Spacewrecked on Venus Read online

  CHAPTER II

  Grim retribution overhung the condemned men. It promised swift justice.Captain Cragley was the law. He dealt out the penalty according to thecode governing interplanetary navigation.

  "We must get away from this vicinity in a hurry!" he informed Quentin."You can bet your last coin there'll be a ship around pretty soon topick up the platinum and these three men! If there's a battle, wehaven't a chance in our present condition!"

  "Where'll we go?" asked Quentin. "Somewhere and hide?"

  "We'll head for Deliphon. It's a long, hard tramp, but it's our onlychance. Get things ready to leave. Pack everything we'll want to takewith us. Just before we start, we'll have this execution over with."

  Quentin immediately apprised the crew and passengers of the _C-49_ ofCaptain Cragley's intentions. He stated the fact that brigands wereexpected shortly, telling of what they would do to luckless passengerswho fell into their hands. A second expedition was sent to the _C-49_for food stores and various articles it was deemed necessary to carryalong on the march.

  With the usual brief ceremony required in such proceedings, Brady, Davyand Raynor were lined up before a shallow grave which had hastily beendug for them. Five of the crew stood at attention, electric guns halfraised. Cragley, in a crisp, steady voice, gave the orders. The threemen, white of face, stared fascinated at their executioners--into theface of death.

  "Ready!"

  The men of the _C-49_ tensed themselves. Brady no longer expostulated onhis pleas of innocence. He faced his fate like a man.

  "Aim!"

  The pistols were raised. Five left eyes closed. Sights were drawn. Theinterval preceding the fatal word seemed endless. At the last moment, itwas apparent that Brady was unequal to the strain. He closed his eyes.His body swayed.

  "Fire!"

  Five blue streaks shot noiselessly from the weapons. The three menstiffened and fell--into the cavity dug for them. Their lives had beenforfeited for their crimes. Dirt was shoveled upon them. No longerwould fliers of the space lanes fear them. But there were other outlaws.

  Captain Cragley, his crew of six, and nine passengers, set out in thedirection of Deliphon. The trip promised to be perilous and fraught withdanger, as well as grueling and full of hardships. Though I had been toVenus once before, I knew little of the yellow jungles. My time on theclouded world had been spent in the colonies.

  Our first day of tramping took us through lush jungles and dismalswamps. The ground was fairly level. Occasionally we came to rough,rocky outcrops which protruded above ground. These we invariablycircled. Several times we found it necessary to ford rivers and skirtlakes. Our progress was very slow. Quentin prophesied we would be on themarch for fully twenty rotations of Venus unless we struck thecomparatively clear country which Cragley was sure existed between usand Deliphon.

  Fearsome beasts menaced us at all times. We were ever on our guard, andthey usually fell electrocuted before completing their charges among us.Even so, we experienced many narrow escapes. Many of these monsters werelarger than the prehistoric dinosaurs which once roamed the earth. Theywere difficult to kill, and it required the maximum voltage of ourelectric guns to bring them down.

  Clothes torn, bodies bruised and scratched, we presented a sorryspectacle. Most of us felt the way we looked, but Cragley's unquencheddetermination spurred us on toward Deliphon. He was anxious to put agood distance between us and the abandoned cylinder. He feared thebrigands, friends of the three who had been executed. Though Brady hadnot admitted the claim, the captain was certain a shipload of theoutlaws were scheduled to show up for the platinum and their comrades.

  At night, a camp was set up. Cragley argued against lighting a campfire,asserting that it would prove a magnet to the wandering brigands hebelieved were in search of us. Quentin, employing smooth diplomacy, madeit clear to his superior officer that a campfire promised to safeguardus from prowling beasts. Quentin cited the fact that it was a commonsight for a night cruiser of Venus to look down upon fully a dozen ormore campfires of the troglodytes.

  * * * * *

  Guards were posted during the night. It was well. The fires held thenocturnal creatures at bay. Whenever one of them did muster enoughcourage to charge, it was revealed in the firelight and shot down.Several times I awoke to see a bellowing monster crash in death at theedge of our camp. Sleeping, we found was a fitful task. The first nightproved the worst.

  Next morning, we plodded on again through the thick, yellow jungle. Thecountry became a bit hilly, yet none the less wooded. In the valleysbetween, we often found swamps. While approaching one of these swamps,we noticed a gray mist hanging over the stagnant pools. It appeared notunlike the steaming vapors we had previously encountered. One of thecrew, plunging ahead of us to gauge the depth of the water and steer usclear of treacherous, clinging mud, became enveloped in the mist. Almostimmediately his complexion turned black, and he fell strangling inthroes of death. Another of the crew ran forward to drag back hiscomrade, but Captain Cragley warned him back.

  "He's too far gone! There's nothing we can do for him!"

  "What is it?"

  "A poisonous swamp gas! There's enough poison in one breath to killtwenty men!"

  Instinctively, we recoiled from the milky haze.

  "How are we to cross?" asked Quentin.

  "Put on the space helmets!" ordered Cragley. "That stuff can't hurt youunless you breathe it!"

  To prove his words, Cragley donned his space helmet and advanced intothe mist. Looking back through the transparent facing of the helmet, hebeckoned to us. Previously, many of the passengers had rebelled againstCragley's persistence that they carry the added weight of the spacehelmets. It had seemed utterly useless. Now, as they moved unharmedthrough the deadly fumes, they thanked his foresight.

  We carried the dead body of the luckless man, who had saved us throughhis unfortunate discovery, to the top of the next hill where burial wasmade.

  The second night, it came my turn to share guard duty with one of thecrew while the others slept. The fires were plentifully fueled with drybranches and stalks. Fire material was piled in reserve. Grinstead, mycompanion watcher, went his rounds while I attended the fire, keepingthe flames well supplied.

  Protected by an embankment erected near a rocky ledge, the balance ofour party slept. My eyes fell upon the little mound of boxes whichcontained the precious metal. Cragley and Quentin lay on each side ofthe platinum shipment. Not since we had commenced the march had theylet it out of their sight or reach.

  "Hantel!" It was Grinstead's voice. "Come here a moment!"

  Hastily I ran to his side. He was stooped over a mark on the ground farto one side of our camp just within circle of the firelight. Mutely hepointed to a footprint--the footprint of a six-toed man.

  "Troglodytes!" I exclaimed.

  Grinstead nodded. "Fresh, too! Think we'd better awaken Cragley?" heasked. "These cave men don't seem bad when they're peaceful, but if theyget going--they're devils!"

  I stared back into the alarmed eyes of Grinstead and pondered thematter. I was about to voice an opinion, leaving it up to Grinstead todo as he pleased, when a startled cry rang out from the direction of thesleepers.

  Instantly, everything was confusion and uproar. Sleek, naked bodiesprowling about our equipment flashed out of sight into the jungle. Thewhole camp came awake, exclamations and profanity mingling with theweird cries of the troglodytes. Recovering from my surprise, I fired ashot at one of the rapidly disappearing cave men, but the flickeringfirelight distorted my aim.

  Then occurred the most amazing feature of the whole affair. A man, fullydressed, ran out of sight with the troglodytes, melting into the shadowsof the surrounding jungle. Cragley ran up beside me and saw him too. Hewas out of sight before either of us had a chance to fire. At first, Ihad thought the man to be one of our party, but his flight with the cavemen disproved the assumption.

  "Wonder what the idea is?" spluttered Cragley.

  "O
ur equipment," said Quentin, pointing to the food stores and otherarticles the cave men had hastily disarranged. "They came to steal!"

  "But the man!" I insisted.

  "A renegade!"

  Cragley shook his head. "It's queer," he said. "I don't know what tomake of it."

  * * * * *

  An examination of our equipment proved we had suffered few losses.Several boxes of synthetic food were gone, and one of the crew had losthis electric pistol. Aside from these thefts, nothing else appeared tobe missing. Cragley tripled the guards, and the rest went back to sleeponce more. Nothing else occurred during that night. I was unable to getthe fleeing renegade out of my mind. There was something familiar aboutthe figure as I had seen it revealed in the glare of the firelight justbefore the savages