NO MAN
The three paused to listen. The intelligent look went out of their eyes,
and gave place to the plaintive child look—the animal look.
“That will be No Man,” said Fish Catch presently.
Now if you or I had been in the glade in front of One Eye’s cave, we
would not have known that there was anybody but One Eye, Strong Hand
and Fish Catch within a hundred miles. But these three men having the
acuteness of dogs, had heard footsteps that were half a mile away, and
not only that, but they had almost instantly known to whom the footsteps
belonged. If the wind had been right, they could have told also by sense
of smell.
“He is coming in this direction,” said One Eye.
“He steps stronger with one foot than the other,” said Strong Hand. “He
is carrying something heavy.”
“Perhaps No Man wants One Eye’s daughter,” said Fish Catch with an ugly
laugh.
“I wonder what he is carrying?” said One Eye.
[Illustration: HE SCRATCHED PICTURES ON BONE]
This No Man was so called, because he would neither hunt, fish, make
weapons, nets, or marry. Therefore he was No Man. He lived on charity,
and scratched pictures on bone. That was the only thing that interested
him. He was suffered to live only because he was mysterious and because
the tribe liked to go to his cave and look at the pictures when there
was nothing better to do.
Presently he came out of the woods, slope-shouldered and long-armed like
the others, but not so heavily built, nor so apishly skulled. He seemed,
besides, less stealthy, but more timid.
[Illustration]
He had tucked under his right arm a huge flat bone. This he laid before
One Eye. It was covered with little etched scenes of the chase and of
the fight—throughout which a man, palpably having but one eye, deported
himself with the utmost heroism—now strangling a bear, and now beating
the life out of an enemy.
“This,” said No Man, “is the whole story of One Eye from the beginning.
It is the most beautiful picture bone that has ever been made in the
world. Sitting alone in my cave, it befell on a time that a great
loneliness came upon me. And the woman whose image rose most often
before me, was the daughter of One Eye. Therefore I have wrought the
bone, sparing no labor, and now I offer it to One Eye for the loss of his
daughter. It is a thing which will keep him company in his old age. For
to look upon it is to be reminded of his glorious deeds.”
As One Eye examined the picture bone, the intelligence went out of his
one eye. It wavered and became plaintive. Reason told him that nets were
more valuable than clubs and clubs more valuable than pictures. But
desire, which is a thing apart from reason, clamored for the bone.
“I wish this picture bone,” he said presently. “It is of no use, neither
is it of any value. Yet I wish it.”
Strong Hand and Fish Catch looked at one another stealthily and then at
No Man. It would be impossible to say which sprang upon him first, nor at
whose hands he suffered the most. They so choked, beat and clubbed him
that he screamed for mercy. One Eye blinked in the mouth of his cave and
chuckled.
“Is it enough?” cried Strong Hand presently,
“Filthy-do-nothing—Marrowless-bone.”
“It is enough,” said No Man, and they let him go.
Directly he had gained his feet, he ran from that place with incredible
swiftness, and howled as he ran.
“The picture bone,” said Fish Catch to One Eye, “is now ours, but knowing
that you desire it, we give it to you to be a solace in your old age.
And now it remains for you to choose between those admirably balanced but
somewhat antiquated clubs which Strong Hand offers and this invaluable
net knotted by myself.”
“Fish Catch—Strong Hand,” said One Eye, “I have thought of a way by which
we may all be satisfied. The thought came to me when you fell upon No
Man. Let each one of you take a club, and at the word fight, the one who
wins shall give me his present and take the girl.”
Fish Catch measured Strong Hand with his eye; Strong Hand measured Fish
Catch. They nodded, which meant that what the old man said was good talk.
The latter called over his shoulder into the cave.
“Maku, come out! There will be a fight!”
Maku came at once, eagerly. She was, as we have said, the image of her
father, only less hairy. She was considered very alluring by the young
men of the tribe.
Meanwhile Strong Hand and Fish Catch had each taken a club and backed
away from each other.
“Is it about me?” asked Maku.
“It is.”
She laughed happily.
“Fight!” commanded One Eye.
At the word Strong Hand and Fish Catch sprang forward and fell upon each
other with roars and blows. There was no question of fence involved, only
the ability to hit hardest and take the most punishment. As they fought
they became beasts, yelping, snarling, snapping and foaming—totally
unlike articulate men. Blows that would have splintered a modern skull
to atoms were given and taken. Now the clubs cracked upon bone and
now thudded upon muscle. One Eye and Maku roared with laughter and
screamed with pleasure. The fight ended with a blow that broke Fish
Catch’s forehead into two halves. But, although he fell as if struck
by lightning, he did not die at once; he moaned and his lips twitched.
His eyes were plaintive and uncomprehending like those of a frightened
child. He blinked, too, as he died.
Strong Hand tossed his club down at One Eye’s feet.
“The girl is yours,” said One Eye.
Strong Hand’s eyes glittered and he looked the girl over. He reached
forward a vast hairy hand and took her by the shoulders. But she wrenched
loose, half laughing, half screaming, and fled into the cave. Strong Hand
followed. One Eye chuckled and thought upon the days of his youth.
In the darkness of the cave there was a sudden fierce struggle, a cry
of pain from Strong Hand, and Maku, bounding from the entrance, made
swiftly down the slope toward the forest. But Strong Hand, bleeding on
the shoulder where her teeth had met, was close behind. Swift as she was,
he caught up with her in a few bounds and felled her with a blow on the
head. Stunned and motionless she lay at his feet.
Strong Hand twined his left hand in her long black hair and dragged her
after him until the trees had closed behind them both.
When One Eye had done laughing, for the whole scene had seemed very
humorous to him, he gathered together his treasures and hid them in the
cave.
“I now have,” he said, “the clubs, the net, the strongest among three for
a son-in-law, and also the picture bone. I am, therefore, the richest man
in the tribe, save only Moon Face, and than him there is none richer in
all the forest.”
When One Eye thought about the clubs his eye flashed and he clinched his
hands. When he thought about the net he scratched his stomach—either with
hand or foot. But when he thought about the picture bone, the reason went
out of his eye, and it became strange and plaintive.
And as for Maku, it was not long before she followed her husband like a
dog, whimpering and laughing when he spoke to her, craving his caresses
and enjoying his blows.
[Illustration]