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Chapter 7
To run up the inclined surface of the palisade and drop to the ground outside was
the work of but a moment, or would have been but for Nobs. I had to put my rope
about him after we reached the top, lift him over the sharpened stakes and lower
him upon the outside. To find Ajor in the unknown country to the north seemed
rather hopeless; yet I could do no less than try, praying in the meanwhile that
she would come through unscathed and in safety to her father.
As Nobs and I swung along in the growing light of the coming day, I was
impressed by the lessening numbers of savage beasts the farther north I traveled.
With the decrease among the carnivora, the herbivora increased in quantity,
though anywhere in Caspak they are sufficiently plentiful to furnish ample food
for the meateaters of each locality. The wild cattle, antelope, deer, and horses I
passed showed changes in evolution from their cousins farther south. The kine
were smaller and less shaggy, the horses larger. North of the Kro-lu village I saw
a small band of the latter of about the size of those of our old Western plains--
such as the Indians bred in former days and to a lesser extent even now. They
were fat and sleek, and I looked upon them with covetous eyes and with thoughts
that any old cow-puncher may well imagine I might entertain after having hoofed
it for weeks; but they were wary, scarce permitting me to approach within bow-
and-arrow range, much less within roping-distance; yet I still had hopes which I
never discarded.
Twice before noon we were stalked and charged by man-eaters; but even though I
was without firearms, I still had ample protection in Nobs, who evidently had
learned something of Caspakian hunt rules under the tutelage of Du-seen or
some other Galu, and of course a great deal more by experience. He always was
on the alert for dangerous foes, invariably warning me by low growls of the
approach of a large carnivorous animal long before I could either see or hear it,
and then when the thing appeared, he would run snapping at its heels, drawing
the charge away from me until I found safety in some tree; yet never did the wily
Nobs take an unnecessary chance of a mauling. He would dart in and away so
quickly that not even the lightning-like movements of the great cats could reach
him. I have seen him tantalize them thus until they fairly screamed in rage.
The greatest inconvenience the hunters caused me was the delay, for they have a
nasty habit of keeping one treed for an hour or more if balked in their designs;
but at last we came in sight of a line of cliffs running east and west across our
path as far as the eye could see in either direction, and I knew that we reached
the natural boundary which marks the line between the Kro-lu and Galu
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