What I saw was a party of Band-lu warriors--large,
fierce-appearing men. From the direction of their march I saw that
they were returning to their caves, and that if we remained where
we were, they would pass without discovering us.
Presently Ajor nudged me. "They have a prisoner," she whispered.
"He is a Kro-lu."
And then I saw him, the first fully developed Krolu I had seen. He
was a fine-looking savage, tall and straight with a regal carriage.
To-mar was a handsome fellow; but this Kro-lu showed plainly in
his every physical attribute a higher plane of evolution. While
To-mar was just entering the Kro-lu sphere, this man, it seemed
to me, must be close indeed to the next stage of his development,
which would see him an envied Galu.
"They will kill him?" I whispered to Ajor.
"The dance of death," she replied, and I shuddered, so recently had
I escaped the same fate. It seemed cruel that one who must have
passed safely up through all the frightful stages of human evolution
within Caspak, should die at the very foot of his goal. I raised
my rifle to my shoulder and took careful aim at one of the Band-lu.
If I hit him, I would hit two, for another was directly behind the
first.
Ajor touched my arm. "What would you do?" she asked. "They are
all our enemies."
"I am going to save him from the dance of death," I replied, "enemy
or no enemy," and I squeezed the trigger.
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