In the Morning of Time

SCUE O

-like, bow-legged men

ht on the solid earth and challenge the supremacy of the hunting beasts. Their arms were still of an unhuman and ungainly length, their short powerful legs were still so heavily bowed that they had no great speed in running; and t

ckbone, and on the outer side of the long forearm, this growth was heavier and longer, forming a sort of irregular thatch; while the hair of their heads was jet black, and matted into a filthy tangle with grease and clay. T

chattering groups outside the circle, or crouched in the branches of the neighboring trees. Those who were perched in the trees mostly held babies at their breasts, and were therefore instinctively distrustful of the dangerous ground-levels. Here and there on t

pe except for the matter of color, which was dark almost to blackness. His jaws were those of a beast, and his whole appearance was bestial beyond that of any other in the whole hideous throng––except for his eyes. These, though small and deep-set, 151 blazed with fierce intelligence, and swept his audience with an air of ass

Chief himself––but shorter in the body, and achieving his height through length and straightness of leg. He had chest and shoulders of enormous power; but, unlike the barrel-shaped Bow-legs he was comparatively slim of waist and hips. He had less hair on the body––except on the chest and forearm––than his companions; but far more on the head, where it stood out all around like an immense black-tawny mane. His face, though heavy and lowering, was a face––with square, resol

ized that the girl A-ya, with her straight limbs and her strong comeliness, might stir the craving of others besides himself. Now, as he listened to the fierce harangue of the Chief, as his alert ears caught the mutterings

her lord, if they yet lived, were far away beyond the mountains and the swamps, in the caverned hillside behind the smoke of the fires. Her captor, Mawg,

e Bow-legs could not understand. "Be ready, girl. They are going to 153 kill me no

Chief, where he towered upon his rock. But the gi

prise, he swung up his club in time to partly parry Mawg's lightning stroke, which would otherwise have broken his bull neck. As it

t his blow fairly; but as he eluded the gigantic, clutching fingers he got in a light glancing stroke with the butt which laid open his adversary's cheek and closed one furious little eye. At the same instant he whirled away lithely, sprang from the rock o

rock, and heedless of his wound, strode over to the girl. Through all the tumult she had never lifted her head from between her knees, or shown the least sign of concern. The Chief seized her by the shoulder and shook her roughly, ordering her to come with hi

ace and the blood pouring down over his huge and shaggy chest, he was all a man, and the mastery in him checked her. She felt the hopelessness of fighting her fate.

d it was in her mind, her spirit––though she herself could not so analyze the emotion––that she hated him. But this new master was an alien, and of a lower, beastlier type. Toward him she felt a sick bodily repulsion. Behind her tight-shut lids the dark went red. She stood rigid and quivering, stormed through by a raging impulse to tear out either his throat or her own. She was herself a more advanced product of he

eight and weight he was much like Mawg, but lighter in complexion, somewhat less hairy, and of a frank, sagacious countenance. His eyes were of a blue-gray, calm and piercing, yet with a look in them as of one who broods on mysteries. He was obviously 156 much older than Mawg, his long, thick hair and short, close-c

re, kept smouldering in a bed of punk, hidden in the hearts of them. But the need of stopping frequently to build a fire and renew the vitality of the secret spark had soon exasperated his impatient spirit. Into

e mother of his man-child, he shunned all contest with the great beasts which c

riedly woven branches, in the highest swaying of the tree-tops, where not even 157 the leopard, cunning climber though she was, could come at him without giving timely warning. And so,

n, he made short incursions among the outlying colonies, but could find no sign of the girl, or Mawg, in whose hands he imagined her still to be. But working warily around the outskirts of the tribe, to northward, he came at last upon the stale but unmistakable trail of a flight and a pursuit. This he followed up till the pursuit came stragglingly to an end, and the trail of the fugitive stood out al

n that moment of his unseeing weakness. Then a new thought came to him, and his despair flamed into rage. He leapt to his feet, clutching at his shaggy beard. The girl had been seized, without doubt, by the great Black Chief. The thought of this defilement to his woman, the mother of his man-child, drove him quite mad for the moment. Snatch

e more watchfully about him, and at length stepped furtively into the thick of the jungle. Now m

n swamp-sodden roots, and sometimes lie moveless as a stone for hours, enduring the stings of a million insects. Sometimes, not daring to lift his head to look about him, he had to trust to his ears and his hound-like sense of smell for information as to what was going on. And sometimes it was only his tireless immobi

over the heads of the listening mob, the Black Chief seated on the rock, his ragged club in his hand. He was haranguing his warriors in rapid clicks and gutturals, which conveyed no meaning to Gr?m's ear. The harangue came soon to an end. The Chief stood up. The bestial crowd parted––and through the opening Gr?m saw A-ya, crouched, with her hair over her knees, at the Chief's f

s massive club with skill, but he was still clumsy and absurdly inaccurate in throwing the spear. After he had split the face of one of his followers by a misdirected cast, he gave up the spear-throwing, turned to the girl, and ordered her to teach this art of her people. It was obvious that the mob had

he melancholy cry came again. It was a strange place 161 for a plover to lurk in, that rank thicket of jungle; but the Bow-legs took no notice of the incongruity. Upon the girl, however, the effect of the cry was magical. She gave no glance toward the thicket, but suddenly, smilingly, she seemed to under

of his followers, took a stride or two in the same direction. For a second his back was turned. In that second, the girl fled, light and s

rom the thicket leapt Gr?m, a towering figure, and stood with spear uplifted. Like a lion at bay, he glanced swiftly

ly, and pierced the squat body of one of the waverers a dozen paces behind. At his yell of agony the mob woke up, and came on again with guttural, barking cries. But already Gr?m and the girl, side by side, were fleeing down an open glade to the left, toward a breadth of still water which they saw gleaming through the trunks. Gr?m knew

er, or the arm of a lake; but, heedless of the peril of crocodiles and water-snakes they plunged in, and with long powerful side-strokes went surging across toward the opposite shore. They had a clear start of thirty or forty yards, an

. They shrank back in horror at the prospect––which, indeed, seemed little to the taste of the Chief himself. Presently he seized the two nearest by

shore to the left, the other followed the Chief along through the rank sedge-growth to the rig

?m, in disgust, "and they're comin

the water behind her, only laughed. She

f. He saw nothing. But in the next instant another stab came in the other leg. Then A-ya screamed: "They're biting me all over." A doze

apping, over-hand roll, 164 they shot forward, gained the weedy shallows,

a few seconds' halt to regain breath and decide on their direction, they started northwestward at a ra

ahead of them, to the right, appeared the Black Chief, lumbering down upon them. Nearly half-a-mile behind, between the mimosa clumps, could be seen the mob of his followers s

by a full stone, if not more. His long, straight, powerfully muscled legs had not the massive strength of his bow-legged adversary's. He was even slim, by

-man who had held that woman captive. Fading ancestral instincts flamed into new life within him. His impulse was to fling down spear and club, to fall up

remaining spear. But he had not counted on the lightning accuracy, swifter than thought itself, with which the men of the trees used their huge hands. The Black Chief caught the spear-head with

second he swung a vicious, short blow upwards. It was well-aimed, at the small of Gr?m's back. But the latter, feeling himself over-balanced by his own ineffective violence, leapt far out of reach before turning to see 166 what had happened. The Chi

and stood swaying, straining, sweating, and grunting, so equally matched in sheer strength that to A-ya, standing breathless with suspense, the dreadful seconds seemed to drag themselves out to hours. Then Gr?m, amazed to find that in brute force he had met his match, feigned to give way. Loosing the clutch of one arm, he dropped upon his knees. With a grunt of triumph the Black Chie

d had plainly ordered her to stand aside from this combat, but this was no time for obedience. She snatched up the sharpened fragment of the broken spear. Gripping it with both hands she

feet, and turned angrily upon A-ya. "I

ered the girl, and pointe

from his dead rival's neck, thrust it into the girl's hands, and dar

loom, extending to right and left as far as the eye could see. It was a jungle of 168 shrubs some twenty feet high, with scanty, pale-green leaves almost hidden by their exuberance of blossom. But jungle though it was, Gr?m's sagacious eyes decided that it was by no means dense enough to seriously hinder their flight. When they rea

ng his pace. But the girl, puzzled by this sudden st

eir own footfalls to relieve the anxious intentness of their ears. Not a bird-note, not the flutter of a wing, not the hum or the darting of a single insect, disturbed the strangely heavy air. No snake or lizard or squeaking mouse scurried among the fallen leaves. They wondered greatly at suc

robbing behind their eyes. Then understanding of those cries of triumph flashed into Gr?m's mind. He stopped

red flowers," whispered A-ya, and

nd dashing his great hand across his eyes

e their brains throb fiercely. And still there was nothing before them and about them but the endless succession of slender

rd, sobbing. The next moment, she was jerked violently to the left. "This way!" panted Gr?m, the sweat pouring down 170 his livid face; an

nt but wholesome herbage, which clothed its top, and filled their lungs with the clean, reviving air. Dimly they heard a blessed buzzing of insects, and several great flies, with

of the envenomed blooms, was thrust deep into the crimson tide. Its tip came to within a couple of hundred yards of the rock. Having fully recovered, Gr?m and A-ya swung down, with loathing, into the pink gloom, fled through it almost without drawing breath, an

the great black lion or the saber-tooth, or the wantonly malignant rhinoceros, they betook themselves to the tree-tops, and continued their way by that a?rial path as long as it served them. The most subtle of the beasts they knew they could outwit, and their own anxiety now was Mawg, whose craft and courage Gr?m could n

nd the girl, herself securely hidden, could see in every direction. She could see Gr?m wandering from plantain clump to plantain clump, seeking fruit ripe enough to be palatable. And then, with a shiver of hate and dread, she saw the dark form

ut the cry stopped in her throat, and a sm

at the same time himself being

feathers. Its build was something like that of a gigantic cassowary, but its thighs and long blue shanks were proportionately more massive. Its neck was long, but immensely muscular to support the enormous head, which was larger than that of

wg's ears caught a sound behind him, and he glanced around sharply. With a scream, he bounded to his feet. But it was too late. Before he could either strike or flee, 173 he was beaten down again

e mettle of this ferocious bird, almost as much to be dreaded, in single combat, as the saber-tooth itself. At his approach, the bird had lifted its dripping beak, half turned, and stood gripping the prey with one foot, swaying its grim head slo

ho sees all old scores cleanly wiped out toget

e next new moon was a thin white sickle in the sky, just above the line of saw-toothed hills,