While we were at Anoroc I accompanied Ja in an expedition to South
Island, the southernmost of the three largest which form the Anoroc
group—Perry had given it its name—where we made peace with the tribe
there that had for long been hostile toward Ja. They were now glad
enough to make friends with him and come into the federation. From
there we sailed with sixty-five feluccas for distant Luana, the main
island of the group where dwell the hereditary enemies of Anoroc.
Twenty-five of the feluccas were of a new and larger type than those
with which Ja and Perry had sailed on the occasion when they chanced to
find and rescue Dian and me. They were longer, carried much larger
sails, and were considerably swifter. Each carried four guns instead of
two, and these were so arranged that one or more of them could be
brought into action no matter where the enemy lay.
The Luana group lies just beyond the range of vision from the mainland.
The largest island of it alone is visible from Anoroc; but when we
neared it we found that it comprised many beautiful islands, and that
they were thickly populated. The Luanians had not, of course, been
ignorant of all that had been going on in the domains of their nearest
and dearest enemies. They knew of our feluccas and our guns, for
several of their riding-parties had had a taste of both. But their
principal chief, an old man, had never seen either. So, when he sighted
us, he put out to overwhelm us, bringing with him a fleet of about a
hundred large war-canoes, loaded to capacity with javelin-armed
warriors. It was pitiful, and I told Ja as much. It seemed a shame to
massacre these poor fellows if there was any way out of it.
To my surprise Ja felt much as I did. He said he had always hated to
war with other Mezops when there were so many alien races to fight
against. I suggested that we hail the chief and request a parley; but
when Ja did so the old fool thought that we were afraid, and with loud
cries of exultation urged his warriors upon us.
So we opened up on them, but at my suggestion centered our fire upon
the chief’s canoe. The result was that in about thirty seconds there
was nothing left of that war dugout but a handful of splinters, while
its crew—those who were not killed—were struggling in the water,
battling with the myriad terrible creatures that had risen to devour
them.
We saved some of them, but the majority died just as had Hooja and the
crew of his canoe that time our second shot capsized them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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