I had noticed that whenever I built a fire, Ajor outlined in the air
before her with a forefinger an isosceles triangle, and that she did
the same in the morning when she first viewed the sun. At first I had
not connected her act with anything in particular, but after we learned
to converse and she had explained a little of her religious
superstitions, I realized that she was making the sign of the triangle
as a Roman Catholic makes the sign of the cross. Always the short side
of the triangle was uppermost. As she explained all this to me, she
pointed to the decorations on her golden armlets, upon the knob of her
dagger-hilt and upon the band which encircled her right leg above the
knee--always was the design partly made up of isosceles triangles, and
when she explained the significance of this particular geometric
figure, I at once grasped its appropriateness.
We were now in the country of the Band-lu, the spearmen of Caspak.
Bowen had remarked in his narrative that these people were analogous to
the so-called Cro-Magnon race of the Upper Paleolithic, and I was
therefore very anxious to see them. Nor was I to be disappointed; I
saw them, all right! We had left the Sto-lu country and literally
fought our way through cordons of wild beasts for two days when we
decided to make camp a little earlier than usual, owing to the fact
that we had reached a line of cliffs running east and west in which
were numerous likely cave-lodgings. We were both very tired, and the
sight of these caverns, several of which could be easily barricaded,
decided us to halt until the following morning. It took but a few
minutes' exploration to discover one particular cavern high up the face
of the cliff which seemed ideal for our purpose. It opened upon a
narrow ledge where we could build our cook-fire; the opening was so
small that we had to lie flat and wriggle through it to gain ingress,
while the interior was high-ceiled and spacious. I lighted a faggot
and looked about; but as far as I could see, the chamber ran back into
the cliff.
Laying aside my rifle, pistol and heavy ammunition-belt, I left Ajor in
the cave while I went down to gather firewood. We already had meat and
fruits which we had gathered just before reaching the cliffs, and my
canteen was filled with fresh water. Therefore, all we required was
fuel, and as I always saved Ajor's strength when I could, I would not
permit her to accompany me. The poor girl was very tired; but she
would have gone with me until she dropped, I know, so loyal was she.
She was the best comrade in the world, and sometimes I regretted and
sometimes I was glad that she was not of my own caste, for had she
been, I should unquestionably have fallen in love with her. As it was,
we traveled together like two boys, with huge respect for each other
but no softer sentiment.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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