ned toward my apparel. In so far as the sensation was concerned,
I might as well have been entirely naked, so short and light was the
tunic. When I asked Chal-az for the Caspakian name for rope, he told
me ga, and for the first time I understood the derivation of the word
Galu, which means ropeman.

Entirely outfitted I would not have known myself, so strange was my
garb and my armament. Upon my back were slung my bow, arrows, shield,
and short spear; from the center of my girdle depended my knife; at my
right hip was my stone hatchet; and at my left hung the coils of my
long rope. By reaching my right hand over my left shoulder, I could
seize the spear or arrows; my left hand could find my bow over my right
shoulder, while a veritable contortionist-act was necessary to place my
shield in front of me and upon my left arm. The shield, long and oval,
is utilized more as back-armor than as a defense against frontal
attack, for the close-set armlets of gold upon the left forearm are
principally depended upon to ward off knife, spear, hatchet, or arrow
from in front; but against the greater carnivora and the attacks of
several human antagonists, the shield is utilized to its best advantage
and carried by loops upon the left arm.

Fully equipped, except for a blanket, I followed Chal-az from his
domicile into the dark and deserted alleys of Kro-lu. Silently we
crept along, Nobs silent at heel, toward the nearest portion of the
palisade. Here Chal-az bade me farewell, telling me that he hoped to
see me soon among the Galus, as he felt that "the call soon would come"
to him. I thanked him for his loyal assistance and promised that
whether I reached the Galu country or not, I should always stand ready
to repay his kindness to me, and that he could count on me in the
revolution against Al-tan.

Chapter 7

To run up the inclined surface of the palisade and drop to the ground
outside was the work of but a moment, or would have been but for Nobs.
I had to put my rope about him after we reached the top, lift him over
the sharpened stakes and lower him upon the outside. To find Ajor in
the unknown country to the north seemed rather hopeless; yet I could do
no less than try, praying in the meanwhile that she would come through
unscathed and in safety to her father.

As Nobs and I swung along in the growing light of the coming day, I was
impressed by the lessening numbers of savage beasts the farther north I
traveled.