Invasion
"Walk there!" The blue lord of Chitrakuta stared at his small captain
confusedly. "Kohrisan, what mean you?"
[Illustration: Ramey drew back the Bow of Rudra and clutched the firing
lever.]
"What I say, my Lord," grinned the 'new man' exuberantly. "When I
left thee, I went out even into the jungles to call my less fortunate
brothers. They answered my call ... and here is one of those who will
show us the way." He drew back a flap of the pavilion in which they
were gathered. A small, hairy figure edged in cautiously, glanced at
the assembled humans and scuttled to Kohrisan's side fearfully.
Kohrisan chattered to the ape in swift monosyllables which meant
nothing to the others. The beast's tremors died. Kohrisan turned
proudly.
"My brother is a member of that clan which we of the jungles call
'The Burrowers.' They are not dwellers-in-the-trees, like the forest
banderlogs. They make their homes in caves and hollows. Aye, and such
artificers are they in delving that their tunnels put to shame even the
works of their human brothers. Is it not so, O kinsman?"
It was Sugriva, who had spent long years in striving to improve the lot
of these lesser men, who understood Kohrisan's meaning first.
"You mean, Captain Kohrisan," he asked breathlessly, "the Burrowers
know of such a tunnel--to Lanka?"
"Even so, my Lord. And our brother, here, will show us the entrance
to the underground passage." The ape-human grinned, exposing gleaming
fangs. "They are clever builders, my brethren. The eyes of man are not
keen enough to find the spot whence their passage leaves the mainland;
nay, nor even where it disgorges into Lanka's very citadel. But it
exists, even as Burrowers elsewhere built the tunnel which leads from
Afric to the Altar of Jibra."
Ramey Winters struck his hands together gleefully.
"Then this fight's not over yet! It's just started--and the odds have
changed! Come on! Let's see what this tunnel looks like!"
* * * * *
Thus it was, that hours later, as the jet curtain of jungle night
trembled insecurely at its horizon, threatening to rise at any moment
in the pearly flame of tropical dawn, Ramey stood for the _second_
time at the mouth of the cavernous tunnel whose other maw disgorged
into the very heart of Ravana's island stronghold.
This time he was not accompanied by a mere handful of his friends, and
by a single chattering Burrower whose explanations had to be translated
by Captain Kohrisan. Behind him were arraigned six full divisions of
the ape-warrior's troops. Hairy archers, bows gripped and ready for
split-second use, quivers abristle with shafts of feathered death ...
ape-lancers, stalwartly clenching razor-edged spears ... ape-swordsmen,
fully aware of what this battle meant to them and their kind. A great
future, new manhood if it succeeded; a return to jungle savagery for
all their kind if it failed.
Heading these was their commander, Kohrisan. Only human companion of
Ramey on this expedition was Lake O'Brien, who insisted on becoming a
member of the party.
"I'm going with, Winters," he declared flatly. "So take it or leave it!"
Ramey said worriedly, "But it--it's dangerous. We may run plunk into a
detachment of Ravana's soldiers, and be wiped out before we even effect
an entrance--"
"Sure," assented Lake cheerfully. "And we may bump into trolls and
gnomes in yonder tunnel. It looks sinister enough. Stop talking, Ramey.
You're wasting time. If anything should happen to you, there ought to
be another earthman at Kohrisan's side. Anyhow--" He grinned--"I'd
rather walk to Lanka than ride one of those junky boats. I get seasick
easy."
Ramey surrendered, not without a secret pleasure at the gay O'Brien
twin's insistence. He turned for the last time to Red Barrett.
"Got everything straight, Redhead?"
Barrett nodded.
"Check, pal! We let you get a half hour's start. Then me and Syd pile
the other divisions of native soldiers into the boats and row slowly
toward Lanka, making as much of a fuss as we can. That'll attract their
attention, make 'em split up their forces, and relieve some of the
pressure on old Vibby-what's-his-name."
"Right! And don't attempt a landing. Stay out of bow-range until you
get some sort of signal from us. We'll try to clear a landing-port for
you. Well--" Ramey took a deep breath, glanced at Kohrisan--"I guess
we're set. Give the command, Captain."
And with the voluble little jungle-creature beside them, chattering,
guiding, he and the ape-captain led the way into the underground
passage.
* * * * *
Had Ramey Winters been in exploring, rather than expeditionary, mood he
would have found much to marvel at during the ensuing march.
Kohrisan had not exaggerated when he had called his Burrower brethren
magnificent artificers. This tunnel, Ramey Winters was forced to
concede, was as great an accomplishment as any ever wrought by
supposedly superior Man. For a short space it dipped downward into
the earth, out under the lake-shallows, on a gentle cline. Then it
straightened, became a passage smooth and straight and true as if bored
by a gigantic drill.
It did not provide quite enough head-room for Ramey and Lake.
Six-footers each, they soon found their shoulders aching under the
strain of walking with heads lowered beneath an arched roofway built to
accommodate dwarfish figures. But this was the only inadequacy of the
tunnel. In every other respect it was perfect. Its floor was smooth and
dry. Its walls were hewn to glassy perfection, and by the light of the
torches the wayfarers bore shone with a strange, azure glow.
How this wonder had been wrought was a question that perplexed Ramey,
but his one effort to learn met with scant success. Kohrisan could not
tell him, and the Burrower would not. Incessant chatterer the ape was,
but he refused to tell this secret of his clan. So Ramey shelved the
problem for the time being, resolving that at some later date he would
try again.[13]
[Footnote 13: The accompanying news-clipping might have helped Ramey
solve the mystery--or might have only furthered his confusion. One
truth shines clearly through the webwork of half-knowledge to which man
is heir: That there exist in this world many ancient secrets as yet
unsolved.--Ed.]
Gate To Hell Puzzle Solved By Scientists
Lucerne, Switzerland (AP.)--Five Lucerne mountaineers have cleared
up the mystery of the "Hellenloch," or "Gate to Hell," a cavernous
hole in the Niederbauenalp.
The cavern--from which the road of subterranean cataracts
emerged--was discovered years ago by a party of Alpine climbers,
but only a few days ago did scientists venture to descend into it.
Using a rope 850 feet long, a windlass and crane, three of the
party of five were lowered into the stygian hole. At a depth of
300 feet they found themselves in a "glacier-mill," or "giant's
cauldron," said to be the largest ever discovered. It was an
immense hollow 36 feet long and 23 feet wide with azure-colored
walls that _were smooth as glass and that shone weirdly in the glow
of flashlights_.
Four miles lay the Isle of Lanka from the mainland. Approximately an
hour's march. When his wristwatch told him his force had reached the
halfway mark, Ramey envisioned the scene transpiring on the lake's
surface, perhaps above their very heads. Now, from the numerous
wharves and docks, would be putting out a host of tiny craft filled
with soldiers. A cry would rise from the citadel as these invaders
were seen. Ravana's guards would be calling the alarm ... forces now
besieging Vibhishana's tiny garrison might be diverted ... there might
even put out from Lanka an opposing "navy"....
But he could not concern himself with these things. He and his
followers had their own, allotted duty; upon their success or failure
hung the whole campaign.
"On!" he said to Kohrisan. "Faster!"
And Lake O'Brien, irrepressible even under circumstances as vital as
these, chuckled.
"'Sail on!'" he quoted extravagantly, "'and on! Sail on!'--Hey, Ramey,
old Columbus must have been a bargain-hunter the way he kept yapping
about a 'Sale on!'"
* * * * *
Still on they pressed, while moments winged by at a tempo set by the
slur of marching feet. And finally came an interruption to their swift
progress. The Burrower chattered something to Kohrisan, the ape-captain
cried the command to halt. Ramey glanced at him curiously.
"What is it, Captain? Something wrong?"
"Nay, my Lord. But the moment for extra caution is come. Behold the
torch in thy hand."
The torch, which had been spluttering illumination in smoky waves
before them, was now flaring more brightly. Its resined wood was licked
by hungry flames that seemed to leap _forward_.
"Fresh air!" said Ramey. "A draught. Are we nearly there, Kohrisan?"
"Very near, my Lord. It is time to extinguish the torches and move
forward silently."
"But we can't see in this darkness," Lake demurred.
"There will be light enough. See?" Kohrisan smothered his own torch
against a wall, passed word back that all other torch-bearers should
do the same. Soon all the lights were crushed into ash--but still
the passageway glowed with a dull, gray illumination emanating from a
tiny circle dimly seen before them. "The end of the tunnel, my Lords,"
whispered Kohrisan. "The moment for attack is ripe."
"And where does the tunnel emerge?" asked Ramey.
But the Burrower's answer was unsatisfactory. "Inside the palace," was
the only information Kohrisan got from him. Thus, unknowing whether the
next few minutes would see them stepping forward to greet friends or
foes--but with every likelihood pointing toward the latter--the tiny
army of invasion again moved forward. This time lightless, voiceless,
and on creeping feet.
* * * * *
But at least a portion of their caution was a waste of energies. They
need not have spoken in whispers. For as they approached nearer and
ever nearer the circle which was the tunnel's exit, there smote their
ears in full, reverberant cry the clash and clamor of battle waging
wildly! Shouts of men, alive and angry, wounded and in pain, dying and
fearful ... the strident clang of metal upon metal ... the _whirr!_ of
arrows seeking fleshy targets ... these were the sounds which greeted
their arrival.
And as they gained the exit, Ramey saw whence originated this tumult.
Also he saw, and with a sense of sick despair, why the Burrower ape had
boasted his clan's tunnel was so well concealed from the search of men.
For it was bitter battle between troops of Vibhishana and Ravana's
hordes upon which Ramey and his rescue squad _looked down_! Down--from
a tiny, frieze-embellished exit-hole near the roof of one of Lanka's
highest chambers!
Fully fifty feet _below_ them waged the conflict ... a battle between
forces hopelessly outmatched. At the front of the decimated rebel group
Ramey recognized men he knew, men who had been his companions in the
dungeon. His great bulk sturdier still in battle-mail, Tauthus of Cush
headed a handful of men desperately striving to hold a narrow doorway.
Left flank of this party was protected by soldiers in the livery of
Videlia ... loyalists rallied by Thalakka, whose sword was among their
own. Even as Ramey watched, an arrow shattered on the breastplate of
the faithful guardsman, and Thalakka tottered and fell, driven to his
knees by the sheer driving impact of that shaft.
A glowering foe, seeing Thalakka's plight, leaped forward, stabbing
viciously at the fallen man. But as his sword lifted for the destroying
blow, the young Martian who had opposed Tauthus yesterday in the
gaol sprang forward to parry it with a thrust of his own. Thalakka's
attacker fell, blood gushing from a great wound in his breast, and even
as he rolled lifeless to the floor, Thalakka was on his feet again.
All this fifty feet below! And they, six fighting divisions, helpless
to aid their friends! Ramey whirled to Kohrisan frantically.
"But how do we get down from here?"
Kohrisan grinned. There was fire in the ape-man's eye now. Ramey
thought that never had Captain Kohrisan seemed less the man, more the
jungle beast, than now. Battlelust seemed to have thickened even his
speech; it was with difficulty he made the human words intelligible.
* * * * *
But his words were not directed to Ramey. He spoke to the warriors
behind him. And they, obediently, sprang to their task. One wrapped
his arms round a pillar standing at the lip of the exit. A second
gripped the first ape's legs, and himself slipped over the ledge to
dangle by his companion's heels. A third clambered over the body of
his comrade to dangle a few more feet down the wall. A fourth ... a
fifth....
Lake cried hoarsely, "A ladder! A ladder of flesh and blood, Ramey! Of
course! It is part of their jungle heritage!"
"But--" said Ramey to Kohrisan--"if one of them be killed? Then the
ladder is broken--"
"And it will be rebuilt, Lord Ramaíya!" retorted the captain. "There!
Now it reaches the floor below. Forward!"
Ramey said no more. All warfare is a gamble. This was no more desperate
a measure than that one nation should hurl the soft bodies of men
against the adamant ramparts of machines. Eyes glinting, he let himself
over the ledge and hand-over-hand down the living chain that dangled to
the room below.
He was but one of many. For now there were other chains ... swarms of
comrades flinging themselves down over the bodies of their brothers.
And before his feet had touched the floor, he was surrounded by a force
of more agile ape-warriors, turning to him for command. His voice could
not be heard in the melee, but a gesture was enough.
"Forward!"
And to the relief of the beleaguered loyalists, like a great brown
flood of strength, surged the monkey-soldiers. From the rear they
struck, and there were scores of Videlians who fell without ever
knowing what hand had struck them down. When finally they whirled
to see this new danger descending upon them, already they were
outnumbered. It scarcely mattered that one courageous archer broke a
chain by piercing the key-man on the ledge. Though a dozen tumbled
headlong to the granite floor, instantly a new chain was forged. And in
a trice, the complexion of the battle had changed. Now it was Ravana's
men, instead of the loyalists, who were on the defensive. Hard-pressed,
they withdrew from the doorway they had been attacking. But the moment
their pressure was withdrawn, Thalakka and Tauthus roared their
followers forward.
Thus, trapped between two forces, attacked alike by fresh and weary
troops, the Videlians fell. Though giants in stature, they were no
match for the squat little 'new men' of Chitrakuta. And at length, when
the floor of the huge hall ran slippery-red, when the bodies of dead
and dying formed a dreadful tapestry on crimsoned stone, the remnants
of the doomed battalion surrendered.
* * * * *
Then it was that Ramey, his heart great with gladness, raced to seek
those whom strife and a common cause had already bound him into a
brotherhood as strong as that of birth.
To the grinning Copt he cried, "Well done, Tauthus of Cush! This is a
mighty battle you have won this day!"
And the tall man chuckled in reply, "The credit is thine, Ramaíya. You
spoke the truth. There is more joy in this than in squabbling with
these few Videlians who are our friends."
Said Thalakka soberly, "You came in the nick of time, my friend. We
were hard-pressed. Nor is the battle yet won. Only this small corner
of Lanka is now ours to hold. Ravana has yet thousands at his command
elsewhere in the citadel."
"And we have thousands more on the way," Ramey promised him. "Ah, my
Lord Vibhishana! Have your guards watched the lakefront? Are our
troops on the water?"
The elderly ex-ruler of Lanka nodded gravely.
"Their boats hover outside bow-range, Ramaíya. The fleet of Ravana
dared not attack Sugriva's larger force, but they are held in deadlock
unless we can win them a landing-place. Is that thy plan?"
"That is the plan. Thalakka ... Tauthus ... Kohrisan! I leave its
accomplishment to you. Somehow you must succeed in winning some section
of the beach where our reinforcements may land."
"And you, Lord Ramaíya?" asked Tauthus anxiously.
"Where I go," Ramey told him grimly, "one man must go alone. I am
going after the Bow of Rudra, fuel for which I have found. And I
have--another reason. Lord Vibhishana, point me the way to Ravana's
private chambers."
"Us!" corrected a lone voice.
Ramey turned to find Lake O'Brien at his shoulder. There was
determination in the twin's eyes.
"That's right," Lake repeated, "Us! I'm declaring myself in again,
Ramey. And shut up! Damned if you're not the arguingest guy I ever met!"
Ramey said firmly, "No, Lake! I was glad you came along with us
through the tunnel. But this is _my_ job. Because not only is the Bow
in Ravana's quarters but--Sheila is there, too. You won't understand,
but--she means more than anything else to me."
Lake returned his gaze quietly. For once there was no smile on his
lips. He said, "But I do understand, Ramey. Perfectly. Because, you
see, _I_ have known Sheila Aiken for a long time, too."
"But you don't feel--" began Ramey hotly. Then he stopped,
comprehension finally drawing upon him, sympathy and embarrassment
suddenly warm upon his cheeks. "Oh! So it--it's that way? I'm sorry,
Lake. I didn't realize--"
"Neither does she," said Lake O'Brien. "But that's the way it is,
Ramey. And always has been."
Tauthus of Cush was staring at them curiously. Now he said, "I do not
quite understand, Lord Ramaíya. What are you going to do?"
And Ramey Winters answered, "It is a two man job we face. Lake and I
are both going...."