The Fire People Page 17

  CHAPTER XVII.

  THE FIGHT AT THE BAYOU.

  Miela proceeded to explain our plan in detail to these fifteen hundredenthusiastic allies. It was my idea to build several platforms similar tothis one on which Mercer and I had been carried up here into themountains, only somewhat larger. We then proposed to seize theseemissaries of Tao--there were not more than eight or ten of themaltogether in the Great City--capturing them at night, without alarm, ifpossible, and transporting them summarily into the Twilight Country. Mytheory was that if they were to disappear thus mysteriously the people ofthe Great City would have no particular cause to make trouble afterward,and we hoped that the affair would soon be forgotten.

  Miela thought it practical for us to carry them in this way across theNarrow Sea. The Lone City, from which Tao was operating, was located nearthe edge of the sea, and if we gave them food they would be enabled toreach it in safety in a day or two. The girls agreed enthusiastically withthis plan, and we selected a number to carry it out.

  Meanwhile we planned also to organize a system of aerial patrols, anddetailed some two hundred of the girls, who in varying shifts were to flyback and forth along the borders of the sea over its Light Country shore,to make sure that Tao did not attempt to make a crossing by water.

  "Can't they fly over as well as we can?" Mercer objected. "Their womenfly, too, don't they?"

  The women of the Twilight Country did fly, but for two reasons we did notfear an attack from them in the air. First, Miela doubted that the womenwould concern themselves in the affair; they were stupid andapathetic--fit only for child-bearing. The men might, of course, forcethem to the attempt, but even in that event, Miela explained, it wouldresult in little; for generations of comparative inactivity and the colderclimate had made them inclined to stoutness. Their wing muscles were weakand flabby, and with their greater weight of body they flew very badly.

  "Suppose Tao should come over?" I suggested to Miela. "I don't believe hewill--but if he should, how could we stop him?"

  "By water he would come," she answered. "In boats--small they are, Ithink, those he has. We could not stop him, for the light-ray he wouldbring. But our women, flying over the ocean, would see him coming, andtell our king. More we could not do now."

  "You mean this patrol would give the government the warning it won'tobtain for itself? There would be war then? The people would arm to resistinvasion?"

  Miela smiled sadly.

  "There would be war, Alan. But our government--our people--do not look forit. They are like the peeta bird, that hides its head under its wing whenit is threatened."

  The time of sleep was now nearly over, and we thought it best that thegirls should fly back at once, so that their arrival at the city wouldcause as little comment as possible.

  Mercer and I seated ourselves on the platform as before; the twenty girlsgrasped its handles, raising it until they were all upon their feet; then,at a signal, we left the ground. The trip back seemed shorter than comingup. The girls all left the valley together, flying up helter-skelter, andcircling about us as we flew steadily onward.

  Near the Great City the girls spread out, so as to approach it fromdifferent directions and thus attract less attention, although the time ofsleep was not yet over and we knew that few would be stirring about thecity.

  When we reached home we greeted Lua, and dismissed the girls, arrangingthat they were to come back again that evening--fifty of them thistime--to carry the larger platform we were to build. We then hadbreakfast, and after telling Lua the result of the meeting--at which shewas greatly pleased--we went immediately to bed, for we were worn out.

  It was about noon, I suppose, when we awoke. Mercer and I spent theafternoon building the platform on which to carry Tao's men--a frameworkwith fifty handles instead of twenty. Miela and Anina disappeared for thewhole afternoon. I did not know what they were doing at the time; later Ifound out Anina was devoting it to learning English.

  During the evening meal we planned it all. Tao's men were living in ahouse near the edge of the city--the house Tao had occupied before he wasbanished to the Twilight Country. It had no other occupants at this time.

  We had learned where they kept their boats in one of the bayous near by,and in it we intended to take them to the sea, where we would meet thegirls, who would then fly with them to the Twilight Country. But we couldnot figure out how to capture them without alarming the city. We were surethey were unarmed; they had been carefully searched by the authoritieswhen they entered the country. But they were ten to our two.

  Mercer voiced the problem most emphatically.

  "Ten men in a house," he declared. "Maybe we can catch them all asleep.But even if they are, how are we going to get them out? There'd be a row,and we don't want any noise. Besides, there's always this confoundeddaylight here. If we tied them up somebody might see us when we gotoutside. How do we get them out of that house without any rumpus, and downto that boat? That's what I don't see."

  "I--do--that," said Anina suddenly.

  She had spoken in English, and we looked at her in amazement. She lispedthe words in her soft, sweet voice, haltingly, like a little child. Thenshe turned to Miela and poured out a torrent of her native language.Mercer stared at her in undisguised admiration.

  As Miela explained it, Anina proposed that she go into Tao's house alone,and decoy his men down to the boat where we could capture them.

  "But how will she get them there?" I exclaimed. "What will she tell them?"

  "She says she can make them think she is one of those few of our women whosympathize with their cause," Miela explained. "And she will say that theearth-man who escaped from them she has seen lurking about their boat;perhaps he plans to steal it. She will go there with them, and they canrecapture him."

  "They might not all go," said Mercer. "We want to get them all."

  "It is Anina's thought that they will all go, for they fear this earth-manmuch--and all would go to make sure of him."

  I could not feel it was right for us to let Anina do so daring a thing,and Mercer agreed with me heartily. But Anina insisted, with a fire in hereyes and flushed cheeks that contrasted strangely with her usually gentledemeanor.

  In the end Mercer and I gave in, for we could think of no better plan, andMiela was confident Anina would not be harmed.

  It was about what would correspond with ten o'clock in the evening onearth when the girls began to arrive. We waited until all fifty of themhad come in. Miela named a place on the shore of the sea known to themall. They were to take the platform--starting in about two hours, when thecity would be quiet--and there they would wait for us to join them in theboat.

  We four started out together, but soon Anina left us to make her way toTao's house alone. Mercer, Miela and I then hurried as fast as we couldthrough the city down to the marshlands, and to the secluded spot on thebayou's bank where the boat was lying.

  The bayou here was about a hundred feet wide, a winding, brackish stream,lined on both sides with trees whose roots were in the water and whosebranches at times nearly met overhead. Its banks were a tangled mass oftree roots, huge ferns, palmettos and some tall upstanding kind of watergrass. Half submerged logs jutted out into the sluggish current, making itin places seem almost impassable.

  A narrow metal boat--a very long and very narrow motor boat with athatched shelter like a small cabin over part of its length--lay fastenedto a tree near at hand. I noticed at once some mechanism over its stern.

  We had come up quietly to make sure no one was about. Now we hid ourselvesclose to the boat and waited with apprehension in our hearts for thearrival of Anina with Tao's men.

  Half an hour, perhaps, went by. The silence in this secluded spot hungheavy about us. A fish broke the glassy surface of the water; a lizardscurried along the ground; a bird flitted past. Then, setting our heartspounding, came the soft snapping of underbrush that we knew was thecautious tread of some one approaching. I was half reclining under afallen tree, with a clump of pal
mettos about me. I parted their frondscarefully before my face. A few yards away a man was standing motionless,staring past me and apparently listening intently.

  He moved forward after a moment. I feared he was coming almost upon us,but he turned aside, bending low down as he crept slowly forward. Soundsin the underbrush reached me now from other directions, and I knew thatthe men had spread apart and were stalking the boat, expecting Mercer tobe in or near it.

  Had they all come down here? I wondered. And where was Anina? I lookeddown at Miela warningly as I felt her move slightly.

  "We'll wait till they're all near the boat," I whispered to Mercer.

  I saw Anina a moment later soaring over the bayou just above the treetops.I sighed with relief, for it was a signal to us that everything was allright. We continued to wait until the men had all come into view. Theywent at the boat with a sudden rush. Several of them climbed into it, withshouts to the others.

  With a significant glance to Mercer I leaped suddenly to my feet. I wasperhaps twenty feet from the boat, and the space between us was fairlyclear. A single bound landed me beside it, almost among four of the menwho were standing there in a group. Before they had time to face me I wasupon them.

  I scattered them like nine-pins, and two of them went down under my blows.The other two flung themselves upon me. I stumbled over some inequality ofthe ground, and we all three fell prone. This was the first time I hadcome actually to hand grips with any of the Mercutians.

  I felt now not only their lack of strength, but a curious frailness abouttheir bodies--a seeming absence of solidity that their stocky appearancebelied. These two men were like half-grown boys in my hands. I was back onmy feet in a moment, leaving one of them lying motionless. The other roseto his knees, his face white with pain and terror.

  I left him there and looked about me. Miela was fluttering around near by,as I had instructed her--just off the ground and with the whole sceneunder her eyes. It was she on whom I depended for warning should any ofthe quarry attempt to escape us.

  At the edge of the water another man was lying, whom I assumed Mercer hadfelled. There was a great commotion from the boat. I ran toward it. A manwas standing beside it--an old man with snow-white hair. He stood still,seeming confused and in doubt what to do. As I neared him he turnedclumsily to avoid me. I passed him by and bounded over the boat's gunwale,landing in its bottom. The first thing I saw was Mercer struggling to hisfeet with four of the Mercutians hanging on him. One had a grip on histhroat from behind; another clutched him about the knees.

  The two others let go of him when they heard me land in the boat. One hadevidently had enough, for he dived overboard. The other waited warily formy onslaught. As I got within reach I hit at his face, but my blow wentwild. He hit me full in the chest, but it was the blow of a child.

  At that instant I heard Mercer give a choking cry, and out of the cornerof my eye saw him go down again. I could waste no more time upon thissingle antagonist. The man had his hands at my throat now. I seized himabout the waist and carried him to the gunwale. He clung to me as a ratmight cling to a terrier, but I shook him off and dumped him in the water.

  I turned to Mercer just as he was struggling to his feet again, and in amoment more between us we had felled his two assailants. Mercer's face wasvery white, and I saw blood streaming from a wound on his head; but hegrinned as he faced me.

  "Have we--got 'em--all?" he gasped. He dashed the blood away from his eyeswith the flat of his hand. "I fell--damn it--right at the start, and hitmy head. Where are they all? Have we got 'em?"

  Miela alighted in the boat beside us.

  "Two are running," she said. "They are together. Hasten."

  We jumped out of the boat. Miela flew up, and we followed her guidancethrough the dense woods. We could make much better speed, I knew, than theMercutians. "We'll get them all, Ollie," I shouted at Mercer. "They're notfar ahead. See up there--Miela's evidently over them now."

  We came up to them after a few hundred yards. It was the old man, and oneof those whom I had first encountered. They did not wait for us to attackthem, but stopped stock still, flinging their arms wide in token ofsurrender.

  Miela came down among us, and we went back to where we had lain hidden inthe palmettos. There we had left a number of short lengths of rope. Whilewe were tying the arms of these two prisoners behind them and fetteringtheir ankles so they could not run Anina joined us.

  "Two--in water," she cried; and then added something to Miela.

  "Two were in the water. Now they are in the woods, running. Anina willshow you."

  Miela stood guard in the boat over our first two prisoners, while Mercerand I rounded up the others. It was half an hour or more before we hadthem all trussed up, but none of the ten escaped. We were a long timereviving two of those we had injured, but finally we had them all lying orsitting in the boat.

  Mercer's head had stopped bleeding. He washed it, and I found his injuryno more than an ugly scalp wound.

  "I fell and cut it on something," he explained lugubriously. "Couldn't seefor the blood in my eyes. But we got 'em, didn't we?"

  Under Miela's direction Mercer and I shoved the boat out into the stream.I need not go into details regarding the propelling mechanism of thiscraft. Miela explained it hastily to me as we got under way. It used aform of the light-ray from a sort of strange battery. The intense heat ofthe ray generated a great pressure of superheated steam in a thick metalcylinder underneath the keel.

  This steam escaped through a nozzle under water at the stern of the boat,and its thrust against the water propelled the boat forward. The boat wasconstructed to draw very little water, and when going fast its bow planedupward until only the stern of the hull touched the surface. It wassteered by a rudder not much different from some of those types we arefamiliar with on earth. When we got out into open water I found the boatwas capable of great speed. This I attributed not so much to the efficacyof its propelling force as to the lightness of the boat itself. It wasbuilt of some metal that I may perhaps compare with aluminium, only thiswas far stronger and lighter. The boat was, in fact, a mere shell,extraordinarily buoyant.

  Miela sat in the stern, steering and operating the mechanism. I sat withher. Mercer was farther forward, beside Anina, talking to her earnestly.Our prisoners lay huddled in various attitudes--frightened, all of them,and obviously in no condition to give us further trouble. They were, I sawnow, not ruffians by any means, but rather men of superior intelligence,selected by Tao evidently as those best fitted for spreading hispropaganda among the people of the Great City.

  We made slow progress down the bayou. Some of its turns were so sharp andso overhung with trees, and obstructed by fallen logs, we could hardly getthrough. During the latter part of the trip the bayou broadened rapidly,dividing into many channels like a delta.

  We came out into the open sea finally--a broad, empty expanse, with amirrorlike surface. The curvature of the planet was even more apparentnow; it seemed almost as though the water should be sliding back downhillover the horizon.

  We turned to the left as we came out of the delta, and for the first timeMiela put the boat to the limit of its speed. The best comparison I canmake, I think, to this rapid, noiseless, smooth progress, is that ofsailing on an iceboat.

  We sped along some five or ten miles, keeping close inland. I saw some ofthe small thatched shacks along here, though not many. For a while theshore remained that same palm-lined, half-inundated marshland. Thengradually it began to change, and we came upon a broad beach of whitesand.

  We landed here, and found the girls with the platform waiting for us.Miela took Anina and one or two of the older girls aside, and gave themlast instructions.

  "What do I do--just dump them on the other shore?" Mercer asked me.

  "That's about it. I don't know the lay of the land over there. Anina does.You do what she tells you."

  "You bet I will," he agreed enthusiastically. "Some kid--that little girl.We get along fine. She understand
s everything I say to her already. I'llhave her talking English like a streak by the time you see her again."

  We had removed the cords from our prisoners' ankles. I motioned them toget out of the boat. We crowded Tao's men on the platform. They weresurprised, and some of them alarmed, when they saw how we proposed totransport them over the water. Miela silenced their protests, and soon wehad them all seated on the platform, with Mercer at the rear end facingthem.

  The fifty girls grasped the platform handles. Another moment and they werein the air, with Mercer waving good-by to us vigorously.

  Miela and I, left alone, watched them silently as they dwindled to a speckin the haze of the sky.

  We were about to start back when we saw a girl coming toward us, flyinglow over the water. One of those we had directed to patrol the coast,Miela said when she came closer. She saw us, and came down on the beach.

  The two girls spoke together hurriedly.

  "Tao's men in the Water City have caused great disturbance, Alan," Mielasaid to me.

  "Where's the Water City?"

  "Near the Great City--across the marshlands. We must get back. And whenAnina and our friend Ollie have returned we must go to the Water City. Itis very bad there, she said."

  Our trip back to the Great City was without unusual incident. We followedthe main route at the best speed we could make.

  "We shall tell our king, of course, about this disturbance," said Miela."Perhaps he will think there is something he can do. But I fear greatlythat unless he appeals directly to the people, and they are with him--"

  "He's an old man," I said, "and all his councilors are old. They're notfit to rule at such a time as this. Suppose he were to die--what wouldhappen? Who would be king then?"

  "A little prince there is--a mere child. And there is our queen--a youngerwoman, only married to our king these few years. His first queen died."

  I questioned Miela concerning her government. It was, I soon learned, anautocracy in theory. But of later years the king's advanced age, and hisequally old councilors whom he refused to change, had resulted in avacillating policy of administration, which now, I could see plainly, leftthe government little or no real power.

  Only by constantly pandering to the wishes of the people could the kinghold his throne. The supreme command was held by the king and his agedcouncilors. At stated intervals the more prominent men of each city metand enacted laws. The cities were each ruled by a governor in similarfashion, paying tribute to the central government somewhat after our oldfeudal system; but for practical purposes they acted as separate nations.They were united merely by the bonds of their common need of defenseagainst the Twilight People, and of intermarriage, which was frequent,since the virgins, flying about, often found mates in cities other thantheir own.

  There were courts in each city, not much more than rude tribunals, andjails in which the offenders were held. The police I have alreadymentioned. They, like the king's guards, were inclined in an emergency todo, not so much what they were ordered, as what they thought the peoplewished.

  It was all very extraordinary, but like many another makeshift governmentit served, after a fashion.

  Hiding the boat in another bayou, we took our way home on foot. That is tosay, I ran, and Miela followed me, alternately flying and walking. We madeour best speed this way, and very soon were back at home in the GreatCity.

  We crossed the garden and entered the front door, expecting to find Lua inthe living room, but she was not there. The house was quiet.

  "She would wait up, she told me," Miela said, and, raising her voice,called her mother's name.

  There was no answer, although now I remember I thought I heard a footfallupstairs.

  We went up to Lua's room hurriedly. It was empty, and our loud cries ofanxiety throughout the house evoked no response. We entered our ownbedroom, and before I could make a move to defend myself I was seizedtightly by both elbows from behind.

  At the same instant an arm hooked around my neck under my chin and jerkedmy head backward, and another pair of arms clutched me around the knees. Istruggled vainly to free myself, shouting to Miela to run.

  But there were too many holding me. A moment more and my arms were tiedbehind me and a rope was about my legs. I was pushed into a chair, and asI sat down I saw Miela standing quietly near by, with two Mercutiansholding her by the arms and shoulders.

  The man who had pushed me to the seat bent down and struck me across thecheek with the flat of his hand. His grinning, malevolent face was only afew inches from mine. I saw that it was Baar!