'I'll give 'em something to think about besides us,' said von Horst, and as they passed the roaring fire he threw his cartridge belt into it.
As they neared the gate he spoke again to La-ja. 'Run,' he said. 'I'll try to hold them for a moment or two'; then he wheeled and faced the oncoming bison-men. There were only about a dozen of them sober enough to control their actions or hold to a fixed purpose. The majority of the others were milling about the fire or lying helpless on the ground, and even the dozen were erratic in their movements.
Von Horst loosed an arrow at the nearest of the pursuers. It caught him in the belly, and he went down shrieking and bellowing. A second arrow bowled over another. The remainder were quite close now, too close for comfort. He sent another arrow into a third; and that stopped them, momentarily at least. Then the cartridges in the fire began to explode. At the first detonation those who were pursuing the fugitives turned to see what had caused this startling sound, and simultaneously von Horst wheeled and started for the gate.
He found La-ja standing directly behind him, but she too turned and ran the instant that she saw that he was leaving.
'I thought I told you to run,' he said.
'What good would it have done, if you had been recaptured or killed?' she demanded. 'They would only have caught me again. But it would have done them no good. Kru would not have had me.'
He saw then that she carried her stone knife in her hand, and a lump rose in his throat from pity for her. He wanted to take her in his arms from sympathy, but when one is running from imminent death one cannot very well take a woman who hates one into one's arms.
'But you might have escaped and reached Lo-har,' he protested.
'There are other things in the world beside reaching Lo-har,' she replied enigmatically.
They were past the gates now. Behind them rose the din of exploding cartridges and the mad bellowing of the bison-men. Before them stretched an open, rolling, tree-dotted valley. To their left was the great forest, to their right a fringe of trees at the base of low, wooded cliffs.
Von Horst bore to the right.
'The forest is closer,' suggested La-ja.
'It is in the wrong direction,' he replied. 'Lo-har should lie in the direction we are going. It does, doesn't it?'
'Yes, in this general direction.'
'But more important is the fact that if we got into the great forest we'd lose ourselves in no time—and no telling where we'd come out.'
La-ja glanced back. 'I think they're gaining on us,' she said. 'They are very fast.'
Von Horst realized that they'd never reach the cliffs ahead of their pursuers, that their break for liberty had only delayed the inevitable.
'I have a few more arrows left,' he said. 'We can keep on until they overtake us. Something may happen—a miracle, and it will have to be a miracle. If nothing does, we can make a stand for it. I may be able to kill off enough of them to frighten the others away while we make a fresh start for the cliffs.'
'Not a chance,' said La-ja. 'Look back there near the village.'
Von Horst whistled. More warriors were emerging from the gateway. Evidently Kru was sending all who could stand on their feet to join in the pursuit.
'It looks like a hard winter,' he remarked.
'Winter?' queried La-ja. 'I see nothing but Ganaks. Where is the winter?' She was panting from exertion, and her words came in little gasps.
'Well, let it pass. We'd better save our breath for running.'
Thereafter they bent all their energies to the task of out-distancing the bison-men, but without hope. Constantly they lost ground; yet they were nearing the cliffs and the little fringe of wood that half hid them.
Von Horst did not know why he felt so certain that they might be safe if they reached the cliffs; yet he did feel it, and his judgment seemed justified by the fact that the bison-men appeared so anxious to overtake them as quickly as possible. If they had known that the fugitives could not escape even after reaching the cliffs, it seemed reasonable to assume that they would have shown less haste and excitement and would have trailed more slowly and with far less exertion.
Presently La-ja stumbled and fell. Von Horst wheeled and was at her side instantly. She seemed very weak as he helped her to her feet.
'It's no use,' she said. 'I cannot go on. I have been running away from Skruf for a long time, always without sufficient food or rest. It has made me weak. Go on without me. You might easily save yourself. There is nothing more that you can do for me.'
'Don't worry,' he said. 'We'll make our stand here. We'd have had to made it pretty soon anyway.'
He turned to glance at the oncoming half-beasts. In a moment they'd be within arrow range. There were nine of them, and he had six arrows left. If he got six of the pursuers he might bluff off the other three, but how about the swarm that was now pouring up the valley from the village?
He was thinking how futile was his foolish little stand against such odds, when something impelled him to turn suddenly and look at La-ja. It was one of those strange, psychic phenomena which most of us have experienced, and which many trained researchers ridicule; yet the force which caused von Horst to turn about seemed almost physical, so powerfully did it affect him and so peremptorily. And as he turned he voiced a cry of alarm and leaped forward, seizing La-ja's right wrist.
'La-ja!' he cried. 'Thank the Lord I saw you.'
He wrenched her stone knife from her fingers, and then dropped her hand. He had broken out into a cold sweat and was trembling.
'How could you? La-ja, how could you?'
'It is best,' she said. 'If I were dead you might escape. Soon they will take us; and then we shall both die; for they will kill you, and I will kill myself. I will not let Kru have me.'
'No,' he said, 'that is right; but wait until all hope is gone.'
'It is gone. You have already done too much for me. The least I can do is to make you free to save yourself. Give me back my knife.'
He shook his head.
'But if they get me, and I have no knife, how can I escape Kru?'
'I'll let you have it,' he said, 'if you'll promise not to do that until after I am dead. As long as I live there is hope.'
'I promise,' she said. 'I do not want to die. I just wanted to save you.'
'Because you hate me?' he asked with a half-smile.
'Perhaps,' she replied unsmilingly. 'Perhaps I do not want to be under such obligations to one I don't like—or perhaps—'
He handed the knife back to her. 'You have promised me,' he reminded her.
'I shall keep my promise. Look; they are very close.'
He turned then and saw that the bison-men were almost within bow-shot. He fitted an arrow and waited. They saw, and came more slowly. Now they spread out to afford him a poorer target. He had not given them credit for that much sense.
'I'll get some of them,' he called back to La-ja. 'I wish you would run for the cliffs. I think you could make it. I am sure I can hold them for a while.'
The girl did not reply and he could not take his eyes from the bison-men long enough even to glance back at her. His bow twanged. A bison-man screamed and fell.
'I'm getting pretty hot at this archery stuff,' he commented aloud. This evidence of childish pride upon the very threshold of death amused him, and he smiled. He thought that if he were home he could give exhibitions at town fairs. Perhaps he could even learn to shoot backward through a mirror as he had seen rifle experts do. It was all very amusing. He pictured the embarrassment of his fellow officers and other friends when they saw large colored lithographs announcing the coming of 'Lieutenant Frederich Wilhelm Eric von Mendeldorf und von Horst, Champion Archer of the World. Admission 25 pfennings.'
He loosed another arrow, still smiling. 'I think I shall charge more admission,' he mused as another bison- man dropped, 'I'm pretty good.'
