After all, Hodon the Fleet One was only a cave man of the Stone Age. His instincts were primitive and direct, but they were sometimes faulty—as in this instance. He thought that the feeling that he harbored for O-aa was hate, when, as a matter of fact, it was love. Had he not loved her, he would not have cared that she ran away from him while he was risking his life for her. There are few sentiments more closely allied and inextricably intermingled than love and hate, but of this Hodon was not aware. At that moment he hated O-aa with utter single-mindedness and abandon.
He caught up with O-aa and seized her by the hair, spinning her around so that he looked down into her upturned face. That was a mistake, if he really wished to kill her. Only a man with a stone where his heart should have been could have slit O-aa's throat while looking into her face.
O-aa's eyes were very wide. "You are going to kill me?" she asked. "When my brother—"
"Why did you run away from me?" demanded Hodon. "I might have been killed."
"I did not run away until I saw Ta-ho roll over dead," said O-aa.
"Why did you run away then?" Hodon's knife hand hung at his side, and he loosened his grasp on O-aa's hair. Hodon's rage was oozing out through his eyes as they looked into the eyes of O-aa.
"I ran away because I am afraid of you. I do not wish to mate with you or any other man until I am ready. No man has won me yet."
"I have fought for you," Hodon reminded her. "I have killed Ta-ho in your defense."
"Ta-ho is not a man," said O-aa, as though that settled the whole matter.
"But I fought Blug for you. Every time I fight for you you run away. Why do you do that?"
"That time, I was running away from Blug. I thought he would kill you and then come after me; and anyway, fighting Blug was nothing—you didn't kill him. I saw Blug and my father afterward, but they did not see me."
"So, I shall have to kill a man before you will mate with me?" demanded Hodon.
"Why, of course. I think you will have to kill Blug. I do not understand why he did not kill you when you fought. If I were you I should keep out of Blug's way. He is a very great fighter. I think he would break you in two. I should like to see that fight."
Hodon looked at her for a long minute; then he said, "I think you are not worth having for a mate."
O-aa's eyes flashed. "It is a good thing for you that my brother did not hear you say that," she said with asperity.
"There you go," said Hodon, "dragging in your family again. I am sick and tired of hearing of your family all the time."
As they talked, unconscious of any but themselves, six strange-looking creatures crept toward them through the underbrush.
VII
THE FOUR Sarians at the windlass wound the balloon down to earth, and held it there while others removed the stone ballast. Everyone clustered around, examining it and heaping praise on Abner Perry. And Perry was so proud and happy that he felt like doing a little dance.
"And now," said Dian, "I shall go up."
"Perhaps you had better wait until David comes," counselled Perry. "Something might happen."
"It took all that rock up," argued Dian, "and I do not weigh as much as the rock."
"That is not the point," said Perry. "It would take you up, all right; but I don't think you should go until after David gets back. As I said before, something might happen."
"Well, I am going," said Dian.
"What if I forbade it?" asked Perry.
"I should go anyhow. Am I not Empress of Pellucidar?" She smiled as she said it; but Perry knew that, Empress of Pellucidar or not, Dian the Beautiful would go up in the balloon if she wished to.
"Very well," he said; "I'll let you go up a little way."
"You'll let me go up to the end of the rope," she said. "I want to see if David is coming home."
"Very well," said Perry, resignedly. "Get in."
The other Sarians clustered around Dian as she clambered into the basket. Here was a new experience far beyond anything that they had ever imagined, and Dian the Beautiful was about to have it. They all envied her. They made little jokes and told her what to look for when she got up to the sun. They asked her all the questions outer Earth people might have asked under similar circumstances—all but one: nobody asked her if she were afraid. One does not ask a Sarian if he is afraid.
Perry signalled to the four men at the windlass and the balloon commenced to rise. Dian the Beautiful clapped her hands happily. "Faster!" she called to the four men at the windlass.
"Slower!" said Perry. "Take it easy."
Up and up went the great gas bag. A little breeze caught it, and it swayed to, and fro. Dian felt very small up there all alone with that huge thing billowing above her.
"Can you see David?" some one shouted.
"Not yet," shouted Dian, "but I can see the Lural Az. Send me up higher!"
Soon almost all the rope was out, and Perry was glad; for then he could start pulling the balloon down. He was anxious to see Dian the Beautiful on terra firma again. Perhaps Perry had a premonition.
THE TERRIBLE CREATURES crept closer and closer to Hodon and O-aa. They were men, naked black men with long, prehensile tails. Their brows protruded above small, close-set eyes; and there was practically no head above the brows. Short, stiff black hair grew straight out from their skulls; but their outstanding feature was a pair of tusks that curved down from the upper jaw to below the chin.
"I wish," O-aa was saying, "that you would go away and leave me alone. I do not like you. If my brother—"
It was then that the creatures charged, roaring like beasts. With hands and tails, they seized Hodon and O-aa; and the two were helpless in their grasp. Chattering and jabbering among themselves they dragged their prisoners off into the forest.
Hodon tried to talk to them; but they did not understand him, nor could he understand them. They were very rough, slapping and cuffing their captives without provocation.
"Now we shall die," said O-aa.
"What makes you think so?" asked Hodon. "If they had intended to kill us, they could have done so when they attacked us."
"Do you not know what they are?" asked O-aa.
"No," said Hodon. "I have never seen nor heard of such creatures before."
"They are the sabertooth men," she said. Of course she did not use the word saber. What she said was, roughly, the taragtooth men—the tarag being the sabertooth tiger. "They are man-eaters," she added for good measure.
"You mean they are taking us home to eat?" demanded Hodon.
"Exactly," said O-aa.
"If you had come with me long ago, this would not have happened to you," said Hodon.
"Oh, there are worse things than being eaten by a sabertooth man," rejoined O-aa.
"Maybe you are right," agreed Hodon; "having to hear about your family, for instance."
"My brother is a mighty fighter," said O-aa. "He could break you in two, and my sister is very beautiful. You have no women in Sari so beautiful as my sister. She is almost as beautiful as I. My mother's father was so strong that he could carry the carcass of a full grown bos on his back."
"Now, I know you are lying," said Hodon. "Why must you lie so much, and always about your family? I am not interested in your family. I am only interested in you."
"My father is a king," said O-aa.
"He can be a Sagoth, for all I care. I do not wish to mate with your father."
"Now you will never mate with anybody," said O-aa. "Instead, you will be eaten by a sabertooth man and his mate."
"Maybe the same man will eat us both," said Hodon, grinning. "Then we shall be truly mated."
"If he does that to me I will give him a pain in his belly," said O-aa.
"You do not like me very well," said Hodon.