I could induce him to spend part of our evenings in anything so desultory as mere conversation. This aloofness altered remarkably as we grew to know each other better, and eventually out of our experiences there sprang
A T T A
69
up a mutual respect and affection not to be .denied—a
companionship of the mind little short of delightful. But,
even so, he could never quite overcome the effects of that
childhood training which is the common experience of
his race; and different as he was from other Formicans, I
do not think that he himself realized in the beginning
what it was that drew us so closely together. He simply
accepted me gradually and played his part in our joint
life with a silent devotion that has since often touched
me to tears.
One result was that, although I often described my
past life in detail, he himself said very little about his
own experiences. Outside of providing for our immediate
necessities he seemed to have almost no interest in past
or future, beyond a vague compulsion to fulfill his duty
by returning to the society from which he had come.
This difference led to many strange discussions between
us. For to say that the opposite was true of me is to
understate the situation sadly. As the days drew on, hardly an hour passed in which I did not ask myself what could be the outcome of this strange life into which I
had come; what could be its explanation and what its
final goal. To say that I had hope is to beg the question.
I could conceive of no reasonable solution of my presence, and therefore I dared not expect any development radical enough to restore me to my home, my sweetheart, and all that I had been so suddenly deprived of.
Indeed, for the greater part of the time I went about
my tasks as if I too were a Formican, refusing to think
too much of my situation lest the conviction be forced
home upon me that beyond all doubt I was destined to
pass the remainder of my life in this ungodly country,
among the mechanical creatures whom Atta described as
his countrymen.
This hopelessness was one reason why on rainy days
I sought refuge in games of all kinds—and why I first
taught Atta mumble-de-peg and then made a rude checkerboard and taught him the simple game of checkers.
70
A T T A
This he enjoyed so much that I followed it with chess,
spending many an hour carving the pieces and explaining
to Atta the manner in which they moved. Then we set
about playing that noble game, and we had many an
exciting afternoon competing with each other until twilight. After a while I even contrived a rude flute to lessen the boredom of our evenings, and this amusement did
much to enliven our loneliness. Take it all in all, we did
not fare so badly in our search for entertainment.
In the meantime the only point upon which Atta
thought a great deal, and which seemed to make a serious impression upon him, was my slowness of movement so far as covering great distances was concerned. From
his standpoint this was extremely serious and might
prove to be vital when the time came for us to make our
dash for civilization. For not only did it take me a great
time to cover distances which we should have traversed
very quickly had I been able to keep up with him, but in
encounters with other Formicans it had already proved
and would continue to prove a serious and perhaps fatal
disadvantage.
What a singular commentary it is on Atta’s habits of
mind that, with all the worrying he did on this score, the
solution should never have presented itself to him! As for
me, I think the idea finally came to fruition as I gazed
one morning at our three aphids just before I sat
down to milk them and observed their large eyes intent
on the new branches on which they were feeding.
Why, of course! What I needed was a horse! Surely if
, this strange country had these counterparts for our domestic cows—grotesque as they appeared if compared with actual cows—why could I not succeed in finding
some animal capable of being trained to act as a beast
of burden to carry me on our final expedition?
At first thought nothing seemed more likely than that
I should thus find a way out of our difficulty. My hopes
received a sudden dashing, however, when I broached
the subject to Atta. Not only was the idea new to him,
A T T A
71
it appeared—he never having seen any animal thus used
—but he plainly considered as perfectly preposterous the
notion that any animal should exist which could be thus'
trained. He admitted that there were plenty of animals
that could outjump and outrun the Formicans, many of
them living in the jungle immediately around us. But
their sole value, so far as he was concerned, lay in the
advantage to be gained by killing them.
When I pointed out to him the manifest advantages of
taking them alive, he saw the point at once, slaves being
in common use among nearly all the races of Formicans.
Indeed, he professed a great admiration for the intellect
that had been capable of thinking of such a thing. But he
was strongly of the opinion that, though there were
any number and many different kinds of these wild
creatures of the requisite size for horseback use, none
would be found that could by any means be domesticated
and trained to obey my will.
For some time this judgment of Atta’s discouraged me.
Nevertheless I could not help thinking that my lasso
gave me an easy method of capturing any particular
species of animal that I might hunt, and my former experience in breaking colts on the farm, coupled with my aptitude for managing animals of all kinds, ought to
make securing a proper mount only a matter of time. In
this I was correct, as the sequel will show.
My first efforts afforded much amusement to Atta, little
prone as he was to see the ridiculous side of things. (Indeed, I think I have never seen so uniformly sober and serious a person as my companion was in those days.)
True, my earlier choices did turn out with unvarying ill
fortune, principally, I think, because I was then a stranger to the fauna of the region and usually captured what first came to my hand, in slight hopes of having struck
upon the right kind of animal. But I was unwearying in
my efforts, and after several unlucky experiences, in one
or two of which I barely escaped with my life, I grew
wiser and formed a definite idea of the sort of creature
72
A T T A
that would be the most likely to respond to my efforts
without endeavoring to end my existence. For there were
in that jungle too many creatures that I gravely doubt if
anyone could have trained, and that kept their fierceness
and savage temper to tire end.
I smile now when I think of my obtuseness—a blindness the more strange in a man born and bred to the country and skilled in rearing and training animals. Yet
many days passed before the solution came to me.
It came one afternoon at the close of a partic
ularly
arduous three-hour tussle with a vicious captive who
looked for all the world like an overgrown green beetle.
His six legs had attracted me at first because they promised unusual speed and easy riding qualities; he sped about with none of the jars and jouncings incidental to
horseback riding. But I had finally become discouraged
by his unvarying obstinacy and ill temper and had sat
down to rest on a post in our paddock, a fair-sized enclosure in back of the bouse. If only I could have had him from colthood, I reflected—
With the thought, the solution presented itself to me
instantly. Why, of coursel A young one! A young one
might be easily tamed and raised to consider carrying
me as its natural life and purpose.
As I viewed again all my efforts and discomfitures,
when all the time such a simple solution waited around
the comer, of a sudden the humor of my addleheaded-
ness overcame me and I burst into shrieks of laughter
so uncontrollable that at last they reduced me to tears.
In the midst of it all Atta appeared in great alarm, the
unusual sounds having led him to fear that the worst had
happened to me—a calamity that he was quite ready to
believe in, after some of my performances in the pad-
dock. But when I explained my idea to him he was much
struck with the excellence of the suggestion and agreed
with me at once. Indeed, I think it was from that moment, and a consequence of that idea, that he gradually came to defer to me and lost all uncertainty over what
A T T A
73
might happen to me if we should ever reach civilization
again.
In any event I had hit upon a practical method at last,
and I put it into practice without delay; so that within a
few days I had a number of young Fabrans, as Atta called
them, eating from my hand in the paddock. From these
I soon selected a most promising candidate whom I
named Trotta. On her I concentrated for many days, and
with excellent results; until she was strong enough and
intelligent enough to carry me around the paddock. After
that it was not long before I felt safe in taking her for
short rides around the immediate countryside. And I
spent a number of afternoons enjoying this experience.
As a matter of fact, it was the security against pursuit
that Trotta afforded me on these short rides that led directly to the fatal circumstance I have hinted at; for without her I should never have set out alone on any distant expedition. At the moment, however, the pictures conjured up by Atta’s rather graphic descriptions of powerful Formicans skilled in the use of acid throwers and poison
darts—had for a long while set me to thinking very seriously on the subject of genuine armor. As a result one fact had became clear. If I should become involved with
such adversaries, to say nothing of trained armed soldiers, even a steed like Trotta would avail me but little; it was more than likely that her rider would be borne
off from the engagement a corpse. What I needed, then,
was armor, was it not? Real armor, of course, such as
would readily occur to anyone’s mind, was plainly out
of the question; but was there not the possibility that, if
I looked far enough, some material could be found—perhaps like the scales of the monster I had killed on the plateau—that could be woven together into some sort of
protective covering?
If was this problem that sent me out eventually on
this particular trip, resolved for once to penetrate the
jungle alone for as far as I could go and return in a day.
74
A T T A
It was my hope that I might discover some material as
unusual as my lance or rope; and it was on this subject
that my thoughts were fastened as I set out in the bright
sunlight and rode easily along with my lance set in its
stirrup and my eyes on the rough aisles of the great
jungle. For Atta was content by that time to allow me
to go alone wherever I wished, Trotta having long since
proved her speed and general trustworthiness.
Hour after hour passed swiftly while I rode leisurely
in the general direction of the south side of the great
valley, and nothing of interest appeared. Occasionally I
saw distant Formicans—once, a large party—but I kept
severely to my own business, and if they felt any desire
to pursue me I am ignorant of it, for I soon distanced
them on Trotta. This mobility was one of the reasons
why I had determined to do my exploring alone. With
Atta along, several of our attempted journeys together
had turned all too soon into pitched batdes with wandering couples of hostile Formicans; Atta seemed to have such a fatal interest in fights that at the first sight of an
enemy he forgot our original object. Also, he could not
admit the possibility that other inhabitants of the surrounding country had cast the coarse steel of which my lance was obviously made, and this not only shut off any
discussion of its origin, but also produced in him an impatience that extended to any real effort to find its makers, precluding any real interest in exploration for its own sake.
I rode along, then, unware of the dreadful discovery I
fall sunshine. When the sun was high, I drew forth my
small allowance of mushrooms and aphis nectar and ate
and drank almost happily. I did not dare take the risk
of dismounting and exposing myself to the possible dangers of the jungle, and since Trotta was used to only one meal a day at nightfall, this arrangement was satisfactory
to her also. In addition I must confess that I enjoyed
riding her; she enjoyed the easy rein I gave her; and the
A T T A
75
first hours of that journey still remain in my memory as
touched with perfection.
I was astonished, too, as I rode along to see the marvelous variety of creatures that we startled from the green forest, varying from clumsy red-colored beasts with weird
heads and faces to shining reptiles that I can only call
monsters, so horrible were their long tentacles, hard-
bodies, and hairy legs, all on the most terrific scale
imaginable.
Nowhere, however, did there seem to be any change
in the character of the country. Always the same interlacing green jungle trees and impenetrable thickets, with here and there a canebrake of tangled tropical monstrosities! Underfoot the ground varied from a rough rubble to huge blocks of rock and mighty clods of earth which I
had to force Trotta to take at the jump, trusting to fortune
that she would land safely on the other side. But my odd
steed had the climbing qualities of a mountain goat combined with the surefootedness of the burro, and we met with no mishaps.
It must have been about two in the afternoon when
through the jungle I saw the glitter of something bright
and a moment later tire flash of the sun on some wide
silvery expanse. Water was my first thought, I remember, and I experienced a distinct thrill as I wondered whether it would prove to be fresh or salt, ocean or lake,
stream or river. I was glad now that I had pushed my
journey to its uttermost length. Indeed, for the last few
minutes I had been examining the position
of the sun in
the heavens and debating with myself the advisability
of starting on the return journey. For the evenings were
beginning to shorten; a fact, by the way, that I still noticed with interest.
The next moment I rode out beside a huge glacial
rock and came full upon what I had taken for a sheet
of water. Before me, lying partly folded against the rock,
lay a huge sheet of some bright material about the size
of the mainsail on a thirty-foot sloop, but shining and
76
A T T A
flashing in the sun as if made of brightest silver. For a
second I could not believe my eyes. Was this another
marvel that would burst into spray at my touch or disappear like mist at my breath?
Cautiously I dismounted—for Trotta refused to approach any nearer—and walked toward it, leading her and carrying my ax ready for instant use. The rumpled
sail or whatever it was was humped up slightly in the
middle as if some beast might be concealed beneath it;
and in the state of mind of those days I should not have
been in the least surprised to see a giant suddenly sit up
and cast it aside. But nothing of the kind occurred, and
I stood for some moments staring. Then, moved by a
sudden impulse, I stooped and struck the stuff a sharp
blow with my ax. It was like striking into delicate, pliable
tin or wet tough canvas. The blade merely dented it
without cutting through, though the dent made was deep,
showing that the material was not stiff.
In the deep silence that followed, the sounds of the
jungle came to me like so many distant voices, but nothing stirred beneath the silvery sheet. There was evidently nothing living beneath it. Again I stooped, and this time
felt of the stuff with my bare hand. Then with a beating heart and a little cry of triumph I started upright Armor! This stuff was like armor! Providence had been
leading me toward it all day without my knowledge. For
surely such a material as this could be made to serve
every purpose of sheet mail, clumsy and rude as my
efforts with it must be. It was pliable enough to be made
to serve as a rough unpierceable cloak if nothing else,