continue.
"Drop your weapon," Allerdyce said. "You and I, unarmed, to thedeath...."
Then gone was the scowl, gone the furrowed brow. Here was meat toSobar's liking. Here was something he was not frightened of. Spirit orman, Sobar was not afraid of combat of arms. Flinging the spear to oneside Sobar motioned for the other to come to him.
Allerdyce made a feint to come in low but the other merely waited,arms wide, legs spread, and body shifting from the waist. Once againAllerdyce feinted, and as Sobar's body shifted to the side the otherseemed to want to come from, Allerdyce leaped forward and grabbedSobar by his right wrist and using the hand as a lever pivoted on ituntil he was behind the giant. Then Allerdyce began to exert pressurein a hammerlock.
All the while he had been moving the giant had been still, as ifconfused. But as pain came in a rush to his shoulder blade, he moved.Never had Allerdyce felt such strength. For though the wrestler wasusing all his strength on the grip, Sobar broke it with one giganticmovement of his huge body.
Allerdyce knew then that the rules of fair play were out. Thisprehistoric baby was dynamite.... Allerdyce staggered away from theother but recovered quickly as the giant came in, both armsoutstretched. And once again Allerdyce grasped one of those hugewrists. Only it was in a judo grip this time, a grip where when a mantries to break it, pressure simply multiplies until either the armbreaks or one cries quits. In this case Sobar waited too long.
* * * * *
Even as his face contorted in pain Allerdyce whipped around to oneside and delivered a blow with the side of his palm to the side ofSobar's neck. The crack of the breaking neck was like that of a branchbreaking. Sobar pitched to his face and lay still.
Instantly Ugg leaped to Allerdyce's side.
"Your chieftain was bested in fair play!" he shouted to the warriorsof Sobar's tribe. "By our laws you have now become our prisoners."
"But not by mine!" a strange voice yelled.
And before Allerdyce could do more than turn, Finster was on him. Whatmade Ed Finster do what he did was never explained. Perhaps therealization of what had happened came to the man. Perhaps his mind,twisted by jealousy and hate snapped at that moment. Whatever thereason, he turned on Allerdyce. It was the signal for a generalbattle. For of all the cavemen who were present, only one wasquick-witted enough to take advantage of the situation. This one wasone of the two who had come forward with Sobar.
He yelled:
"Gomar is now chief. One of the Spirits is on our side.... Kill Uggand his...."
Had it been one of the cavemen attacking, Allerdyce would have managedto get away for the moment he needed to recover. But it wasn't. It wasa trained wrestler, one who knew all the tricks, who had leaped athim. So Finster worked his surprise vantage for all it was worth.
But even then Allerdyce might have won out had it not been for Gomar'scall to arms. His men forgot the booty they had taken, the women andchildren and leaped forward with savage shouts, spears and clubs usedindiscriminately. Allerdyce had broken Finster's first hold, and wasturning to get a grip on the other, when a club thrown by one of thecavemen caught him a blow on the temple and stretched him senseless tothe ground.
* * * * *
Allerdyce's awakening this time was not as pleasant as before. Someonewas kicking him in the face. He opened his eyes, one of them anyway.The other was closed shut. He was in a cave. It was a smelly cave, thewalls blackened from the smoke of many fires. Nor was he alone. Hetried to move his arms and discovered he had been securely bound.Suddenly from behind, a foot came swinging out and pain shot up theside of his jaw as the bare toes connected with it.
"Enough," a voice called.
"Aah! I've been wanting to do this for a long time," Ed Finster said.
There was disgust in Gomar's voice as he replied:
"The Great Spirit has small men for messengers.... Remove the other'sbonds."
"Hey!" Finster yelped in protest.
But no one paid attention. Hands tore the fibre ropes loose from aboutAllerdyce's figure and helped him to his feet where he stood swayinglike a tree in a high wind.
"The Great Spirit sent two messengers," Gomar said. "But He had areason. One was sent to conquer Sobar so that I could become chief.The other was to conquer you. The light is clear.... Take him to thewomen...."
Only Finster laughed at the edict. He had reason for the laughter. Inall the years of their association Allerdyce had never been known togo for the fillies. And now he was to be thrown to a pack of them.With that puss, Finster thought, they'd throw him right back.
Spear points pressed against his back, a rope around his wrists, andwhile the rest walked behind, one man led Allerdyce from the cave intothe open, across a level stretch of ground and into a very large cave.Here his wrists were unbound and to the jibes and laughter of thewarriors who had accompanied him, Allerdyce was shoved into the caveproper itself.
The cave was immense, and seemed to be filled entirely with women andchildren. For a second there was silence. Then as their eyes saw thisalmost naked stranger, a wild shriek of laughter went up. Hands wentout, pointing to his shorts which seemed to be all the clothing hehad, to his face, puffed into a gargoylish mask, and to his hairychest, which looked like the stuffing of a mattress.
Allerdyce stared in horror at the women, turned and started for thecave entrance. But the cavemen had anticipated his move. They stoodguard, spears thrust point forward, and after a few hesitant seconds,Allerdyce turned back.
But now they were no longer scattered about the cave. They came overin a rush, forcing him to the wall, his hands pawing in futileattempts to prevent them from touching him. For some reason this madethem angry. Their hands clenched and spiteful words came from theirlips, and several turned aside and called something to the children,who after a moment returned, with stones and sticks.
"Hey!" Allerdyce called in alarm. "Take it easy...."
The alarm in his voice was the signal for them to attack. In a momenthe was the center of a mob of women all bent, it seemed, on hisdestruction. He fought at first as gently as he could. But as some ofthe stones hit and some of the clubs struck vulnerable parts of hisanatomy, he fought with less gentleness. Finally, he was forced toclub one of the women with his fist. She went flying backward andlanded flat on her back.
* * * * *
Instantly the attack ceased.
He watched them move away from him and wondered why. His question wasanswered as the woman he had struck crawled to him and embraced hislegs. He tried to withdraw her hands but she held only tighter andsaid:
"We are mated. You made the choice. I am Sala...."
"You're nuts!" Allerdyce said sharply. He turned to call the guards tohelp him with the woman when he discovered that they were gone.
"Are customs different in your tribe?" Sala asked. "Do you not matewith a woman in this manner?"
The beginning of a hope came to him in a rush as he realized theconsequences of what had happened. He was free now. He tried to putthe proper authority in his voice, when he said:
"Go woman! Find me a corner and bring me food...."
Without the slightest hesitation Sala rose and trotted to a far cornerof the cave. Allerdyce followed and squatted beside her. He had alwaysbeen a shy man and had never known many women, especially women withas little clothes as Sala wore. She was beautiful by any standard hethought. But only for a moment. His thoughts for the first timecentered on his predicament.
His mind allowed for but a single conclusion. That the plane had runinto a time-fault and that he and Ed Finster had been drawn into it.The others must have died in the plane crash. Since the giant ship wasover the Atlantic at the time of the crash it was reasonable to assumethat time only was involved and not space. Therefore, by the same lineof reasoning, he and Ed were to be here for the rest of their lives.That is unless somehow they found the same fault again. But that wasnot probable, he realized.
Sala came back just then with what looked like the leg of a rabbit. Itwas very underdone but Allerdyce didn't quibble. If he were going tolive as they did then he might as well start right there.
* * * * *
Three days went by and nothing changed. He learned all about his mate.She had been one of Ugg's tribe. Now she was part of the tribe ofGomar. It was that simple. She was a tigress when she thought anotherwoman was even looking at her mate and fought with the savagery of abeast for him. And he had been granted his freedom with hisacquisition of a mate. He learned to hunt as the others did, withspear and club. But already he
Oogie Finds Love Page 3