'Come,' said Hamlar; and there was nothing to do but follow him.
Warriors surrounded them as Hamlar led the way toward the waterfall. Dian was barefooted, as she had left her sandals on the thwart of the canoe to dry. She would not ask Hamlar if she might get them, for she was too proud to ask favors of an enemy. She kept looking up at the face of the cliff to see where these men had come down, but she saw no sign of a place here that even she could scale; and then Hamlar reached the waterfall and disappeared beneath it, and a moment later Dian found herself on a narrow ledge that ran beneath the falls; and then she followed the warrior ahead of her into the mouth of a cavern that was as dark as pitch and damp with dripping water.
She climbed through the darkness, feeling her way, until presently she saw a little light ahead. The light came from above down a shaft that inclined slightly from the vertical, and leaning against its wall was a crude ladder. Dian had delayed those behind her in the darkness of the cavern, but now she clambered up the ladder like a monkey, soon overtaking those ahead of her. She could hear the warriors behind her growling at Gamba for climbing so slowly; and she could hear his grunts and cries as they prodded him with their spears.
From the top of the shaft a winding trail led through the jungle. Occasionally Dian caught glimpses of large animals slinking along other paths that paralleled or crossed the one they were on; and she saw the yellow and black of the tarag's hide.
A mile inland from the coast they came to a clearing at the foot of a towering cliff, in the sandstone face of which caves and ledges had been laboriously excavated and cut. She looked with amazement upon these cliff dwellings, which must have required many generations to construct. At the foot of the cliff, warriors lolled in the shade of the trees, while women worked and children played.
At least a score of great tarags slept, or wandered about among the people. She saw a child pull the tail of one, and the great carnivore turned upon it with an ugly snarl. The child jumped back, and the tarag continued its prowling. Aside from that one child, no one seemed to pay any attention to the brutes at all.
Attracted by the sight of Dian and Gamba, warriors, women, and children clustered about; and it was evident from their remarks that they seldom saw strangers upon their island. The women wore loin cloths and sandals of the skins of tarags. Like the men, the women were rather handsome, with well-shaped heads, and intelligent eyes.
Hamlar motioned to one of the women. 'Manai,' he said, 'this one is yours,' and he pointed to Dian. 'Does anyone want the man?' he asked, looking around. 'If not, we will kill him and feed him to the tarags.'
Gamba looked around then, too, hopefully; but at first no one indicated any desire to possess him, Finally, however, a woman spoke up and said, 'I will take him. He can fetch wood and water for me and beat the skins of the tarags to soften them'; and Gamba breathed a sigh of relief.
'Come,' said Manai to Dian, and led the way up a series of ladders to a cave far up in the face of the cliff.
'This,' she said, stopping upon a ledge before sit opening, 'is the cave of Hamlar , the chief, who is my mate.' Then she went in and came back with a bundle of twigs tied tightly together with strips of rawhide. 'Clean out the cave of Hamlar and Manai,' she said, 'and see that none of the dirt falls over the edge of the cliff. You will find a big gourd in the cave. Put the dirt into it and carry it down to the foot of the cliff and dump it in the stream.'
So Dian the Beautiful, Empress of Pellucidar, went to work as a slave for Manai, the mate of Hamlar, chief of Tandar; and she thought that she was fortunate not to have been killed. After she had cleaned the cave and carried the dirt down and dumped it in the stream, Manai, who had returned to the women at the foot of the cliff, called to her. ''What is your name?' she asked.
'Dian,' replied the girl.
'There is meat in the cave,' said Manai. 'Go and get it and bring it down here and make a fire and cook it for Hamlar and Manai, and for Bovar, their son.'
While Dian was broiling the meat she saw Gamba pounding a tarag skin with two big sticks; and she smiled when she thought that not many sleeps ago he had been a king, with slaves to wait upon him.
Hamlar came and sat down beside Manai. 'Does your slave work, or is she lazy?' he asked.
'She works,' said Manai.
'She had better,' said Hamlar, 'for if she doesn't work, we will have to kill her and feed her to the tarags. We cannot afford to feed a lazy slave. Where is Bovar?'
'He is asleep in his cave,' replied Manai. 'He told me to awaken him when we ate.'
'Send the slave for him,' said Hamlar. 'The meat is almost ready.'
'Bovar's cave is next to ours, just to the right of it,' Manai told Dian. 'Go there and awaken him.'
So again Dian the Beautiful clambered up the long series of ladders to the ledge far up on the face of the cliff; and she went to the opening next to that of Hamlar's cave and called Bovar by name. She called several times before a sleepy voice answered.
'What do you want?' it demanded.
'Manai, your mother, has sent me to tell you that the meat is ready and that they are about to eat.'
A tall young warrior crawled out of the cave and stood erect. 'Who are you?' he demanded.
'I am Manai's new slave,' replied Dian.
'What is your name?' asked Bovar.
'Dian,' replied the girl.
'That is a pretty name,' he said; 'and you are a pretty girl. I think you are the prettiest girl I ever saw. Where do you come from?'
'I come from Amoz, which lies beside the Darel Az,' replied Dian.
'I never heard of either one of them,' said Bovar; 'but no matter where you come from, you are certainly the prettiest girl I ever saw,' repeated Bovar.
'Come down to your meat,' said Dian as she turned to the ladder and started to descend.
Bovar followed her, and they joined Hamlar and Manai beside the leg of meat that was roasting over the fire on a pointed stick that Dian had driven through it, which was supported by forked sticks at either end.
'The meat is cooked,' said Manai who had been turning it during Dian's absence. Dian took it from the fire then and laid it upon some leaves that were spread upon the ground, and Hamlar took his knife of stone and cut off a large piece and held it on a pointed stick to cool a little; and then Manai cut off a piece, and then Bovar.
'May I eat?' asked Dian.
'Eat,' said Hamlar.
Dian drew her bronze knife from its sheath and cut off a piece of meat. The knife cut slickly and smoothly, not like the crude stone weapons of the Tandars.
'Let me see that,' said Bovar; and Dian handed him the knife.
'No one ever saw anything like this,' said Bovar; and handed it to his father. Both Hamlar and Manai examined it closely.
'What is it?' demanded Hamlar.
'It is a knife,' said Dian.
'I don't mean that,' said Hamlar. 'I mean, what is it made of?'
'It is a metal which the Xexots call 'androde,’” replied the girl.
Bovar held out his hand for the knife and Manai gave it to him.
'Who are the Xexots?' said Hamlar.
'They are people who live a long way from here at the other end of the nameless strait.'
'Do these people all have knives made of this metal?' asked Hamlar.
'Knives and swords, too.' She did not tell him that her sword and Gamba's were in the canoe; for she hoped some day to be able to run away and put to sea again.
Dian held her hand out towards Bovar for the knife. 'I shall keep it,' he said. 'I like it.'
'Give it back to her,' said Manai. 'It is hers. We are not thieves.' So Bovar handed the knife back to Dian; but he made up his mind then and there to possess it, and he knew just how to go about it. All that he would have to do would be to push Dian off the ledge that ran in front of this cave; and he was sure that Manai would let him have the knife; provided, of course, that no one saw him push Dian.
