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Chapter 4
We spent two days upon the cliff-top, resting and recuperating. There was some
small game which gave us meat, and the little pools of rainwater were sufficient to
quench our thirst. The sun came out a few hours after we emerged from the
cave, and in its warmth we soon cast off the gloom which our recent experiences
had saddled upon us.
Upon the morning of the third day we set out to search for a path down to the
valley. Below us, to the north, we saw a large pool lying at the foot of the cliffs,
and in it we could discern the women of the Band-lu lying in the shallow waters,
while beyond and close to the base of the mighty barrier-cliffs there was a large
party of Band-lu warriors going north to hunt. We had a splendid view from our
lofty cliff-top. Dimly, to the west, we could see the farther shore of the inland sea,
and southwest the large southern island loomed distinctly before us. A little east
of north was the northern island, which Ajor, shuddering, whispered was the
home of the Wieroo--the land of Oo-oh. It lay at the far end of the lake and was
barely visible to us, being fully sixty miles away.
From our elevation, and in a clearer atmosphere, it would have stood out
distinctly; but the air of Caspak is heavy with moisture, with the result that
distant objects are blurred and indistinct. Ajor also told me that the mainland
east of Oo-oh was her land--the land of the Galu. She pointed out the cliffs at its
southern boundary, which mark the frontier, south of which lies the country of
Kro-lu--the archers. We now had but to pass through the balance of the Band-lu
territory and that of the Kro-lu to be within the confines of her own land; but that
meant traversing thirty-five miles of hostile country filled with every imaginable
terror, and possibly many beyond the powers of imagination. I would certainly
have given a lot for my plane at that moment, for with it, twenty minutes would
have landed us within the confines of Ajor's country.
We finally found a place where we could slip over the edge of the cliff onto a
narrow ledge which seemed to give evidence of being something of a game-path to
the valley, though it apparently had not been used for some time. I lowered Ajor
at the end of my rifle and then slid over myself, and I am free to admit that my
hair stood on end during the process, for the drop was considerable and the ledge
appallingly narrow, with a frightful drop sheer below down to the rocks at the
base of the cliff; but with Ajor there to catch and steady me, I made it all right,
and then we set off down the trail toward the valley. There were two or three
more bad places, but for the most part it was an easy descent, and we came to
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