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they realized that the call had come to them and they were about to rise from the
estate of Band-lus to that of Kro-lus. I was glad that I was not batu.
But where was Ajor? Though my eyes searched the wide landscape before me, I
saw nothing other than the warriors of Du-seen and the beasts of the fields and
the forests. Surrounded by forests, I could see wide plains dotting the country as
far as the eye could reach; but nowhere was a sign of a small Galu she--the
beloved she whom I would have given my right hand to see.
Nobs and I were hungry; we had not eaten since the preceding night, and below
us was game-deer, sheep, anything that a hungry hunter might crave; so down
the steep trail we made our way, and then upon my belly with Nobs crouching
low behind me, I crawled toward a small herd of red deer feeding at the edge of a
plain close beside a forest. There was ample cover, what with solitary trees and
dotting bushes so that I found no difficulty in stalking up wind to within fifty feet
of my quarry--a large, sleek doe unaccompanied by a fawn. Greatly then did I
regret my rifle. Never in my life had I shot an arrow, but I knew how it was done,
and fitting the shaft to my string, I aimed carefully and let drive. At the same
instant I called to Nobs and leaped to me feet.
The arrow caught the doe full in the side, and in the same moment Nobs was
after her. She turned to flee with the two of us pursuing her, Nobs with his great
fangs bared and I with my short spear poised for a cast. The balance of the herd
sprang quickly away; but the hurt doe lagged, and in a moment Nobs was beside
her and had leaped at her throat. He had her down when I came up, and I
finished her with my spear. It didn't take me long to have a fire going and a steak
broiling, and while I was preparing for my own feast, Nobs was filling himself with
raw venison. Never have I enjoyed a meal so heartily.
For two days I searched fruitlessly back and forth from the inland sea almost to
the barrier cliffs for some trace of Ajor, and always I trended northward; but I saw
no sign of any human being, not even the band of Galu warriors under Du-seen;
and then I commenced to have misgivings. Had Chal-az spoken the truth to me
when he said that Ajor had quit the village of the Kro-lu? Might he not have been
acting upon the orders of Al-tan, in whose savage bosom might have lurked some
small spark of shame that he had attempted to do to death one who had
befriended a Kro-lu warrior--a guest who had brought no harm upon the Kro-lu
race--and thus have sent me out upon a fruitless mission in the hope that the
wild beasts would do what Al-tan hesitated to do? I did not know; but the more I
thought upon it, the more convinced I became that Ajor had not quitted the Kro-
lu village; but if not, what had brought Du-seen forth without her? There was a
puzzler, and once again I was all at sea.
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