Tales of Space and Time
still, and a little on one side. He was not in his lair, but a little
way from it in a place of trampled grass. Under one eye was a little
wound, the feeble little bite of the first axe. But all the ground
beneath his chest was ruddy brown with a vivid streak, and in his chest
was a little hole that had been made by Ugh-lomi's stabbing-spear. Along
his side and at his neck the vultures had marked their claims. For so
Ugh-lomi had slain him, lying stricken under his paw and thrusting
haphazard at his chest. He had driven the spear in with all his strength
and stabbed the giant to the heart. So it was the reign of the lion, of
the second incarnation of Uya the Master, came to an end.
From the knoll the bustle of preparation grew, the hacking of spears and
throwing-stones. None spake the name of Ugh-lomi for fear that it might
bring him. The men were going to keep together, close together, in the
hunting for a day or so. And their hunting was to be Ugh-lomi, lest
instead he should come a-hunting them.
But Ugh-lomi was lying very still and silent, outside the lion's lair,
and Eudena squatted beside him, with the ash spear, all smeared with
lion's blood, gripped in her hand.
V--THE FIGHT IN THE LION'S THICKET
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.