Chapter VIII: Pluck and Good Luck

As Sure-dart’s face was upturned to the sky he could not see the nearing monster, and he dared not take the chance of raising his head for a look. He heard the great beast coming, however, and was sure that she was as yet keeping the high ground of the ridge. In a moment the trampling showed that she was about abreast of him, and out of extra prudence he took a long breath, and ducked his head out of sight.

There seemed to be now but one danger, which was that she might, at this last moment, take the notion to turn aside into the swamp. He did not greatly worry about this, however. In fact, she was already abreast of him. But just here something happened that he had not counted on, though it ought not, of itself, to have been a surprise. Something cold, but alive, touched his foot, and as he instinctively recoiled it flashed, so to speak, up the outside of his leg.

It was not in human nature to stand it. The thing, whatever it was, seemed to be bumping against his dart-sheath, but before it could progress any farther he made a plunging leap, and scrambled out on the islet.

He had more than half expected to feel the sting of the creature’s teeth, or the quick whipping of its folds (he had guessed that it was a water-snake) about his leg, but as he almost tumbled up the little slope he found that neither thing had happened.

But something else had. The three-horns, alert, perhaps in trying to find some sign of her mate, had instantly noticed him, and what was more, she had as quickly swung aside, and was wallowing toward him.

Perhaps it may seem strange, but this change of peril from the unknown to the known was a relief. At least, he now had his enemy before him, and could tell the sort of creature he was dealing with. He was becoming a little used, also, to the ways and powers of this big, but rather stupid foe. Still, there was no time to lose, and in a twinkling he was off over the green mush of reeds and mud, and splashing through the pools. He was heading for the next of the little islets, where he hoped to play another trick of doubling. It was high enough above the water for the purpose.

But this time, as he quickly found, the trick would not work. The beast was a little more active than the other, and perhaps not quite so headstrong, for she did not go charging along as if blindfolded, but kept alertly along in his wake, apparently veering from a straight course when he did, and not allowing him to get out of her sight. He did not dare, therefore, to try his doubling trick, for if it failed it would leave him in the tightest possible corner. She would then be the same as within striking distance, and before he could rise and spring away, the plunging horns, or the snapping bill, would have him. There was only to make a straight-away flight of it then, and this, with revived fears, but with the same old desperate resolution, he proceeded to do.

But he was now tiring, and already ran heavily, even where the ground was firm. On the other hand, the great reptile seemed to throw itself along with more rather than with less energy. But it was true that Sure-dart was somewhat worn by his previous exertions, to say nothing of the great tax of the battle, and the later incidents.

Nearer the giant monster came. The boy’s breath was coming now with a rasping sound, and his legs seemed like stone. Still he held doggedly on. A moment later something happened in his favor. The monster plunged into an unusually soft and mucky spot, and had some little trouble to get out. Sure-dart, with the coolness of desperation, deliberately took the most of the time to rest and get his breath. When he started on again he was able to put on a bit more speed.

The boy’s mind must have tired a little with his body, for after a few minutes he began to lose the keen sense of danger, and seemed to be moving almost mechanically. It was splash and wallow, with the squashing sound of the mud underfoot, and breaths drawn raspingly; and it all seemed to have been going on for a long time, and as if it were always to go on. But there were intervals when he came out of this half-stupor, and consciously drove his tired, heavy legs on again. It was then that he heard once more the grunting and hissing of the giant, but at other times he was not aware that he heard anything but the sounds he himself made.

At last he had the rich reward of his pluck. Before he was well aware of it a broader stretch than one of the mounds held hard under his tread, and he found that he had come upon a bit of the outlying firm ground that pushed itself out from the slope at the foot of the forest. The discovery flashed hot and tingling over him, and gave him new life. His dry lips let out a little hoarse cry of exultation, and he shot with long bounds onward.

Now the low trees lay just before, with bushes and rocks outlying, and a quick, southern widening to the slopes of the battle-ground. He was gaining on the pursuer, for the wine of hope increased his strength, and the better footing was helping. The monster was still plunging and wading through the bog. One swift, almost mad dash, and he was out of the moonlight into the tree-shadows, and clawing at the sipos that wound snake-like around a great, substantial palm. While the grunts and hisses behind him showed that the monster had also fetched the firm land, he was grasping the tough vines, and by their help was lifting and knee-clutching up the trunk. In two minutes more he was out of present danger.

He was in peril now from the reaction. Soon his arms and legs grew weak, and he had some ado to hold on. He could not have done so at all but for the tangle of vines. Meanwhile, something heavy crashed in among the shadows below, and a shock that would have dislodged him but for his new hold, seemed to make the whole tree jar. Three-horns was both expressing her rage and disappointment, and trying the effect of her giant strength.

So far Sure-dart had every reason to be thankful, but it now began to be clear to him that this last-moment refuge could answer merely a temporary purpose, and that he must make a change. The vines and creepers, though so useful for hand-holds and leg-rests, would not answer for permanent supports, say, for several hours. It might easily be that the time would be as long as that, especially if the female should succeed in calling her mate, and the two should take it into their stupid but obstinate heads to carry on a regular siege.

He first peered about and tried to see whether there was another and better tree within reachable distance. Yes, within a few feet was the great, spreading branch of some tree that looked like an oak. The branch was near the top of the tree, which was therefore much shorter than the one he was on, for he was still many feet from the sparse top of that. In that strange forest (as it would seem to us), where trees now found only in tropic lands were next neighbors to those of our temperate zones, this discovery did not surprise him, and he quietly started to make his way to the better quarters. Just then the dusky mass, that he could now look down on and pretty distinctly make out, began to stir and grunt, and as he reached out and drew a small limb to him, meaning to use this to help him to a grip on a larger, the creature broke into one of its loudest, hiss-ending bellows.

Sure-dart paid no attention, but as the swishing of the branches that he was laying hold of grew a little louder, he heard another sound, and as he finally clutched the branch he wanted, and swung himself off, the sound swelled louder, and even as he pulled himself safely to his new perch, the great bulk of the other three-horns came crashing out of a tangle of bushes and undergrowth. What he had feared had come true, and he must expect to stand a siege by both monsters!

And how was this siege to be raised? He could get along for a while without food or drink, or, indeed, it might be possible that he could make his way to a palm that bore cocoanuts and get refreshment from the meat and the milk, but that would not end the situation. When his friends missed him, would they trace him far enough in this direction to guess that he had gone still farther, and so keep on till they had found him? He had become a favorite with all, as he knew; and besides, short as the tribe now was of fighting men, his skilful arm and stout heart could not easily be spared. Yet, on the other hand, to venture as far as this was to take a great chance of again meeting the Fishers, and this was not a risk to be taken lightly. Sure-dart believed that the crafty Long-spear might lurk hereabouts for a while instead of turning back, hoping that the Rock-people might by that time have become careless, and neglect to keep a proper guard. Inasmuch as the attack of the Fishers had failed, or at least had not been decisive in results, the chief and his principal advisers would be all the more likely to persevere in some plan that would give them better results. It would be mortifying to go back otherwise. All this being true, Sure-dart could see that Big-axe would hesitate before venturing so far back into danger.

Nor was this the end of the trouble. If the Fishers were in the neighborhood, they might hear the noise of the two monsters, and try to learn the cause. If there was not too much danger, they might then turn their force into a hunting party, and endeavor to kill the beasts, by so doing replenishing their stock of provisions. Doubtless they had travelled light, as their business required speed, and therefore light burdens. To be sure, the great lizards did not make prime eating, even for savage tastes, but parts relished well, and it must be remembered that some people of our day eat certain reptiles, such as frogs. We might also remind ourselves that many reptiles of that period had a sort of kinship with modern birds, or, to be more definite, that the birds we know are descended from creatures of a reptile nature.

Looking the ground all over, then, Sure-dart had to acknowledge that he was in a very tight place, and that the scrape he had just got out of by no means meant the end of his troubles. This was pretty hard, considering all he had gone through, and the plucky efforts he had made, but it was nevertheless a cold fact, and must be met as such. Sure-dart was luckily of just the right material to face such an apparent discouragement. He never gave up till he had to--an excellent rule for boys of a later day to follow.

The thing to do at present was to make himself as comfortable as possible, and for this purpose he climbed to a place just above, where two stout limbs started pretty close together from the trunk, and made a roughly good kind of seat. He had the lower of the two limbs, which was broad and flattish, for the bottom of his chair, the other limb served as the back, and he had the trunk to lean sidewise against. There was some danger that he might drop to sleep, and fall off, but to guard against this he meant by and by to climb down a few feet, where a long, stout, creeping plant, or sipo, had worked its snake-like way that far up the tree, and tear off enough for a binding rope. He could tie himself so strongly to a limb that he must awake before his partial weight against it could break it.

All the while the two disappointed monsters below were grunting and fussing, and now and then rooting the ground with their horns. They reared up several times, too, and thrust their hooked bills an unpleasant distance up the trunk; but the whole effected nothing. Sure-dart merely looked down at them, but did not in the least worry. Even the biggest death-beast could not have reached him, and nothing that walked could have pulled down the tree itself.

As he had nothing else to do he began to look about him and try to get a better idea of his surroundings. The tree that he was in was one of a group that partly shut in a small open space, this space being covered with a rush-like grass, the common kind of that day. This grass, in turn, nearly hid the trunks of two or three fallen trees. Otherwise it made a bit of clearing, the woods shutting it in excepting on one narrow side. Here was an opening toward the west, or in the direction of the ridge and the Rock-people’s camp. From where he sat, or from any other position in the tree, Sure-dart could not get the range of the whole ridge, but he could see a good stretch of the beginning. To the left of this, or what might be called shorewards, he could see the whole of the first battle-ground, and a considerable stretch of the open slope above. At least, he was placed so as to get a pretty early notice of the coming of friends or foes. The possible exception would be if they came from a strange and unlooked-for direction.

Matters now in a sense quieted down, and remained so for fully half an hour. This gave the boy a rest, which certainly he needed; he leaned back in his place, and in a light way dozed. To be sure, the monsters were still below, and they grunted a good deal, and now and then nosed about the tree, but he was not now minding them. The other noises were merely the ordinary ones of the night,--the croaking and whistling and humming, with sharp or lonesome bird-calls, and the splashing of the larger wandering creatures.

All at once, as it seemed to him, he heard a new sound. It was one that came as a little shock, though he was only half sure that he really heard it, and though it was not a loud sound. He straightened up, and with all his keen senses alert, listened.

It came again. There could be no mistake now, and his ears, like faithful sentinels, had given him a true warning. The sound was familiar enough, though familiarity had not made it commonplace. It was the queer, sputtering hiss of a giant death-beast.

The boy’s eyes lighted, and with one of his low, clicking laughs, he squared himself about on the limb. He was in a position now to see everything in the little opening. It was toward this opening that the death-beast seemed to be making his way.

But here the two besiegers below, having evidently caught the sounds, all at once stopped their grunting and fussing, and stood with heads raised. Only their spike-ridged tails switched uneasily. Just then the noise came again, and from the same direction, but nearer. Following it was a distinct crackling amongst the trees and underbrush.

This was enough for the three-horns. They probably had not meant to make a stand, but only to be sure of the direction of their enemy, for now they wheeled, and started at full gallop out into the open.

Sure-dart was never able to explain how the next thing came about. He knew that the death-beasts, like all the great lizards, were stupid, and yet what followed seemed to be the result of a pretty piece of cunning. The three-horns were scarcely out in the open when they stopped short, and in a moment wheeled, and slowly trotted back into the little opening. Not instantly, but quickly, Sure-dart saw what had happened. Coming with long, soft strides along the upper margin of the outside slope, and making but slight noise, was another death-beast. He was almost up to the little opening, as the three-horns started out.

Later, when Sure-dart had time for theories, he made up his mind that this seeming trick of the death-beasts was really an accident. He believed that the pair were roving along, as the three-horns had been, some little way apart, they being in search of something for supper, and that it was a mere chance that one was in the rear of the three-horns, and the other placed so as to cut them off. The only piece of cunning, as Sure-dart thought, was the silence and stealth of the second death-beast, and this was hardly more than a hunting creature’s ordinary instinct.

But just at present Sure-dart had something to take his attention besides natural history problems; he was all agog to see what he thought would be the greatest fight of live flesh against live flesh that human eyes ever beheld. In his excitement he slipped down to a lower limb, and from near the bending end of it stooped and peered down.

He had not to wait long for the mighty show to begin.