The young lady was quite frank. Sometimes these paleolithic maidens are; but not always. Dian had been just the opposite.
'Well,' I said, 'you may make somebody a fine mate, but not me. I already have one.'
O-Ra shrugged. 'Oh, you'll never see her again,' she said. 'You've got to live here all the rest of your life, and you might as well have a mate.'
'Forget it, O-Ra,' I said, 'and pick out a nice man of your own race.'
'Do you mean that you don't want me?' she demanded, angrily.
'It is not a question of wanting you or not wanting you,' I replied. 'It is that, as I told you before, I already have a mate; and in my country we never have but one at a time.'
'That's not the reason,' she snapped. 'You're in love with Lu-Bra. That's why you go out together alone all the time. Any fool could see that.'
'Well, have it your own way, O-Ra,' I said. 'I'm going to get some sleep now;' and I turned and left her.
When I awoke I was thoroughly rested; and, shortly after, Lu-Bra awoke. When we came out of the hut we saw that they were already gathering for the feast. I was ravenously hungry and wanted to eat, and I knew that Lu-Bra must want to also. The fact that a feast was going on gave us an excellent opportunity to escape without detection, since every member of the tribe would be in the village during the feast, and there would be no likelihood of anyone discovering us while we launched the canoe and loaded it up with our supplies.
I suggested this to Lu-Bra. 'I think we can get out of here, now, without being seen,' I said. 'They will think that we are still asleep in our hut, if they miss us, which they may not.'
'Good,' she said. 'We can keep the huts between us and them until we enter the forest;' and so we bade farewell to the village of the Ru-vans for what we hoped would be the last time.
We hurried to the canoe; and, with our combined efforts, managed finally to drag it into the water; then we hastened to load it with our provisions.
We had just about completed our work when I saw someone approaching through the forest from the direction of the village. It was too late now to conceal what we were doing, and I knew that whoever it was would know what we were contemplating the moment that they saw us loading the canoe with water and food.
Lu-Bra was returning from the cache with her arms full, and I was just starting back for another load, when O-Ra burst upon the scene.
'So that's what you're doing,' she flared, angrily. 'You are going to run away, and you are going to take that white-faced thing with you.'
'You guessed it the first time, O-Ra,' I said.
'Well, you're not going to do it. I'll see to that,' she snapped. 'But if you want to escape from Ruva, I'll go with you instead of that girl. If you won't do that, I'll give the alarm.'
'But I have to take Lu-Bra,' I said. 'Otherwise, I could never find the mainland.' I thought maybe by explaining I could mollify her. 'You know, O-Ra, that you could not show me how to reach the mainland.'
'Very well, take her along, too, then, as guide; but I am going as your mate.'
'No, O-Ra,' I said. 'I am sorry; but that would not work out.'
'You won't take me?' she asked.
'No, O-Ra.'
Her eyes flashed angrily for a moment, and then she turned and walked back into the forest. It seemed to me that she had given up very easily.
Lu-Bra and I hurried as fast as we could to load the remainder of our provisions in the canoe. We couldn't afford to leave without taking everything that we had collected, for we had no idea how long we would be on the water before we reached the mainland.
We had stowed away the last load, and Lu-Bra had taken her place in the canoe, when I heard the sounds of approaching men; and I knew that O-Ra had returned to the village and reported what she had discovered. I pushed off and paddled away from shore just as forty or fifty Ruvan warriors burst into sight. Ro-Tai was in the lead, and he shouted to me to come back; but I turned the nose of the canoe toward the open sea and started to hoist the sail. There was a slight off-shore wind, and it seemed an eternity before the sail caught the little breeze that reached us. Both Lu-Bra and I paddled frantically; but if we did not get more wind we never could escape the Ruvans, who were now piling into their canoes to take up the pursuit.
The leading canoe shot out from the shore; but now we were far enough out so that we were catching a little more wind and moving just a little more rapidly. However, they were overhauling us; and all the time Ro-Tai was shouting for me to come back; and his canoe was drawing nearer.
They came within a spear-throw of us; but now we were holding about even. Ro-Tai stood up in the canoe with his spear poised to throw.
'Come back,' he said, 'or you die!'
Lu-Bra had crossed from Ko-va in the canoe, and since then she had asked many questions relative to its handling. Whether or not she could steer it I didn't know, but I had to take the chance; and so I called her to me and told her to take the steering paddle; then I fitted an arrow to my bow and stood up.
'Ro-Tai, I do not want to kill you,' I said; 'but if you don't lay down that spear I shall have to.'
He hesitated a moment. A gust of wind bellied our sail bravely, and the canoe leaped ahead just as Ro-Tai hurled his weapon. I knew that it would fall short; and so I did not shoot him, for I liked Ro-Tai and he had been kind to me.
'Do not forget, Ro-Tai,' I called back, 'that I could have killed you but that I did not. I am your friend; but I want to return to my own country.'
We were pulling away from them rapidly now. For awhile they followed us; but, seeing the futility of further pursuit, they at last turned back.
Chapter XXVIII
HOW LONG that voyage lasted, God only knows. A dozen times we were attacked by huge nameless monsters, and three times we ran into storms that threatened to terminate our voyage and our lives simultaneously; but somehow we pulled through, until at last we were faced with the knowledge that our food and water would soon be gone.
Lu-Bra proved to be a very wonderful girl. She was courageous and uncomplaining. I felt sorry for her.
'You would have been better off on Ruva, Lu-Bra,' I said. 'It is commencing to look very much as though I had led you to death instead of to freedom.'
'Whatever happens, I am content, David,' she said. 'I would rather be dead than a slave.'
'Your being with me is a strange coincidence, Lu-Bra, which I have never before mentioned. It was another girl from Suvi who was going to lead me toward Sari. We were both prisoners of the Jukans, and then of the man- eating giants of Azar. Whether she died there or escaped them, I do not know.'
'What was her name?' asked Lu-Bra.
'Kleeto,' I said.
'I knew her,' said Lu-Bra. 'We were children together, before I was stolen.'
On and on we sailed, Lu-Bra, my living compass, pointing the way. We had rationed the food to a point where we had barely enough to sustain life, and only two or three sips of water a day. We were both weak and emaciated. We had had poor luck with our fishing, possibly because neither one of us was from a maritime nation. On land, I could have brought in plenty of game; but out here on the water, although it teemed with food, I seemed scarcely ever to make a direct hit. Why that should have been, I do not know, for I have become an excellent shot with bow-and-arrow.
After the last morsel of food was consumed we made a catch with one of my bone fishhooks. It was a little fish about a foot long; but we cut it in two and devoured it raw. Shortly after this, our water supply was exhausted. I prayed for another storm with rain; but the sky remained clear, and the merciless noonday sun beat down upon us; and across that wide expanse of unfriendly ocean there was no sign of land.
Lu-Bra was lying under her shelter in the bottom of the canoe. She spoke to me in a weak voice. 'David,' she
