_From Bad to Worse_
For a long while Ru was uncertain what next to do. He knew that he
must at last be approaching an entrance to the cave, for no tribe of
men could penetrate far into the interior; yet just when escape was
almost within his grasp, the hope of it was snatched from him. If he
were to continue toward the expected exit, would he not encounter the
man-eaters? and would it not be better even to die of starvation than
to fall beneath their clubs?
Yet to return through the dark labyrinths was impossible. Almost any
fate would be preferable to roaming again through those lightless
mazes. Hence, after weighing and balancing the opposing perils, Ru
decided upon the course of daring; and once more he took his way
through the dim corridors, advancing with the manner of a spy in
hostile territory, while after him Wuff trailed with a huge bone
gripped between his jaws.
But of the expected exit there was no sign. As by degrees the
illumination from the slit in the roof grew more remote, Ru found
himself wandering back into the darkness. At length, rounding a sudden
turn, he was plunged into total blackness once more--and again he
wondered whether he had not taken the wrong passageway.
But the tormenting doubt had not been long with him when he reached a
second turn--and suddenly all his horror and apprehension came surging
back. Vaguely, through the gloom ahead, he beheld a light, a blurred
yellowish light that shook and wavered eerily. At first it was so
indistinct that he thought he might merely have imagined it; but, as
he advanced, it grew slowly brighter, and gigantic shadows danced on
the dim walls ahead, until he could no longer doubt that he saw the
reflection of a fire.
At this realization, his impulse was to flee. Around those wavering
flames, he felt certain, were crouched a circle of unclad hairy black
forms, with brutish faces uplifted and enormous clubs ready to strike.
These he did not care to confront. Yet he could not return to the dark
mazes. Ahead of him--if by some fortunate chance he was spared--there
would be light and rest and food, the only things on earth he now
craved.
Cheered by this hope, he huddled more closely against the walls and
still pressed onward, while each moment the danger increased. Each
moment the flames leaped more vividly and more fantastically; each
moment it grew more apparent that he was approaching the abode of man.
Before long, his nostrils caught the acrid odor of smoke; not much
later, he could hear the actual crackling of the fire; and at about
the same time there came to him--enticingly and yet horribly came to
him--the murmuring of human voices. The words were indistinguishable;
he could not even tell whether it was his own language that was spoken;
there was no more than a confused babbling, a sound as of many persons
chattering....
Because of a bend in the gallery, he could catch no glimpse of the
strangers; and his chief desire now was that they should catch no
glimpse of him. As he approached within hailing distance, accordingly,
he crouched down to half his normal height, with head bent low
and every sense alert; and for many yards he crawled through that
unsteadily lighted passageway. Just behind him Wuff followed, with nose
to the ground and eyes that glittered; but the beast was as silent as
he, as though also aware that a sound might mean betrayal.
It is needless to describe with what trembling and what caution Ru
moved when at last the turn was within arm's reach. The firelight had
grown much brighter, and the walls shone with a redder glow; the air
was thickly charged with smoke, and was hot as with the fetid breath
of some great monster; the murmur of voices had become each instant
louder although not less confused. From time to time, there burst forth
a disquieting, raucous laughter that seemed vaguely familiar.
Hesitatingly and with limbs a-tremble, Ru stretched himself at full
length upon the ground. Then, fearful of discovery and ready to flee
at the first suspicious sign, he craned his neck forward and peeped
at last around the turn in the wall. As he did so, his eyes bulged
half-way out of his head, a low amazed cry escaped his lips, and like
one bereft of his wits, he leaped to his feet and plunged around the
turn, waving his arms and shouting in mad abandon:
"My people! My people! Look, my people! Here I am, come back!"
From around a great fire there sprang scores of hairy, stooping
figures. Some started toward Ru with cries of astonishment, others
stood still as though paralyzed, many withdrew with shrieks of alarm.
For a moment pandemonium reigned, while something between mere
bewilderment and panic possessed the surging, firelit shapes.
"Ru! Ru!" shouted some of the bolder, pressing forward while the more
timid still retreated. "Where did you come from? We thought you were
dead!"
Like a weird echo the others took up the cry, "We thought you were
dead! We thought you were dead!"
In confusion that equaled their own, Ru stood regarding his tribesfolk.
"I do not understand! Where do you come from?" he heard himself
demanding. "How did you enter here?"
But before he could frame less excited speech, the torrent of their
questions had overwhelmed him. The frightened ones, regaining their
courage, had come crowding around him, all crying out simultaneously in
such a storm that they were scarcely able to hear even themselves.
It was only by constant repetition that Ru managed to make himself
heard. "Give me to eat, my people," was his insistent plea. "I am weak
with hunger, for I have not tasted food since two suns have set. Give
me to eat, and then I will tell you all you ask!"
"Give him to eat!" spoke a commanding voice; and Grumgra, edging his
way through the mob, came glowering up to Ru.
"So the Sparrow-Hearted has come back!" he snarled. "He has come back,
after leaving us when we needed him. He ran away when we sent him to
find out about the cave--and now he comes creeping back like a hungry
babe!"
Ru stood regarding Grumgra in puzzled hostility, but uttered not a
word. And with a growl the chieftain continued: "But we will forget
that now. The Sparrow-Hearted only remembers that he must eat--so let
him eat. There will be time for other things later. But if he cannot
tell us where he has been, his punishment will be such as no man can
know twice!"
Whereat, with a significant flourish of his club, Grumgra went
bristling away down the smoky corridor.
But the chieftain's threat passed immediately from Ru's mind. The next
instant, provided with the juicy roasted hind quarter of a young wild
boar, he was chewing and chewing with the gusto of a famished beast,
while the meat disappeared at a rate that was truly astonishing.
Meantime, at his side, Wuff ravenously gnawed at the head of a deer
which one of the women, on a generous impulse, had flung to him; and
on every hand, as though witnessing some extraordinary spectacle, the
people hovered to watch the two feasters.
It was many minutes before, his savage hunger appeased, Ru began to
observe his surroundings. But when his huge portion of meat had been
cleared away almost to the bone and he was toying pleasantly with the
few remaining fragments, he took careful note of the details of the
cavern. The section occupied by his people was higher-roofed and far
wider than the average, and reached for hundreds of yards without the
usual turns and windings; while the proximity of the open air was
revealed by a steady white light that shone in through an opening some
distance beyond. Ru was surprised to see that the walls about him were
blackened as with the smoke of many fires, and that on the ground was a
fine gray dust as of accumulated ash.
But he was less interested in his physical surroundings than in the
individuals composing the throng about him. Among them he recognized
Woonoo the Hot-Blooded and Kuff the Bear-Hunter; but after a while
he caught sight of more welcome features, and felt a great warmth
rising within him as the sparkling glance of Yonyo the Smiling-Eyed
fell upon him. In her expression there was a silent greeting, which
he silently returned, and which filled him with more gladness than
words could have done. She did not come forward to speak to him, nor
make any demonstration; and he knew that this was because of her fear
of Grumgra and Grumgra's terrible jealousy. Yet, when at length he
questioned the people, and again asked how they had chanced to be in
this cave, it was she who undertook to answer.
"We have not much to tell you, Ru," she said, while she smilingly
looked him full in the face. "After we saw you go into the cave, all
the people stood waiting a long, long while outside, thinking you
would soon come out. But you did not come, and at last it grew dark,
and terrible things were whispered among us, for it was said that the
bad spirits of the cave had taken you, so that you could never come
back. That night we camped on the river bank just under the cave, but
when the sun came up you were still away, and we thought that you were
dead.... And that thought was like a great pain, Ru.
"Only Grumgra did not believe you had died. He said the Sparrow-Hearted
had run away, and should be punished. But not many of us believed him,
for had anyone seen you come out? And so when Grumgra asked for someone
else to go into the cave, we all cried out that the cave-gods were
evil, and would strike down any man they could catch. And no one could
be found to go in; and at last we had to go on and look for another
cave.
"But we did not have to look far. The sun was not yet in the middle of
the skies when we saw another opening high up in the rocks. Grumgra
sent Mumlo the Trail-Finder to climb into it; and soon he came back
and told us it was big and empty, so that we could all go to live
there. And this we did, and the cave he saw was the one we are in now.
We have spent one night here already, and Grumgra says this is to be
our cave always."
Yonyo paused, and over Ru's mind flashed the explanation of his sudden
reunion with his people. The cave had more than one entrance--possibly
many entrances far apart and connected by long winding galleries; and
he had entered by one of these gateways, and, without knowing it, had
been making his way toward another.
But as this comforting solution came to him he recalled once more the
pile of bones in the twilight grotto--and the battered human skulls.
And the terror and mystery of the cave seemed as great as ever!
Yonyo's next words only confirmed Ru's apprehensions. "Many of
our people think we should not stay in this cave," proceeded the
Smiling-Eyed, while her auditors nodded agreement. "They say there are
bad spirits here, who will bring great harm to us unless we go away.
And they are right in saying this, for we have found some things which
the spirits have forgotten and left behind them. On the floor we saw
the ashes of the fires that the spirits have lighted, and the black
bones from the feasts that the spirits have eaten; and we picked up the
broken flint tools that the spirits have used, and a great club all
colored and marked with dried blood. This is an evil sign, as Zunzun
the Marvel-Worker will tell you. What do you think, Ru?"
"I think the Smiling-Eyed speaks wisely," declared Ru. "It is true--the
cave is filled with bad spirits. And some of these look like men, but
have the hearts of hyenas and eat other men. You shall see them soon,
very soon--unless you go to some other cave."
Ru dropped into a frowning silence, and low murmurs of dread and horror
shuddered through the assemblage. But almost instantly there sounded an
authoritative bellow, which drowned out every other voice.
"Has Ru the Sparrow-Hearted eaten?" rang out the thunderous words of
Grumgra. "If so, let him come here, that he may tell us where he has
been! Come, let him tell us where he has been!"
"I shall tell you everything!" Ru shouted his reply, in tones that
sounded like a challenge. And he arose and strode toward the fire
and seated himself calmly in the light, while the people stationed
themselves in a chattering circle about him, and Grumgra, grasping his
inseparable club, crouched sullenly almost within arm's reach.
"Remember," muttered the chieftain, by way of final admonition, "you
must speak truth! You must speak truth! If you do not--" Here he lifted
his club, and sat glaring at Ru threateningly, but no further words
were forthcoming.
"Why should I not speak truth?" demanded Ru.
Grumgra still maintained a morose silence, and Ru continued: "I have
done deeds so strange they may not sound like truth, but that is not
my fault. Even I would not believe them to be truth, if I did not know
they had happened. You remember how once Woonoo and Kuff saw me sink in
the water, and I was drowned and did wonderful things for the wind-god
and then came back to you once more. I thought that would be the last
time I would ever die and come back to you--but it was not so. Once
more I have died, and this time the god of the cave has given me back
my life."
Ru paused, and an awed silence held the audience.
He was about to continue when Grumgra, apparently less impressed
than the others, burst into a snarling "You lie! You were not dead,
Sparrow-Hearted! You ran away, and now you tell us foolish stories!"
"May the cave-god show you that I speak truth!" swore Ru, lifting his
hands appealingly to the blackened ceiling. "May the cave-god strike me
down if I lie!"
But the cave-god did not strike Ru down; and the spectators, after
waiting horror-stricken for a blast of lightning, seemed already half
convinced.
"You remember, my people," Ru continued, after he had allowed time to
make his appeal effective, "that you saw me go into the other cave down
the river, and that I did not come out. Now suddenly you see me in this
cave. And I do not come from outside, but from deep down in it. How
does this come to be, my people?"
There was a puzzled silence. The slow seconds dragged past, but no one
would offer an explanation.
"This shows you," Ru at length pointed out, "that I must have been
dead. While I was dead, a god bore me here from the other cave."
Again he paused; and this time not even Grumgra ventured a word in
dissent.
"You ask me how I came to die?" he questioned, his manner growing
constantly more assured. "You remember, do you not, that two hyenas
came out of the cave just after I went in?"
A dozen voices grunted a ready affirmative before Ru continued:
"Those two belonged to a great pack, many in number as the men of our
tribe. Bad spirits possessed them, and they fell upon me as soon as
I went in, and cut and tore me with their sharp teeth. One or two I
might have slain, but what could I do against a whole caveful of them?
I struck hard with my club, and broke the skull of their chief, a
terrible beast as big as a bear. But the others all jumped on me, and
soon they were on top of me so thick I could not breathe. I could see
their little eyes shining like blood, and hear their big jaws snapping,
and feel myself being torn to bits; but there was nothing I could do.
The next moment I lay silent and still, and could not move at all; and
then I knew that I was dead.
"It is terrible, my people, to be dead, for then everything moves very,
very slowly; and the time it takes a stone to drop from the cave wall
to the floor seems like the time between two days. And so I saw very
much while I lay there and felt the hyenas cut me to pieces. First
there came something big and dark, like the shadow of a man, only
as high as three men standing one on top of another, and it was the
cave-god, and it looked at me, and said: 'This is Ru the Eagle-Hearted.
He is a brave man; he has killed the chief of the hyenas. What shall
I do to reward him?' And the cave-god seemed to think for a while and
then he turned toward me, and said: 'I will make him alive again. That
is the best thing I can do for such a brave man.'
"And the next that I knew I was standing on my feet, and all my wounds
were gone. Then I felt big hands lifting me, and carrying me through
the dark cave, far, far away. And I heard the god's voice in my ear,
'I will take you to another cave, where you will find your people.
They are in need of you, for there are bad men about, who eat other
men like wolves. For two days you will wander around without food,
and after that you will find them. This I will do for you, O Ru the
Eagle-Hearted, since you have killed my greatest foe, the chief of the
hyenas.'
"And all this was done; and the cave-god left me to myself in the dark,
and for two days I wandered without knowing where I was going, until I
found you again, my people. That is all I have to tell you."
Ru ceased, and a long, long silence ensued. The people stared at him
in fascinated wonder; they seemed stricken mute before the tale they
had heard. Not a murmur of doubt stirred amid those shadowy scores;
the apish, glowing faces expressed bewilderment and surprise, but not
incredulity. Even Grumgra seemed impressed, and had forgotten his
growling and his club.
But just when Ru's triumph appeared to be complete, there came a cry
that was like a threat, and a stooping figure pressed forward with
gleaming eyes. It was Zunzun the Marvel-Worker; and the malignant grin
on his wily old face boded no good for Ru.
"Let me ask one thing more, Sparrow-Hearted!" he challenged, as he
halted almost within touching distance. "One thing more--and if you can
answer me this, I will believe that you speak truth."
"Speak then, and I will answer!" returned Ru, boldly.
"Tell me this," demanded the Marvel-Worker, in tones of ill-concealed
malice. "Tell me this--where was your little wolf when you were dead?
He is with us here now, yet surely the hyenas must have killed him too.
Did the cave-spirit bring him also back to life?"
And, for the first time, it occurred to Ru that, in contriving his
story, he had forgotten Wuff altogether. For a moment he hesitated,
utterly taken aback; his faculties of speech seemed paralyzed. He saw
the scores of eyes regarding him in wonder and with the first signs
of doubt; he saw Zunzun's hostile grin, and a glitter of menace on
the brow of Grumgra; he saw Yonyo's face contracted in a disappointed
frown--and, in his confusion, all he could do was to stammer a few
halting, meaningless syllables.
Before he could find coherent speech again, his sputterings were
drowned out by the thunder-tones of Grumgra.
"You lie, Sparrow-Hearted! You lie! I told you you lie!" And Grumgra
sprang to his feet, and the club flashed imperiously in air, and came
down with a crash--where Ru had been. Leaping agilely from the attack,
the intended victim had gone dashing away into the startled crowd.
But Grumgra was not to be deprived of his prey. Brushing past his
bewildered people as though they had been sheaves of straw, he bowled
over two or three of the more careless without so much as a backward
glance; then, swinging his club viciously while wolflike snarls sounded
from his throat, he started at a sprint toward the inner recesses of
the gallery, where a slim figure was racing toward a black void.
In a yelling mob, the people gathered to watch. "Look at them run! Look
at them run!" they cried. "Grumgra will catch him! Grumgra will catch
him! He cannot beat Grumgra! Grumgra is a fast runner! Grumgra will
strike him down!"
And no doubt Grumgra would have struck his victim down, had not a still
more stirring event intervened.
Unnoticed in the excitement, a fur-clad figure had darted in through
the cave entrance. Apparently he had not observed the agitation of his
kinsmen; certainly, he gave it not a second thought. Coming forward
by great strides and leaps, he shouted at the top of his voice: "My
people! My people! Make ready! Defend yourselves! The beast-men come!"
Only a few turned to heed him. But while the echoes of his appeal
still reverberated about him, he cried out a second time, in tones
of unmistakable terror: "Hear me, my people! The beast-men come! The
beast-men come! Defend yourselves! They will kill you all, will kill
you all!"
This time a score or more wheeled about to observe the newcomer. "Mumlo
the Trail-Finder!" they muttered, while frantically he repeated, "The
beast-men come! The beast-men come! The beast-men come!"
Struck by the note of genuine alarm in his voice, the people forgot all
about Grumgra and Ru, and shrilled with Mumlo, "The beast-men come! The
beast-men come!"
Soon all the cavern rang with the echoes of that dreadful cry. Even
Grumgra, hearing it, stopped short in terror, and abandoned the pursuit
of the Sparrow-Hearted. A moment later, he was one of the shrieking,
howling, fear-stricken mob racing furiously toward the cave entrance.