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I kept on in the direction of the cliff's base. A huge creature stood upon a ledge
and brandished his stone hatchet. "Come and I will kill you and take the she," he
boasted.
"You saw how Tsa fared when he would have kept my she," I replied in his own
tongue. "Thus will you fare and all your fellows if you do not permit us to come
in peace among you out of the dangers of the night."
"Go north," he screamed. "Go north among the Galus, and we will not harm you.
Some day will we be Galus; but now we are not. You do not belong among us. Go
away or we will kill you. The she may remain if she is afraid, and we will keep
her; but the he must depart."
"
The he won't depart," I replied, and approached still nearer. Rough and narrow
ledges formed by nature gave access to the upper caves. A man might scale them
if unhampered and unhindered, but to clamber upward in the face of a belligerent
tribe of half-men and with a girl to assist was beyond my capability.
"I do not fear you," screamed the creature. "You were close to Tsa; but I am far
above you. You cannot harm me as you harmed Tsa. Go away!"
I placed a foot upon the lowest ledge and clambered upward, reaching down and
pulling Lys to my side. Already I felt safer. Soon we would be out of danger of the
beasts again closing in upon us. The man above us raised his stone hatchet
above his head and leaped lightly down to meet us. His position above me gave
him a great advantage, or at least so he probably thought, for he came with every
show of confidence. I hated to do it, but there seemed no other way, and so I shot
him down as I had shot down Tsa.
"You see," I cried to his fellows, "that I can kill you wherever you may be. A long
way off I can kill you as well as I can kill you near by. Let us come among you in
peace. I will not harm you if you do not harm us. We will take a cave high up.
Speak!"
"Come, then," said one. "If you will not harm us, you may come. Take Tsa's hole,
which lies above you."
The creature showed us the mouth of a black cave, but he kept at a distance
while he did it, and Lys followed me as I crawled in to explore. I had matches
with me, and in the light of one I found a small cavern with a flat roof and floor
which followed the cleavage of the strata. Pieces of the roof had fallen at some
long-distant date, as was evidenced by the depth of the filth and rubble in which
they were embedded. Even a superficial examination revealed the fact that
nothing had ever been attempted that might have improved the livability of the
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