Purcell went over to him and saw the wide swathe cut through the forest
and curving out of sight. "What went through there?" he gasped.
"A Cyclops," Charlie said grimly. "A Cyclops has them. Captain, we've
got to hurry. Listen, there are two horses now. I could create horses
for all of us, but all these men coming up would probably be seen by the
Cyclops. You come on foot with your men. Let one of them come with me
on the stallions." As he spoke Charlie unslung the Mannlicher and put it
down.
"Oh, you want our more modern weapons?" Purcell asked.
Charlie shook his head. "For fun, Robin and I made the Cyclopes
invulnerable to any kind of attack except the kind mentioned in the
encyclopedia--putting out their single eye with a stake. To protect all
the other people we created, we made the Cyclopes so they'd never want
to leave their homeland. So if we can get Robin and your man Glaudot
free, they'll be safe. Now, who's the volunteer?"
"I'm already on horseback," Chandler said. Charlie nodded and mounted
the second roan stallion.
"My men will be coming as fast as they can march," Captain Purcell said.
Charlie nodded. He did not bother to tell the captain that a Cyclops
could cover in a few minutes ground a marching party could not hope to
cover in as many hours. He set off at a swift gallop with Chandler.
* * * * *
"Will he eat us now?" said Glaudot. Strangely, he was not afraid. The
unexpected nature of their impending demise he almost found amusing.
Robin shook her head. "I don't think so. He'll probably drink himself to
sleep. We made the Cyclopes great drunkards."
The Cyclops, his tree-trunk sized walking stick leaning against the
wall, was reclining and drinking from a huge bowl of wine. The cave was
torchlit. Seventy or eighty sheep milled about, settling for the night
after three of their number had supplied a meal for the giant, who had
eaten them raw.
"Isn't there anything we can do?" demanded Glaudot, whose dreams of
galactic conquest were fading before the spectre of being eaten alive.
"Reserve your strength until he sleeps," Robin said. "Of course there's
something we can do."
"Yes? What?"
"His walking stick. You see the end comes almost to a point? We harden
it in the fire--and put his eye out. Then, in the morning, when he
unrolls the stone from the cave-entrance and blindly leads his flock
out, we hide among the sheep and make our escape. At least that's how it
happens in the encyclopedia."
Glaudot swallowed hard. He had never had a great deal of physical
courage....
Just then they heard a great fluttering, groaning sound. Robin said:
"You see, he's asleep. He's snoring."
"I--I don't think I could possibly--"
"He's liable to want us for breakfast. Come on."
They got up swiftly and silently, and crept to the walking stick. It was
the size of a young tree. It would be heavy, perhaps too heavy for them
to handle.
"Easy now," Robin said. She nimbly climbed the ledges on the cave-wall
and tipped the great walking stick, then leaped down and grabbed the
front end as Glaudot got a grip on the rear of the big pole.
"Heavy," Glaudot said.
"But not too heavy, I--I think."
"Try to lift it," said Glaudot.
They tried. Together they could barely get it overhead.
"Try to poke it at something," Glaudot said.
They could not. Robin sighed. They put it down slowly, quietly. It would
take more than the two of them. It would take them and two or three more
men to do the job.
"We wait," Glaudot said bleakly.
Robin stared up in frustration at the smoke hole, through which smoke
from the Cyclops's fire poured out into the gathering night. It was
hopelessly over their head, although help could reach them through it
from the outside. But how could they possibly expect help to come...?
"We wait," Glaudot said again, hopelessly.
"For breakfast," Robin said.
Glaudot broke suddenly. "I don't want to die!" he cried. "I don't want
to die ..."
* * * * *
The feeblest of Crimson's three suns came over the horizon, lighting the
landscape with the illumination of three or four full moons on Earth.
"I told you I smelled smoke!" Charlie cried, pointing triumphantly at
the thin tendril of smoke that rose through the cooling air against the
weak sunlight.
"Is it a campfire?" Chandler asked.
"Chimney hole, probably. Come on."
They left the two stallions grazing at the base of the rocky escarpment.
They began to climb. Once Chandler stumbled and went sliding down the
rocky slope, but Charlie caught his arm, all but wrenching it from the
socket. Charlie thought: we have to hurry. Their lives may depend on it.
Already we may be too late....
The smoke from the chimney hole was acrid. It was very strong now.
Suddenly Charlie could feel the slightly increased slope of the rocks.
The slope was precipitous now, almost perpendicular.
"I can't--can't go much further!" Chandler groaned.
"We've got to, man. We've got to."
* * * * *
"He's waking," said Robin.
Glaudot had broken completely. The confident would-be conqueror was
reduced to trembling and whining now. "M-maybe he's hungry. Oh, God,
maybe he's hungry ..."
But the Cyclops only turned over in its sleep and began to snore again.
The fire had burned low. The sheep were resting. Robin thought of
Charlie, probably many miles away. There would be a late moonrise
tonight, she thought. They often spoke of the feeblest of Crimson's
three suns as the moon, although it really wasn't. Then dawn would come.
If the Cyclops were hungry and wanted a change in diet ...
* * * * *
"But you'll choke to death going down there," Chandler protested.
"It's only a chimney hole. Nobody's going to choke to death."
"Can you see down it?"
"No. Too much smoke."
"Then how do you know how far we'll have to fall?"
"I don't. I'll have to take the chance. You don't have to, though."
"I'll go where you go. That's what I volunteered for."
"Good. It's almost morning, so the fire's probably almost burned down
from now. If you land in the embers, jump aside quickly. You
understand?"
"Yes," Chandler said.
Without another word, Charlie suddenly lowered himself into the smoke
and let go.
* * * * *
Dim fiery light lit the cave. He alighted in embers and quickly jumped
clear. Embers flew. A ram bleated. Charlie saw the enormous sleeping
bulk of the Cyclops against one wall of the cave. He heard something
behind him, and whirled. It was Chandler. More sparks flew. The sheep
bleated again, louder this time.
Robin and a spaceman who was probably Glaudot came toward them. There
was amazement on Robin's face. Glaudot looked like a child in the grip
of terror he couldn't quite understand.