Chapter 37: A Combat Of Titans

In a few minutes the amphitheater was entirely clear, save for the dead and maimed little figures lying scattered about; but it was nearly an hour more before the fugitives were ready to resume their journey.

The attack had come so suddenly, and had demanded such immediate and continuous action that none of the men, with the exception of the Very Young Man, had had time to realize how desperate was the situation in which they had fallen. With the almost equally abrupt cessation of the struggle there came the inevitable reaction; the men bleeding from a score of wounds, weak from loss of blood, and sick from the memory of the things they had been compelled to do, threw themselves upon the ground utterly exhausted.

“We must get out of here,” said the Doctor, after they had been lying quiet for a time, with the strident shrieks of hundreds of the dying little creatures sounding in their ears. “That was pretty near the end.”

“It isn’t far,” the Chemist answered, “when we get started.”

“We must get water,” the Doctor went on. “These cuts----” They had used nearly all their drinking-water washing out their wounds, which Aura and Lylda had bound up with strips of cloth torn from their garments.

The Chemist got upon his feet. “There’s no water nearer than the Forest River,” he said. “That tunnel over there comes out very near it.”

“What makes you think we won’t have another scrap getting out?” the Very Young Man wanted to know. He had entirely recovered from the effects of the stone that had struck him on the temple, and was in better condition than any of the other men.

“I’m sure,” the Chemist said confidently, “they were through; they will not attack us again; for some time at least. The tunnels will be deserted.”

The Big Business Man stood up also.

“We’d better get going while we have the chance,” he said. “This getting smaller--I don’t like it.”

They started soon after, and, true to the Chemist’s prediction, met no further obstacle to their safe passage through the tunnels. When they had reached the forest above, none of the little people were in sight.

The Big Business Man heaved a long sigh of relief. “Thank goodness we’re here at last,” he said. “I didn’t realize how good these woods would look.”

In a few minutes more they were at the edge of the river, bathing their wounds in its cooling water, and replenishing their drinking-bottles.

“How do we get across?” the Very Young Man asked.

“We won’t have to cross it,” the Chemist answered with a smile. “The tunnel took us under.”

“Let’s eat here,” the Very Young Man suggested, “and take a sleep; we’re about all in.”

“We ought to get larger first,” protested the Big Business Man. They were at this time about four times Oroid size; the forest trees, so huge when last they had seen them, now seemed only rather large saplings.

“Some one of us must stay awake,” the Doctor said. “But there do not seem to be any Oroids up here.”

“What do they come up here for, anyway?” asked the Very Young Man.

“There’s some hunting,” the Chemist answered. “But principally it’s the mines beyond, in the deserts.”

They agreed finally to stop beside the river and eat another meal, and then, with one of them on guard, to sleep for a time before continuing their journey.

The meal, at the Doctor’s insistence, was frugal to the extreme, and was soon over. They selected Oteo to stand guard first. The youth, when he understood what was intended, pleaded so with his master that the Chemist agreed. Utterly worn out, the travelers lay down on a mossy bank at the river’s edge, and in a few moments were all fast asleep.

Oteo sat nearby with his back against a tree-trunk. Occasionally he got up and walked to and fro to fight off the drowsiness that came over him.

How long the Very Young Man slept he never knew. He slept dreamlessly for a considerable time. When he struggled back to consciousness it was with a curious feeling of detachment, as though his mind no longer was connected with his body. He thought first of Aura, with a calm peaceful sense of happiness. For a long time he lay, drifting along with his thoughts and wondering whether he were asleep or awake. Then all at once he knew he was not asleep. His eyes were open; before him stood the forest trees at the river’s edge. And at the foot of one of the trees he could see the figure of Oteo, sitting hunched up with his head upon his hands, fast asleep.

Remembrance came to the Very Young Man, and he sat up with a start. Beside him his friends lay motionless. He looked around, still a little confused. And then his heart leaped into his throat, for at the edge of the woods he saw a small, lean, gray figure--the little figure of a man who stood against a tree-trunk. The man’s face was turned towards him; he met the glistening eyes looking down and saw the lips parted in a leering smile.

A thrill of fear ran over the Very Young Man as he recognized the face of Targo. And then his heart seemed to stop beating. For as he stared, fascinated, into the man’s mocking eyes, he saw that slowly, steadily he was growing larger. Mechanically the Very Young Man’s hand went to his armpit, his fingers fumbling at the pouch strapped underneath. The vial of chemicals was not there!

For an instant more the Very Young Man continued staring. Then, with an effort, he turned his eyes away from the gaze that seemed to hypnotize him. Beside him the Chemist lay sleeping. He looked back at Targo, and saw him larger--almost as large now as he was himself.

Like a cloak discarded, the Very Young Man’s bewilderment dropped from him. He recognized the danger, realized that in another moment this enemy would be irresistibly powerful--invincible. His mind was clear now, his nerves steady, his muscles tense. He knew the only thing he could do; he calculated the chances in a flash of thought.

Still staring at the triumphant face of Targo, the Very Young Man jumped to his feet and swiftly bent over the sleeping form of the Chemist. Reaching through the neck of his robe he took out the vial of chemicals, and before his friend was fairly awake had swallowed one of the pills.

As the Very Young Man sprang into action Targo turned and ran swiftly away, perhaps a hundred feet; then again he stopped and stood watching his intended victim with his sardonic smile.