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Chapter 2: Back to the Stone Age · The Eternal Savage

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Section fifteen of The Eternal Savage by Edgar Rice Burrows. This LibriVox recordings in
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the public domain. Chapter two, Back to the Stone Age. It was
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morning when not Ul awoke. The sun was streaming in across a wide sea
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to illumine the interior of the cave where she lay huddled in a great pile
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of soft, furry pelts. Near her lay a woman older than herself,
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but still beautiful. In front of them, nearer the mouth of the cave,
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two men slept. One was Tha, her father, and the other
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her brother. Ought the woman was Natoul's mother, Lieu Tan. Now she
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too opened her eyes. She stretched, raising her bare brown arms above her
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head, and half turning on her side toward Natoul. It was the luxurious
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movement of the she tiger, the embodiment of perfect health and grace. Lou
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Tan smiled at her daughter, exposing a row of strong, white, even
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teeth. Natoul returned the smile. I am glad that it is light again,
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said the girl. The shaking of the ground yesterday frightened me so that
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I had the most terrible dreams all during the darkness. Ugh and Natoul shuddered.
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Tha opened his eyes and looked at the two women. I too dreamed,
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he said. I dreamed that the earth shook again, the cliffs sank,
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and the restless sea rolled in upon them, drowning us. All.
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This is no longer a good place to live. After we have eaten,
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I shall go speak to Nu, telling him that we should seek other caves
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in a new country. Natoo rose, and, stepping between the two men,
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came to the ledge before the entrance to the cave. Before her stretched
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a scene that was perfectly familiar and yet strangely new. Below her was an
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open patch at the foot of the cliff, all barren and boulder strewn except
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for a rude rectangle that had been cleared of rock and debris. Beyond lay
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a narrow strip of tangled tropical jungle. Enormous fern like trees lifted their huge
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fronds a hundred feet into the air. The sun was topping the horizon,
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coming out of a great sea that lay just beyond the jungle. And such
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a sun. It was dull red and swollen to an enormous size. The
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atmosphere was thick and hot, almost sticky, and the life such countless myriads
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of creatures teeming through the jungle, winging their way through the air and blackening
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the surface of the sea. Nutoul knit her brows. She was trying to
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think, trying to recall something. Was it her dream that she attempted to
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visualize, or was this the dream? She shook herself, then she glanced
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quickly down at her apparel. For an instant she seemed not to comprehend the
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meaning of her garmenture, the single red doe skin, or the sandals of
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the thick hide of Ta the wooly rhinoceros held to her shapely feet by thin
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lacings of the raw hide of the great boase. And yet she quickly realized
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she had always been clothed just thus. But had she the question puzzled her
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mechanically, her hands slipped to the back of her head, above the nape
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of her neck. A look of puzzlement entered her eyes as her fingers fell
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upon the loose strands of her long hair that tumbled to her waist in the
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riotous and lovely confusion of early morning. What was it that her light touch
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missed a Baret? What could not ule child of the stone age know of
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Baret's Slowly her fingers felt about her head. When they came in contact with
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the broad filet that bound her head back from her forehead, she smiled.
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This was the filet that knew the son of Nu had fashioned for her from
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a single gorgeous snake skin of black and red and yellow, split lengthwise and
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dried. It awoke her to a more vivid realization of the present. She
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turned and re entered the cave. From a wooden peg driven into a hole
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in the wall, she took a handful of brilliant feathers. These she stuck
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in the front of the filet, where they nodded in a gay plume above
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her sweet face. By this time, Lieutan thaw and At had risen.
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The older woman was busying herself with some dry tinder and a fire stick.
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Just inside the entrance to the cave. Thaw and At had stepped out upon
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the ledge, filling their lungs with the morning air. Now Toul joined them.
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In her hand was a bladder. The three clambered down the face of
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the cliff. Other men and women were emerging from other case waves that pitted
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the rocky escarpment. They greeted the three with smiles and pleasant words, and
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upon every tongue was some comment. Upon the earthquake of the preceding night,
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Tha and Aught went into the jungle toward the sea. Nat Ul stopped beside
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a little spring that bubbled clear and cold at the foot of the cliff.
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Here were other girls with bladders which they were filling with water. There was
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Rael, daughter of Kr, who made the keenest spear tips and the best
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balanced. And there was Una, daughter of Nu the Chief, and sister
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of Nu, the son of Nu. And beside these were half a dozen
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others, all clean limbed, fine featured girls, straight as arrows, supple
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as panthers. They laughed and talked as they filled their bladders at the spring.
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Were you not frightened when the earth shook, Nahoul, asked Una.
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I was frightened, replied Natul, Yes, but I was more frightened by
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the I had after the shaking had stopped. What did you dream, cried
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Raul, daughter of Kor Kor, who made the truest spearheads with which a
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strong man could strike a flying reptile in mid air. I dreamed that I
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was not, nat Ul, replied the girl. I dreamed of a strange
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world and strange people. I was one of them. I was clothed in
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many garments that were not skin at all. I lived in a cave that
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was not a cave. It was built upon the ground of the stuff of
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which trees are made, only cut into thin slabs and fastened together. There
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were many caves in the one cave. There were men and women, and
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some of the men were black. Black, echoed the other girls. Yes,
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black, insisted Nahoul. And they alone were garbed something, as are
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our men. The white men were strange garments and things upon their heads,
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and had no ears. They carried short spears that spit smoke and great noise
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out upon their enemies and the wild beasts, and slew them at a great
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distance. And was Nu the son of Nu there, asked ra El,
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tittering behind her hand. He came and took me away, replied Nahoul gravely.
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And at night the earth shook as we slept in the cave of Oo.
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And when I awoke, I was here in the cave of Tha.
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My father Nu has not returned, said Una. Nahoul looked at her inquiringly.
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Where did Nu, the son of Nu go? She asked, who
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should know better than na Ul, daughter of Tha, that Knu, the
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son of Nu, went forth to slay Oo, the killer of men and
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mammoths, that he might lay Oo's head before the cave of Naoul. She
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asked in reply, he has not returned, asked Nahoul. He said that
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he would go oh, But I thought that he joked, for one man
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alone may not slay Ooh, the killer of men and of mammoths. But
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she did not use the word mammoth nor the word man. Instead, she
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spoke in a language that survives only among the apes of our day, if
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it survives at all, and among them only in crude and disjointed monosyllables.
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When she spoke of the mammoth, she called him glue, and man was
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pa. The tongue was low and liquid, and entirely beautiful and enchanting.
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And she spoke too much with her eyes and with her graceful hands, as
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did her companions. For the tribe of Nu was not far removed from those
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earlier peoples, descended from the Allalus, who were speechless, and who preceded
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those who spoke by signs. The girls, having filled the bladders with water,
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now returned to their respective caves. Not Ul had scarce entered and hung
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up the bladder. Ere Tha and Aught returned, one with the carcass of
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an antelope, the other with an armful of fruits. In the floor of
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the cave beside the fire, a little hollow had been shipped from the living
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rock. Into this, Nadule poured some water while Lieu Tan cut pieces of
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the antelope's flesh into small bits, dropping them into the water. Then she
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scooped a large pebble from the fire, where it had been raised to a
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high temperature. This she dropped into the water with the meat. There was
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a great bubbling and sputtering, which was repeated as Leeu Tan dropped one superheated
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pebble after another into the water until the whole became a boiling cauldron. When
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the water continued to boil for a few moments after a pebble was thrown in,
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Leeu Tan ceased her operation, sitting quietly with her family about the primitive
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stew for several minutes. Occasionally she would stick a finger into the water to
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test his temperature, and when at last she seemed satisfied, she signaled thaw
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to eat. The man plunged his stone knife into a piece of the half
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cooked meat. Withdrew it from the cauldron and tossed it upon the floor beside
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Lieu Tan. A second piece was given to Natul, a third Twat,
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and the fourth Tha kept to himself. The four eight with a certain dignity.
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There was nothing bestial nor repulsive in their manners, and as they ate,
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they talked and laughed among themselves. There seemed great good fellowship in the
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cave. Hold of tha At joked with Natoul about Nu the son of Nu,
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telling her that doubtless a Hyaena had devoured the mighty hunter before ever he
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had had a chance to slay Oo. But Liu Tan came to her daughter's
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rescue, saying that it was more likely that Nu the son of Nu had
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discovered U and all his family and had remained to kill them all. I
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do not fear for Nu because of U, said Tha. Presently, for
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Nu the son of Nu is as great a hunter as his. But I
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shall be glad to see him safe again from all that might have befallen him.
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When the earth rocked and the thunder came from below instead of from above,
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I shall be glad to have him return and take my daughter as his
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mate. Whether he brings back the head of U or not not Ul was
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silent, but she was worried, for all feared the power of the elements,
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against which no man might survive in battle, no matter how brave he
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might be. After breakfast, Thal went as he had said that he should,
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to the cave of Nu the Chief. There he found many of the
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older warriors and the young men. There were so many of them that there
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was not room within the cave. And upon the narrow ledge, without so
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at a word from Nu, they all descended to the little, roughly cleared
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rectangle at the base of the cliff. This place was where their councils were
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held, and where the tribe congregated for feasts or other purposes that called many
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together. Now sat at one end of the clearing, upon a flat rock.
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About his shoulders fell the shaggy haired skin of a huge cave bear.
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In the string that supported his loincloth reposed a wooden handled stone axe and a
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stone knife. Upright in his hand its butt. Between his feet rose a
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tall, slim spear stone tipped. His black hair was rudely cut into a
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shock. A filet of tiger hide encircled his head, supporting a single long,
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straight feather. About his neck depended a string of long, sharp fangs
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and talons, and from cheek to heel, his smooth, bronzed hide was
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marked with many scars inflicted by these same mementos. When they had armed the
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mighty paws and jaws of the fierce denizens of that primeval world, he let
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the skin that covered him slip from his shoulders, for the morning was warm.
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In that hot and human atmosphere, there was seldom need for covering.
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But even then men were slaves to fashion. They wore the trophies of their
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prowess and bedecked their women. Similarly, Thaw, being second only to new,
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was the first among the warriors to speak. As speech was young and
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words comparatively few, they must needs be supplemented with many signs and gestures.
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Oratory was therefore a strenuous business, and one which required a keen imagination,
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more than ordinary intelligence, and considerable histrionic ability. Because it was so difficult
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to convey one's ideas to one's pelamon. The art of speech in its infancy
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was of infinitely more value to the human race than it is today. Now
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we converse mechanically. The more one listens to ordinary conversations, the more apparent
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it becomes that the reasoning faculties of the brain take little part in the direction
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of the vocal organs. When Thaw spoke Anew and the warriors of his tribe,
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he was constantly required to invent signs and worse, to carry varying shades
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of meaning to his listeners. It was great mental exercise for Thaw and for
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his audience as well. Men were good listeners in those days. They had
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to be, and they advanced more rapidly in proportion to our advancement, because
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what little speech they heard meant something. It was too precious to waste.
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Nor could men afford to attend to foolish matters when it required all their eyes
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as well as their ears, and the concentration of the best of their mental
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faculties to follow the thread of an argument. Thaw stepped to the center of
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the group of warriors. There was a little open space left there for the
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speaker. About it squatted the older men behind them knelt others, and behind
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these stood the young men of the tribe of Nu. Thaw uttered a deep
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rumbling from his chest cavity. He shook his giant frame. The ground roars
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and trembles where we live, he said, the cliff will fall. He
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pointed toward their dwellings, and making a gesture with his open palms toward the
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ground. We shall all be killed. Let us go. Let us seek
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a new place where the ground does not tremble. The beasts are everywhere,
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fruit is everywhere. Grain grows in the valley of every river. We may
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hunt elsewhere as well as here. We shall find plenty to eat. Let
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us take our women and our children and go out of this place. As
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he spoke, he mimicked the hunting of game, the gathering of fruit and
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grain, the marching, and the search for a new home. His motions
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were both dignified and graceful. His listener sat in rapt attention. When he
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had done, he squatted down among the older warriors. Then another rose,
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a very old man. He came to the center of the open space and
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told by word and pantomime the dangers of migration. Called in numerous instances,
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when strangers in small parties and in great numbers had come too close to the
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country of new and how they news warriors had rushed upon them, slaying all
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who could not escape. Others will do the same to us, he said,
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if we approach their dwellings. When he had sat down, Hud pushed
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through to the center of the ring of younger warriors. Hud desired not Ul,
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the daughter of Thaw. Therefore he had two good reasons for espousing the
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cause of her father. One was that he might ingratiate himself with the older
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man, and the other was the hope that the tribe might migrate at once
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while Knu, the son of New was absent, thus giving Hud uninterrupted opportunity
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to push his suit for the girl. Thaw has spoken wisely. He said,
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this land is no longer safe for man or beast. Scarce a moon
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passes that does not see the ground train timble and crack, and in places
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have faces of the mountains tumbled away. Any time it may be the turn
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of our cliff to fall. Let us go to a land where the ground
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does not tremble. We need not fear the strangers. That is the talk
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of old men and women who are big with child. The tribe of Nu
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is mighty. It can go where it pleases and slay those who would block
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its way. Let us do as Tha says, and go away from here
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at once. Another great trembling may come at any moment. Let us leave
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now, for we have eaten. Others spoke, and so great was the
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fear of the earthquakes among them that there was Scarce, a dissenting voice.
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Nearly all wished to go. Nw listened with grave dignity. When all had
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spoken, who wished to speak, he arose, it is best, he
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said, we will go away. Hud could Scarce rep as a smile of
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elation. So soon as knew my son returns, Hud scowled, I go
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seek him, concluded NU. The council was over, The men dispersed to
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their various duties. Tha accompany knew in search of the latter's son, A
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party of hunters went north toward the barren cliffs, at the foot of which,
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not far from the sea, one of the tribe had seen a bull
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mammoth the previous day. Hud went to his cave and watched his opportunity to
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see not Ul alone. At last, his patience was rewarded by sight of
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her going down toward the spring, which was now deserted. Hud ran after
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her. He overtook her as she stooped to fill the bladder. I want
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you, said Hud, coming directly to the point, in most primitive fashion,
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to be my mate. Natoul looked at him for a moment and then
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laughed full in his face. Go fetch the head of ooh and laid before
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my father's cave. She answered, And then maybe now Toul will think about
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becoming the mate of Hud. But I forgot, she suddenly cried. Hud
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does not hunt. He prefers to remain at home with the old men and
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the women and the children, while the men go forth in search of glue.
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She emphasized the word men. The man colored. He was far from
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being a physical coward. Cowards were not bred until a later age. He
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seized her roughly by the arm. Hud will show you that he is no
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coward, he cried, for he will take you away to be his mate,
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defying Nu an Thah and Nu the son of Nu. If they come
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to take you from him, Hud will slay them all. As he spoke,
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he dragged her toward the jungle beyond the spring, the jungle that lay
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between the cliff and the sea. Not Toole struggled fighting to be free,
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But Hud, a great hand across us her mouth and an arm about her
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body. Forged silently ahead with his captive. Beyond the jungle, the man
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turned north along the beach. Now he relaxed his hold upon the girl's mouth.
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Will you come with me, he asked, or must I drag you
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thus all day? I shall not come willingly, she replied, for otherwise
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knew the son of Nu, nor my father nor my brother might have the
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right to kill you for what you have done. But now they may,
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for you are taking me by force, as did the hairy people who live
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long time ago take their mates. You are a beast, Hud, and
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when my men come upon you, they will slay you. For the beast
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you are. You will suffer most, retorted Hud, for if you do
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not come willingly with me, the tribe will kill the child. There will
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be no child, replied Natool, and beneath her red dosed skin, she
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hugged the stag hand of a stone knife. Hudd kept to the beach to
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escape detection by the mammoth hunters upon their return from the chase, for they
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too had gone northward, but along the base of the cliffs, upon the
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opposite side of the strip of jungle that extended parallel with the beach to the
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very foot of the barren cliffs, where they jutted boldly out into the restless
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sea. Half a day's journey northward. The sun was directly above the two
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when Hud dragged his unwilling companion up the steep face of the barren cliffs,
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which he had determined to cross in search of a secure hiding place, for
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he knew that he might not return to the tribe for a full moon after
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the thing he had done. Even then it might not be safe, for
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the men of the tribe of Nu had not taken their mace by force.
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For many generations. There was a strong belief among them that the children of
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women who made it through their own choice were more beautiful, better natured,
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and braver than those whose mothers were little better than prisoners and slaves. Hud
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hoped, however, to persuade Nahoul to say that she had run away with
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him voluntarily, to which there could be no objection, but that might require
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many days. From the top of the barren cliffs, there stretched away toward
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the north, an entirely different landscape than that upon the southern side. Here
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was a great level plain dotted with occasional clumps of trees. At a little
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distance, a broad river ran down to the sea, its banks clothed in
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jungle. Upon the plain herds of antelope, bison, and boss browsed in
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tall grasses and wild grains. Sheep too were there and rooting. Just within
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the jungle were great droves of wild hog. Now and then there would be
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a sudden stampede among the feeding herbivora, as some beast of prey dashed among
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them, bleeding, bellowing, squealing, or grunting. They would race off
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madly for a short distance, only to resume their feet, eating and love
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making when assured that they were not pursued. Though the great carnivore might be
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standing in full sight of them, above the carcass of its kill, but
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why run further? All about them in every direction were other savage, bloodthirsty
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beasts. It was but a part of their terror, stricken lives, fleeing
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hither and thither as they snatched sustenance, and only surviving because they bred more
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surely than the beasts that preyed upon them, and could live further from water.
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Hud led nadoul down the northern face of the barren cliffs, searching for
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a cavern in which they might make their temporary home. Half Way between the
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summit and the base, he came upon a cave. Before it were strewn
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gnawed bones of antelope, buffalo, and even mammoth. Hud grasped his spear
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more firmly as he peered into the dark interior. Here was the cave of
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Urr, the cave Bear. Hud picked up a bone and threw it within.
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There was no remonstrative growl. Er was not at home. Hud pushed
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Natoul within. Then he rolled a few large boulders before the cave's mouth,
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enough to bar the entrance of the gigantic bear. Upon his return, after
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he crawled to the small opening that he had left in the dim light of
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the interior, he saw Natoul flatten against the further side of the cave.
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He crossed toward her to take her in his arms. End of Section fifteen.