In the Morning of Time

RORS OF

enlarge the knowledge and strengthen the security of his tribe. But to northward of the pointed hills lay league on league of profound jungle––grotesque and enormous growths knitted together impenetrably by a tangle of

ky. These hills Gr?m was thirsting to explore. They might contain caves more roomy than those of his own hills––spacious and suitable to give shelter to his tribe, which was now finding it

ow and faint, they had danced there, guarding the valley entrance––until just one moon ago. Then had come an earthquake, shaking the hearts of all the tribe to water. The dancing flames had died. The fissure had closed up, and its place had been taken by a pool of boiling pitch. And one of the caves had falle

e Eye of the People. At last, it had been settled that Gr?m should lead a party through the jungle land to those other hills, to spy out the prospect. And Gr?m, like the foresighted leader th

ve her, she would have disobeyed and followed him by stealth––and perhaps fallen a prey to prowling beasts. He took also A-ya's young brother, the hot-head M?; and Loob, the shaggy, little sharp-faced scout, who could run like a hare, hide like a fox, and fight like a cornered weasel. This he would have accounted,

o aptitude for its use) carried Gr?m's wonderful invention––the bow. Hobbo, however, because of his immense strength, bore the heavy fire-basket, wherein the smoldering coals were cherished in a bed of clay.

had flourished chiefly in the carboniferous period. But here they were mingled with the more enduring hard-wood growths of the later tropical forests; and only these were strong enough to support the massive, strangling coils of the cable-like lianas, which wound their way up the huge trunks and reached out in a?rial, swaying bri

the trodden trail of some great 223 jungle beast, so long as it led in the right direction. But here they had to be ceaselessly on the watch against surprise by creatures whose monstrous tracks were unlike any that they had ever seen before. Whenever possible, therefore, they preferred to journey, after the fashion of their

ilant between the shoulder-blades and driving the stroke home with all his strength. With a screech, the beast stiffened out, and then, somewhat slowly, collapsed. As Loob wrenched his weapon free, the great animal slumped limply from its branch. For a moment or two it hung by the fore-paws, coughing and frothing at the mouth. Then this last hold relaxed and it fell, bumping with a curious deliberation 224 from branch to branch. It vanished through a floor of thick leafage, and struck the ground with a dull crash. It must have fallen un

of those unwinking, devilish eyes. Bu

They kept watch, of course, turn and turn about; but nothing attempted to approach them, and they cared little for the sound

held perils more deadly than that of the lurking leopards. They were all staring down into the water, which swarmed with gigantic crocodiles and 225 boiled immediate

, blackish fur. Their faces, half human, half dog-like, were hairless and of a bright but bilious blue, with great livid red circles about the small, furious eyes. With derisive gestur

with one hand. Young M?, his fiery temper stung by their challenge, clapped an arrow to his string and raised his bo

m forget about us," said he. "Don't

er side. But presently the bayou widened, and then swept sharply off to the west. Gr?m kept on straight to the north,

the great apes always slept at night, Gr?m decided to continue the journey in order to lessen the risk of a surprise. When the moon rose, round and huge and honey-colored, over the sea of foliage, traveling through the tree-tops was almos

like a bunch of grass on its top. They were like gigantic green paint-brushes, with yellow-gray handles, stuck up at random. Far off they saw a herd of curious beasts at pasture, and away to the left a giant bird, as tall as the tree by which it stood, seemed to k

miliar, they were swinging on through the tree-tops at a great pace, when that savage, snarling jabber which they so dreaded was heard in the branches behind them. Gr?m instantly put A-ya in the lead, while he hims

en before they could reach the open, and realizing that in the tree-top

ade the mistake of keeping his eye too much on the enemy, too little on where he was going. In a moment or two, he found himself cut 228 off, upon a branch from which there was no escape without a drop of twenty feet to a most uncertain foothold. Rather than risk it, he ran in upon his nearest assailant at the base o

st caught the missile in its lightning clutch; but in the next instant it threw up its long arms, without a sound, and fell backwards out of the tree. A-ya, who had been the first to reach

discharged their arrows. Another ape fell from his perch, but caught himself on a lower branch and hung there writhing; while a third, with a shaft half buried in his paunch, fled back 229 yelling into the tree-top. Then t

ugitives ran out breathless upon the sunny savannah. Here, feeling themselves safe, they halted to look back. The lower branches all along the edge of the grass were thronged wit

eering warily about him. But there was nothing in sight to suggest any dange

rass and rose to a height of twelve or fifteen feet. To such patches, which might serve as lurking-places to unknown monsters, Gr?m gave a wide ber

the journey across the savannah without encountering a single foe. The mid-noon blaze of the sun upon the windless grass, which was almost more than they could endure, was probably keeping the m

t by an unbroken line of cliff, perpendicular and at times overhanging, from forty or fifty to perhaps a couple of hundred feet in height, and so smooth that even these goat-foot

mile ahead. Along the right of their path the ground sloped off gently to a belt of that high cane-like growth which

of any rhinoceros they had ever seen, and armed with a pair of enormous conical horns, each more than a foot in diameter at the base and tapering to a keen point. Set side by side, at a moderate angle, upon the bridge of the snout, they were far more terrible than the horns of any rhinoceros. Their bearer lowered them menaci

the monster's snout. But when the rest of the terrific herd came thundering down upon them, they fled in all haste. To their amazement

amp beach running around the base of the bluff. As they left the grass and ran out upon the beach they were astonished to find that the thundering pursuit had stopped short. Just at the turn of the cliff they halted and stared back wonderingly. Their pursuers, though swinging their great horns and braying with rage, were evidently unwilling to venture so near the waterside. They drew back, indeed, as if they feared it, and at last went crashing away into the canes

pprehensions, Gr?m decided to push forward. 233 There seemed nothing else to do, indeed, seeing that the cane-beds behind them were occupied by that irresistibl

f haste. Both Hobbo and young M?, indeed, were for staying a while and sleeping in the shade of an overhanging rock. But A-ya, who sensed through sympathy her lord's disquietude, and the little scout Loob, who

and not fifty paces distant, there opened before them a spacious cave-mouth, with a somewhat wider strip of beach before it. I

d. As if aroused by their voices, the still surface a few yards from shor

n appalling head––like that of a thrice magnified and distorted crocodile, with vast, round, painted eyes

nderous bellow of rage, but producing no other effect. Then Gr?m sprang after his fleeing companions, and raced for his life toward

mpse, through the gloom, of high-arched distance melting into blackness, of a strip of black water

hem; and they all fell forward flat upon their faces. From all but Gr?m there went up a shriek so piercing that in their own ears it disguised the stupendous rending roar 235 which at th

vision of their colossal pursuer, its jaws stretched to their utmost width, the vast globes of its eyes protruding from their armored sockets, its ponderous, bowed

ng instinct, he sprang on up the slope after his companions, who had fled as soon as they could pick themselves up. And in the next moment the rock above his head, fissured dee

of the earthquake which seemed to come from vast depths beneath his feet. Profoundly awed, but master of his 236 spirit, he stood leaning upon his spe

where a

g cry of relief and joy, from almost, as

" came the voices

to rise again, but lay waiting for their leader to tell them what to do. In half a dozen cautious, gro

y would probably have died where they were, not daring to stir in the darkness.

t," answered Gr?m, wit

opped the fire!" sai

hest with his great fists. But Gr?m, who would allo

ight have done no

pregnably. Moreover, he judged that any attempt to work an opening in that direction would be likely, for the present, to bring more rocks down upon them. It would be better, first, to feel their way on into the cave in the hope of finding another exit. He was not afra

ground before him as he went, and occasionally the wall upon his left. Sometimes, too, he would reach upwards to assure himsel

. The object, whatever it was, surged violently beneath the touch. His flesh crept, and the 238 shaggy hair uplifted on his neck. "Back!" he hissed, thrusting A-ya off to arm's length and bracing his spear point before him to receive the expected attack. A pair of faint

ath. Then, after a few mo

t last that runs away from us

d their path came to an end. There was water ahead of them, and on bo

behind." And leading the way down into the

tly salt, which convinced him that it had free communication with the sunlit tides outside. Several times he came within touch of the rocky walls of the cavern, and found that they went straight down to a d

luish gleam upon the water's surface. It was som

?m said nothing. He did not think it was dayli

moments it was bright enough in its blue pallor to show the swimmers that they were traversing a vast hall of waters, whose roof was lost in darkness. Some fifty yards

s phosphorescence, and he wished to get his people out upon dry land before it reached them. But fast as the adventurers swam, the gho

epths were 240 swarming with monstrous, luminous forms, a moon-bright, crawling, slid

gnancy that froze even Gr?m's blood. They seemed innumera

e rock when the water boiled all about him in a froth of light. A pair of huge, pincer-like claws seized him by the neck, and another pair by one arm, plucking him back. His convulsed face stared up

followed at once by Loob and young M?. Some of their random blows went home, and as one or another of the giga

in this vengeance, now snatched

ey are co

On every side the gigantic crabs––some with claws eight or ten feet long, an

ir way, striking and thrusting desperately with their spears as the monsters, crowding up from the water on either side, snatched at them with their terrible mailed claws. Over and over again one or an

back disabled among their ravening kin. And the whole swarm, apparently forgetting their intended victims as soon as they were out of reach, fell to fighting hideously among themselves over the convulsed bodies of

o best advantage while it should last. The wall of the cavern at this point was so broken and fissured that it was not unscalable

and toes to almost imperceptible projections, they made their way across the face of the steep, and gained the mouth of the gallery. It was spacious, and easy

with small fleeces of cloud, opened before them, and in a moment more they came out upon a high, blossoming down, blown over by a breeze that smelt of honey and salt. Below the

ll surely come back to it. But I think we must