"Lucky for you we are here to protect you!" said Dan.
"Quick, Raal!" cried Dick. "Assemble the warriors with all their weapons. Spears, bows and arrows, stone hatchets and knives! Order the war drums to be sounded!"
"I hear, O Master!"
Raal hurried to obey. Shaggy blond tribesmen sprang to the hollow logs, with tightly stretched hides and soon the roll of the drums brought Taharan warriors hurrying from the fields. The alarm throbbed until the air was vibrating with a feeling of menace. The call to battle carried over the cliffs and beyond to the Gorol tree dwellings, and soon the ape-men were seen, scrambling down the steep rocks, with their war chief, Kulki, among them.
Their thin figures, covered with a fine growth of dark hair, made them resemble something more than beast and less than man. Like goats they found a footing on the steep sides. Their bodies were stringy and tough-muscled; light in weight, they were far stronger than the average civilized man, and more agile even than the Taharans.
As warriors they were formidable, and Kulki, their leader, was fearless and a tricky fighter.
Raal, too, was brave in battle and the Taharans were superb warriors. With their throwing sticks they could hurl a lance with such force that it would go right through a man's body, and as archers they could bring down a bird in flight with their flint-tipped arrows.
"There's trouble coming, sure!" exclaimed Dan Carter. "Jiminy, I'd hate to be an Arab and get crowned with Raal's flint hatchet."
But the Arabs were not fighting with such Stone-Age weapons. They carried long-barreled guns, that could pick off a bowman far beyond arrow range, and their swift horses and camels could keep them safe from attack.
"Dan, you keep close to me!" exclaimed Dick. "I'll need you to act as my lieutenant. This is going to be a real scrap!"