"I can go around it," said O-aa.
"You are a very brave girl," said the man. "Let us be friends. Come with me to my village. Perhaps we can help you on your way to Kali. At least, warriors can go with you as far as the mountains, beyond which none of our people have ever gone."
"How do I know that you will not harm me?" asked O-aa.
The man threw down all his weapons and came toward her with his hands raised. Then she knew that he would not harm her. "We will be friends," she said. "What is your name?"
"I am Utan of the tribe of Zurts." He turned and spoke to his jalok, saying, " Padang ."
"Tell your jalok that we are friends," he said to O-aa.
" Padang , Rahna," said O-aa. Padang is Pellucidarian for friend or friends.
The two jaloks approached one another a little stiff-legged; but when they had sniffed about each other, they relaxed and wagged their tails, for they had been raised together in the village of Zurts . But there was no playful bouncing, as there might have been between domesticated beasts dogs. These were savage wild beasts with all the majesty and dignity that is inherent in their kind. Adult wild beasts have far more dignity than man. When people say in disgust that a person acts like a beast, they really mean that he acts like a man.
"You can handle a paddle?" Utan asked O-aa.
"I have paddled all over the seas of Pellucidar," said O-aa.
"There you go again! Well, I suppose that I shall have to get used to it. Anyway, you can help me paddle my brother's canoe to a safe place."
"It is my canoe," said O-aa.
Utan grinned. "And I suppose that you are going to paddle it across the mountains to Kali?"
"I could if I wanted to," said O-aa.
"The better I know you," said Utan, "the less I doubt it. If there are other girls like you in Kali, I think I shall go with you and take one of them for my mate."
"They wouldn't have you," said O-aa. "You are too short. You can't be much more than six feet tall. All our men are seven feet-except those who are eight feet."
"Come on, little liar," said Utan, "and we will get the canoe."
Together they dragged the outrigger into the water. O-aa climbed into the bow, the two jaloks leaped in, and just at the right moment Utan gave the craft a shove and jumped in himself.
"Paddle now!" he said. "And paddle hard."
The canoe rose to the crest of a roller and slid down the other side. The two paddled furiously until, they were beyond the heavy rollers; then they paralleled the shore until they came to the mouth of a small river, up which Utan turned.
It was a pretty little river overhung by trees and full of crocodiles. They paddled up it for about a mile until they came to rapids. Here, Utan turned in to the bank on their right; and together, they dragged the canoe up among the lush verdure, where it was well hidden.
"Your canoe will be quite safe here," said Utan, "until you are ready to paddle it over the mountains to Kali. Now we will go to my village."
VIII
HODON, RAJ, DIAN, AND GAMBA were standing on the quarterdeck of the Lo-har; and, as always, Hodon was searching the surface of the sea for the little speck that, in his heart of hearts, he knew he would never see-the little speck that would be the Sari in which O-aa had been carried away by winds and currents on the Sojar AZ and, doubtless, through the nameless strait into the Korsar Az. The little lateen rigged Lo-har had been beset by fog and calm, but now the weather had cleared and a fair wind filled the single sail.
Hodon shook his head sadly. "I am afraid it is hopeless, Dian," he said. Dian the Beautiful nodded in acquiescence.
"My men are becoming restless," said Raj. "They have been away from home for many, many sleeps. They want to get back to their women."
"All right," said Hodon. "Turn back for Sari."
As the little ship came about, Gamba pointed. "What is that?" he asked.
They all looked. In the haze of the distance there was a white speck on the surface of the sea. "It is a sail," said Raj.
"O-aa!" exclaimed Hodon.
The wind was blowing directly from the direction in which the sail lay; so the Lo-har had to tack first one way and then another. But it was soon apparent that the strange ship was sailing before the wind directly toward them, and so the distance between was constantly growing shorter.
"That is not the Sari," said Raj. "That is a big ship with more sail than I have ever seen before."
"It must be a Korsar," said Dian. "If it is, we are lost."
"We have cannon," said Hodon, "and men to fight them."
"Turn around," said Gamba, "and go the other way. Maybe they have not seen us."
"You always want to run away," said Dian, contemptuously. "We shall hold our course and fight them."
"Turn around!" screamed Gamba. "It is a command! I am king!"
"Shut up!" said Raj. "Mezops do not run away."
"Nor Sarians," said Dian.
THE VILLAGE OF THE Zurts, to which Utan led O-aa, lay in a lovely valley through which a little river wandered. It was not a village of caves such as O-aa was accustomed to in Kali. The houses here were of bamboo thatched with grass, and they stood on posts some ten feet above the ground. Crude ladders led up to their doorways.
There were many of these houses; and in the doorways, or on the ground below them, were many warriors and women and children and almost as many jaloks as there were people.
As Utan and O-aa approached, the jaloks of the village froze into immobility, the hair along their backbones erect. Utan shouted, " Padang !" And when they recognized him, some of the warriors shouted, " Padang !" Then the jaloks relaxed and Utan and O-aa entered the village in safety; but there had to be much sniffing and smelling on the part of the jaloks before an entente cordiale was established.
Warriors and women gathered around Utan and O-aa, asking many questions. O-aa was a curiosity here, for she was very blonde, while the Zurts had hair of raven black. They had never seen a blonde before.
Utan told them all that he knew about O-aa, and asked Jalu the chief if she might remain in the village. "She is from a country called Kali which lies the other side of the Terrible Mountains . She is going to try to cross them, and from what I have seen of her she will cross them if any one can."
"No one can," said Jalu, "and she may remain-for thirty sleeps," he added. "If one of our warriors has taken her for a mate in the meantime, she may remain always."
"None of your warriors will take me for a mate," said O-aa, "and I will leave long before I have slept thirty times."
"What makes you think none of my warriors will take you for a mate?" demanded Jalu.
"Because I wouldn't have one of them."
Jalu laughed. "If a warrior wanted you he would not ask you, He would take you."
It was O-aa's turn to laugh. "He would get a knife in his belly," she said. "I have killed many men. Furthermore, I have a mate. If I am harmed, he would come and my eleven brothers and my father, the king; and they would kill you all. They are very fierce men. They are nine feet tall. My mate is Hodon the Fleet One. He is a Sarian. The Sarians are very fierce people. But if you are kind to me, no harm will befall you. While I am here, Rahna and I will hunt for you. I am a wonderful hunter. I am probably the best hunter in all Pellucidar."
"I think you are probably the best liar," said Jalu. "Who is Rahna?"
"My jalok," said O-aa, laying her hand on the head of the beast standing beside her.
"Women do not hunt, nor do they have jaloks," said Jalu.
"I do," said O-aa.
A half smile curved the lip of Jalu. He found himself admiring this yellow haired stranger, girl. She had courage, and that was a quality that Jalu the chief understood and admired. He had never seen so much of it in a woman before.