Ugh-lomi lay still, his back against an alder, and his thigh was a red
mass terrible to see. No civilised man could have lived who had been so
sorely wounded, but Eudena got him thorns to close his wounds, and
squatted beside him day and night, smiting the flies from him with a fan
of reeds by day, and in the night threatening the hyaenas with the first
axe in her hand; and in a little while he began to heal. It was high
summer, and there was no rain. Little food they had during the first two
days his wounds were open. In the low place where they hid were no roots
nor little beasts, and the stream, with its water-snails and fish, was
in the open a hundred yards away. She could not go abroad by day for
fear of the tribe, her brothers and sisters, nor by night for fear of
the beasts, both on his account and hers. So they shared the lion with
the vultures. But there was a trickle of water near by, and Eudena
brought him plenty in her hands.
Where Ugh-lomi lay was well hidden from the tribe by a thicket of
alders, and all fenced about with bulrushes and tall reeds. The dead
lion he had killed lay near his old lair on a place of trampled reeds
fifty yards away, in sight through the reed-stems, and the vultures
fought each other for the choicest pieces and kept the jackals off him.
Very soon a cloud of flies that looked like bees hung over him, and
Ugh-lomi could hear their humming. And when Ugh-lomi's flesh was already
healing--and it was not many days before that began--only a few bones of
the lion remained scattered and shining white.
For the most part Ugh-lomi sat still during the day, looking before him
at nothing, sometimes he would mutter of the horses and bears and lions,
and sometimes he would beat the ground with the first axe and say the
names of the tribe--he seemed to have no fear of bringing the tribe--for
hours together. But chiefly he slept, dreaming little because of his
loss of blood and the slightness of his food. During the short summer
night both kept awake. All the while the darkness lasted things moved
about them, things they never saw by day. For some nights the hyaenas did
not come, and then one moonless night near a dozen came and fought for
what was left of the lion. The night was a tumult of growling, and
Ugh-lomi and Eudena could hear the bones snap in their teeth. But they
knew the hyaena dare not attack any creature alive and awake, and so they
were not greatly afraid.
Of a daytime Eudena would go along the narrow path the old lion had made
in the reeds until she was beyond the bend, and then she would creep
into the thicket and watch the tribe. She would lie close by the alders
where they had bound her to offer her up to the lion, and thence she
could see them on the knoll by the fire, small and clear, as she had
seen them that night. But she told Ugh-lomi little of what she saw,
because she feared to bring them by their names. For so they believed in
those days, that naming called.
She saw the men prepare stabbing-spears and throwing-stones on the
morning after Ugh-lomi had slain the lion, and go out to hunt him,
leaving the women and children on the knoll. Little they knew how near
he was as they tracked off in single file towards the hills, with Siss
the Tracker leading them. And she watched the women and children, after
the men had gone, gathering fern-fronds and twigs for the night fire,
and the boys and girls running and playing together. But the very old
woman made her feel afraid. Towards noon, when most of the others were
down at the stream by the bend, she came and stood on the hither side of
the knoll, a gnarled brown figure, and gesticulated so that Eudena could
scarce believe she was not seen. Eudena lay like a hare in its form,
with shining eyes fixed on the bent witch away there, and presently she
dimly understood it was the lion the old woman was worshipping--the lion
Ugh-lomi had slain.
And the next day the hunters came back weary, carrying a fawn, and
Eudena watched the feast enviously. And then came a strange thing. She
saw--distinctly she heard--the old woman shrieking and gesticulating
and pointing towards her. She was afraid, and crept like a snake out of
sight again. But presently curiosity overcame her and she was back at
her spying-place, and as she peered her heart stopped, for there were
all the men, with their weapons in their hands, walking together towards
her from the knoll.
She dared not move lest her movement should be seen, but she pressed
herself close to the ground. The sun was low and the golden light was in
the faces of the men. She saw they carried a piece of rich red meat
thrust through by an ashen stake. Presently they stopped. "Go on!"
screamed the old woman. Cat's-skin grumbled, and they came on, searching
the thicket with sun-dazzled eyes. "Here!" said Siss. And they took the
ashen stake with the meat upon it and thrust it into the ground. "Uya!"
cried Siss, "behold thy portion. And Ugh-lomi we have slain. Of a truth
we have slain Ugh-lomi. This day we slew Ugh-lomi, and to-morrow we will
bring his body to you." And the others repeated the words.
They looked at each other and behind them, and partly turned and began
going back. At first they walked half turned to the thicket, then facing
the mound they walked faster looking over their shoulders, then faster;
soon they ran, it was a race at last, until they were near the knoll.
Then Siss who was hindmost was first to slacken his pace.
The sunset passed and the twilight came, the fires glowed red against
the hazy blue of the distant chestnut-trees, and the voices over the
mound were merry. Eudena lay scarcely stirring, looking from the mound
to the meat and then to the mound. She was hungry, but she was afraid.
At last she crept back to Ugh-lomi.
He looked round at the little rustle of her approach. His face was in
shadow. "Have you got me some food?" he said.
She said she could find nothing, but that she would seek further, and
went back along the lion's path until she could see the mound again, but
she could not bring herself to take the meat; she had the brute's
instinct of a snare. She felt very miserable.
She crept back at last towards Ugh-lomi and heard him stirring and
moaning. She turned back to the mound again; then she saw something in
the darkness near the stake, and peering distinguished a jackal. In a
flash she was brave and angry; she sprang up, cried out, and ran towards
the offering. She stumbled and fell, and heard the growling of the
jackal going off.
When she arose only the ashen stake lay on the ground, the meat was
gone. So she went back, to fast through the night with Ugh-lomi; and
Ugh-lomi was angry with her, because she had no food for him; but she
told him nothing of the things she had seen.
Two days passed and they were near starving, when the tribe slew a
horse. Then came the same ceremony, and a haunch was left on the ashen
stake; but this time Eudena did not hesitate.
By acting and words she made Ugh-lomi understand, but he ate most of the
food before he understood; and then as her meaning passed to him he grew
merry with his food. "I am Uya," he said; "I am the Lion. I am the Great
Cave Bear, I who was only Ugh-lomi. I am Wau the Cunning. It is well
that they should feed me, for presently I will kill them all."
Then Eudena's heart was light, and she laughed with him; and afterwards
she ate what he had left of the horseflesh with gladness.
After that it was he had a dream, and the next day he made Eudena bring
him the lion's teeth and claws--so much of them as she could find--and
hack him a club of alder. And he put the teeth and claws very cunningly
into the wood so that the points were outward. Very long it took him,
and he blunted two of the teeth hammering them in, and was very angry
and threw the thing away; but afterwards he dragged himself to where he
had thrown it and finished it--a club of a new sort set with teeth. That
day there was more meat for them both, an offering to the lion from the
tribe.
It was one day--more than a hand's fingers of days, more than anyone had
skill to count--after Ugh-lomi had made the club, that Eudena while he
was asleep was lying in the thicket watching the squatting-place. There
had been no meat for three days. And the old woman came and worshipped
after her manner. Now while she worshipped, Eudena's little friend Si
and another, the child of the first girl Siss had loved, came over the
knoll and stood regarding her skinny figure, and presently they began to
mock her. Eudena found this entertaining, but suddenly the old woman
turned on them quickly and saw them. For a moment she stood and they
stood motionless, and then with a shriek of rage, she rushed towards
them, and all three disappeared over the crest of the knoll.
Presently the children reappeared among the ferns beyond the shoulder of
the hill. Little Si ran first, for she was an active girl, and the
other child ran squealing with the old woman close upon her. And over
the knoll came Siss with a bone in his hand, and Bo and Cat's-skin
obsequiously behind him, each holding a piece of food, and they laughed
aloud and shouted to see the old woman so angry. And with a shriek the
child was caught and the old woman set to work slapping and the child
screaming, and it was very good after-dinner fun for them. Little Si ran
on a little way and stopped at last between fear and curiosity.
And suddenly came the mother of the child, with hair streaming, panting,
and with a stone in her hand, and the old woman turned about like a wild
cat. She was the equal of any woman, was the chief of the fire-minders,
in spite of her years; but before she could do anything Siss shouted to
her and the clamour rose loud. Other shock heads came into sight. It
seemed the whole tribe was at home and feasting. But the old woman dared
not go on wreaking herself on the child Siss befriended.
Everyone made noises and called names--even little Si. Abruptly the old
woman let go of the child she had caught and made a swift run at Si for
Si had no friends; and Si, realising her danger when it was almost upon
her, made off headlong, with a faint cry of terror, not heeding whither
she ran, straight to the lair of the lion. She swerved aside into the
reeds presently, realising now whither she went.
But the old woman was a wonderful old woman, as active as she was
spiteful, and she caught Si by the streaming hair within thirty yards of
Eudena. All the tribe now was running down the knoll and shouting and
laughing ready to see the fun.
Then something stirred in Eudena; something that had never stirred in
her before; and, thinking all of little Si and nothing of her fear, she
sprang up from her ambush and ran swiftly forward. The old woman did not
see her, for she was busy beating little Si's face with her hand,
beating with all her heart, and suddenly something hard and heavy struck
her cheek. She went reeling, and saw Eudena with flaming eyes and cheeks
between her and little Si. She shrieked with astonishment and terror,
and little Si, not understanding, set off towards the gaping tribe. They
were quite close now, for the sight of Eudena had driven their fading
fear of the lion out of their heads.
In a moment Eudena had turned from the cowering old woman and overtaken
Si. "Si!" she cried, "Si!" She caught the child up in her arms as it
stopped, pressed the nail-lined face to hers, and turned about to run
towards her lair, the lair of the old lion. The old woman stood
waist-high in the reeds, and screamed foul things and inarticulate rage,
but did not dare to intercept her; and at the bend of the path Eudena
looked back and saw all the men of the tribe crying to one another and
Siss coming at a trot along the lion's trail.
She ran straight along the narrow way through the reeds to the shady
place where Ugh-lomi sat with his healing thigh, just awakened by the
shouting and rubbing his eyes. She came to him, a woman, with little Si
in her arms. Her heart throbbed in her throat. "Ugh-lomi!" she cried,
"Ugh-lomi, the tribe comes!"
Ugh-lomi sat staring in stupid astonishment at her and Si.
She pointed with Si in one arm. She sought among her feeble store of
words to explain. She could hear the men calling. Apparently they had
stopped outside. She put down Si and caught up the new club with the
lion's teeth, and put it into Ugh-lomi's hand, and ran three yards and
picked up the first axe.
"Ah!" said Ugh-lomi, waving the new club, and suddenly he perceived the
occasion and, rolling over, began to struggle to his feet.
He stood but clumsily. He supported himself by one hand against the
tree, and just touched the ground gingerly with the toe of his wounded
leg. In the other hand he gripped the new club. He looked at his healing
thigh; and suddenly the reeds began whispering, and ceased and whispered
again, and coming cautiously along the track, bending down and holding
his fire-hardened stabbing-stick of ash in his hand, appeared Siss. He
stopped dead, and his eyes met Ugh-lomi's.
Ugh-lomi forgot he had a wounded leg. He stood firmly on both feet.
Something trickled. He glanced down and saw a little gout of blood had
oozed out along the edge of the healing wound. He rubbed his hand there
to give him the grip of his club, and fixed his eyes again on Siss.
"Wau!" he cried, and sprang forward, and Siss, still stooping and
watchful, drove his stabbing-stick up very quickly in an ugly thrust. It
ripped Ugh-lomi's guarding arm and the club came down in a counter that
Siss was never to understand. He fell, as an ox falls to the pole-axe,
at Ugh-lomi's feet.
To Bo it seemed the strangest thing. He had a comforting sense of tall
reeds on either side, and an impregnable rampart, Siss, between him and
any danger. Snail-eater was close behind and there was no danger there.
He was prepared to shove behind and send Siss to death or victory. That
was his place as second man. He saw the butt of the spear Siss carried
leap away from him, and suddenly a dull whack and the broad back fell
away forward, and he looked Ugh-lomi in the face over his prostrate
leader. It felt to Bo as if his heart had fallen down a well. He had a
throwing-stone in one hand and an ashen stabbing-stick in the other. He
did not live to the end of his momentary hesitation which to use.
Snail-eater was a readier man, and besides Bo did not fall forward as
Siss had done, but gave at his knees and hips, crumpling up with the
toothed club upon his head. The Snail-eater drove his spear forward
swift and straight, and took Ugh-lomi in the muscle of the shoulder, and
then he drove him hard with the smiting-stone in his other hand,
shouting out as he did so. The new club swished ineffectually through
the reeds. Eudena saw Ugh-lomi come staggering back from the narrow path
into the open space, tripping over Siss and with a foot of ashen stake
sticking out of him over his arm. And then the Snail-eater, whose name
she had given, had his final injury from her, as his exultant face came
out of the reeds after his spear. For she swung the first axe swift and
high, and hit him fair and square on the temple; and down he went on
Siss at prostrate Ugh-lomi's feet.
But before Ugh-lomi could get up, the two red-haired men were tumbling
out of the reeds, spears and smiting-stones ready, and Snake hard behind
them. One she struck on the neck, but not to fell him, and he blundered
aside and spoilt his brother's blow at Ugh-lomi's head. In a moment
Ugh-lomi dropped his club and had his assailant by the waist, and had
pitched him sideways sprawling. He snatched at his club again and
recovered it. The man Eudena had hit stabbed at her with his spear as he
stumbled from her blow, and involuntarily she gave ground to avoid him.
He hesitated between her and Ugh-lomi, half turned, gave a vague cry at
finding Ugh-lomi so near, and in a moment Ugh-lomi had him by the
throat, and the club had its third victim. As he went down Ugh-lomi
shouted--no words, but an exultant cry.
The other red-haired man was six feet from her with his back to her, and
a darker red streaking his head. He was struggling to his feet. She had
an irrational impulse to stop his rising. She flung the axe at him,
missed, saw his face in profile, and he had swerved beyond little Si,
and was running through the reeds. She had a transitory vision of Snake
standing in the throat of the path, half turned away from her, and then
she saw his back. She saw the club whirling through the air, and the
shock head of Ugh-lomi, with blood in the hair and blood upon the
shoulder, vanishing below the reeds in pursuit. Then she heard Snake
scream like a woman.
She ran past Si to where the handle of the axe stuck out of a clump of
fern, and turning, found herself panting and alone with three motionless
bodies. The air was full of shouts and screams. For a space she was sick
and giddy, and then it came into her head that Ugh-lomi was being killed
along the reed-path, and with an inarticulate cry she leapt over the
body of Bo and hurried after him. Snake's feet lay across the path, and
his head was among the reeds. She followed the path until it bent round
and opened out by the alders, and thence she saw all that was left of
the tribe in the open, scattering like dead leaves before a gale, and
going back over the knoll. Ugh-lomi was hard upon Cat's-skin.
But Cat's-skin was fleet of foot and got away, and so did young Wau-Hau
when Ugh-lomi turned upon him, and Ugh-lomi pursued Wau-Hau far beyond
the knoll before he desisted. He had the rage of battle on him now, and
the wood thrust through his shoulder stung him like a spur. When she saw
he was in no danger she stopped running and stood panting, watching the
distant active figures run up and vanish one by one over the knoll. In a
little time she was alone again. Everything had happened very swiftly.
The smoke of Brother Fire rose straight and steady from the
squatting-place, just as it had done ten minutes ago, when the old woman
had stood yonder worshipping the lion.
And after a long time, as it seemed, Ugh-lomi reappeared over the knoll,
and came back to Eudena, triumphant and breathing heavily. She stood,
her hair about her eyes and hot-faced, with the blood-stained axe in her
hand, at the place where the tribe had offered her as a sacrifice to the
lion. "Wau!" cried Ugh-lomi at the sight of her, his face alight with
the fellowship of battle, and he waved his new club, red now and hairy;
and at the sight of his glowing face her tense pose relaxed somewhat,
and she stood sobbing and rejoicing.
Ugh-lomi had a queer unaccountable pang at the sight of her tears; but
he only shouted "Wau!" the louder and shook the axe east and west. He
called manfully to her to follow him and turned back, striding, with the
club swinging in his hand, towards the squatting-place, as if he had
never left the tribe; and she ceased her weeping and followed quickly as
a woman should.
So Ugh-lomi and Eudena came back to the squatting-place from which they
had fled many days before from the face of Uya; and by the
squatting-place lay a deer half eaten, just as there had been before
Ugh-lomi was man or Eudena woman. So Ugh-lomi sat down to eat, and
Eudena beside him like a man, and the rest of the tribe watched them
from safe hiding-places. And after a time one of the elder girls came
back timorously, carrying little Si in her arms, and Eudena called to
them by name, and offered them food. But the elder girl was afraid and
would not come, though Si struggled to come to Eudena. Afterwards, when
Ugh-lomi had eaten, he sat dozing, and at last he slept, and slowly the
others came out of the hiding-places and drew near. And when Ugh-lomi
woke, save that there were no men to be seen, it seemed as though he had
never left the tribe.
Now, there is a thing strange but true: that all through this fight
Ugh-lomi forgot that he was lame, and was not lame, and after he had
rested behold! he was a lame man; and he remained a lame man to the end
of his days.
Cat's-skin and the second red-haired man and Wau-Hau, who chipped flints
cunningly, as his father had done before him, fled from the face of
Ugh-lomi, and none knew where they hid. But two days after they came and
squatted a good way off from the knoll among the bracken under the
chestnuts and watched. Ugh-lomi's rage had gone, he moved to go against
them and did not, and at sundown they went away. That day, too, they
found the old woman among the ferns, where Ugh-lomi had blundered upon
her when he had pursued Wau-Hau. She was dead and more ugly than ever,
but whole. The jackals and vultures had tried her and left her;--she was
ever a wonderful old woman.
The next day the three men came again and squatted nearer, and Wau-Hau
had two rabbits to hold up, and the red-haired man a wood-pigeon, and
Ugh-lomi stood before the women and mocked them.
The next day they sat again nearer--without stones or sticks, and with
the same offerings, and Cat's-skin had a trout. It was rare men caught
fish in those days, but Cat's-skin would stand silently in the water for
hours and catch them with his hand. And the fourth day Ugh-lomi suffered
these three to come to the squatting-place in peace, with the food they
had with them. Ugh-lomi ate the trout. Thereafter for many moons
Ugh-lomi was master and had his will in peace. And on the fulness of
time he was killed and eaten even as Uya had been slain.