They had taken a shorter route to
the pass and so had overhauled me. I could see them plainly, for
they were no great distance away, and saw with relief that Ajor
was not with them.
The cliffs before them were broken and ragged, those coming from
the east overlapping the cliffs from the west. Into the defile
formed by this overlapping the party filed. I could see them
climbing upward for a few minutes, and then they disappeared from
view. When the last of them had passed from sight, I rose and bent
my steps in the direction of the pass--the same pass toward which
Nobs had evidently been leading me. I went warily as I approached
it, for fear the party might have halted to rest. If they hadn't
halted, I had no fear of being discovered, for I had seen that
the Galus marched without point, flankers or rear guard; and when
I reached the pass and saw a narrow, one-man trail leading upward
at a stiff angle, I wished that I were chief of the Galus for a
few weeks. A dozen men could hold off forever in that narrow pass
all the hordes which might be brought up from the south; yet there
it lay entirely unguarded.
The Galus might be a great people in Caspak; but they were pitifully
inefficient in even the simpler forms of military tactics. I was
surprised that even a man of the Stone Age should be so lacking
in military perspicacity.
Pages:
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147