THE MAN-EATER.
From among the hundred warriors marshaled by Oro, Grandon selected five
who appeared above the average in intelligence, to act as officers,
each to command nineteen men.
Absolute silence was observed as they marched toward the community
of the brown-mouthed sabits, for if they were to be successful these
creatures must be taken by surprise.
The Earth-man led the column, followed by Oro with twenty men with two
sets of sabit-fetters. After this group came the next officer whose
crew carried a mattork, a rough tripod that Grandon had made for it,
and ammunition. The others brought up the rear.
It was not until they arrived at a point near the mating pens that they
saw the torches which had been planted before the central building of
the community in order that the slaves might witness the torture of the
young women. The doomed girls were huddled in a little group near the
doorway, guarded by a dozen soldier sabits.
The king sabit stood in the glare of the torchlight, but his mate was
not in sight. Evidently she would not be present at the ceremonies. The
female slaves and their children sat on the ground facing the entrance.
Behind them stood the men, while soldier sabits formed a great circle
about the whole scene.
Grandon saw two worker sabits pilot a huge fanta through the doorway.
This lusty infant was larger even than the soldier sabits, almost ready
to spin its cocoon. It gnashed its huge mandibles continuously, and
wiggled from side to side, nearly upsetting its pilots with each jerk.
At sight of the voracious monster, the unfortunate girls drew back in
horror, and a woman in the audience screamed and became hysterical.
"We must work fast," said Grandon, "if we would be in time. The plan
is as follows. Oro will take twenty men and the larger set of fetters
and circle, coming up behind the building. When he hears the report
of the mattork, he is to cut a door in the rear of the building, go
immediately to the chamber of the queen sabit and make her prisoner.
"You two will take your details and go with Oro's men to the rear of
the building. Upon the second report of the mattork, one detail will
charge around the right side of the building and fetter the king sabit
while the other charges around the left side and rescues the girls,
placing a guard around them.
"The fourth detail will go to a place behind that large surface root to
the north of the sabits, while the last one will hide behind the mating
pens on the south. At the third report of the mattork they will rush in
and surround the slaves who are assembled before the building."
"But you thus will be left alone," remonstrated Oro. "The sabits will
overpower and kill you, for you cannot resist an army single-handed."
"Have no fear for me," replied Grandon. "Only do as you are bidden. Go
now, swiftly and silently as possible. There is no time to lose."
In a moment Grandon was left entirely alone. He quickly mounted the
mattork, meanwhile watching the ceremonies of the sabits from time to
time. The king sabit had come out in front of the hungry fanta and was
haranguing the slaves in the tone-language, no doubt warning them that
if any of their number should ever attempt to escape, a fate similar to
that which was to be meted out to the girls awaited them.
After droning out his warnings for a full ten minutes the king sabit
stepped to one side, whereupon four worker sabits seized a girl, two on
a side, and carried her before the fanta.
* * * * *
Grandon quickly withdrew the clip of explosive bullets he had in the
mattork and inserted one of solid missiles instead. The girl was being
pushed feet foremost toward those great gaping jaws, and although he
knew Oro would not be ready for the signal he took careful aim at the
hideous head.
Just as he was ready to press the button the form of a man appeared
on a direct line between mattork and target. Cursing this unforeseen
interference, which might mean the death or mutilation of the girl,
Grandon lifted his tripod, intending to try a shot from another
position, when he saw the man who had momentarily saved the fanta's
life hurl a huge rock fragment straight for its ugly head. The missile
struck the mark squarely, and the great soft-bodied monster, after a
convulsive shudder, sank over on its side, stone-dead.
Once more Grandon put his clip of explosive bullets in the mattork.
He saw the man turn and dodge hither and thither among the snapping
sabits. That he was an excellent runner and an extraordinary athlete
became apparent, for he succeeded in breaking through the line and in
keeping a short distance ahead of his pursuers.
Training his weapon on those sabits immediately behind the fugitive,
the Earth-man opened fire. The exploding missile tore a great gap in
the ranks of the monsters, killing a half dozen and disabling as many
more, whereupon the others paused, running this way and that in their
endeavor to locate the unseen attacker.
Suddenly Grandon leaped up on the surface root behind him and, turning
his pocket flash light on himself, shouted defiance to the sabits in
the tone-language. The king sabit saw him almost immediately, and
vibrated his antennæ excitedly, whereupon all but a dozen soldier
sabits who remained to guard the slaves charged down on Grandon. As he
leaped back to the ground and made his mattork ready, the man who had
broken through the sabit guards arrived, panting heavily.
"Give me a weapon," cried the stranger, "and I will fight with you."
Grandon handed him the spiked club.
"Hit them between the eyes," he said. "It is the only vulnerable spot.
If you are as skillful with a club as you are at hurling stones, I am
sure you will account for a few of them."
The newcomer smiled slightly. He was evidently not a marsh-man, for
his features were clean-cut, almost classical in outline, his hair was
a light golden yellow in contrast to their dark locks, and his every
movement bespoke careful training. While most of the marsh-men moved
with the clumsy, stooping gait of gorillas, this man walked with the
carriage of a soldier.
"It was a lucky hit," he replied. "Throwing stones is not my specialty.
I could do much better with that weapon you are aiming at the sabits."
Grandon fired the signal for the second attack.
"Where did you learn to use the mattork?" Grandon asked his ally.
"I was a captain in the armies of Mernerum for several years, and was
credited with being a fairly good marksman."
"Here, then, take the weapon. Let me see what you can do with it. The
next shot will be the final signal for my men. See if you can stop the
charge of these soldier sabits."
The newcomer grasped the weapon with the assurance of a master musician
taking up his instrument, handling it with a skill that told of long
practice. The first shot was a direct hit in the foremost ranks of the
sabits, and thereafter he fired with unerring accuracy, pivoting the
mattork on the rough tripod rapidly. It was but one weapon against an
army, however, and both men knew that in a few seconds they would be
overwhelmed.
Grandon saw one crew of armored men struggling to fetter the king
sabit, while another group struck down the guards surrounding the
girls. Before the last two details had come to blows with the other
guards, the mattork-tripod was knocked over by the charging monsters,
and both men were fighting with their backs against the thick surface
root, Grandon swinging his heavy ax, while his new-found ally used the
spiked club almost as skillfully as he had used the mattork.
* * * * *
Closer and closer pressed the sabits, snapping their mighty forceps
which were easily capable of cutting the unarmored man in two at one
nip. The newcomer knew this, yet he laughed as he fought, and at times
taunted the furious attackers in the tone-language, for they were not
able to comprehend Zarovian speech.
"You jest with death, yet fight with the fury of a cornered lion," said
Grandon. "It strikes me that you are a man worth knowing. What is your
name?"
"I am called Joto, which in the language of Mernerum means The Merry
One. Take that!" crushing the skull of a huge sabit, "thou self-styled
master of men! Names matter but little now, for we have not long to
live; yet I would not die without knowing the name of the mighty
fighter to whom I owe the few moments of life I have remaining."
"I am Grandon of Terra," replied the Earth-man, cleaving the head of an
antagonist and leaping back to avoid the snap of another. He tried to
wrench the ax free, but it stuck, and the next moment powerful forceps
encircled him.
With a final tug at the handle of his weapon, he was jerked from
the side of his companion and mauled about by a dozen sabits who
alternately shook him, crunched him with their mandibles, and tried to
pull him to pieces. The armor held, but the man inside it was swiftly
lapsing into unconsciousness.
As the numbness of death came over him Grandon thought of many things.
With a wave of pity he pictured the brave Joto being torn to pieces and
devoured by the sabits. He thought of Vernia, left to the mercies of
the marsh-men, who, even though they might treat her with consideration
because of her part in their rescue from the sabits, would not have
the ability to take her to Reabon in time to defeat the purpose of her
scheming abductor.
A powerful sabit, more cunning than its comrades, seized Grandon by
the ankles and beat him against the hard surface root. At the second
terrific shock the thread of consciousness mercifully snapped asunder.