Argosy All-Story Weekly — "The Purple Limited" — page 88: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

654 ard; indeed, for an artist he was possessed of uncommon fortitude and courage, and Tho’s men might well have slain him little by little without result had not a sudden thought come to him. It seemed as though a voice spoke in his ear, warning him that it was for this the Great Father had saved him; that he must pretend to guide the Sur, yet watch a chance to slip away, elude them, and warn the Ta-an, that Nan-a-ta and his men might lay an ambush and cut off the invaders utterly. So he yielded, and after a night’s rest, his burned shoulder still paining, yet the burns healing from the rude sutgery, Ku-ro, the Carver of Ivory, set off to lead the men of the Sur. Traveling was easier than when he had been alone, for the men of the Sur were well provided with food, cooking utensils, and firewodd, and though there was neither mercy nor ruth among them—savage and fierce as the Little Hairy Men they were, though far more advanced m the arts of civilization—yet they treated their captive well, knowing his value. Ku-ro made use of his opportunities to learn the number of the warriors—some twenty tens there were—and to see all that he might of their weapons and mode of warfare. And some things of interest re- warded his curiosity. The Sur knew*hot the bow and arrow; this Ku-ro learned early. Instead, they used a curious cup-shaped bit of bone lashed to a long and flexible stick; a dart was laid along the stick, its butt in the cup, and was hurled with an overhand sweep of the arm. : This was the throwing-stick, once used by the Ta-an, but discarded and cast aside when T’san-va-men, Lord of the Winged Death, invented the bow and arrow from which he took his warrior-name. Ku-ro begged his guard to speed a dart from the throwing-stick, and Kas, proud of the weapon, confident of the superiority of all that belonged to the Sur, welcomed the chance to impress the captive, whom he deemed of a lower. race. Ku-ro at once saw that the bow and ar- row was the better weapon, but craftily hid his knowledge, and pretended to be aston- ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. ished at the range of Kas’s dart, whereat the latter swelled with gratified conceit, and assured Ku-ro that the Sur were wiser and stronger and better than all other peoples. Another thing Ku-ro saw which aston- ished him mightily, something which he stored in his mind as offering a value to the Ta-an. That was the use of cattle a®beasts of burdens, a thing unknown to the Péople of the Mountain Caves, who merely hunted them for food. But the Sur had with them a score or more of oxen, who carried food and fire- wood, being led by a thong through the nose. As each of the beasts was freed from his load—as the burden was cénsumed— the beast was killed, thus furnishing more food. Ku-ro quickly saw the advantage of this, and by flattering his guard learned much of the way of taming and training -the cattle, resolving that if he was spared he would pass on this knowledge to his own people. ; So the days drew on, Ku-ro ever striving to ingratiate himself that the watch on his movements might be relaxed, and ever on the lookout for a chance to escape. And all the time he led the Sur astray whenever possible; instead of conducting them direct- ly westward toward the Valley of the Ta- an, he led them northward, saying—for after a time Tho felt vague stirrings of sus- picion—that the mountajns toward the set- ting sun were impassable, and that it was necessary to skirt around them. So through the mighty tangle of peaks Ku-ro took his captors, through passes well- nigh blocked by drifted snow, across the face of vast glaciers, over bare and wind- swept rocks, where all the Devils of the Air whistled and roared and howled about their ears. And never a living thing save their own party was seen in all that terrible jourpey; no beast or bird prowled or swooped, no tree or bush or moss darkened the white expanse of that rightful waste, no sound smote their ears save the rush and sweep of the wind and the occasional rumble and thunder of the avalanche; all was desola- tion and desert, peril, and the ever-present fear of death. At length came an evening when the party GOMIIGIOO S CO