He awakened in shivering terror. His entire body was wet. Water was
falling on him. It was falling on the ground all around and on the
trees--thousands, millions of drops. He choked, as he tried to breathe
the damp, saturated air. Desperately he looked around for some
protection, but there was none. He covered his face as best he could
with his folded arms, and cried out in fear.
There came a shout; and he heard something moving toward him, but he did
not care. Horror of the falling water crowded all other emotions from
his mind.
One of the creatures was standing over him. He heard others approaching.
They were shouting loudly back and forth to one another. In a moment,
there was a circle of them, all around him.
He was too distressed to pay them any attention. After a time one of
them bent down and grasped him under the armpits. He felt himself lifted
into the air. He did not struggle, even when their faces were all around
him--very close.
Now they were walking through the trees, one of them carrying him in its
huge arms, quite gently. He was scarcely conscious of his surroundings.
It was becoming more and more difficult to breathe.
Then he felt himself laid down on something soft and dry. The water was
not falling on him now. He opened his eyes.
They had placed him under a shelter. He could hear the water on the
black covering above him. There was one of them on each side of him,
where he lay on what seemed to be a cushioned seat....
Suddenly there came a rumble, and the seat beneath him quivered and
shook. He struggled to sit up. One of the creatures aided him, and
wrapped a dry cloth about his body. He was grateful.
The seat was bumping up and down violently. On each side, he could see
the trees moving slowly backward. He realized that he was in a vehicle.
It jolted constantly, and he imagined that it must run directly on the
rough ground. It made a continuous and tremendous noise. But it was a
machine of transportation, however crude; and he quickly forgot his
bodily discomfort, as the implications of this fact crowded through his
mind.
He looked with a new interest at his captors. They were talking
together excitedly--evidently about him, for they never removed their
eyes from him. In spite of their strangeness and savagery, they must
have reasoning minds. He could be pretty sure of that, now....
The vehicle came to rest, and to either side he saw structures, made,
evidently, of cut trees. Then his heart leaped again, as he saw that
they had glass. So they knew how to make that! There were only a few
pieces of it let into the walls--but it was certainly glass, and his
hopes rose a bit higher.
They carried him into one of the houses. It was quite dark. They set him
down upon a large table. They were increasing rapidly in numbers,
jostling in through the door and crowding around the table.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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