The Greatest Works of Otis Adelbert Kline - 18 Books in One Edition. Otis Adelbert Kline

stranger advanced. “Permit me to introduce myself. I am Vorn Vangal, and my home is in the distant country of Olba.”

      “How do you do, Mr. Vangal,” replied Grandon, extending his hand.

      Vorn Vangal looked puzzled. “What is it you wish?”

      “Why—nothing at all. I forgot that our custom of shaking hands might be unknown here.”

      “I have never heard of it,” said Vangal. “I hope you will pardon the ignorance which kept me from returning your proffered salute. Show me how you do it, please.”

      Grandon explained, and for the first time in the history of that planet, two men shook hands on Zarovia.

      “A very pretty custom,” Vangal said. “I shall introduce it in Olba on my return. I will explain the various forms of salutes used on Zarovia. When one is presented to a stranger he merely bows slightly and acknowledges with words. Two intimate friends on meeting sometimes press their foreheads together. Then there are the military salutes, the salutes to royalty, et cetera. For instance, the reigning Torrogina of Reabon—or princess as you would call her—would be saluted thus.” He made a low bow and extended his hand as Grandon had seen the slaves do the day before in front of the shrine.

      “In the company with my fellow slaves, I bowed thus before a picture of a beautiful young woman yesterday,” said Grandon. “Can it be that this is the Amazon princess of whom Dr. Morgan spoke?”

      “She can be none other than Vernia, Princess of Reabon, who has ruled that country since the death of her father, Margo, who made Reabon the largest and mightiest empire in all Zarovia.”

      “I should like to meet her,” said Grandon.

      “To say that you should like to meet her is equivalent to saying that you should like to die. Thaddor, Prince of Uxpo, whose body you now inhabit on Zarovia, had the temerity to make love to her. She sentenced him to work in the quarries for life; and to run away after such sentence has been passed is equivalent to signing your own death warrant, in Reabon.”

      “Nevertheless, I hope some day to meet her. By the way, friend Vangal, I suspect that you have food and drink in that long bundle you are carrying, and I have tasted neither since yesterday morning.”

      “Can it be possible?” ejaculated Vangal. “But of course! You are not familiar with the fern forests of Zarovia. No one carries food or drink in these forests, for both are about him in abundance.”

      He drew his knife and cut a branch from the bush-fern under which they were standing. “Here. Taste water as pure and delicious as may be found in all Zarovia.”

      Grandon put the end of the branch to his lips and drank greedily, while Vangal gathered several large spore-pods and split them open with his knife.

      “I shall have to teach you the woodcraft of Zarovia before I leave you,” said Vangal. “But come, we must go as far as possible from this vicinity at once, or the soldiers of the Torrogina may find us.”

      “I am puzzled to know how it happened that you found me before the Reabonians,” said Grandon.

      “Because I followed your trail, while they merely ran about in the forest, guessing at what direction you had taken. The men of Reabon know nothing of following a trail, which is as an open book to my people of Olba. But here, I have brought you weapons and trappings.” Vangal unrolled the long bundle. “Fasten this belt about your waist and cross the straps over your shoulders, so. Now let us be off.”

      The two swung away through the forest glades, Grandon armed like his companion with tork, scarbo and knife. As they walked side by side, Vangal explained the use of the tork, and showed Grandon how to insert the extra clips of bullets and gas which were in his belt.

      “What do you call those strange creatures that treed me last night, and why did you cut their throats after you had already dispatched them with bullets?” inquired Grandon.

      “They are called hahoes, so named because of their peculiar cries, and are mostly eaters of carrion, although they will seek and bring down fresh meat when driven to do so by hunger. I cut their throats because the poison in the tork bullets paralyzes temporarily, but does not kill. I prefer to use this kind rather than those bullets which carry deadly poison.”

      The sun was high in the heavens when they reached the bank of a small stream. Here the character of the vegetation changed considerably, for while large tree-ferns were still in evidence here and there, as well as the smaller varieties, there were huge fungus growths unlike anything Grandon had previously encountered. Colossal toadstools, some of which reared their heads for fifty feet in the air, grew all about in an endless variety of forms and colors.

      “We are now more than twenty miles from the marble quarries and in an excellent place for a camp,” said Vangal. “I will help you build a shelter and remain with you for a week to teach you Zarovian woodcraft, and patoa. At the end of that time I must journey to the other side of the planet, in order to assist your friend, Harry Thorne.”

      “What is patoa?” asked Grandon.

      “It is the universal language of Zarovia,” replied Vangal. “While every nation has its own language, we have, in addition, patoa, which is taught to the children of every country from infancy. When you have mastered this tongue, you will have the means of conversing with any intelligent being you nay meet.”

      The rest of the day was spent in building Grandon’s new abode.

      Chapter 4

       Table of Contents

      After they had eaten on the following morning, Vorn Vangal said: “No doubt you are anxious to know something about this country, and the person you represent on Zarovia. The wild, mountainous kingdom of Uxpo, of which these forests are a part, is situated at the extreme southern limit of the empire of Reabon. Uxpo, together with seven other kingdoms, was originally conquered by the famous emperor, Margo, and its fierce, previously unbeaten mountaineer people reduced to slavery.

      “Upon Margo’s death, three years ago, the people of Uxpo entertained high hopes of freedom. They had learned that the emperor’s daughter, Vernia, a mere slip of a girl, had succeeded to the throne; they revolted and, almost overnight, slew every soldier, officer and agent of the empire. Their old king had been executed by Margo at the time of the invasion, but his elder son, Lugi, was placed on the throne.

      “Two days afterward a courier brought news that the princess Vernia was coming at the head of a hundred thousand soldiers. Lugi assembled his five thousand mountaineers and went forth. The army of Uxpo was annihilated, and Lugi was executed for treason. Once more the fierce Uxponians bowed their necks to the yoke of the conqueror.

      “Lugi had a young brother named Thaddor—your double. This youth was of a mild and gentle disposition, and it was for this reason, perhaps, that Vernia spared his life and allowed him the privilege of her court.

      “Prince Thaddor, however, fell madly in love with her. He had always found women susceptible to him; so when one evening he attempted to make love to her, he was little prepared for the storm of anger which followed, and his being condemned to labor in the quarries for life.

      “For some time I had been searching for a man dissatisfied with life on this planet, to accompany our Prince of Olba on the journey to your world. I heard of Prince Thaddor’s predicament, and experienced little difficulty in persuading him. When Dr. Morgan reported that you were about to make the journey I immediately came hither in order to be of assistance to you. On learning of your escape, I trailed you to the tree in which you had been driven by the hahoes. The rest you know.”

      Vangal stayed with Grandon for a week, teaching him patoa and woodcraft, and the use of the tork, and scarbo. On the evening of the seventh day he stated that the time had arrived for him to return.

      “No doubt you are anxious to be back among your friends,”