'The beasts,' she said, 'the beasts that hunt through the forest by night; we cannot escape them.'
'Yet you came here willingly.'
'Ul Vas would have tortured us,' she replied; 'the beasts will be more merciful. Listen! You can hear them now.'
In the distance, I heard strange grunts and then a fearsome roar.
'They are not near us,' I said.
'They will come,' she replied.
'Then I had better get a fire started; that will keep them away.'
'Do you think so?' she asked.
'I hope so.'
I knew that in any forest there must be deadwood; and so, although it was pitch dark, I commenced to search for fallen branches; and soon I had collected a little pile of these and some dry leaves.
The Tarids had not taken away my pocket pouch, and in it I still had the common Martian appliance for making fire.
'You said that the Tarids would hesitate to enter the forest on this side of the river even by day,' I remarked, as I sought to ignite the dry leaves with which I hoped to start my fire. 'Why is that?'
'The Masenas,' she replied. 'They often come up the river in great numbers, hunting the Tarids; and unfortunate is he whom they find outside the castle walls. It is seldom, however, that they cross to the other side of the river.'
'Why do they hunt the Tarids?' I asked. 'What do they want of them?'
'Food,' she replied.
'You don't mean to say that the Masenas eat human flesh?' I demanded.
She nodded. 'Yes, they are very fond of it.'
I had succeeded in igniting the leaves, and now I busied myself placing small twigs upon my newborn fire and building it up into the semblance of something worth while.
'But I was imprisoned for a long time with one of the Masenas,' I reminded her.
'He seemed very friendly.'
'Under those circumstances, of course,' she said, 'he might not try to eat you. He might even become very friendly; but if you should meet him here in the forest with his own people, you would find him very different. They are hunting beasts, like all of the other creatures, that inhabit the forest.'
My fire grew to quite a respectable size. It illuminated the forest and the surface of the river and the castle beyond.
When it blazed up and revealed us, the Tarids, called across to us, prophesying our early death.
The warmth of the fire was pleasant after our emersion from the cold water and our exposure to the chill of the forest night. Ozara came close to it, stretching her lithe, young body before it. The yellow flames illuminated her fair skin, imparted a greenish tinge to her blue hair, awakened slumberous fires in her languorous eyes.
Suddenly she tensed, her eyes widened in fright. 'Look!' she whispered, and pointed.
I turned in the direction that she indicated. From the dense shadows just beyond the firelight, two blazing eyes were flaming.
'They have come for us,' said Ozara.
I picked a blazing brand from the fire and hurled it at the intruder. There was a hideous, bloodcurdling scream as the eyes disappeared.
The girl was trembling again. She cast affrighted glances in all directions.
'There is another,' she exclaimed presently, 'and there, and there, and there.'
I caught a glimpse of a great body slinking in the shadows; and all about us, as I turned, I saw blazing eyes. I threw a few more brands, but the eyes disappeared for only a moment to return again almost immediately, and each time they seemed to come closer; and now, since I had cast the first brand, the beasts were roaring and growling and screaming continuously-a veritable diapason of horror.
I realized that my fire would not last long if I kept throwing it at the beasts, as I had not sufficient wood to keep it replenished.
Something must be done. I cast about me rather hopelessly in search of some avenue of escape and discovered a nearby tree that looked as though it might be easily scaled. Only such a tree would be of any advantage to us, as I had no doubt that the creatures would charge the moment that we started to climb.
I took two brands from the fire and handed them to Ozara, and then selected two for myself.
'What are we going to do?' she asked.
'We are going to try to climb that tree,' I replied. 'Perhaps some of these brutes can climb, too, but we shall have to take a chance. Those I have seen look too large and heavy for climbing.
'We will walk slowly to the foot of the tree. When we are there, throw your brands at the nearest beasts; and then start to climb. When you are safely out of their reach, I will follow.'
Slowly we crossed from the fire to the tree, waving the blazing brands about us.
Here, Ozara did as I had bid her; and when she was safely out of the way, I grasped one of my brands in my teeth, hurled the other, and started to climb.
The beasts charged almost instantly, but I reached a point of safety before they could drag me down, though what with the smoke of the brand in my eyes and the sparks being scraped off against my naked hide, I was lucky to have made it at all; but I felt that we must have the light of the brand, as I did not know what arboreal enemies might be lurking in the branches above.
I immediately examined the tree, climbing to the highest branches that would support my weight. With the aid of my light, I discovered that no creature was in it, other than Ozara and myself; and high among the branches I made a happy find-an enormous nest, carefully woven and lined with soft grasses.
I was about to call down to Ozara to come up, when I saw her already ascending just below me.
When she saw the nest, she told me that it was probably one of those built by the Masenas for temporary use during a raid or expedition into this part of the forest. It was certainly a most providential find, as it afforded us a comfortable place in which to spend the remainder of the night.
It was some time before we could accustom ourselves to the noises of the beasts howling beneath us, but at last we fell asleep; and when we awoke in the morning, they had departed; and the forest was quiet.
Ozara had told me that her country, Domnia, lay across the mountains that rose beyond the forest and that it might be reached by following the river down for a considerable distance to the end of the range, where we could follow another river up to Domnia upon the opposite side.
The most remarkable feature of the following two days was the fact that we survived them. We found food in plenty; and as we were always near the river, we never suffered for lack of water; but by day and by night we were constantly in danger of attack by the roving flesh-eaters.
We always sought to save ourselves by climbing into trees, but upon three occasions we were taken by surprise; and I was forced to fall back upon my sword, which had seemed to me a most inadequate weapon of defense against some of the ferocious beasts that assailed us.
However, in these three instances, I managed to kill our attackers, although, I must confess, that it seemed to me then, and still does, wholly a matter of luck that I succeeded.
By now, Ozara was in a more sanguine frame of mind.
Having survived this long, she felt that it was entirely possible that we might live to reach Domnia, although originally she had been confident that we could not come through the first night alive.
She was often quite gay now, and she was really very good company. Especially was this true on the morning of the third day as we were making good progress toward our distant goal.
The forest seemed to be unusually quiet; and we had seen no dangerous beasts all that day, when suddenly a chorus of hideous roars arose all about us; and simultaneously a score or more of creatures dropped from the concealing foliage of the trees about us.
Ozara's happy chatter died on her lips. 'The Masenas!' she cried.
As they surrounded us and started to close in on us, their roaring ceased and they commenced to meow and purr. This, to me, seemed far more horrifying. As they came closer, I decided to make our capture cost them dearly, though I knew that eventually they would take us. I had seen Umka fight, and I knew what to expect.
Although they closed about me, they did not seem anxious to engage me. By pushing close to me on one
