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As the six men leaped upon me, an angry growl burst from behind them. I had
forgotten Nobs. Like a demon of hate he sprang among those Kro-lu fighting-
men, tearing, rending, ripping with his long tusks and his mighty jaws. They had
me down in an instant, and it goes without saying that the six of them could have
kept me there had it not been for Nobs; but while I was struggling to throw them
off, Nobs was springing first upon one and then upon another of them until they
were so put to it to preserve their hides and their lives from him that they could
give me only a small part of their attention. One of them was assiduously
attempting to strike me on the head with his stone hatchet; but I caught his arm
and at the same time turned over upon my belly, after which it took but an
instant to get my feet under me and rise suddenly.
As I did so, I kept a grip upon the man's arm, carrying it over one shoulder. Then
I leaned suddenly forward and hurled my antagonist over my head to a hasty fall
at the opposite side of the hut. In the dim light of the interior I saw that Nobs
had already accounted for one of the others--one who lay very quiet upon the
floor--while the four remaining upon their feet were striking at him with knives
and hatchets.
Running to one side of the man I had just put out of the fighting, I seized his
hatchet and knife, and in another moment was in the thick of the argument. I
was no match for these savage warriors with their own weapons and would soon
have gone down to ignominious defeat and death had it not been for Nobs, who
alone was a match for the four of them. I never saw any creature so quick upon
its feet as was that great Airedale, nor such frightful ferocity as he manifested in
his attacks. It was as much the latter as the former which contributed to the
undoing of our enemies, who, accustomed though they were to the ferocity of
terrible creatures, seemed awed by the sight of this strange beast from another
world battling at the side of his equally strange master. Yet they were no
cowards, and only by teamwork did Nobs and I overcome them at last. We would
rush for a man, simultaneously, and as Nobs leaped for him upon one side, I
would strike at his head with the stone hatchet from the other.
As the last man went down, I heard the running of many feet approaching us
from the direction of the plaza. To be captured now would mean death; yet I
could not attempt to leave the village without first ascertaining the whereabouts
of Ajor and releasing her if she were held a captive. That I could escape the
village I was not at all sure; but of one thing I was positive; that it would do
neither Ajor nor myself any service to remain where I was and be captured; so
with Nobs, bloody but happy, following at heel, I turned down the first alley and
slunk away in the direction of the northern end of the village.
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