Of course, the four still had the ability to communicate with each other
while in the trance state; they had developed this power to a fair
degree while investigating Capellette. However, each was so deeply
interested in what he or she was seeing during the first hour of their
Sanusian experiences that neither thought to discuss the matter until
afterward.
When the doctor first made connection with the eyes of his agent, he
instinctively concluded that he, at least, had got in touch with a being
more or less like himself. The whole thing was so natural; he was
surveying a sunny, brush-covered landscape from eyes whose height from
the ground, and other details, were decidedly those of a human.
For a moment there was comparative silence. Then his unknown agent
swiftly raised something--a hand, presumably--to a mouth, and gave out a
piercing cry. Whereupon the doctor learned something that jarred him a
trifle. His agent was--a woman!
He had time to congratulate himself upon the fact that he was (1) a
doctor, (2) a married man, (3) the father of a daughter or two, before
his agent repeated her cry. Almost immediately it was answered by
another exactly like it, from an unseen point not far away. The Sanusian
plainly chuckled to herself with satisfaction.
A moment later there came, rather faintly, two more calls, each from a
different direction in the dun-colored brush. Still without moving from
the spot, the doctor's agent replied two or three times, meanwhile
watching her surroundings very closely. Within half a minute the first
of her friends came in sight.
It was a young woman. At a distance of about twenty yards she appeared
to be about five feet tall and sturdily built. She was dressed in a
single garment, made of the skin of some yellow, short-haired animal. It
may have been a lion cub. Around her waist was a strip of hide, which
served as a belt, and held a small, stone-headed tomahawk. One shoulder
and both legs were left quite bare, revealing a complexion so deeply
tanned that the doctor instantly thought: "Spanish!"
In a way, the girl's face gave the same impression. Large, dark-brown
eyes, full lips and a healthy glow beneath her tan, all made it possible
for her to pass as a Spaniard. However, there was nothing in the least
coquettish about her; she had a remarkably independent manner, and a
gaze as frank and direct as it was pure and untroubled.
In one hand she carried a branch from some large-leafed shrub. The eyes
which Kinney was using became fixed upon this branch; and even as the
newcomer cried out in joyous response to the other's greeting, her
expression changed and she turned and fled, laughing, as the doctor's
agent darted toward her. She did not get away, and immediately the two
were struggling over the possession of the branch.
In the midst of the tussle another figure made its appearance.
"Look out! Here comes Dulnop" [Footnote: It made no difference whatever
as to what language was used. The telepathic process employed enabled
the investigators to know all that their agents' subconscious minds took
in. The brains of the four automatically translated these thought-images
into their own language. However, this method did not enable them to
learn what their agents were thinking, but only what they said, heard,
and saw.] cried Kinney's agent; at the same time she made a special
effort, and succeeded in breaking off a good half of the branch.
Instantly she darted to one side, where she calmly began to pluck some
small, hard-shelled nuts from the branch, and proceeded to crack them,
with entire ease, using a set of teeth which must have been absolutely
perfect.
She gave the latest comer only a glance or two. He--for it certainly was
a man--was nearly a half a foot taller than the girl already described;
but he was plainly not much older or younger, and in build and color
much the same. He was clothed neither more nor less than she, the only
difference being that some leopard-like animal had contributed the
material. In his belt was tucked a primitive stone hammer, also a stone
knife. His face was longer than hers, his eyes darker; but he was
manifestly still very boyish. Dulnop, they had called him.
"Hail, Cunora!" he called to the girl who had brought the nuts; then, to
her who was watching: "Rolla! Where got ye the nuts?"
Rolla didn't answer; she couldn't use her mouth just then; it was too
full of nuts. She merely nodded in the direction of Cunora.
"Give me some, Cunora!"
The younger girl gave no reply, but backed away from him as he
approached; her eyes sparkled mischievously and the doctor thought,
somewhat affectionately. Dulnop made a sudden darting move toward her
branch, and she as swiftly whirled in her tracks, so that he missed.
However, he instantly changed his mind and grasped the girl instead.
Like a flash he drew her to him and kissed her noisily.
Next second he was staggering backward under the weight of her hard
brown fist. "Do that again, and I'll have the hair out of thy head!" the
girl screamed, her face flaming. Yet Kinney saw that the man was
laughing joyously even as he rubbed the spot where her blow had landed,
while the expression of her eyes quite belied what she had said.
Not until then did the doctor's agent say anything. When she spoke it
was in a deep, contralto voice which gave the impression of riper years
than either of the other two. Afterward Kinney learned that Rolla was
nearly ten years their senior, a somewhat more lithe specimen of the
same type, clad in the skin of what was once a magnificent goat. She
carried only a single small knife in her belt. As seen reflected in
pools of water, her complexion was slightly paler and her whole
expression a little less self-assertive and distinctively philosophical.
To those who admire serious, thoughtful women of regular feature and
different manner, Rolla would have seemed downright beautiful.
"Dulnop," said she, with a laugh in her voice, "ye will do well to seek
the nut tree, first as last." She nonchalantly crushed another shell in
her mouth. "Neither Cunora nor I can spare good food to a kiss-hungry
lout like thee!"
He only laughed again and made as though to come toward her. She stood
ready to dodge, chuckling excitedly, and he evidently gave it up as a
bad job. "Tell me whence cameth the nuts, Cunora!" he begged; but the
girl pretended to be cross, and shut her mouth as firmly as its contents
would allow.
Next moment there was a shout from the thicket, together with a crashing
sound; and shortly the fourth Sanusian appeared. He was by far the
larger; but his size was a matter of width rather than of height. An
artist would have picked him as a model for Ajax himself. His muscles
fairly strained the huge lion's skin in which he was clad, and he had
twice the weight of Dulnop within the same height. Also, to the doctor's
eye, he was nearer Rolla's age.
His face was strong and handsome in a somewhat fierce, relentless way;
his complexion darker than the rest. He carried a huge club, such as
must have weighed all of forty pounds, while his belt was jammed full of
stone weapons. The doctor classed him and the younger girl together
because of their vigor and independence, while Dulnop and Rolla seemed
to have dispositions very similar in their comparative gentleness and
restraint.
"Hail, all of ye!" shouted this latest arrival in a booming baritone. He
strode forward with scarcely a glance at the two younger people; his
gaze was fixed upon Rolla, his expression unmistakable. The woman
quietly turned upon Dulnop and Cunora.
"Look!" she exclaimed, pointing to a spot back of them. "See the curious
bird!" They wheeled instantly, with the unquestioning faith of two
children; and before they had brought their gazes back again, the big
man had seized Rolla, crushed her to his breast and kissed her
passionately. She responded just as warmly, pushing him away only in
order to avoid being seen by the others. They showed only an innocent
disappointment at having missed seeing the "curious bird."
"A simple-minded people, basically good-humored," was the way the doctor
summed the matter up when reporting what he had seen. However, it was
not so easy to analyze certain things that were said during the time the
four Sanusians spent in each other's company. For one thing--
"Did They give thee permission to go?" Rolla was asked by the big man.
His name, it seemed, was Corrus.
"Yes, Corrus. They seemed to think it a good idea for us to take a
little recreation to-day. I suppose ye left thy herd with thy brother?"
He nodded; and the doctor was left to wonder whom "They" might be. Were
They a small group of humans, whose function was to superintend? Or were
They, as the books from Venus seemed to indicate, another type of
creature, entirely different from the humans, and yet, because of the
peculiar Sanusian conditions, superior to the humans?
"They have decided to move their city a little farther away from the
forest," Rolla overheard Dulnop telling Cunora; which was the first
indication that the planet boasted such a thing as a city. Otherwise,
things appeared to be in a primitive, rather than a civilized condition.
These four skin-clad savages seemed to be enjoying an aboriginal picnic.
For lunch, they munched on various fruits and nuts picked up en route,
together with handfuls of some wheat-like cereal which the big man had
brought in a goatskin. From time to time they scared out various animals
from the brush, chasing the creatures after the fashion of dogs and
children. Whenever they came to a stream, invariably all four splashed
through it, shouting and laughing with delight.
However, there were but two of these streams, and both of them quite
small. Their banks indicated that either the season was very far
advanced, or else that the streams were at one time vastly larger.
"A rather significant fact," the doctor afterward commented.
Nevertheless, the most impressive thing about all that the doctor
learned that day was the strange manner in which the excursion came to
an end. The quartet was at that moment climbing a small hill, apparently
on the edge of an extensive range of mountains. An occasional tree,
something like an oak, broke the monotony of the brush at this point,
and yet it was not until Rolla was quite at the top of the knoll that
Kinney could see surrounding country with any degree of clearness. Even
then he learned little.
The hill was placed on one edge of a valley about forty miles in width.
A good part of it was covered with dusty vegetation, presumably wild;
but the rest was plainly under cultivation. There were large green
areas, such as argued grain fields; elsewhere were what looked like
orchards and vineyards, some of which were in full bloom--refuting the
notion that the season was a late one. Nowhere was there a spot of land
which might be called barren.
Rolla and her three friends stood taking this in, keeping a rather
curious silence meanwhile. At length Cunora gave a deep sigh, which was
almost instantly reproduced by all the rest. Corrus followed his own
sigh with a frank curse.
"By the great god Mownoth!" he swore fiercely. "It be a shame that we
cannot come hence a great deal oftener! Methinks They could allow it!"
"They care not for our longings," spoke Cunora, her eyes flashing as
angrily as his. "They give us enough freedom to make us work the better
--no more! All They care for is thy herd and my crops!"
"And for the labor," reminded the big man, "of such brains as Rolla's
and Dulnop's. It be not right that They should drive us so!"
"Aye," agreed the younger man, with much less enthusiasm. "However, what
can ye do about it, Corrus?"
The big man's face flushed, and he all but snarled. "I tell ye what I
can do! I, and ye as well, if ye but will! I can--"
He stopped, one hand upraised in mighty emphasis, and a sudden and
startling change came over him. Downright fear drove the anger from his
face; his massive body suddenly relaxed, and all his power and vigor
seemed to crumble and wilt. His hands shook; his mouth trembled. At the
same time the two women shrank from him, each giving an inarticulate cry
of alarm and distress. Dulnop gave no sound, but the anger which had
left the herdsman seemed to have come to him; the youngster's eyes
flared and his breast heaved. His gaze was fixed upon Corrus's neck,
where the sweat of fear already glistened.
Suddenly the big man dropped his head, as though in surrender. He gasped
and found voice; this time a voice as shaky and docile as it had been
strong and dominant a moment before.
"Very well," he spoke abjectly. "Very well. I--shall do as you wish." He
seemed to be talking to thin air. "We--will go home at once."
And instantly all four turned about, and in perfect silence took the
back trail.