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was more in evidence, as were several varieties of the Labyrinthadonta. These
creatures, from which God save me, I should have expected to find further south;
but for some unaccountable reason they gain their greatest bulk in the Kro-lu
and Galu countries, though fortunately they are rare. I rather imagine that they
are a very early life which is rapidly nearing extinction in Caspak, though
wherever they are found, they constitute a menace to all forms of life.
It was mid-afternoon when To-mar and So-al bade us good-bye. We were not far
from Kro-lu village; in fact, we had approached it much closer than we had
intended, and now Ajor and I were to make a detour toward the sea while our
companions went directly in search of the Kro-lu chief.
Ajor and I had gone perhaps a mile or two and were just about to emerge from a
dense wood when I saw that ahead of us which caused me to draw back into
concealment, at the same time pushing Ajor behind me. What I saw was a party
of Band-lu warriors--large, fierce-appearing men. From the direction of their
march I saw that they were returning to their caves, and that if we remained
where we were, they would pass without discovering us.
Presently Ajor nudged me. "They have a prisoner," she whispered. "He is a Kro-
lu."
And then I saw him, the first fully developed Krolu I had seen. He was a fine-
looking savage, tall and straight with a regal carriage. To-mar was a handsome
fellow; but this Kro-lu showed plainly in his every physical attribute a higher
plane of evolution. While To-mar was just entering the Kro-lu sphere, this man,
it seemed to me, must be close indeed to the next stage of his development, which
would see him an envied Galu.
"
"
They will kill him?" I whispered to Ajor.
The dance of death," she replied, and I shuddered, so recently had I escaped the
same fate. It seemed cruel that one who must have passed safely up through all
the frightful stages of human evolution within Caspak, should die at the very foot
of his goal. I raised my rifle to my shoulder and took careful aim at one of the
Band-lu. If I hit him, I would hit two, for another was directly behind the first.
Ajor touched my arm. "What would you do?" she asked. "They are all our
enemies."
"I am going to save him from the dance of death," I replied, "enemy or no enemy,"
and I squeezed the trigger. At the report, the two Band-lu lunged forward upon
their faces. I handed my rifle to Ajor, and drawing my pistol, stepped out in full
view of the startled party. The Band-lu did not run away as had some of the
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