Stealthily we stole among the brutes, speaking soothingly to them, for they are nervous and short-tempered. They milled a little and tried to move away from us, but finally we each captured one, seizing them by an ear, which is the way they are led and controlled.
We led them down to the gate, which I opened, and then we mounted. No saddles or bridles are used upon the creatures; one guides them and stops them by pulling on their long, pendulous ears. A pull on the right ear turns them to the right, a pull on the left ear to the left, and by pulling on both ears they may be stopped. They are urged forward by kicking them with the heels, while a gentle pull on both ears slows them down.
As the zorats' corral is outside the city wall, we were, for the time being at least, free; and as soon as we had left the city a short distance behind, we put heels to our weird mounts and sped up the broad valley at top speed. There was to be no rest for those zorats that night, nor for us either, for we must pass the camp of the herders before daylight, if we were to be reasonably safe from detection and pursuit.
It was a hard ride, but we felt that it would be a successful one. We had the hills on the left to guide us, and the big eyes of our mounts permitted them to see in the dim light of an Amtorian night.
Duare and I rode side by side, with Banat and Ero Shad directly behind us. The padded feet of the zorats gave forth no sound and we rode like ghosts through the darkness.
Presently Ero Shan moved up beside me. 'We are being pursued,' he said. 'I just happened to look back and I saw a number of mounted men following us, and they are gaining on us rapidly.'
'Give Banat your pistol,' I said, 'and then you go ahead with Duare. You will find plenty of arms and ammunition on board the 975.'
'No,' said Duare decisively, 'I shall not leave you. We will stay together until the end.'
I knew from her tone of voice that it was futile to argue, so I told them that we would have to ride faster; and I urged my zorat to even greater speed.
They may not be very beautiful, but they are really wonderful little saddle animals. They are almost as fast as a deer and have tremendous endurance, but they had come a long way and I didn't know whether they would hold out or not.
Looking back, I saw what appeared to be quite a number of mounted men bearing down on us rapidly. 'I guess we are going to have to fight,' I said to Ero Shan.
'We can get a few of them before they get us,' he replied.
'I won't go back to Hangor,' said Duare; 'I won't! Kill me before they can get to me, Carson; promise me that you will.'
'If I fall,' I replied, 'you ride on to the 975;' and then I told her how to start the motor, which was quite similar to that of the anotar with which she was so familiar. The fuel used in the motor is the same as that which we used in the anotar. The element 93 (vik-ro) is released upon a substance called lor, which contains a considerable proportion of the element yor-san (105). The action of the vik-ro upon the yor-san results in absolute annihilation of the lor, releasing all its energy. When you consider that there is 18,000,000,000 times as much energy liberated by the annihilation of a ton of coal as by its combustion, you will appreciate the inherent possibilities of this marvelous Amtorian scientific discovery. Fuel for the life of the 975 could be carried in a pint jar.
After a brief argument I persuaded Duare to promise me that if I fell she would try to reach the 975, and seek a passage through the southern mountains beyond which we were positive Korva lay. And then the pursuers were upon us.
Chapter LIII
AS I TURNED on my mount, my r-ray pistol ready in my hand, prepared to sell my life dearly, I heard Ero Shan laugh and an instant later I had to laugh myself. 'What are you laughing at?' demanded Duare.
'Look,' I said; 'our pursuers are the zorats which escaped from the corral and followed after their companions.'
We must have passed the herders' camp just before dawn, and later on in the morning we saw the 975, far ahead of us, where we had left it. I was greatly worried for fear the herders might have been there ahead of us and damaged it in some way, but when we reached it we found it in the same shape that we had left it; but we did not relinquish our zorats until I had started the engine and demonstrated to my own satisfaction that the 975 was in running order, then we turned them loose and they started grazing around us with their fellows.
I told Ero Shan and Banat to be prepared to fight either the port, starboard, or stern guns, if the necessity arose, and I kept Duare up forward with me, for she could fire the bow gun if we got into action, a thing none of us anticipated.
Banat wanted to return to Hor, where, he assured me, we would be well received, but I was fearful to risk Duare further, and Hor might again be in the hands of the Falsans. I told Banat , however, that I would approach Hor after dark, and that he could then make his way on foot to the city; and he agreed that that was fair enough.
'I should have liked, however, to have shown you some of the real hospitality of Hor.'
'We were witnesses to the hospitality of Hor,' I replied.
Banat laughed. 'We are not such fools as the Falsans think us,' he said.
'Look!' said Duare excitedly. 'There is a ship approaching.' We all looked then, and sure enough, off our starboard bow we could see a small scout ship racing toward us.
'The only way we can avoid a fight,' I said, 'is by turning back, and I certainly don't want to do that.'
'Then let's fight,' said Duare.
'What do you think she is, Banat ?' I asked.
He took a long look and then he replied, 'She is one of those fast Hangor faltars, as we call them.' Faltar means pirate ship, and is a contraction of the combination of the two words fad meaning kill, and anotar, ship. 'And they are fast,' he added. 'I doubt if the 975 could run away from her.'
I swung around and headed right toward her, and as soon as we were within range Duare commenced firing chemical shells. She made a clean hit on the bow, right in front of the pilot's seat; and then she sent a stream of t- rays for the mark. They were firing their bow gun, too, but they were not so fortunate as we, or else they didn't have as good a gunner, for they scored nothing but clean misses.
We had both slowed down to permit greater accuracy in our fire, and were approaching each other slowly, when suddenly the faltar veered to the left and I could tell instantly from her erratic maneuvering that the pilot had been hit. Their starboard gun was bearing on us now, but Duare had the whole side of their ship as a target, and our starboard gun could also be brought to bear. Several chemical shells hit us. I could hear the plop of their bursting, and both Duare and Ero Shan, who was manning our starboard gun, scored hits with chemical shells, which they followed immediately with their deadly t-rays.
In the meantime Banat had run a torpedo into the starboard tube and now he launched it. It went straight for its target, and the explosion which followed nearly capsized the faltar, and put her completely out of commission.
It was a short fight, but a sweet one while it lasted. However, I was glad to turn away and resume our journey toward Hor, leaving the disabled Hangor ship still firing at us futilely.
We drew off a few miles and then got out and examined the hull of the 975. There were several places where the t-ray insulation had been dissolved, and these we patched up with new insulation before we proceeded.
I asked Banat if it were true that no one had ever crossed the mountains to the south, or seen any indications of a pass through them.
'As far as I know,' he said, 'they have never been crossed, but on one or two occasions our herders have reported that when the clouds rose up, as you know they sometimes do, they have seen what appeared to be a low place in the range.'
'Have you any idea where it is?' I asked.
'It is about due south of Hor,' he replied. 'That is where our best grazing land is.'
'Well, we'll hope that the clouds rise up when we get there,' I said; 'but whether they do or not, we are going to cross the southern range.'
