THE PLAN OF ATTACK
I was awakened by my companion from a deep sleep, out of which I was
aroused with difficulty, and found that it was high noon, and the order
had already been passed that we who were on the left hand of the
outlying spur of the forest, around which we had rested, should cross to
the other side, from which the next stage of the advance would be taken.
This we did, forming a second line behind those who were already in that
position, and halting there while final instructions were given to us,
to the effect that we were now approaching the most hazardous part of
the journey, and that speed and silence, with readiness to obey any
orders we might receive with instant alacrity, were essential.
We were directed to avoid separate intercourse, and to concentrate our
minds upon the path we were taking, while holding them at the disposal
of our Leaders, and under no circumstances to allow any emotion to
control us, unless it were the ordered feeling of the expedition, and
were operated in unison.
Although these orders were not directly applicable to myself, I was
conscious of an increasing willingness to adapt myself to the methods
and controls of my new companions, and was not insensible to the relief
of mind which arose from the knowledge that the will of every member of
the expedition could be brought to operate in this way.
It is true that all my habits were alien from a method of warfare which
moved against unknown hostilities, such as were certainly capable of
physical violence, without weapons or any evident means of self-defence,
trusting, apparently, only to a mental attitude for its protection, and
leaving me to wonder how any aggressive action could be even attempted.
But I had already realised that the Amphibians had powers of intellect
which, though different from my own, were very far from contemptible.
I was inclined to wonder whether my own complacency might not be the
result of some subtle exercise of their will-power upon my own mind,
which was probably so, though not in the way in which I supposed it,
their influence not being the result of any mental violence or assault,
but resulting from my gradual recognition of the assured serenity with
which they possessed their souls against any pressure of surrounding
circumstance, a serenity which had no root in obtuseness or
indifference, but, with their leaders at least, was consistent with an
unsleeping vigilance and forethought, and a chivalrous willingness to
sacrifice themselves at the call of their companion’s peril.
We were now told to advance out of the forest in double file, all
emerging at the same spot, on the right front, which was immediately
before me, so that I watched the whole of the front line as it crawled
to this spot and moved out into the sunlight.
Last of this line came the Five, an order passing ahead of them that I
should be in readiness to follow. I was conscious of a strong reluctance
to leave my zebra’d companion, of whose vitality I had taken so freely,
and to whom I was drawn in consequence in a strange inhuman intimacy.
But they answered my thought instantly that this was not intended. We
were to move out together, immediately behind them. Being in the
rearward line, we had been able to see little beneath the low and level
branches till the moment came for us to go forward. Then the first sight
that met me was a round blue-black body, from which two humorous
twinkling eyes surveyed me satirically. For a moment I thought that I
had encountered the most amazing reincarnation of this amazing world; at
the next I recognised that there were two other similar creatures a
short distance away, and that I was not encountering a reproduction of
the one I had seen collapse so thoroughly, but only others of the same
species.
Beyond these creatures, I had a moment’s glimpse of a different
landscape from that which I had watched from the other side of the spur.
Here the ground rose, the upward slopes growing steeper, toward a bare
and desolate mountain grandeur. The next moment I saw the last of the
Five leap lightly downward into a deep and narrow trench which cut
through the ground before us, and I followed more awkwardly, my
companion gaining my side as I did so.
I am conscious in this narration of the paucity of proper names,--of the
use of no arbitrary sounds to distinguish the kinds or even the
individuals of the strange beings amongst which I was moving, but the
fact is that, unless I am to invent them, I have none to offer. It is
the evident difference between mental intercourse and oral or written
speech that such signs are imperatively needed in the latter, while in
the former they would be worse than useless. The thought that brings the
picture of the individual or place itself has no use for a sign by which
to describe it. But of these I felt the lack even before I attempted to
write down my experiences. It is the inevitable result of the constant
use of a spoken language that we acquire the habit of substituting words
for realities, even in the processes of our own thought. I found in the
minds of my companions no names for each other, nor any vaguest desire
for such a method of differentiation, but I accustomed myself to this
omission with difficulty, and am fully conscious of the disadvantage
under which I am now writing.
It was now the nearest of the Leaders--the one with whom I had held
intercourse previously--who addressed herself to my mind. She commenced
by informing me that she was about to describe the plans which they had
formed, because they included a part for myself of the first importance,
but of which they believed I should be capable.
Though I knew that I should undertake whatever might be suggested, if it
were within my capacity, yet the feeling that I had been called up like
a dog to receive my instructions, and the instinct of my commercial
training, prompting me to make a bargain for my ultimate protection,
complicated my reaction to this suggestion. “Are you less than a
sea-dog?” queried the mind that met me, but perceiving that I intended
assent, it became indifferent.
It appeared (I attempt no explanation) that the member of their number
whom I had first met, on whom they were depending for guidance, could
only communicate such knowledge as she had gained before she had left
her body; and beyond that was only able to help them by the doubts or
dissent with which she had met the various plans which they had put
before her. They were therefore in ignorance of events that were now
transpiring, but were able to receive detailed descriptions of the
ground they were about to traverse, and of the experiences or
observations she had made thereon, one of which had been shown to me in
the vision which I have told already.
The plan now proposed had been received with assent, though doubtfully,
and they had finally decided to adopt it.
She explained that trenches, such as we were now following, extended for
many miles along the lower slopes of the hills, and through the valleys,
bisecting each other, and dividing the ground into fields of very large
area. Whether they were the work of the Dwellers, or were constructed by
our present opponents,--whom I should not have supposed to be
sufficiently numerous or intelligent for works of such magnitude,--was
not known, but it was certain that the latter made use of their
extensive existence to herd some of the creatures they ate, which were
not of sufficient agility to leap the barriers. In this connection the
blue-black monstrosities I had encountered were used by them as
watch-dogs or drovers, being themselves immune from slaughter in return
for these services. It was certain that these creatures would carry the
news of our presence to their masters as soon as they were able to do
so. While they had been in our immediate vicinity the will-power of our
Leaders had been sufficient to restrain them, but this would not last in
a case in which it was exercised against the instincts and obligations
of the creatures themselves; and a suggestion from my mind that we might
destroy them was dismissed contemptuously.
They would, however, continue to watch for a while, and would know, from
the direction which would shortly be taken, that the expedition was
turning into the mountains. Their masters would know that no danger
could threaten from that direction for a space of one or two days, as
the distance to be covered was not less than five hundred miles, and
part of it was over very difficult surfaces, whereas we were only about
one hundred and thirty miles from their stronghold, if the direct course
were taken, and the trenches which I have mentioned, which were well
drained on the higher slopes, provided a road along which the Amphibians
could have proceeded with great rapidity. The distances were, of course,
conveyed to me visually and not by terms of measurement.
The way through the mountains was, for the Amphibians, sufficiently
hazardous, and would be, for me, impossible; and the Five had decided
that it would be best for me to proceed with my one companion by the
easier way, where it might be anticipated that my presence would not be
suspected, and myself to attempt the rescue, by peaceful stratagem if
possible, or by force if it should be necessary to do so.
My companion would supply the nervous energy necessary to enable me to
cover the intervening distance in the forty-eight hours which yet
remained before sunset, while, if any physical violence were necessary
to effect my purpose, I should be acting according to the laws of my own
nature, and against creatures more or less on my own level of conduct.
The enclosure which it would be necessary to enter I had already seen in
the vision. It was the custom to place all the hunting weapons of the
tribe during the night in a central building, which was not guarded, as
no attack was ever anticipated from outside, particularly during the
long night, when all the creatures on the earth’s surface rested. The
building in which were the killing-pens was guarded day and night by one
of the giant archers, lest its victims should attempt escape, and for
other reasons which I could not follow.
The main force of the expedition would arrive, if all went well, on the
top of the great cliff which overlooked the enclosure, at the
commencement of the second night. Had I found it impossible to attempt a
rescue, or had I failed, they would then proceed by other methods.
Should I succeed, I was to place myself under the orders of the one I
rescued, who, being one of the Leaders, would naturally assume control
of myself and my companion.
I was given a few minutes to consider this plan, and to make any
inquiries which might occur to me, while our course continued in the
same direction.
As I reflected upon it, I was conscious of many points which invited
criticism. It appeared that the whole expedition was being led into the
mountains for no very evident purpose, while I was to take the
individual peril and responsibility of the rescue for which it had been
designed. If the mountains offered even greater perils, it were the more
reason why a different procedure would be adopted.
On the other hand, we were operating under conditions which were in some
respects as strange to them as to myself, and for which they might be
said to be even more unfit. I was, at least, the only one who carried
anything that could be used as an offensive weapon, and there was some
justice in the reflection that I came from conditions of life from which
the argument of violence was less alien than it was from theirs. Also,
the fact that I could not pass the dangers of the mountain way, if it
were really so, was unanswerable, and the fact that our opponents could
not expect an attack from that direction for so long a time, certainly
suggested that I could best be used in the interval in the way they had
planned. Whether they expected me to succeed, or regarded me simply as a
forlorn hope, or even as a feint attack to disguise a deeper purpose, I
could not know. I considered that if I should be successful in effecting
the rescue undetected, we might be far on the return journey before the
dawn, but that they would arrive after it had certainly been discovered,
and with their enemies between them and their retreat, in which case
they would have their full share of the peril.
I had, at least, no better plan to propose, and I shortly signified that
I had no further questions. I was then told that I must restrain any
impulse of violence which I might feel, unless there were no alternative
possible, as it developed action on a plane which they despised, and on
which they were unaccustomed to operate, and might bring us into
additional and incalculable trouble with the Dwellers also, if they
should become aware of our expedition, or were already cognisant of it.
It was to descend to the level of the Killers themselves.
I write “Killers” as the nearest word I have in which to describe the
thought with which she defined our opponents, but it is quite
inadequate. Scorn was in it, and loathing, if such feelings can be
entirely passionless and judicial, and in it was the whole summary of
what they were and did, but centrally there was the conception of them
as things that killed continually, and that enjoyed killing, and as such
I translate it. These worm-pink horrors with the sucking mouths were too
low for any emotion to stir in regarding them. She looked on them as I,
whom she regarded as a beast only, look upon one of my own kind who can
kill birds for pleasure.