional detoursrather than enter those forbidding depths of gloom, though manytimes I was forced to pass through arms of the forest whichextended to the very shore of the inland sea. There was sosinister a suggestion in the uncouth sounds and the vagueglimpses of moving things within the forest, of the menace ofstrange beasts and possibly still stranger men, that I alwaysbreathed more freely when I had passed once more into open country.

I had traveled northward for perhaps an hour, still haunted bythe conviction that I was being stalked by some creature whichkept always hidden among the trees and shrubbery to my rightand a little to my rear, when for the hundredth time I wasattracted by a sound from that direction, and turning, saw someanimal running rapidly through the forest toward me. There wasno longer any effort on its part at concealment; it came onthrough the underbrush swiftly, and I was confident thatwhatever it was, it had finally gathered the courage to chargeme boldly. Before it finally broke into plain view, I becameaware that it was not alone, for a few yards in its rear asecond thing thrashed through the leafy jungle. Evidently Iwas to be attacked in force by a pair of hunting beasts or men.

And then through the last clump of waving ferns broke thefigure of the foremost creature, which came leaping toward meon light feet as I stood with my rifle to my shoulder coveringthe point at which I had expected it would emerge. I must havelooked foolish indeed if my surprise and consternation were inany way reflected upon my countenance as I lowered my rifle andgazed incredulous at the lithe figure of the girl speedingswiftly in my direction. But I did not have long to stand thuswith lowered weapon, for as she came, I saw her cast anaffrighted glance over her shoulder, and at the same momentthere broke from the jungle at the same spot at which I hadseen her, the hugest cat I had ever looked upon.

At first I took the beast for a saber-tooth tiger, as it wasquite the most fearsome-appearing beast one could imagine; butit was not that dread monster of the past, though quiteformidable enough to satisfy the most fastidious thrill-hunter. On it came, grim and terrible, its baleful eyes glaring aboveits distended jaws, its lips curled in a frightful snarl whichexposed a whole mouthful of formidable teeth. At sight of meit had abandoned its impetuous rush and was now sneaking slowlytoward us; while the girl, a long knife in her hand, took herstand bravely at my left and a little to my rear. She hadcalled something to me in a strange tongue as she raced towardme, and now she spoke again; but what she said I could notthen, of course, know--only that her tones were sweet, wellmodulated and free from any suggestion of panic.

Facing the huge cat, which I now saw was an enormous panther, Iwaited until I could place a shot where I felt it would do themost good, for at best a frontal shot at any of the largecarnivora is a ticklish matter. I had some advantage in thatthe beast was not charging; its head was held low and its backexposed; and so at forty yards I took careful aim at its spineat the junction of neck and shoulders. But at the sameinstant, as though sensing my intention, the great creaturelifted its head and leaped forward in full charge. To fire atthat sloping forehead I knew would be worse than useless, andso I quickly shifted my aim and pulled the trigger, hopingagainst hope that the soft-nosed bullet and the heavy charge ofpowder would have sufficient stopping effect to give me time toplace a second shot.

In answer to the report of the rifle I had the satisfaction ofseeing the brute spring into the air, turning a completesomersault; but it was up again almost instantly, though in thebrief second that it took it to scramble to its feet and getits bearings, it exposed its left side fully toward me, and asecond bullet went crashing through its heart. Down it wentfor the second time--and then up and at me. The vitality ofthese creatures of Caspak is one of the marvelous features ofthis strange world and bespeaks the low nervous organization ofthe old paleolithic life which has been so long extinct inother portions of the world.

I put a third bullet into the beast at three paces, and then Ithought that I was done for; but it rolled over and stopped atmy feet, stone dead. I found that my second bullet had tornits heart almost completely away, and yet it had lived tocharge ferociously upon me, and but for my third shot woulddoubtless have slain me before it finally expired--or as BowenTyler so quaintly puts it, before it knew that it was dead.

With the panther quite evidently conscious of the fact thatdissolution had overtaken it, I turned toward the girl, who wasregarding me with evident admiration and not a little awe,though I must admit that my rifle claimed quite as much of herattention as did I. She was quite the most wonderful animalthat I have ever looked upon, and what few of her charms herapparel hid, it quite effectively succeeded in accentuating. A bit of soft, undressed leather was caught over her leftshoulder and beneath her right breast, falling upon her leftside to her hip and upon the right to a metal band whichencircled her leg above the knee and to which the lowest pointof the hide was attached. About her waist was a loose leatherbelt, to the center of which was attached the scabbardbelonging to her knife. There was a single armlet between herright shoulder and elbow, and a series of them covered her leftforearm from elbow to wrist. These, I learned later, answeredthe purpose of a shield against knife attack when the left armis raised in guard across the breast or face.

Her masses of heavy hair were held in place by a broad metalband which bore a large triangular ornament directly in thecenter of her forehead. This ornament appeared to be a hugeturquoise, while the metal of all her ornaments was beaten,virgin gold, inlaid in intricate design with bits ofmother-of-pearl and tiny pieces of stone of various colors. From the left shoulder depended a leopard's tail, while herfeet were shod with sturdy little sandals. The knife was heronly weapon. Its blade was of iron, the grip was wound withhide and protected by a guard of three out-bowing strips offlat iron, and upon the top of the hilt was a knob of gold.

I took in much of this in the few seconds during which we stoodfacing each other, and I also observed another salient featureof her appearance: she was frightfully dirty! Her face andlimbs and garment were streaked with mud and perspiration, andyet even so, I felt that I had never looked upon so perfect andbeautiful a creature as she. Her figure beggars description,and equally so, her face. Were I one of these writer-fellows,I should probably say that her features were Grecian, but beingneither a writer nor a poet I can do her greater justice bysaying that she combined all of the finest lines that one seesin the typical American girl's face rather than the pronouncedsheeplike physiognomy of the Greek goddess. No, even the dirtcouldn't hide that fact; she was beautiful beyond compare.

As we stood looking at each other, a slow smile came to herface, parting her symmetrical lips and disclosing a row ofstrong white teeth.

"Galu?" she asked with rising inflection.

And remembering that I read in Bowen's manuscript that Galuseemed to indicate a higher type of man, I answered by pointingto myself and repeating the word. Then she started off on aregular catechism, if I could judge by her inflection, for Icertainly understood no word of what she said. All the timethe girl kept glancing toward the forest, and at last shetouched my arm and pointed in that direction.

Turning, I saw a hairy figure of a manlike thing standingwatching us, and presently another and another emerged from thejungle and joined the leader until there must have been atleast twenty of them. They were entirely naked. Their bodieswere covered with hair, and though they stood upon their feetwithout touching their hands to the ground, they had a veryape-like appearance, since they stooped forward and had verylong arms and quite apish features. They were not pretty tolook upon with their close-set eyes, flat noses, long upperlips and protruding yellow fangs.

"Alus!" said the girl.

I had reread Bowen's adventures so often that I knew themalmost by heart, and so now I knew that I was looking upon thelast remnant of that ancient man-race--the Alus of a forgottenperiod--the speechless man of antiquity.

"Kazor!" cried the girl, and at the same moment the Aluscame jabbering toward us. They made strange growling, barkingnoises, as with much baring of fangs they advanced upon us. They were armed only with nature's weapons--powerful musclesand giant fangs; yet I knew that these were quite sufficient toovercome us had we nothing better to offer in defense, and so Idrew my pistol and fired at the leader. He dropped like astone, and the others turned and fled. Once again the girlsmiled her slow smile and stepping closer, caressed the barrelof my automatic. As she did so, her fingers came in contactwith mine, and a sudden thrill ran through me, which Iattributed to the fact that it had been so long since I hadseen a woman of any sort or kind.

She said something to me in her low, liquid tones; but I couldnot understand her, and then she pointed toward the north andstarted away. I followed her, for my way was north too; buthad it been south I still should have followed, so hungry was Ifor human companionship in this world of beasts and reptilesand half-men.

We walked along, the girl talking a great deal and seemingmystified that I could not understand her. Her silvery laughrang merrily when I in turn essayed to speak to her, as thoughmy language was the quaintest thing she ever had heard. Often after fruitless attempts to make me understand she wouldhold her palm toward me, saying, "Galu!" and then touch mybreast or arm and cry, "Alu, alu!" I knew what she meant,for I had learned from Bowen's narrative the negative gestureand the two words which she repeated. She meant that I was noGalu, as I claimed, but an Alu, or speechless one. Yet everytime she said this she laughed again, and so infectious wereher tones that I could only join her. It was only natural,too, that she should be mystified by my inability to comprehendher or to make her comprehend me, for from the club-men, thelowest human type in Caspak to have speech, to the golden raceof Galus, the tongues of the various tribes are identical--exceptfor amplifications in the rising scale of evolution. She, whois a Galu, can understand one of the Bo-lu and make herselfunderstood to him, or to a hatchet-man, a spear-man or an archer. The Ho-lus, or apes, the Alus and myself were the only creaturesof human semblance with which she could hold no converse; yet itwas evident that her intelligence told her that I was neitherHo-lu nor Alu, neither anthropoid ape nor speechless man.

Yet she did not despair, but set out to teach me her language;and had it not been that I worried so greatly over the fate ofBowen and my companions of the Toreador, I could have wishedthe period of instruction prolonged.

I never have been what one might call a ladies' man, though Ilike their company immensely, and during my college days andsince have made various friends among the sex. I think that Irather appeal to a certain type of girl for the reason that Inever make love to them; I leave that to the numerous otherswho do it infinitely better than I could hope to, and take mypleasure out of girls' society in what seem to be more rationalways--dancing, golfing, boating, riding, tennis, and the like. Yet in the company of this half-naked little savage I found anew pleasure that was entirely distinct from any that I everhad experienced. When she touched me, I thrilled as I hadnever before thrilled in contact with another woman. I couldnot quite understand it, for I am sufficiently sophisticatedto know that this is a symptom of love and I certainly did notlove this filthy little barbarian with her broken, unkemptnails and her skin so besmeared with mud and the green ofcrushed foliage that it was difficult to say what color itoriginally had been. But if she was outwardly uncouth, herclear eyes and strong white, even teeth, her silvery laugh andher queenly carriage, bespoke an innate fineness which dirtcould not quite successfully conceal.

The sun was low in the heavens when we came upon a little riverwhich emptied into a large bay at the foot of low cliffs. Our journey so far had been beset with constant danger, as isevery journey in this frightful land. I have not bored you witha recital of the wearying successions of attacks by the multitudeof creatures which were constantly crossing our path ordeliberately stalking us. We were always upon the alert; forhere, to paraphrase, eternal vigilance is indeed the price of life.

I had managed to progress a little in the acquisition of aknowledge of her tongue, so that I knew many of the animals andreptiles by their Caspakian names, and trees and ferns and grasses. I knew the words for sea and river and cliff, for skyand sun and cloud. Yes, I was getting along finely, and thenit occurred to me that I didn't know my companion's name; so Ipointed to myself and said, "Tom," and to her and raised myeyebrows in interrogation. The girl ran her fingers into that massof hair and looked puzzled. I repeated the action a dozen times.

"Tom," she said finally in that clear, sweet, liquid voice. "Tom!"

I had never thought much of my name before; but when she spokeit, it sounded to me for the first time in my life like amighty nice name, and then she brightened suddenly and tappedher own breast and said: "Ajor!"

"Ajor!" I repeated, and she laughed and struck her palms together.

Well, we knew each other's names now, and that was some satisfaction. I rather liked hers--Ajor! And she seemed to like mine, for sherepeated it.

We came to the cliffs beside the little river where it emptiesinto the bay with the great inland sea beyond. The cliffs wereweather-worn and rotted, and in one place a deep hollow ranback beneath the overhanging stone for several feet, suggestingshelter for the night. There were loose rocks strewn all aboutwith which I might build a barricade across the entrance to thecave, and so I halted there and pointed out the place to Ajor,trying to make her understand that we would spend the night there.

As soon as she grasped my meaning, she assented with theCaspakian equivalent of an affirmative nod, and then touchingmy rifle, motioned me to follow her to the river. At the bankshe paused, removed her belt and dagger, dropping them to theground at her side; then unfastening the lower edge of hergarment from the metal leg-band to which it was attached,slipped it off her left shoulder and let it drop to the groundaround her feet. It was done so naturally, so simply and soquickly that it left me gasping like a fish out of water. Turning, she flashed a smile at me and then dived into theriver, and there she bathed while I stood guard over her. For five or ten minutes she splashed about, and when sheemerged her glistening skin was smooth and white and beautiful. Without means of drying herself, she simply ignored what to mewould have seemed a necessity, and in a moment was arrayed inher simple though effective costume.

It was now within an hour of darkness, and as I was nearlyfamished, I led the way back about a quarter of a mile to alow meadow where we had seen antelope and small horses a shorttime before. Here I brought down a young buck, the report of myrifle sending the balance of the herd scampering for the woods,where they were met by a chorus of hideous roars as thecarnivora took advantage of their panic and leaped among them.

With my hunting-knife I removed a hind-quarter, and then wereturned to camp. Here I gathered a great quantity of woodfrom fallen trees, Ajor helping me; but before I built a fire,I also gathered sufficient loose rock to build my barricadeagainst the frightful terrors of the night to come.

I shall never forget the expression upon Ajor's face as she sawme strike a match and light the kindling beneath our camp-fire. It was such an expression as might transform a mortal face withawe as its owner beheld the mysterious workings of divinity. It was evident that Ajor was quite unfamiliar with modernmethods of fire-making. She had thought my rifle and pistolwonderful; but these tiny slivers of wood which from a magicrub brought flame to the camp hearth were indeed miracles to her.

As the meat roasted above the fire, Ajor and I tried once againto talk; but though copiously filled with incentive, gesturesand sounds, the conversation did not flourish notably. And thenAjor took up in earnest the task of teaching me her language. She commenced, as I later learned, with the simplest form ofspeech known to Caspak or for that matter to the world--thatemployed by the Bo-lu. I found it far from difficult, and eventhough it was a great handicap upon my instructor that she couldnot speak my language, she did remarkably well and demonstratedthat she possessed ingenuity and intelligence of a high order.

After we had eaten, I added to the pile of firewood so that Icould replenish the fire before the entrance to our barricade,believing this as good a protection against the carnivora as wecould have; and then Ajor and I sat down before it, and thelesson proceeded, while from all about us came the weird andawesome noises of the Caspakian night--the moaning and thecoughing and roaring of the tigers, the panthers and the lions,the barking and the dismal howling of a wolf, jackal andhyaenadon, the shrill shrieks of stricken prey and the hissingof the great reptiles; the voice of man alone was silent.

But though the voice of this choir-terrible rose and fell fromfar and near in all directions, reaching at time such atremendous volume of sound that the earth shook to it, yet soengrossed was I in my lesson and in my teacher that often I wasdeaf to what at another time would have filled me with awe. The face and voice of the beautiful girl who leaned so eagerlytoward me as she tried to explain the meaning of some word orcorrect my pronunciation of another quite entirely occupied myevery faculty of perception. The firelight shone upon heranimated features and sparkling eyes; it accentuated thegraceful motions of her gesturing arms and hands; it sparkledfrom her white teeth and from her golden ornaments, andglistened on the smooth firmness of her perfect skin. I amafraid that often I was more occupied with admiration of thisbeautiful animal than with a desire for knowledge; but be thatas it may, I nevertheless learned much that evening, thoughpart of what I learned had naught to do with any new language.

Ajor seemed determined that I should speak Caspakian as quicklyas possible, and I thought I saw in her desire a little of thatall-feminine trait which has come down through all the agesfrom the first lady of the world--curiosity. Ajor desired thatI should speak her tongue in order that she might satisfy acuriosity concerning me that was filling her to a point whereshe was in danger of bursting; of that I was positive. She wasa regular little animated question-mark. She bubbled overwith interrogations which were never to be satisfied unlessI learned to speak her tongue. Her eyes sparkled withexcitement; her hand flew in expressive gestures; her littletongue raced with time; yet all to no avail. I could say manand tree and cliff and lion and a number ofother words in perfect Caspakian; but such a vocabulary wasonly tantalizing; it did not lend itself well to a very generalconversation, and the result was that Ajor would wax so wroththat she would clench her little fists and beat me on thebreast as hard as ever she could, and then she would sink backlaughing as the humor of the situation captured her.

She was trying to teach me some verbs by going through theactions herself as she repeated the proper word. We were verymuch engrossed--so much so that we were giving no heed to whatwent on beyond our cave--when Ajor stopped very suddenly,crying: "Kazor!" Now she had been trying to teach me thatju meant stop; so when she cried kazor and at the sametime stopped, I thought for a moment that this was part of mylesson--for the moment I forgot that kazor means beware. I therefore repeated the word after her; but when I saw theexpression in her eyes as they were directed past me and sawher point toward the entrance to the cave, I turned quickly--to see a hideous face at the small aperture leading out intothe night. It was the fierce and snarling countenance of agigantic bear. I have hunted silvertips in the WhiteMountains of Arizona and thought them quite the largest andmost formidable of big game; but from the appearance of thehead of this awful creature I judged that the largest grizzly Ihad ever seen would shrink by comparison to the dimensions of aNewfoundland dog.

Our fire was just within the cave, the smoke rising through theapertures between the rocks that I had piled in such a way thatthey arched inward toward the cliff at the top. The opening bymeans of which we were to reach the outside was barricaded witha few large fragments which did not by any means close itentirely; but through the apertures thus left no large animalcould gain ingress. I had depended most, however, upon ourfire, feeling that none of the dangerous nocturnal beasts ofprey would venture close to the flames. In this, however, Iwas quite evidently in error, for the great bear stood with hisnose not a foot from the blaze, which was now low, owing to thefact that I had been so occupied with my lesson and my teacherthat I had neglected to replenish it.

Ajor whipped out her futile little knife and pointed to my rifle. At the same time she spoke in a quite level voice entirely devoidof nervousness or any evidence of fear or panic. I knew she wasexhorting me to fire upon the beast; but this I did not wish todo other than as a last resort, for I was quite sure that evenmy heavy bullets would not more than further enrage him--in whichcase he might easily force an entrance to our cave.

Instead of firing, I piled some more wood upon the fire, and asthe smoke and blaze arose in the beast's face, it backed away,growling most frightfully; but I still could see two uglypoints of light blazing in the outer darkness and hear itsgrowls rumbling terrifically without. For some time thecreature stood there watching the entrance to our frailsanctuary while I racked my brains in futile endeavor to plansome method of defense or escape. I knew full well that shouldthe bear make a determined effort to get at us, the rocks I hadpiled as a barrier would come tumbling down about his giantshoulders like a house of cards, and that he would walkdirectly in upon us.

Ajor, having less knowledge of the effectiveness of firearmsthan I, and therefore greater confidence in them, entreated meto shoot the beast; but I knew that the chance that I couldstop it with a single shot was most remote, while that I shouldbut infuriate it was real and present; and so I waited for whatseemed an eternity, watching those devilish points of fireglaring balefully at us, and listening to the ever-increasingvolume of those seismic growls which seemed to rumble upwardfrom the bowels of the earth, shaking the very cliffs beneathwhich we cowered, until at last I saw that the brute was againapproaching the aperture. It availed me nothing that I piledthe blaze high with firewood, until Ajor and I were near toroasting; on came that mighty engine of destruction until onceagain the hideous face yawned its fanged yawn directly withinthe barrier's opening. It stood thus a moment, and then thehead was withdrawn. I breathed a sigh of relief, the thing hadaltered its intention and was going on in search of other andmore easily procurable prey; the fire had been too much for it.

But my joy was short-lived, and my heart sank once again as amoment later I saw a mighty paw insinuated into the opening--apaw as large around as a large dishpan. Very gently the pawtoyed with the great rock that partly closed the entrance,pushed and pulled upon it and then very deliberately drew itoutward and to one side. Again came the head, and this timemuch farther into the cavern; but still the great shoulderswould not pass through the opening. Ajor moved closer to meuntil her shoulder touched my side, and I thought I felt aslight tremor run through her body, but otherwise she gave noindication of fear. Involuntarily I threw my left arm abouther and drew her to me for an instant. It was an act ofreassurance rather than a caress, though I must admit thatagain and even in the face of death I thrilled at the contactwith her; and then I released her and threw my rifle to myshoulder, for at last I had reached the conclusion that nothingmore could be gained by waiting. My only hope was to get asmany shots into the creature as I could before it was upon me. Already it had torn away a second rock and was in the very actof forcing its huge bulk through the opening it had now made.

So now I took careful aim between its eyes; my right fingersclosed firmly and evenly upon the small of the stock, drawingback my trigger-finger by the muscular action of the hand. The bullet could not fail to hit its mark! I held my breath lestI swerve the muzzle a hair by my breathing. I was as steady andcool as I ever had been upon a target-range, and I had the fullconsciousness of a perfect hit in anticipation; I knew that Icould not miss. And then, as the bear surged forward towardme, the hammer fell--futilely, upon an imperfect cartridge.

Almost simultaneously I heard from without a perfectly hellishroar; the bear gave voice to a series of growls fartranscending in volume and ferocity anything that he had yetessayed and at the same time backed quickly from the cave. For an instant I couldn't understand what had happened tocause this sudden retreat when his prey was practically withinhis clutches. The idea that the harmless clicking of thehammer had frightened him was too ridiculous to entertain. However, we had not long to wait before we could at least guessat the cause of the diversion, for from without came mingledgrowls and roars and the sound of great bodies thrashing aboutuntil the earth shook. The bear had been attacked in the rearby some other mighty beast, and the two were now locked in atitanic struggle for supremacy. With brief respites, duringwhich we could hear the labored breathing of the contestants,the battle continued for the better part of an hour until thesounds of combat grew gradually less and finally ceased entirely.

At Ajor's suggestion, made by signs and a few of the words weknew in common, I moved the fire directly to the entrance tothe cave so that a beast would have to pass directly throughthe flames to reach us, and then we sat and waited for thevictor of the battle to come and claim his reward; but thoughwe sat for a long time with our eyes glued to the opening, wesaw no sign of any beast.

At last I signed to Ajor to lie down, for I knew that she musthave sleep, and I sat on guard until nearly morning, when thegirl awoke and insisted that I take some rest; nor would she bedenied, but dragged me down as she laughingly menaced me withher knife.