| 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 |
| 1 | 20 | 41 | 61 | 81 |
|
www.freeclassicebooks.com
This tribe lived largely upon the smaller animals which they bowled over with
their stone hatchets after making a wide circle about their quarry and driving it
so that it had to pass close to one of their number. The little horses and the
smaller antelope they secured in sufficient numbers to support life, and they also
ate numerous varieties of fruits and vegetables. They never brought in more than
sufficient food for their immediate needs; but why bother? The food problem of
Caspak is not one to cause worry to her inhabitants.
The fourth day Lys told me that she thought she felt equal to attempting the
return journey on the morrow, and so I set out for the hunt in high spirits, for I
was anxious to return to the fort and learn if Bradley and his party had returned
and what had been the result of his expedition. I also wanted to relieve their
minds as to Lys and myself, as I knew that they must have already given us up
for dead. It was a cloudy day, though warm, as it always is in Caspak. It seemed
odd to realize that just a few miles away winter lay upon the storm-tossed ocean,
and that snow might be falling all about Caprona; but no snow could ever
penetrate the damp, hot atmosphere of the great crater.
We had to go quite a bit farther than usual before we could surround a little
bunch of antelope, and as I was helping drive them, I saw a fine red deer a couple
of hundred yards behind me. He must have been asleep in the long grass, for I
saw him rise and look about him in a bewildered way, and then I raised my gun
and let him have it. He dropped, and I ran forward to finish him with the long
thin knife, which one of the men had given me; but just as I reached him, he
staggered to his feet and ran on for another two hundred yards--when I dropped
him again. Once more was this repeated before I was able to reach him and cut
his throat; then I looked around for my companions, as I wanted them to come
and carry the meat home; but I could see nothing of them. I called a few times
and waited, but there was no response and no one came. At last I became
disgusted, and cutting off all the meat that I could conveniently carry, I set off in
the direction of the cliffs. I must have gone about a mile before the truth dawned
upon me--I was lost, hopelessly lost.
The entire sky was still completely blotted out by dense clouds; nor was there any
landmark visible by which I might have taken my bearings. I went on in the
direction I thought was south but which I now imagine must have been about
due north, without detecting a single familiar object. In a dense wood I suddenly
stumbled upon a thing which at first filled me with hope and later with the most
utter despair and dejection. It was a little mound of new-turned earth sprinkled
with flowers long since withered, and at one end was a flat slab of sandstone
stuck in the ground. It was a grave, and it meant for me that I had at last
stumbled into a country inhabited by human beings. I would find them; they
7
0
Page
Quick Jump
|