The People That Time Forgot

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During the nights the searchlights from the Toreador were
kept playing upon the cliff at the point where the drills were
working, and at the rate of ten feet an hour the summit was
reached upon the fifth day. Ropes were lowered, blocks lashed
to trees at the top, and crude elevators rigged, so that by the
night of the fifth day the entire party, with the exception of
the few men needed to man the Toreador, were within Caspak
with an abundance of arms, ammunition and equipment.

From then on, they fought their way north in search of me,
after a vain and perilous effort to enter the hideous
reptile-infested country to the south. Owing to the number of
guns among them, they had not lost a man; but their path was
strewn with the dead creatures they had been forced to slay to
win their way to the north end of the island, where they had
found Bowen and his bride among the Galus of Jor.

The reunion between Bowen and Nobs was marked by a frantic
display upon Nobs' part, which almost stripped Bowen of the
scanty attire that the Galu custom had vouchsafed him. When we
arrived at the Galu city, Lys La Rue was waiting to welcome us.
She was Mrs. Tyler now, as the master of the Toreador had
married them the very day that the search-party had found them,
though neither Lys nor Bowen would admit that any civil or
religious ceremony could have rendered more sacred the bonds
with which God had united them.

Neither Bowen nor the party from the Toreador had seen any
sign of Bradley and his party. They had been so long lost now
that any hopes for them must be definitely abandoned. The Galus
had heard rumors of them, as had the Western Kro-lu and Band-lu;
but none had seen aught of them since they had left Fort Dinosaur
months since.

We rested in Jor's village for a fortnight while we prepared
for the southward journey to the point where the Toreador
was to lie off shore in wait for us. During these two weeks
Chal-az came up from the Krolu country, now a full-fledged Galu.
He told us that the remnants of Al-tan's party had been slain
when they attempted to re-enter Kro-lu. Chal-az had been made
chief, and when he rose, had left the tribe under a new leader
whom all respected.

Nobs stuck close to Bowen; but Ace and Ajor and I went out upon
many long rides through the beautiful north Galu country.
Chal-az had brought my arms and ammunition up from Kro-lu with
him; but my clothes were gone; nor did I miss them once I
became accustomed to the free attire of the Galu.

At last came the time for our departure; upon the following
morning we were to set out toward the south and the Toreador
and dear old California. I had asked Ajor to go with us; but
Jor her father had refused to listen to the suggestion. No pleas
could swerve him from his decision: Ajor, the cos-ata-lo,
from whom might spring a new and greater Caspakian race, could
not be spared. I might have any other she among the Galus;
but Ajor--no!

The poor child was heartbroken; and as for me, I was slowly
realizing the hold that Ajor had upon my heart and wondered how
I should get along without her. As I held her in my arms that
last night, I tried to imagine what life would be like without
her, for at last there had come to me the realization that I
loved her--loved my little barbarian; and as I finally tore
myself away and went to my own hut to snatch a few hours' sleep
before we set off upon our long journey on the morrow, I
consoled myself with the thought that time would heal the wound
and that back in my native land I should find a mate who would
be all and more to me than little Ajor could ever be--a woman
of my own race and my own culture.

Morning came more quickly than I could have wished. I rose and
breakfasted, but saw nothing of Ajor. It was best, I thought,
that I go thus without the harrowing pangs of a last farewell.
The party formed for the march, an escort of Galu warriors
ready to accompany us. I could not even bear to go to Ace's
corral and bid him farewell. The night before, I had given him
to Ajor, and now in my mind the two seemed inseparable.

And so we marched away, down the street flanked with its stone
houses and out through the wide gateway in the stone wall which
surrounds the city and on across the clearing toward the forest
through which we must pass to reach the northern boundary of
Galu, beyond which we would turn south. At the edge of the
forest I cast a backward glance at the city which held my
heart, and beside the massive gateway I saw that which brought
me to a sudden halt. It was a little figure leaning against
one of the great upright posts upon which the gates swing--a
crumpled little figure; and even at this distance I could see
its shoulders heave to the sobs that racked it. It was the
last straw.

Bowen was near me. "Good-bye old man," I said. "I'm going back."

He looked at me in surprise. "Good-bye, old man," he said, and
grasped my hand. "I thought you'd do it in the end."

And then I went back and took Ajor in my arms and kissed the
tears from her eyes and a smile to her lips while together we
watched the last of the Americans disappear into the forest.

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