In the Morning of Time

LE OF TH

ldren; for at the Chief's orders every warrior had taken to himself either two or three wives, so that none of the widows had been left unmated. Gr?m alone

ap into A-ya's eyes when he mentioned the matter to her. This had surprised him at the moment, but it had also thrilled him curiously. And as the girl made no objection to a step so absolutely in accordance with the tribal customs, Gr?m thought about it a good deal. A few days later he excused himself to the Chief, saying that other w

ut beneficent element ever shining, dancing and whispering in its mysterious tongue before the cave

from the stores which Gr?m's forethought had caused to be accumulated under shelter. These contests between fire and rain were sagaciously represented by Bawr

the valley-mouth, kept leaping and dancing those unquenchable flames of scarlet, amber and violet, fed by the volcanic gases from within the crevice, and utterly regardless of whatever

spacious brow. In this event, and in the mother's happiness about it (a happiness that seemed to the rest

into the heart of man. It was that this child might grow up to achieve some wonderful thing, as he himself had done, for the advancement of his people.

ould read in the trail that his quarry was not far ahead, and also that it had not yet taken alarm. He follo

irection which the quarry had hitherto been pursuing. Gr?m halted abruptly, slipped behind a tree, crouched, 126 and peered about him with the tense vi

s nothing perceptible to explain that sudden fright of the deer. He was on the point of slipping around the trunk to investigate from another angle. But stop! There on a patch of

of his tribe; and Gr?m's beard, and the stiff hairs on the nape

at. The pressure was very marked along all the outer edge, as if the author of the print had walked on the outer sides of his feet. To Gr?m, who was an

uddenly he heard voices, several of them, guttural and squealing, and stopped again as if turned to stone. Then another voice, at which he started in amazement. It was Mawg's, speaking quietly and confidentially. Mawg, then, had gone over to

ulder, long-armed, flat-skulled, of a yellowish clay color, with protruding jaws, and gaping, pit-like, upturned nost

up to the time of their attack upon the Tribe of the Little Hills. It was apparent to Gr?m that the re

t little clue to the drift of their 128 talk. They gesticulated frequently toward the east, and then again toward

the tribe. This was as far as he could premise with any certainty. The obvious conclusion was that these spies would ret

d gained what he considered a safe distance from the spies, he rose to his feet and ran, at first noiselessly, and crouching as he went, then at the top of that speed for w

oles toward the upper end. This was one of Gr?m's inventions, of proved efficacy against saber-tooth and bear. By cramming a handful of dry fiber and twigs into the mouth of the tube, and then whir

upspringing of a startled bird or the frightened crashing flight of some timorous beast surprised by their swift and noiseless approach. Arriving near th

discovery that Mawg––easily detected by his finer footprints––had scaled the ledge and come upon the place where Gr?m had lain hidden to watch them. Seeing that they were discovered, and that their discoverer had evidently

n by the state of the trail––but because he dreaded to leave the Caves so long unguarded. He foresaw the possibility of another

lley, a region with which they were little familiar. It was a broken country and well fitted for ambuscade, where a lesser force, well posted and driven to bay, might well secure a deadly advantage. The tribe was too weak to risk its few fi

her side of the trail, the Chief and Gr?m stol

-legs, battling frantically with his club to keep off the attack of a pair of leopards. The man was kneeling upon one knee, with

"He doesn't know how

purpose flashing into his far-seeing brain, he ran leaping down th

t was plain the leopards would do for him most effectually. But he dreaded the chance of an ambuscad

sprang back snarling and scurried off among the thickets like frightened cats. The Bow-leg lifted wild eyes to learn the meaning of his deliverance

g savage delight at having at last got one of their dreaded enemies into their hands alive. They would have fallen upon him at once and torn him to pieces. But Gr?m waved them back

low, Bawr, as my c

doubt or ignorance about anything that another might perhaps know. So, instead, he sternly told his followers to obey the law of the tribe and respect Gr?m's capture. Then Gr?

purpose; and, to the amazement of his followers, he looked

"I shall also have to call you the Chief's Wisdom, for in savi

plints in accordance with the rude but not ineffective surgery of the time, he was placed on

ief or Gr?m to explain 133 it. The Chief, doubly secure in his dominance by reason of Gr?m's loyal support, cared little whether

nce. It turned out that one of the warriors, accounted more discerning than his fellows, had suggested that the captive was to be nursed back to health in order that he might be made an acceptable sacrifice to the Shining One. As this notion seemed

his purpose to her, and the imminence of the peril that threatened, she yielded readily enough, the dread of Mawg being yet vivid in her imagina

ing awe. The smell of him being extremely offensive to all this cleanly tribe, and especially to A-ya and Gr?m, who were more fastidious than their fellows, A-ya had taken advantage of her office as priestess of the Shining One to establish a little fire within the precincts of her own dwelling, and by the judicious use of aromatic barks upon the blaze she was able to scent the place to her taste. And the Bow-leg, seeing her mastery of the mysterious and dreadful scarlet tongues which licked upwards from the hollow on their rocky pedestal, regarded her less as a woman

speedily took the form of a passionate and dog-like devotion. A-ya, with her mother instinct, was quick to understand this, and also to realize the possible value to her child of such a devotion, in some future emergency. Moreover, it softened her heart toward the hideous captive, so that she busied herself not only to help Gr?m teach him their language, but also to reform his manners and make him somewhat less

ay, chained to it by 136 links stronger than any that hands could fashion. And those of the tribe who had been hoping to do honor to the Shining One, as well as to the spirits of

. Simple-minded, but with much of a child's shrewdness, he quickly came to regard himself as of some importance when both the Chief and Gr?m would spend hours in interrogating him. His own people he repudiated with bitterness, because, whe

ponents cheap on account of their scanty numbers. They realized that if they would hope to succeed in their next attack they must organize, and prepare themselves by learning how to employ their forces better. To this end, therefore, when Mawg and his fellow-renegades fell into their hands, instead of tearing them to pieces in bestial sport,

th the new weapons. This, said Ook-ootsk, would be soon after the dry season had set in. In any case, he said, the hordes were bound to wait for the dry season, beca

ctual combatants. They knew that defeat would mean nothing less than instant annihilation for the tribe, and for the women a foul captivity and a loathsome mating. But they knew also that a mere successful defense would avail them only for the moment. Unless they could inflict upon the invaders such a defeat a

it revealed itself as rather a trap than a refuge, because from the heights behind it an enemy could roll down rocks enough to effectivel

o the collection of dry and half-dry fuel. The light stuff, with an immense number of short, highly-inflammable faggots, was piled inside the doorway where no rai

cended between perpendicular boulders to the second cave. On the left the plateau was bordered by broken ground, a jumble of serrated rocks, to be traversed only with difficulty

rs of the little band appointed to this distinguished service by the Chief. Under the Chief's direction the whole of the plateau was now clear

brushwood from the other side of the valley, and bundles of dead grass from the rich savannahs beyond the valley-mouth, on the other side of the dancing flames. All this inflammable stuff Gr?

ith rubbish––Bawr was keeping a little band of scouts on guard at the far-off head of the valley. They were chosen from the swift runners of the

began to doubt or to forget the danger that hung over them. There were murmurs over the strain of ceaseless watching, murmurs which Bawr suppressed with small ceremony. But the lame Ook-ootsk, squatting

be piled much bigger, intimating that his people, though they would be terribly afraid of the Shining One, would be forced on from behind by 141 sheer numbers and would

th a ragged spear-wound in his shoulder. Their eyes were wide as they told of the countless myriads of the Bow-legs

r?m, "as they who came agai

ng men threw

ts to a flock of sta

ief smiled with grim satisfa

make out the vanguard of the approaching hordes; while Gr?m, marshalling the servitors of t

. It was now twilight, with the first stars appearing in a pallid violet sky; and up the valley could be discerned an obscurely rolling confusion 142 among the thicket

ading up from the lower cave were stationed half a dozen women, similarly armed. Bawr had chosen these women because each of them had one or more young children in the cave

crescent of fires. They flared up briskly; and at the same time the big central fire, which had been allowed to sink to a heap of glowing coals, was heaped with dry stuff which sent up an instant column of flame. The sudden

ering hesitation, by that of the head chief of the hordes, a massive creature of the true Bow-leg type, but as tall as Bawr himself, and in color almost black. This giant and Mawg, refusing to be a

uriosity. Moreover, the masses in the rear were rolling down, and their pressure presently became irresistible. All at once the front ranks realized that they had no choice i

e to the higher, broken ground at the left of the plateau whence they could see and direct the attack. It was plain enou

iled. But many hearts stood still, for it looked as if that living flood could never be stayed. Presently from all along its front came a cloud of spears. But they fell short, no

ir fellows crowded on straight over them. A second volley from the grimly silent fighters on the plateau had somewhat more effect. Driven low, and at shorter range, every jagged flint

inner side, with dry faggots of a resinous wood which not only blazed freely but held the flame tenaciously. These faggots had been placed wi

ng masses were not to be denied. After a brief, terrible struggle, the would-be fugitives were borne down and trodden underfoot. The new-comers were greeted with a second discharge of the blazing brands, and the dreadful scen

dry brushwood. Long tongues of flame leaped up at once, here, there, everywhere, curling and licking savagely. Screeches of horror arose, which brought all the hordes to a halt as far back as they could be heard. A light wind was blowing up th

before them. But these, with all escape cut off, and far outnumbering their exultant adversaries, now fought like rats in a 146

time to see Ook-ootsk hurl his spear at the tall figure of Mawg, leaping down upon him from the broken slope on the left. A half score of the Bow-legs were following hard upon Mawg'

threshold a club descended upon her head, and she dropped. Instantly she was pounced upon, and bound. A moment later three Bow-legs, followed by Mawg, streaming wi

little less than 147 annihilation. The flames were raging for a mile up the valley, wherever they were not choked by the piles and windrows of the dead or dying Bow-legs. The lurid night was shaken with the incessant rising and falling chorus of shrieks, and far off under the glare rolled that awful recedin

doorway, crouching on his face and with his great teeth buried in the throat of a dead Bow-leg, lay the lame captive, Ook-ootsk. Seeing that he still breathed, and marking the fury with which he had fought in defense of their little ones, the warriors lifted

, so nearly dead himself that they despaired of him. Realizing that it was he who had saved the tribe, they began over him that great keening lamentation hitherto reserved strictly for the funera

s wounds, and he fell back in a swoon. When he came to himself again, for days he would speak to no one, and it looked as if he would die, not of his wounds so much as of the insufficient will to live. But a chance word of the captive Ook-ootsk, who was being nursed back to life beside him, remind

Gr?m began climbing s