It was a long way to where Bolo had seen the herd, and they were all
afraid the animals might have wandered away. Bolo and Fisher ran
eagerly ahead, and Bolo pointed out to Fisher the things he had noticed
while searching for his mother. One Eye said very little, but he sent
men up into every tall tree they passed to see if they could discover
the herd. They traveled all day, and when night came they built a great
circle of fire and lay down to rest. One Eye chose four men to carry
torches, and it was their duty to see that the fires did not go out.
When they came to the valley where Bolo had seen the mammoths they
found nothing but trampled grass and the broken limbs of trees. They
went very slowly and carefully after that. It was not long till a
man, who had climbed into a very tall tree on a hilltop, called out
excitedly that he could see something moving at the base of a cliff
that hung high and steep above the river. One Eye climbed the tree
himself, and looked long and closely where the man pointed.
“It is the herd,” he said. “Now let every man do just as I say.”
He divided the cave men into two parties. One was to move up very
slowly from the side where they were, the other was to travel rapidly
around through a valley behind some hills and come upon the herd
from the other side. Bolo, young as he was, was appointed to lead the
first party, while One Eye himself led the second division through the
valley. The men seemed pleased at this for they thought Bolo deserved
some honor.
When the cave men had surrounded the herd in this fashion they were
to close in upon them, each man carrying a blazing torch, and try to
drive the animals up the landward slope of the cliff, and over it into
the river. They knew they could never kill one of these huge beasts
with any weapons they had. So they thought to kill them by driving them
over the cliff and making them fall upon the rocks below. Some of the
cave men who had never seen a mammoth were very much frightened at the
terrible beasts. They said they were going back to the caves. But the
others taunted them and called them women, until they grew ashamed and
went on with the rest.
Very stealthily and carefully the two bodies of cave men drew toward
the great herd of grazing animals. One of the older men told in
whispers of another such hunt he had taken part in when a young man. He
said he had never tasted any meat so good as that of the mammoth.
Bolo watched carefully for his father’s signal. At last it came, and
when he saw the tossing torch he motioned his men to light their
torches and go on quickly.
In a very few minutes the surprised mammoths found themselves attacked
from three sides by a screaming, leaping line of cave men, each
swinging a fiery torch above his head. At first the huge beasts stood
still. Then they turned and went awkwardly up the long slope on the
landward side of the bluff. The men followed as closely as they dared,
for they feared that when the animals came to the edge of the bluff
they would swing around and rush through the line of their attackers,
trampling them under their great feet.
One Eye was again leading the entire band. Always he was at the very
front, shouting and waving his torch. One man, more daring than the
rest, ran up and thrust his burning firebrand right against the shaggy
side of the nearest mammoth. The frenzied beast, with a bellow of rage,
turned and tore back through the yelling mass of hunters. In spite
of all their efforts to escape, two men were killed and three more
badly hurt. The rest of the herd, terrified by the confusion, huddled
together on the edge of the bluff.
“Close in! close in!” shouted One Eye, brandishing his torch in a fury
of excitement. But the cave men were too much frightened to obey. They
were scattered by the stampeding mammoth, and were too scared and
confused to obey their leader. What made things worse was that they had
never been used to obeying the orders of anyone.
But Bolo and Fisher obeyed. Bolo had drawn a little away from the rest
of the hunters. He had swung his stout bow down from his shoulder and
carefully fitted an arrow to the taut string. No one noticed the sharp
twang as the arrow left the bowstring, but all saw one of the mammoths
rear suddenly with pain and plunge into the midst of the herd.
Startled at this sudden onslaught, the herd pressed a little closer to
the edge of the cliff, and then--
Never in all his life did Bolo hear again such a terrific shriek as
the falling mammoth gave. For many nights after that he covered his
ears as he lay down to sleep so that he might not hear it again in his
dreams. Then came the sickening crash as the gigantic body struck the
rocks below. The men turned and fled, and the remaining mammoths, in a
frenzy of fear, tore back down the landward side of the cliffs into the
valley. For some moments the hunters, wide-eyed and breathless, watched
the herd as it lumbered down the valley, until at last it passed behind
the hills and was gone.
When the cave men hurried down to the river’s edge they found the
immense, shaggy carcass of the dead mammoth lying in the shallow water
at the base of the cliff. They could not move it to dry land, so they
waded out to it and went to work to cut it up with their long flint
knives right where it was.
But first they sent four of the swiftest runners back to the Valley of
Caves, and to another Clan who lived far up the river, to tell them all
to come and partake of the feast. From every direction they came, men,
women and children, and by the time the hunters had the great carcass
cut up and carried to the shore there was a great gathering of hungry
cave people who all rejoiced at the prospect of so delicious a feast.
They stayed here several days, feasting and resting. Then, every woman,
loaded with meat, and every man, carrying a heavy club to protect the
party from attacks of wild beasts, they took their way back to the
Valley of Caves. They all knew that if the men should carry the meat
themselves they might all be killed by wolves or other savage beasts.
So the men kept themselves ready to fight while the women bore the
burdens.
There was great rejoicing when they reached home again. Every one
praised One Eye for his wisdom and courage, and they all agreed that he
should be their leader as long as he lived.
“Bolo will be as wise as his father,” said Flame. “Wiser, too,
perhaps,” she added, nodding her head sagely, for she thought of the
important secret that no one in the Clan knew except herself and the
two boys.
“Then Bolo shall be our leader after his father is dead,” said old Bek.
But he suspected what Flame meant.