THE TAMERS
I was aroused from a bad dream by the sharp, yipping cry of dogs. I
was glad to be awake, for in my dream there was suffocation. For a
little time after I awoke I was dazed in mind, and could not recognize
myself or my surroundings. I was lying in a little sunlit hollow upon a
grass-green spot on the surface of a slight rocky height in the plain,
and my bow and skin quiver of arrows and my flint-headed spear, smooth
as the teeth of the river horse and keen of edge as the blades of the
marsh grass, were beside me. Gradually I remembered that I had come
alone to the plain to hunt the hares which were abundant in and about
the scattered rocks, and the bustards which fed upon the seeds of the
many bushes. I had climbed the little height to look about the better,
but could see no game, and so had thrown myself down on the soft turf,
to await whatever might appear, and then had fallen asleep.
Two young wolf cubs had been captured by boys of the tribe, and brought
into camp, and allowed to live; and, when they became grown, were not
savage, like other wolves, but remained about, and were fed, and would
sometimes prove obedient to what was told them. Once or twice they had
even aided in the hunt, by pulling down some wounded animal, and so
had earned their feed. It seemed now that they had followed me to the
hunt, though I did not want them and had driven them back, and now I
rose to my feet to see what it was that had been the occasion of their
clamour. They were leaping frantically about a huge aurochs bull which
had wandered from the wide forest glades where the aurochs were in
greatest numbers, and now was feeding quietly upon the occasional sweet
grass tufts about the thickets. To the two wolf dogs he paid little
attention, save once in a while to shake his thick short horns, and
make a little rush at them. A great pack of wolves would be required to
pull down the mighty aurochs.
I could but look idly upon the useless onslaught. Were I very close to
the bull I might drive a shaft to his heart, and so get a great prize.
We had done this sometimes, hiding in little trees; but I knew, were I
to show myself, that the beast would take to flight, and there was no
cover by means of which I might creep upon him. I shouted and waved my
arms, and aurochs and wolf dogs went careering away together toward the
distant forest. Soon the hares came forth from their hiding places, and
I shot three of them as they came feeding close to the little height
upon which I crouched. Very good eating were the hares, and they were
of much value to us at times, being abundant when greater game was
scarce.
As I took my way back to the huts in the gorge, the two dogs, tired of
the useless and hopeless chase, came back, and followed close behind
me. It was curious. Never before had any wild beast become a friend of
man, all either fleeing before him or seeking to devour him. Much I
wondered if any other than these would be tamed, and become, it might
be, of use to us. Often had I talked of this to Old Bear, who lived in
a cave near my hut in the ravine, and who was the father of Dark Eyes,
she who should have one of the hares I had killed. Often had I brought
game to Old Bear and his wife and Dark Eyes. She was good to look upon.
Her slender arms were round, and her lips were like the red berries.
Likewise she was changeful of mood, and showed her teeth sometimes, as,
when other beasts come near, does the she panther lying with her cubs
at the mouth of her den in the rocks. And beyond the cave of Bear was
that of the family of Black Bow, with whom I sometimes hunted and with
whom was little Humpback, the slave girl we captured in a battle with a
tribe far to the north, whose lands we had invaded in the hunting. We
lost good men in that fight, and got many hurts; but at last we drove
the others back for a time, and so escaped, bringing with us the girl
Humpback, whom we caught in a tree she had climbed. She was older than
the children of Black Bow and Loon, his wife, and cared for them, and
hunted for nuts and roots, and cooked the fish and meat, though she was
but small and bent, because of the hump upon her back. Likewise she was
deft with the bone needles and threads of sinews, and made the skin
coats and leggins worn by those with whom she lived. Once she made a
coat for me from the skins of wolves I had killed, and it was a good
coat. Often I brought meat to the cave of Black Bow; for I, who lived
alone, often killed more than I could eat, or sell to the old bow and
arrow-maker or to the fisherman. Many were the skins in my hut of poles
and thatched leaves which leaned against the rock, and soft was the bed
upon which I slept. Long, sometimes, did Dark Eyes look upon me, and I
did not like the other look when she saw Humpback eating of the meat I
had brought to the cave of Black Bow. Why should her eyes at such times
have had such a look? The eyes of Humpback never glittered in such a
way, and always she smiled when others ate and patted their stomachs
when they were full and sleepy. Wise and swift was Humpback, and her
look was always that of the urus cow as she broods above her young calf
in the bushes.
I came to the cave of Black Bow, but there was no one within, and none
to be seen up or down the rocky glen in which we lived, and which led
downward to the river. Between the hills was a little valley down
which the creek runs, and in the rocky hill on either side were many
caves, while built against the walls were huts of poles like my own.
Better were the caves in winter, when the cold was bitter, but in the
summer the huts were best to live in. Even in winter they were made
warm with many skins hung tent-like about the fire, and none perished
from the cold. It was a good place for a camping, though sometimes
we might go from there, for we stayed not always in one place, as do
some tribes of which I have heard, who plant seeds in the ground, and
so fear less the famine; but when the game was hunted out we drifted
ever to the southward, to find anew some rocky place beside the water
where we might defend ourselves against all things, and have water
and the fishing at hand. But here was still game. There were yet the
urus and the aurochs and even the little wild horses and wild pigs and
many deer and the grouse and ducks and many other birds. I--Scar, the
hunter--found meat and skin and fur for my using, and sometimes sharp
encounter, for, where the game is, there are the beasts which feed upon
them, the great brown bear, and the smaller bear, and the wolf pack,
and the leopard and panther and hyena-like thing, and the lurking,
silent wolverine, were many in number and ranging far and wide. Once
there were huge tigers, and monsters in the river, so the old men told
from tales of their grandfathers, and from their further grandfathers
away back dimly, but all those more dreadful things were gone. Yet it
was by no means wise to hunt carelessly. Not a few of the tribe had
gone into the woods or far out upon the plain and never came back, and
once I found a gnawed, grinning head of bone which must have been the
head of a man. Always upon my hunting, beside my bow, I carried my
sharp spear in hand, and my stone axe in my belt, and I liked best to
hunt where there were trees which I could climb. Good things are trees.
I turned to walk toward my hut, carrying the hares in my hand, when I
heard a shout from the river, and there came to me Black Bow and his
wife, he with his weapons, and she carrying a great fish he had speared
in the shallows. We had done well. He chopped off a part of the fish,
which he gave to me, and took two of the hares, and then I went to my
hut, and made a fire, and cooked my meat and fish, and ate, and was
most content. And, later, I went out and sat upon a rock with Black
Bow, who also had eaten and was content, and we talked there long, the
wolf dogs playing about us.
The wolf dogs made me think; and I said, as I had said before to Black
Bow, that the dogs were useful, and that we should seek to capture
more cubs in the caves, and I asked him if he did not think there were
other wild things we could tame and use. But Black Bow only laughed
loudly. “What think you,” he said, “of Gnawbones and the leopard?” And
he laughed again.
That indeed made me at a loss to answer, for the adventure of the
leopard had been a brisk one. Because of the youth Gnawbones there had
been a lively half hour in the glen. He was a strange youth, living
with his father and mother, old Three Toes and dark old Night, as they
called her, in the cave apart from the rest of the tribe in the gorge
which leads from the river caves to the forest and plain above. Unlike
most of the Cave people were old Three Toes and Night, and some said
that they were the children of River people, captured long ago. I do
not know. I know only that they lived much on frogs and fish and clams.
But Gnawbones, the youth, was different from his father and mother. He
hungered for meat, and was a lonely creature of the woods and hills.
He sported little with the Cave youth below, but was ever in the beech
woods of the uplands, and the wonder was that the hunting beasts there
had not devoured him. But he was keen of sight and quick of ear, and
could run swiftly, and climb like the monkey people who live far, very
far to the south of us. And he brought alarm to the Cave people, and
how it first began he told me after I had beaten him with the handle of
my spear.
One day, moons before, when the sun had just begun going down the sky
to let the darkness come, he was sleeping soundly in a nest he had made
in a crotch of one of the great beech trees, when something, so softly
purring that it awakened him but slowly, was pressed against his face.
He opened his eyes, and there, snuggling close, was what, to the boy,
was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. It was tawny, with dark
spots, and had shining eyes and soft paws with which it patted the
youth’s face, and then sank down to stillness beside him. Much as he
knew of the forest, the boy did not recognize the creature; but it was
a very young one of the tree leopard, as it is called, though it cannot
climb the small trees, and it was a thing which I avoided when hunting.
The foolish youth could not bear to leave the thing where he found it,
and slid down the tree with it at once, none too soon, it may be, for
its mother must have left it somewhere in the treetop earlier in the
day, and had she come back in time there would have been an end of
Gnawbones, and the she leopard would have fed well. But he got away
and took to his father and mother the little thing which was so pretty
and purring, and, seemingly, so gentle. They told him he might keep
it--well for them was it that I, who know wild beasts, heard nothing
of the matter!--and so it was kept in the cave, and fed, sometimes
on flesh which Gnawbones brought, but mostly upon fish and clams and
frogs, which, as I have said, were the chief food of Three Toes and his
wife.
And so, as Gnawbones told me, when I made him confess with my
spear-handle, the thing was kept in the cave, and grew until it became
a plaything no longer, but something ever hungry, and sometimes sullen.
Then they, the foolish ones, drove a great stake in the cracked rock,
in a corner of the cave floor, and tied the beast there, with a thong
about its neck fastened to a bar of hard wood, which, in its turn,
was tied to the great stake. The brute, nearly full grown, could only
circle about the stake, though ever straining at his thongs. So they
kept him and fed him. No man can tell why they did so.
There came a day when the fishing was bad, and frogs and clams were few
for Three Toes, and the hunting bad for the youth Gnawbones, and that
day the leopard got no food. The next morning he was raging, and Three
Toes and Gnawbones left the cave early to find what might come to them.
At the warm time, the middle of the day, when the sun hung almost over
the caves by the river, there came such a screaming and yelling from
the gorge as had never been heard before. It came to our ears together,
to Black Bow and me, for we were not in our huts, but sitting outside,
working upon our bows. I seized my spear, and ran toward the gorge.
Night, the old woman in the cave in the gorge, told me afterward what
happened to her. The hungry leopard had strained at its leash until the
thong about its neck had parted, and in an instant it had crouched for
a spring at her throat. She had seen it in time, and had caught up a
spear, and had screamed shrilly; and, whatever the cause, the leopard
had turned its head, and then leaped from the cave out into the open.
She saw it go down the gorge, and had rushed out and climbed a tree,
still screaming, to warn Three Toes and Gnawbones, who, she knew, were
in a little wood near at hand. They came running, and then also climbed
trees most hurriedly, and added to the noise with their wild howling to
warn the Cave people below. That was when I, leading the others, came
running to the mouth of the gorge. There, halfway up it, we saw the
leopard, advancing downward, cautious and crouching!
I did not fear the beast. I held my spear forward, and neared the
leopard, until we were close together. With a snarl, it leaped for me,
and I held my spear as I had done before with a leopard I slew; but
the ground was sloping and I slipped upon some pebble, and the spear
just entered the shoulder of the brute, tearing outward through the
spotted skin. The leopard screamed, almost as had the old woman; then,
as it struck the ground, whirled swiftly and dashed up the gorge again.
There it paused and sent up a long, mournful cry, such as I had heard
in the woods before. From the far beech wood came an answer--the call
of another of its kind! It did not stay longer. In long leaps it went
across the open space toward the wood, a spotted shadow against the
brown grass, and into the forest where its kindred were.
And this adventure of Gnawbones and his people was what had made Black
Bow laugh when I talked of taming and training other things than the
wolf dogs. We said no more at this time, but there came a day when he
would have such fancies as had I. We were led to thinking of taming
again by a curious happening, and truly our first effort was no mean
one, however rude its ending. And it was because of a discovery of the
little children. There came the Rope and Noose.
It was when the leaves were beginning to turn yellow, that the children
stumbled upon the thing. Little Round Nose and Crop Ear, the children
of Black Bow, were playing together near where the strong marsh grass
grew thickest beside the river, a little way above the glen of the
caves and the huts. They were amusing themselves, without anything in
mind, as children do, and were merry, running about here and there, as
do the young of the wild things, chattering and digging, and throwing
stones into the shallow water, and watching the little fishes as they
darted away affrighted. They tired at last, and seated themselves in
the long grass where it was dry, and began pulling it up by the roots,
and playing with it idly. Little Crop Ear laid some of the long blades
together; and not knowing what she did, only fumbling with her fingers
at a root bearing three blades, began laying them one over the other.
She did this for quite a space of time, and then shrieked out in
delight upon seeing that the strands remained together in a flat green
braid. She kept up the wonderful task until the whole length of the
grass was braided, and then did not know what to do. She pulled more
grass, and tried to braid it in with what she already had, but could
not do it for a time. But she was a stubborn and persistent child, and,
it may be, had some natural gift at such a thing, just as some of the
boys have in the stone-chipping, and at last she discovered a way of
interlacing and plaiting in the new grass, and making the green blade
longer.
Then all went well with her; and, when she returned to the cave, she
carried proudly with her the long, slender, three-stranded cord. After
they had eaten, Black Bow took the string from the child, and began
playing with it, and testing its strength. He wondered at it. He had
not thought that the marsh grass so plaited could be so strong. He
called to me, and I went to his cave, and we considered the thing
together. Why could we not use this queer device to bind things
together, as we used the twisted sinews of the wild creatures we had
killed? We learned from the child how to plait the tough grass, as did
the women of the clan; and henceforth, because of these cords, a new
convenience existed in the huts and caves.
The only fault with the marsh-grass cord was that, tough as it was, it
was not quite strong enough for many uses to which it might be put. “If
it were only bigger,” said Black Bow to me as we talked of the matter;
and then, all at once, there came to him a great thought. If three of
the strands of the marsh grass could be braided so, why could not three
of the cords already made be plaited in the same way, and so on to any
size? We worked together, and when the sun went down that night we held
in our hands a great braid--one he and I could not break, though, each
taking one end, we strained against it with all our force. We owned a
rope of might. And other ropes we made--some from the inner bark we
peeled from the linden tree; but, in the end, the marsh grass proved
the best.
It was queer, but always, it seems to me, when one good thing is found,
there comes another. It may be it is because the first one makes us
think.
There was much use for our ropes. We could tie our boats to the bank
with them, needing no longer always to drag the craft ashore; huts
could be bound about with them to resist the wind storms better; and
there were many other uses for them. Then came the last and greatest
thing, for which I gave Black Bow much credit.
In Black Bow’s cave were always ropes, for Humpback had learned to
make them strong, ever getting the longest and best of the grass, and
plaiting carefully and deftly, and they sufficed to buy much fish,
flesh and skins, and so lessened the labours of Black Bow and Loon. A
rare creature was Humpback.
It was one night, after looking at a new rope Humpback had finished,
that Black Bow, handling it idly, stuck one end of the rope through
a loop he had made at the other and sat holding the end in his hand,
while the opening in the rope coil lay on the floor. He chanced to rise
just as little Crop Ear, running across the cave floor, stepped into
it. The rope came up suddenly, and closed about Crop Ear beneath her
arms. She was a prisoner! She had stepped into the first noose, and it
had risen and tightened about her! There were yells and laughter in
the cave, and others were caught as they walked across the floor, or
were lassoed with the loop thrown over their heads, and there was much
sport there. And the next day, as we sat upon our little rock together,
as was our custom after the hunting or the fishing, Black Bow told me
of the noose, and later we talked again of the taming, and then the
thought of the two things came together!
If the noose at the end of a rope could entrap and hold a child or
a man, why could it not as well tighten upon and hold, alive and
unharmed, any of the wild creatures, and why could we not thus capture
them, and tame them? We reasoned long, and finally came upon a great
resolve. We would lay the noose, and hide ourselves, and capture a wild
doe, and, it might be, tame her, as the wild dogs had been tamed; for
we did not reason at that time that it is only the young of the wild
things that can be tamed.
There was a path through the brushwood leading from the forest to the
plain, along which many of the deer, and often other creatures, were
accustomed to pass to their feeding grounds, and there, we said, we
would first place the gripping noose thing, and lie in wait together.
So, for days, Humpback worked upon the plaiting of a rope at least
seven times the length of a man, and very strong, with a loop for the
noose made at one end, and with it Black Bow and I went forth together,
to what happening we could not guess. It was late in the afternoon, and
already the dusk was coming when we laid the noose in the pathway, and
crouched hidden behind the little bushes near, with the other end of
the rope wound about both our bodies, that we might pull together, and
so be more certain of our capture. We did not have long to wait. There
came a thudding, there was a rough brushing aside of the bushes along
the pathway, and a great hoof was planted in the noose. Black Bow and I
threw ourselves backward with all our force, and drew the strong rope
taut.
Of what happened then, neither Black Bow nor I could afterward remember
with great clearness. There was a thundering bellow, a rush down the
pathway toward the open, and we who were seeking the capture of a
gentle doe were torn from our hiding place in the thicket, and carried
sliding, bounding, and hurtling away toward where were the rolling
pastures of the eaters of grass. Our noose was gripping the hind legs
of a great bull aurochs, mightiest creature of the plain, perhaps the
one the wolf dogs had annoyed.
Even such huge beast, fearing little, was panic-stricken with that
fearful thing grasping it.
Clumsily, because so hampered, and still bellowing, floundering rudely
across the billowy prairie, the great brute plunged along; and now
dragged through the swift face-cutting grass, now bounced from hummock
to hummock, we were hurled along furiously at the end of the rope. I
cannot forget it, though it is not good to remember. The rope was about
us both; and as we tore through weeds and brush, we bumped and bounded,
and, coming to earth again, sometimes Black Bow would be atop, and
sometimes I, though which of us was being bruised most fearfully could
not be told. Once we tore through the top of a fallen thorn tree, and
there was blood upon our faces then. The rope, it seemed to me, was
cutting us in twain, but I could not think at the time save in a dim
way, that Black Bow and I were going to our death. Then came what was
a little less terrible. The aurochs was rushing along now where the
plain was more even of surface, and we were dragged smoothly through
the grass, and at a lesser pace, for the strain was telling upon even
so powerful an animal. Something must come soon, though, or there would
be two dead men at the end of the rope. It came, and saved our lives.
There was in the way of the aurochs a little gully, and this he sought
to leap in his blundering and hindered flight. His hind leg, drawn
backward by the weight at the end of the rope, crippled him in the
effort, and he swerved, stumbled, and rolled down upon his back into
the depression. He was helpless for the moment in this struggle; and
that moment we made the most of, bruised and bleeding as we were,
though not insensible. There was a little slack in the rope now: and,
since one of our knives still remained in its pouch, we slashed the
rope between us and the aurochs, and then the coil about us. It was
hard getting to our feet; but soon a little strength came, and we ran
weakly together toward the village, for we did not know but the enraged
aurochs, which was floundering from the gully now, might do us harm.
It was a weary journey; and when we reached our homes and laid down on
our skin couches, there was dried blood upon us, and many blue spots
upon our skins. We cared no longer for the rope and the noose, and said
that we would no more seek to entrap the wild things with it; but that
was foolish. We spoke thus because we were sore, and our stomachs weak
within us. It was not in us to forget the noose!
Humpback came to me, and upon my hurts bound chewed wet roots and
leaves, of which she knew, and which cooled me, and very soon I was
myself again, for there were no broken bones, and we strong men minded
little such mauling as had come to Black Bow and me. But, as Humpback
was doing this, I saw a face at the door, and it was the face of Dark
Eyes, and I liked it not, for the red lips were drawn tightly, and
the teeth showed. I did not like it, nor the glint in her great eyes.
Then I looked up into the eyes of Humpback, and they were soft, and,
somehow, curing. I do not know how eyes could be curing; but so seemed
the eyes to me, and I liked them much. Long I thought then, and there
came to me a great resolve. Humpback should come to me in my cave, and
be my wife. Too long had I been alone.
The hump on her back lifted her little skin coat into a hummock, like
that on the back of the young aurochs, only that it stood out still
more clearly, and she was short, though she was not squat, as I had
once seen another humpbacked woman. She stooped hardly at all, and was
slender and quick of movement, and knew well how to do all the things
the mate of the hunter should do, and I knew that she would prove
obedient and faithful. It was true that the naked children of the glen,
and even some of the men and women, sometimes pointed at the hump, and
cried aloud, and laughed. But what could that matter? They would point
no longer when she came to my cave, for my cuff was heavy; and as for
the men--well, they knew my arm. So I called to Black Bow--for it is
not my way to wait when I have resolved--and we sat together upon our
favourite big flat stone, and debated long. Truly Black Bow was in a
stubborn mood that night.
I told him that I wanted Humpback for my mate, and that she must come
to my hut; and he rose up and roared that it should not be; that she it
was who did most of the labour, and that he would not part with her,
though we were friends, and fished and hunted together, and were ready
to fight each for the other, either against beast or man. His words did
not change me. Perhaps they made me but have a greater desire for the
woman who was so different from others, and my blood ran wild, and my
anger rose at being thwarted, and I not only cajoled, but threatened,
the man who had been my close companion. I told him that I would give
him the best of my furred skins, and that I would bring much meat to
his cave, and that, though we lived apart, we would be almost as one
family, and, finally, he consented, it may be because of the look
on my face, which he knew left him no choice; and why should there
be a fight between us, who had been friends so long? So that matter
was settled, and we thought of other things, and laughed and talked
once more of the noose and the taming. And of that talk came many
happenings, and great ones.
We had been made wiser because of our adventure with the aurochs bull,
and our memory of what followed the affair of Gnawbones and the wood
leopard. We saw that we must seek the capture only of the grass-eaters,
and among these the ones which were weak enough to be overcome in any
struggle. Only the smaller beasts could we wisely or safely take, or,
even better, the young of the greater ones. We agreed upon that. Then,
so interested in our fancy did we become, that we planned for another
trial. What came of that made life better for me.
There remained, even in this region, some of the little horses which
had formerly been abundant, as I had known from the scarred bones which
lay deep on the floors of caves in many hillsides. They were the bones
of horses eaten by the Cave men of the past, and bore the marks of
their strong teeth. Other bones there were, and in some of the caves
marks on the stone walls showed that they were rude pictures of these
same horses. And, as I have said, there were scattering herds of them
left; and, after long toil, we decided that we would capture a wild
horse.
Strong was the rope that Humpback plaited, and smooth and free was
the noose at the end; and then, with food in our skin pouches, we
went a day’s journey to where we knew the creatures we sought fed in
the valleys of the high hills. A night we slept there, and in the
afternoon of that day we saw a herd of the little horses feeding
slowly toward us down the narrow valley. Rich was the grass, but here
and there throughout the valley’s narrowest part great rocks had
fallen down from the heights, or had been rolled down in some ancient
flood; and behind one of these we crouched, having first laid the open
noose hidden in the grass some yards away. Should the herd feed near
the rock, surely some one horse would find its feet within the snare.
So we waited long, but nevertheless patiently, for this was a great
undertaking.
Slowly the herd came on, and finally approached so near us that we no
longer dared thrust forth our heads to note its progress. Finally its
leader, a brown stallion, passed at some distance, while the herd fed
scatteringly behind him. Then we saw, with delight, that, approaching
so that she would pass not far from the rock, was a mare with a
little colt beside her. Ah! could we but capture her! We remained as
motionless as the great rock beside us, our hands gripping the rope,
and our feet braced firmly. The slight wind blew toward us, and our
scent would not reach the horses, and so they fed on, unknowing. Nearer
and nearer came the mare, and at last she placed a fore foot fairly
within the noose. I jerked the rope fiercely, the noose came up and
closed upon the mare’s leg tightly and fairly just above the knee; and,
as she leaped, we clutched the rope with a shout, and leaned backward
with all our might.
The herd, led by the stallion, broke into flight, and was unseen in a
moment as it swept around a turn in the valley. Only the mare and her
frightened colt remained, but with the mare we had all we could do. She
was but a little horse, and we were two great men; but with her first
leap she pulled us from our feet, and it seemed that she might finally
get away.
The struggle was long, but at last the desperate creature wearied of
her leapings, and stood still, shuddering. We tried to approach her;
but she began leaping again in her wild terror, and so threw herself,
lying with her head down a little slope, and unable easily to regain
her feet. We rushed in upon her, and pressed her head to the ground,
and she was helpless. She lay very still, but all the time the young
colt stumbled about, calling and whinnying in a weak way. What should
we do?
The dogs we had often tied or led by a cord about the neck, so
fastening it that it would not slip and strangle them, and why could
we not do the same thing with the horse? So we unloosened the pinching
rope from her leg, and tied the other end of it about her neck, so
that it would not hurt her, but would not slip over her head, and then
helped her to her feet again. She struggled more and more, but she was
tired and heartbroken now, and at last we started, leading her to the
glen, the colt following us clumsily.
Great was the clamour, and wild the shouting, when, the next day,
Black Bow and I came into the glen, leading the little wild mare,
very wearied and tame now, and followed by the little colt, which
could hardly walk. There was much debate, and finally it was decided
to build a wall across a wide ravine which ran into the glen, not far
from the huts, and another wall across its foot, and there leave our
captives, where they would have abundant food and water, and, it might
be, thrive as well as over the broader plain. All this was done, and
the mare became fat and more tame, and the colt grew swiftly, and was
played with by the children. It was a great achievement, and one much
to the credit of Black Bow and me. But with the capture of these two
the enterprise did not end. There were others of the glen as wise and
daring as we, and these also finally caught wild horses with noosed
ropes, and at last we had in the pasture in the fenced valley a herd
which promised to become a larger one. We would have wild horses to
kill and eat in time of strait, we thought; but then a curious thing
happened, and because of it none of the wild horses was killed, and
they were held the greatest of our possessions.
The little colt grew amazingly, and was strong and a pet of the
children, who, as soon as it ceased to live upon its mother’s milk, fed
it daily upon the tender grasses, and made it as tame as one of the
dogs. Then one day I saw a sturdy youth sitting astride its back, while
another led the young animal about by its mane. It was an odd thing,
and it came to me that if the colt could thus carry the boy, its mother
could as easily carry a man, and I spoke of this to Black Bow, who was
delighted with the thought.
“We will ride upon the mare,” he declared.
And so we put a rope about the head of the mare, and Black Bow and I
leaped upon the mare’s back. Much she bounded about, and would have run
away, but she was only a small horse, albeit strong and sturdy, and
we clung to her easily. At last she tired, and then I took a shorter
rope, and tied it about her nose, bringing it around over her neck,
and fastening it again, so that I could pull either way, and again
got on her back, and found that I could guide and so drive her that
I could make her carry me whichever way I would. I took her outside
the pasture, and rode her far out upon the plain, and went farther and
faster than I could have gone alone.
Henceforth I took her on my hunting, and so reached better fields, and
brought my prey back upon her shoulders. It was a thing unthought of!
The horse had become a part of man! There could be no other tribe like
ours, until others, too, should have the horses, for soon Black Bow and
others of the men had horses, and tamed them, and we became a swiftly
moving and prosperous band, great in the hunting and surrounding and
killing of things which before had escaped us.
And more I see! Why may not men some time tame other creatures--even,
it may be, the great urus, the wild cattle, if we can catch them young,
or the wild hogs which feed upon the acorns and beechnuts, and the
flesh of which is so savoury in the nostrils, and so tender and sweet
between the teeth? We are the masters, and men shall become very great!
And ever still in my mind was Humpback, my wife, the tender-eyed; and
though I found game, and chased it, my thoughts were still upon her,
and when it chanced that I had shot a young bustard I turned the head
of the horse toward the village, for I wanted to look upon her again.
I had not thought that a man could so desire to be with some one else;
but I am glad that the feeling came to me, for sorely did Humpback need
me that day.
There is a little flat island in the great river some half a league
from the village, along the shores of which are many clams, but which
most of the women do not visit, because the current between the sand
strip and the shore is very swift and dangerous. To this island,
seeking clams, Humpback had told me she was going while I hunted, and I
did not forbid her, for to her the current is as nothing, as she swims
as strongly and silently as the beaver, and it came to me that the
taste of the clams would be good when I came back to the hut.
To the hut I went first, but Humpback was not there, and then, taking
only my bow, I went swiftly to where was the island in the river. Near
it upon the land was a little wood, through which I passed, and so came
out upon the long beach, with the island a short bow shot away. What I
saw then made me see red.
Upon the farther side of the narrow sand strip which made the island
lay Humpback flat upon her face, so that only the poor little hump upon
her back showed plainly, and from the hump stuck out an arrow. Upon the
shore stood Dark Eyes, with her bow and arrows--for she was sure with
her bow--fitting another arrow to the string. She had followed Humpback
to kill her, and had found her on the island with no weapon and at her
mercy. I could see it all. Humpback had thrown herself down at the
island’s farther and lower side, to avoid the arrows, only the hump
showing, and this the cruel markswoman had impaled at the first shot.
I strung my own bow in a moment, but roared aloud in my rage, which I
should not by any means have done. As the sound struck her ears, Dark
Eyes turned on the instant, then fled like the wind toward the forest
near her. I loosed an arrow vengefully, but she was already distant
when I shot, and I knew that, though the shaft seemed to pierce her
shoulder, it had done her no grievous harm.
I threw aside my bow, and plunged into the river. I was soon at the
side of Humpback, who rose to her feet as I came, and, despite her
hurt, smiled up in my face. Very brave was Humpback.
I turned her about, and looked at the arrow in the hump, and shouted
for joy. The head had passed through but a little beneath the skin,
and she who was my mate was almost unharmed. I drew the arrow sharply
forward by the head, and out, and there remained but a wound which
would soon be healed.
“I knew she would seek to kill me,” said Humpback.
But how she could know such a thing I could not understand. Woman can
tell many things of which men know nothing.
So I took Humpback with me to the hut, and helped her dress her wound,
and all was well again. I took my stone axe, and went into the cave
of Black Bow, but Dark Eyes was not there. I know not what would have
happened had I found her. I had promised Humpback that I would not kill
her, but I know not. Perhaps Dark Eyes had gone mad, and it was not our
custom to kill those who were mad and do not know. Yet was I afraid of
Dark Eyes.
And the season went, and all was good. The seeds were ripening in the
fenced places, we had captured more horses, and the hunting was good;
so the bellies of the little children were plump, and there was nothing
to fear from the winter, though the snow might come, and the game flee
to the southward, and the ice lie thick upon the fishing places. It was
good.
Better than the acorns, better even than the dried berries, do I like
the nuts of the beech tree; and Humpback, my mate, knowing this, had
gone often to the great beech forest which lay far up the river, and
had brought a store of nuts for the winter. But still more I wanted;
and so one day, at the time when the seeds were ripe, and the nuts were
nearly fallen, I told her to gather yet more of the beechnuts, and went
with her, for sometimes there was good hunting there, the grouse and
bustard and the wild hogs coming to eat the nuts, which they liked as
well as I. The land was high and rolling, and there were pleasant open
spaces down into which the sun shone, making them warm, but sometimes
bringing out a little brown snake, the bite of which was deadly.
These spaces had always been avoided by Humpback, my wise mate; and as
I started to cross one of them she warned me, but I only laughed. I was
standing in the midst of the opening even as she called to me, and,
even as I laughed, I felt a sharp sting upon my ankle. I leaped aside,
and, looking downward, saw one of the terrible little snakes gliding
away through the thin grass. I struck blindly with my bow, and broke
its back, killing it; but what could that avail me? I yelled aloud in
fear, and ran to where Humpback, frightened, was standing beneath the
trees. I told her what had happened, and she shrieked and put her arms
about me. So we stood for a little time, and soon there came a numbness
in my ankle, where I had been bitten, and then in my leg, and soon the
deadness seemed to reach farther and farther all over me, and then came
a dimness as I drew closer still to Humpback, and then all knowing
passed!