overhanging branches of the pine trees, which began to burn and sparkle
gustily. And enormous flames, greater than any of the fighters had ever
seen before, began to roar and crackle among the trees. The bright
streamers leaped far heavenward, licking their greedy lips rabidly;
with amazing rapidity they grew, even vaulting across the river, until
from cañon wall to cañon wall there was a glaring, brassy-yellow,
wavering bank of fire, which cast an unearthly, sultry illumination
over the black knots of watching men. The air was filled with the acrid
odor of smoke; great black cinders darted through the gloom; and high
above the flames, where the red sparks vanished, all the heavens were
discolored with an angry crimson glow.

Now, above the sizzling laughter and the howling of the conflagration,
there arose the voices of men in mortal agony. All thought of the
fight had been forgotten; each was bent only on saving himself. Some,
trapped in pockets of the woods, shrieked and yelled in futile anguish
before they gasped their last; others, with hair shriveling beneath the
intense heat, cried out furiously and dashed for refuge into the river.
"The fire-god! The fire-god! The fire-god comes to kill us!" wailed the
panic-stricken Umbaddu; and mingled with their voices were the still
ruder, more blatant ones of the beast-men. But friend knew not friend,
and foe knew not foe, in that clamorous dash for the safe, cool waters.
Side by side the combatants crept into the stream, side by side without
so much as a hostile snort; and, once within the river, no man had
any thought except to stand submerged with nostrils barely above the
surface.

And while the survivors felt the refreshing waters roll over them, the
hissing and roaring of the fire gradually grew less distinct, its heat
a little less unbearable, its illumination dimmer and more remote. When
at last the less timorous ventured out of the river, they beheld that
same ghastly red glow reaching high in air and far along the horizon;
but they could no longer see the shooting tongues of flame, and they
knew that the fire-god had withdrawn and that it was safe to seek their
people once more.

The following morning, in the cave of the Umbaddu, there was much
weeping and wailing. Distracted women paced back and forth with
prolonged sobs and lamentations; some tore furiously at the hair on
their arms and chests; some beat themselves insanely upon the legs
and thighs; some merely lay in a corner, moaning and moaning. As the
survivors of the night's encounter trailed one by one up the cliff
walls and back into the cave, it became apparent that the tribe's
losses had been irreparable. The misfortune was not that those who came
back were much bedraggled or disabled; that Kuff the Bear-Hunter limped
grievously, while Woonoo the Hot-Blooded dangled a broken arm; that the
throat and shoulders of Mumlo the Trail-Finder showed the red mark of
teeth, while half the hair of Grumgra's back had been singed away--such
injuries were of minor account. The real misfortune was that, of those
who had gone forth the night before, nearly half had not returned.
"Where is Targ the Thick Club? Where is Gurr the Stone-Flinger? Where
is Ulu the Long-Armed?" rang forth the despairing cries of searching
women--but none was ever to bring an answer to their appeals.

Most disturbing of all was the absence of one who had been thought
immune to danger. "Zunzun the Marvel-Worker--where is he?" cried scores
of anxious voices. But there came no reply; and the people groaned that
their gods had indeed deserted them, for all the arts of Zunzun had not
sufficed to save him from the beast-men.

                             CHAPTER XXIV

                      _The Wonder Stick Strikes_

While the battered remnants of the attacking force were reassembling
before the cave fire, one of the women made her way quietly out of a
wailing group of her sisters, and slipped unnoticed toward the inner
recesses of the cavern. In a moment she had been lost from view among
the shadows. Rounding a turn at the end of the main gallery, she
found herself in a blackness so absolute that her eyes could tell her
nothing and she had to rely absolutely upon her groping fingers. Yet
she took her way, not without assurance, even along the inky corridor,
and her pace, while not rapid, was far from snail-like. It was only a
few minutes before, passing another turn, she could make out a faint
grayish radiance ahead; and toward this she proceeded at increased
speed, while the light, although never approaching brightness, grew
constantly more distinct.

At length, in the vague twilight, she found herself passing a
side-grotto filled with an enormous pile of split and broken bones. At
the base of this gruesome mound, crunching one of the bones with noisy
gusto, crouched a half-grown wolf; but the creature did not deign to
give her so much as the greeting of a growl; and she continued around
still another turn, and entered an enormous chamber illumined by the
sunlight that shone in through a slit in the roof.

At one corner of this gallery, bent industriously above a mass of
broken and denuded tree branches, squatted the slim, short figure of a
man.

Disturbed by the sound of an intrusion, he looked up with a startled
expression.

"Yonyo!" he cried, springing to his feet with every evidence of joy.

"Ru!" she returned, and came to him, and let him fold his arms about
her.

"Why were you away so long?" he demanded, reproachfully, as he released
her. "The sun has gone down, and then gone down again, Yonyo, and the
spirits of darkness have twice taken the world, since you were here
before. And last night--it must have been in a dream--I thought I heard
terrible screams and howlings, as of beasts that fight. Why did you not
come to tell me what befell? There must have been evil winds abroad in
the dark."

"There were evil winds abroad," she assured him. "Our men all went down
to fight the beast-people. And the evil winds blew against us, and many
of our men were lost."

Surprised and dismayed, Ru stood staring resentfully at her. "Why did
you not tell me?" he burst forth. "Why did you not tell me, so that I
might go down with my brothers to fight the beast-men?"

But Yonyo merely shrugged in disdain. "I was not silly enough to tell
you. It would have done no good. Grumgra is very strong. He would
have killed you with his club before you could throw one stone at the
beast-man. You know how you have hidden here ever since Grumgra chased
you. If he learned where you are, you would not live to see the sun go
down again. I alone have found out where you are, for did I not follow
you after Grumgra gave up the chase, and did you not show me where you
were coming to live?"

"I showed only you, Smiling-Eyed! And I shall show only you until the
gods make me as strong as Grumgra!" vowed Ru, hopefully eying the mass
of leafless branches at which he had been working.

"Not even the gods can make you that strong!" sighed Yonyo.

But, disregarding her remark, Ru continued enthusiastically: "I can
live here now as long as I want. I need no one to help me. You remember
that at first, Yonyo, you brought me herbs and meat; but since then I
have found a way to creep into the light through a long dark trail that
leads out between two rocks. And so every day I go out, and Wuff goes
with me, and sometimes he catches little wood creatures, but always I
get many roots and nuts. And also"--here he hesitated, then continued
with emphasis--"I get that which may yet make me stronger than Grumgra!"

The Smiling-Eyed looked at him uncomprehendingly, and he hastily
proceeded: "Have you forgotten, Yonyo, that once, long, long ago, in
our old cave, I told you of a weapon that would strike like lightning
and kill at a distance?"

"I have not forgotten," she replied, without enthusiasm; but in her
manner there was no trace of her former mockery.

"The gods have shown me how to make that weapon!" he announced. "They
have shown me how to make it stronger than any club. Soon I will kill
all the beast-men--and none will dare to come near when I am angry!"

Observing that she still eyed him questioningly, he pointed to some
strips of hide and bits of flint that lay on the ground beside the
denuded branches, and continued with assurance: "I did not use to know
how to make that weapon--but now I have learned, I have learned! See,
Yonyo, I will show you!"

And while Yonyo stood staring at him curiously, Ru picked up a long,
straight shaft of wood, fastened a narrow strip of hide through a hole
at one end, bent it with great difficulty, and strained and struggled
to fasten the strip of hide through a hole at the other end.

"Look how tight it is, Yonyo," he explained, holding it out for her to
feel. "At first I tried to use the stems of plants, but they were not
strong enough and always broke. And so I thought of using this strip of
animal's skin. I cut it with a piece of flint from my robe. It was hard
to make the holes in the wood, but I have a very sharp flint borer--"

"But what is the use of it all?" interrupted Yonyo. "I do not see..."

"Here, I will show you," volunteered Ru. And he took up a second and
shorter shaft of wood, one end of which was conspicuously dented. This
end he applied to the center of the taut strip of hide, straining till
his breath came hard and his eyes began to bulge out of his head. The
bow bent forward many inches; it seemed that either it or the strip of
hide would break. Meanwhile Yonyo gaped dumfounded, as if wondering
what mad spirits had entered Ru's head.

Suddenly the bow snapped back with such force that Ru almost lost his
balance; there came a whizzing sound--and the dented shaft of wood was
to be seen no longer.

"Where did it go?" asked the Smiling-Eyed, more bewildered than ever.

"Let us see. I think we can find it," suggested Ru. And, followed by
Yonyo, he started slowly into the shadows, inspecting the ground with
painstaking care.

"Here it is!" Yonyo at length exclaimed, gleefully picking up the shaft
of wood some twenty or thirty yards from its starting point.

"See! I told you I could make a weapon that would strike at a
distance!" Ru reminded her triumphantly, while Yonyo, now completely
convinced, had no more to say. "I cannot make it strike far enough yet,
but the gods will show me that. And they will show me how to make the
stick sharp and terrible, so that it will kill a man! Then we need not
fear the beast-men any more!"

"Ru the Sparrow-Hearted will be stronger yet than Grumgra!" prophesied
Yonyo, looking up at him with an admiring smile.

"Yonyo the Smiling-Eyed will make him strong," acknowledged Ru. And,
coming close, he began to murmur gentle-sounding words that had no
relation to the fashioning of bows and arrows.

But with a commanding gesture she repelled him. "No, Ru, you must not
say pretty things now," she remonstrated. "First you must finish your
wonder stick. We need that very, very soon. Then you can talk of softer
things. But not before!"

And, despite all his protests, she started back into the dim recesses
of the cavern. "When the sun has gone down and come up once more," she
promised, "I will be here again." With these words for farewell, she
was lost amid the shadows.

Returning to her people, she found that her absence had not been
observed. The women were still wailing and lamenting; the wounded
warriors were muttering and groaning querulously. Mingled with the
oaths and curses of the men and the sobs and sighs of her sisters, she
could hear occasional frightened murmurings about the beast-men. But
no one paid any heed to her inquiries, or even seemed able to answer.
Consequently, she was soon on her way to the cave entrance, to observe
the latest happenings for herself.

It was with difficulty that she crowded her way onto the narrow terrace
that fronted the cave, for dozens had preceded her, gaping speechlessly
at the scene beneath. And how amazingly that scene had changed! Where
yesterday there had been thick clusters of bushes and long stretches
of woods, there was now a blackened waste, with here and there a pile
of brush feebly smoking, here and there the charred and dismantled
trunk of a tree standing as a lonely sign-post of ruin. Down-stream, as
far as one could see, there was only desolation and ashes; up-stream,
however, a chance turn in the wind had spared the woods--and the
contrast between the still green expanses and the flame-swept desert
was ghastly beyond all words.

But the destruction of the forest was not what disturbed the watching
people. That which alarmed them was that the fire had not rid them of
their foe. Many of the beast-men must have been slain, for did not
every returned warrior boast of killing his scores? Yet, to judge from
the throng that collected by the river bank, one would have thought
that the dead had all come to life again. Swarming up-stream from the
devastated areas to the fringe of the remaining woods, the beast-men
had made camp serenely beneath the very eyes of their rivals, although
well beyond range of stones.

It was a doleful tale that Yonyo brought Ru on the following morning.
"The beast-men will not go away," she reported. "We pray and pray to
the fire-god and the gods of the woods, but our foes will not go away.
And so none of us can leave the cave now, for fear of the beast-men's
clubs. We cannot go down to fight them any more, for many of our men
have been lost, and the bad spirits have hurt the others so that they
cannot swing a club. And so what shall we do, Ru? What shall we do?
Our meat gets less and less, and we cannot go out to hunt for more.
Soon there will be none left, and no berries any more, nor even any
roots or nuts; and the women will cry out, and the men will grumble and
complain, and the babes will die. Soon, soon after that, we shall all
die!"

"No! We will not die!" denied Ru, fiercely. "We will not die! The
cave-god will not let us!"

Then, snatching several slender shafts of wood from the ground, he
thrust them before her eyes. "See, Yonyo! See! Our enemies will be the
ones that die! These sticks will kill a man!"

Yonyo, astonished, observed that the sticks were tipped with little
pointed bits of flint.

"How did you do that, Ru?" she gasped.

"At first I did not know how," explained Ru. "I tried to make the flint
stay on the stick, but it would not stay. Then I split one of the
sticks at the end without meaning to; and I found that I could push the
rock in, and keep it there. And so I have split the other sticks with
my cleaver, and filled them all with flint. If one of them strikes a
man, it will be mightier than Grumgra's club."

"But can you make them hit hard enough?" inquired Yonyo.

"They can hit very hard." And Ru, picking up his bow, sent the arrow
with a sharp thud against the cave wall.

Whereupon, in the sheer exuberance of her joy, Yonyo leaped up and down
and shouted. "You will save us all yet! You will save us all! Your
wonder stick will kill the beast-men!"

"All day I have worked to make the strip of hide tighter," Ru confided,
after Yonyo's wild outburst had died down. "I do not know whether it is
tight enough yet, but it is very tight." He held forth the bow as if
to examine it, and dangled the end of an arrow playfully against the
bowstring.

But suddenly his playful mood gave way to one of intense alertness.

"What is that?" he gasped. "What is that--" Without warning, the hoarse
growling voice of Wuff had sounded from around a bend in the gallery;
then a series of angry snarls, as though Wuff were at bay before some
foe. And, mingled with the mutterings of the wolf, came the familiar
grumbling of a heavy voice.

"Grumgra!" Ru murmured. And before he and the startled Yonyo had had
time to turn and flee, a huge familiar figure shuffled into view,
monstrous against the dark cave wall; and through the shadows a great
club swung threateningly.

For a moment there was silence--a silence of paralyzing terror on the
part of Ru and Yonyo--a silence of evil triumph on the part of Grumgra.

"So you thought to escape me!" the chieftain at length bawled, in tones
of malicious relish. "You, Yonyo the Smiling-Eyed, thought to escape me
to go to him--to him, the Sparrow-Hearted! But you are not wise enough
for me. I watched you--and I followed! And now you cannot get away! I
will take you! You belong to me!"

Leering at Yonyo with eyes that shone bestially in the half-light,
Grumgra lifted his club yet a little higher, and took a step forward.
But he was halted by an unexpected voice.

"She does not belong to you! You shall not take her!" challenged Ru,
with a boldness that startled even himself.

"Does the Sparrow-Hearted then tell me what is mine to take?" bellowed
Grumgra; and the echoes of his wrath sounded weirdly through that dim,
vaulted chamber.

Then, striding forward still another step, he thundered:
"Sparrow-Hearted, you and I have a fight to finish! Let us finish it
now! After that, I will take the Smiling-Eyed!"

The club was lifted to its full height above Grumgra's head; a snort
of defiance came from the lips of the chieftain, mingling with the
shrill scream of Yonyo. Ru, with limbs trembling, pressed back against
the cave wall; he clutched his bow hopelessly, without thought for
its usefulness; all power of action seemed to have deserted him as he
cowered against the rock, waiting for the end....

Then came an instant's precious respite. Wuff, who had been skulking
among the shadows to the rear, sprang with a snarl toward Grumgra.
Grumgra, wheeling about, swung his club not at his human foe but at the
beast. He missed by less than an inch. Frightened by the crash of the
descending cudgel, Wuff went scurrying out of reach as if at the sound
of an explosion; while Grumgra turned once more to the chastisement of
Ru.

But in that swift interval something had happened to the imperiled
man. His quivering limbs had ceased to quiver; his fingers had taken
a steadier grip on the bow; he had remembered how deadly was the
weapon in his hands. Quickly, fiercely, and with something of a savage
delight, he pressed the arrow to the bowstring, forced it far back with
a vehement bending and straining of the heavy shaft, and then--for the
desperate fraction of a second--waited.

Grumgra, gloating in the rout of Wuff, halted for an incalculably
brief period to see Ru confronting him with a pointed stick. But he
took little note of this queer device; striding forward with a roar of
triumph, he lifted his club for the devastating stroke.

That stroke was never taken. As the club prepared to descend, something
smote Grumgra furiously in the chest. Suddenly all things went black
before him; he stopped short, dropped his club, staggered, and clutched
with both hands at a long stick projecting from above his heart. The
blood spouted in a torrent down his side, his black hair was matted
with red, his eyes rolled and twisted crazily, a ferocious howl issued
from his lips; then, almost instantly, he reeled, pitched forward, and
plunged heavily on to the cavern rocks.

                              CHAPTER XXV

                         _The Ascension of Ru_

As the huge form of the chieftain crashed to earth, Ru leaped warily
to the farther side of the cave, half expecting Grumgra to rise and
return to the attack. But Grumgra did not rise; the great sprawled
shape lay stiff and motionless where it had fallen. And as the terrible
slow seconds dragged by, there came to the two watchers an appalling
realization of what had happened.

"He is dead!" muttered Ru, under his breath.

With spylike caution, he stole over to the prostrate figure, and
prodded it with the tip of an arrow. Still Grumgra did not stir. Nor
did he make response when Wuff, waxing bold again, came sniffing near
with low, contented growls. A slow stream of blood was trickling from
beneath his outstretched body--but there was no sign of life.

"He is dead!" Yonyo repeated after Ru, in incredulous tones. And, like
one walking in a dream, she slipped across the cave to the smitten
chieftain, stood hesitating an instant, then reached down her hand, and
timidly touched the shaggy form.

As she did so, a piercing scream burst from her lips. "He is dead,
dead!" she cried, as though the knowledge had now come to her for the
first time. "Grumgra is dead! The Growling Wolf is dead!"

Then something like an hysterical sobbing racked her frame. "The
Growling Wolf is dead, is dead!" she kept repeating, in tones of
passionate relief, as if only repetition could lend truth to the
incredible words. "Ru has killed the Growling Wolf!"

And, like one in need of every assurance her senses could give her, she
reached down once more to touch the lifeless shape. Newly convinced,
she seemed filled with a sudden fresh energy. Before Ru could stop her
or even understand what she was about, she had gone dashing around the
turn in the gallery and through the dark passageway toward the cave
entrance.

"My people! My people!" her maddened voice shrilled. "Ru has killed
Grumgra! Ru has killed Grumgra!" And again and again her words rang
out, fainter and fainter as she recklessly retreated; again and again,
and fainter and fainter still, until the cries came back thin and eery
amid a chorus of echoes: "Ru has killed Grumgra! He has killed the
Growling Wolf, has killed the Growling Wolf!"

After the sound of her calling had died away, Ru stood regarding the
corpse of his foe with the startled air of one who has just seen a tree
blasted by lightning. "I do not know how I did it. I do not know how,"
he kept muttering to himself. Reaching down and prodding the body of
the fallen leader, he mumbled over and over again: "He is dead! He is
dead! He will never strike me now! He will never take Yonyo!"

Then, as by degrees his bewilderment cleared away, there rose in his
heart a great joy, a pride in what he had done, mingled with a contempt
for the stricken man.

"Grumgra, you were not so strong, after all!" he murmured. "You were
not so strong, O Growling Wolf!"

To lend his words emphasis, he picked up Grumgra's club, and violently
pounded the unresponsive mass of flesh and bones that had been the
chieftain.

Having thus expressed his feelings, he began to pace gleefully about
the cavern, gripping the club--though it was far too heavy for him to
swing with ease--and repeating to himself: "I am Grumgra now! I am
Grumgra!"

It was while he was thus occupied that his attention was caught by a
din of excited voices, a confused din borne to him far down the dark
galleries. Not at all apprehensive, he paused to listen; rapidly that
tumult of voices grew louder, until he thought he could recognize the
shrill tones of Yonyo. A moment passed; then Yonyo herself, still
wildly agitated, came dashing into view, with a shouting rabble at her
heels.

"See! There he is!" she exclaimed, jubilantly. "There he is! I told
you! I told you, and you would not believe me! See! Ru has killed
Grumgra!"

And triumphantly she pointed to the lifeless body of the chieftain.

"Ru has killed Grumgra!" echoed the awestricken people. And, howling
and gibbering, the dusky scores pressed close to view. Directly before
the body of the slain one they paused, staring and gaping in horror;
then, almost instantly, their amazement and dismay were drowned out by
a low ripple of delight. And the uproar of the people was like that of
a band of children at some incredible show. Some, to assure themselves
that the chieftain was really dead, poked sharp sticks into his neck
and back; others gently kicked or pummeled him or pulled at his hair;
one, bolder than the rest, lifted the huge form onto its side, until a
broken, bloody shaft was observed projecting from between the ribs.

"Ru the Sparrow-Hearted has killed Grumgra! Ru the Sparrow-Hearted has
killed Grumgra!" Yonyo kept repeating, as though she could never tire
of announcing the marvelous news.

"Ru the Eagle-Hearted!" corrected the slayer.

"Ru the Eagle-Hearted!" the people duly acknowledged, staring at him
with a reverential wonder.

"How did Ru the Eagle-Hearted kill Grumgra? How did he kill Grumgra?"
came a clamor of inquiries, once the people were convinced of the
glorious truth. "He is not a big man! But Grumgra was so strong he
could choke a wolf to death!"

"Ru killed Grumgra with his wonder stick!" announced Yonyo, eager to
plead the cause of her hero. "He made the stick himself--the gods
showed him how. It is stronger than a big club--and Ru can throw it so
hard it will hit like lightning."

"He can throw it so hard it will hit like lightning!" repeated the
thunderstruck people in chorus, while they began to edge fearfully away
from Ru.

"Grumgra was going to kill him, but Ru was not afraid," Yonyo
explained, enthusiastically. "He would not be afraid of a whole caveful
of Grumgras. He just took his wonder stick, and threw it hard at
Grumgra. And Grumgra fell down--and he was dead!"

"Grumgra fell down--and he was dead!" echoed the mob, unable to find
any other words to voice their amazement.

"See how I use my wonder stick!" illustrated Ru. And before anyone
realized what he intended, he had slipped an arrow into his bow and
sent it crashing against the cave wall.

"The wonder stick is bewitched!" cried one of the people, aghast at
this exhibition. And tremblingly he flung himself down before Ru. "O
Eagle-Hearted," he begged, "do not hit me with your wonder stick!"

As though on an electrical impulse, the others all followed his
example. "O Eagle-Hearted, do not hit us with your wonder stick!"
sobbed and resounded through the cavern in a piteous chorus, while
scores of shadowy figures groveled before Ru.

"I will not hit you with my wonder stick!" promised the Eagle-Hearted.
"Only those who do bad things will be hit by the stick--as Grumgra has
been hit. The others will be spared."

But seeing that the people continued to grovel on the cave floor with
mumbled entreaties, Ru hastened to add: "The gods did not give me the
wonder stick to use against my own tribe--not unless my tribe does evil
things. The gods gave me the wonder stick to drive away the beast-men.
The wonder stick will kill them all!"

"The wonder stick will kill them all!" chorused the marveling people.

Then, observing the reassuring smile in Ru's face, they rose one by one
to their feet, while murmuring hopefully: "The Eagle-Hearted will kill
the beast-men! He will save us from our foes!"

Five or six hours later, the body of the chieftain was borne to its
final rest. In a dark, secluded corner of the cave, not many yards from
the scene of the fatal encounter, a little hollow had been hastily
scooped out with flint shovels and cleavers; and hither Grumgra's
bulky frame was carried on the shoulders of three tribesmen. At his
side, according to the age-old custom of the Umbaddu, his club was
conveniently placed, along with a variety of flint implements and a
handful of fruits and nuts; while his wolfskin robe was wrapped about
him, and the circlet of wolf's fangs fastened about his head. Then,
convinced that their chieftain would be equipped with everything
necessary when the great wind-spirit came to take him away, the people
began to pile earth and stones high above the recumbent form.

Owing to the absence of Zunzun the Marvel-Worker, there was none
to lead in the prayers; yet a multitude of voices began to pray
simultaneously in a babbling confusion, and each in his own way invoked
the gods of the cave, the fire, and the air. Loud and ever louder they
clamored, each striving to drown out the voice of his neighbor, until
the uproar became like a tumult of madmen. But clearly over all, in a
wailing crescendo before which the other voices stopped as if abashed,
there rang forth the sobs and lamentations of a woman. And more
than one man turned to his companions, and murmured: "It is Mog the
Long-Faced! It is Grumgra's first woman!"

Long and bitterly Mog cried out, while beating furiously with her fists
against the rocks that were piling up upon the chieftain's vanishing
form.

And while she screamed and wept, and the familiar, dreaded figure
disappeared beneath the heap of stones, a tardy regret seemed to awaken
in the minds of the people. It was as if they now realized for the
first time that Grumgra was no longer with them--and as if they found
the thought too terrible to endure. "What are we to do now?" they
moaned, after the sobs of Mog had begun to die down and they had caught
their last glimpse of the black hair of the slain one. "What are we to
do now? Who is to be our leader? Who is to tell us what to do? Who is
to say when we shall go out on the hunt, and how we shall build our
fires, and how we shall share our food? Who is to watch over us and
care for us in Grumgra's place? Who? Who? Who?"

"Who but Ru the Eagle-Hearted?" came the eager voice of Yonyo. "Who
but him with his wonder stick?"

"Ru the Eagle-Hearted will watch over us!" cried a chorus of voices,
responsive to the suggestion. "He will be our leader! He will guide us
with his wonder stick!"

And since there was no one to venture a word in dissent, Grumgra's
successor had apparently been chosen.

It was not long before Ru commenced to exercise the powers of his
newly won office. The last stone was barely in place on the grave of
Grumgra when he began to assert himself. Striding to the center of
the gathering while his people withdrew awestricken before him, he
proclaimed: "The Growling Wolf is dead now--so let us forget him. We
have a great and terrible work to do! We must make ready to fight the
beast-men!"

Here he paused a second, while regarding his tribesmen speculatively.
In a moment his eyes fell with a twinkle upon a certain two, and he
continued: "Before we go down to drive the beast-men away, we must
be sure they cannot come up here to fight us in our cave. Kuff the
Bear-Hunter and Woonoo the Hot-Blooded, you go out on the rock in front
of the cave and watch to see that the beast-men do not come. And stay
there till I tell you to come in."

Kuff the Bear-Hunter and Woonoo the Hot-Blooded muttered, but did not
move.

"Go!" commanded Ru, starting with an imperious gesture toward his
former rivals. And menacingly he lifted his bow. "Shall I hit you with
my wonder stick?"

"No! No!" protested Kuff and Woonoo, shrinking back as far as the walls
would permit. But Ru still strode toward them threateningly; and in
another moment they had swung about and fled toward the cave entrance.

"Bru the Scowling-Faced, go and see that they do as I told them!" Ru
ordered.

As Bru sullenly left, Ru turned to his people, and announced: "I have
only one wonder stick now, but the gods will show me how to make more.
First I must say some prayers before the gods, and none of you must
listen, for the gods would grow angry and strike you down. But after I
have made the wonder sticks, I will show you how to use them, so that
you may help me kill the beast-men. Who would like to help?"

For a moment Ru waited. Each man eyed his neighbors fearfully, but no
one replied.

"The gods will not let you all help," Ru stated, as though taking their
willingness for granted. "Zuno the Wily Fox, you may help; and Kori the
Running Deer; and Blab the Big Voice--" And Ru continued until he had
named ten of the ablest and most easily managed of his tribesmen.

Several did, indeed, mutter audibly in protest, and one or two even
ventured a gesture of defiance; but those who had not been named
prodded on the chosen ones; and a few threatening motions with the
flint-headed arrows sufficed to silence even the most fractious.

                             CHAPTER XXVI

                        _Ru the Eagle-Hearted_

Ru's ascension to leadership was followed by six or eight days of
intensive activity, during which the cave buzzed with excitement.

First of all, Ru solved the food problem by showing the people the
secluded cave entrance which he had found; and through this, unobserved
by the beast-men, they passed daily into the woods, returning always
with roots and nuts enough to ward off immediate starvation. Meanwhile
Ru labored assiduously at the construction of bows and arrows, which he
made in an isolated little nook of the cavern, while Yonyo kept watch
to see that no tribesman approached. And several hours each day he
devoted to training the chosen ten in the use of the "wonder stick."
He found not only that he had eager and imitative and hence capable
pupils, but that his own skill vastly improved with practice, so that
he was soon able to direct an arrow with accuracy to almost any desired
spot. This art his followers, likewise, were not slow in acquiring, and
he knew that the time for the encounter with the beast-men could not be
far off.

The interval between the burial of Grumgra and the battle of the
"wonder stick" was marked by two important events. To begin with, there
was the disappearance of Wuff. The young wolf, who had been growing
manifestly restive of late and at times distinctly ill-tempered even
toward his master, at last found the summons of his kind to be stronger
than the appeal of human companionship. Standing with Ru one evening
near the rear cave entrance, he started forward with sudden alertness
and with wildly gleaming eyes as a long-drawn, doleful call sounded
from far away out of the twilight. The next moment he had answered that
call in high-pitched notes of his own--and then suddenly he vanished.
Ru waited for a while, whistling softly to the animal, but Wuff did not
come back; nor did he come back on the next day, nor on the day that
followed. And Ru sighed regretfully, and realized that he had lost a
friend.

The second event was of a more personal nature. It concerned his
courtship of Yonyo--and its successful culmination. Standing proudly
before the tribe in Grumgra's old place beside the fire, he announced
one evening: "Yonyo the Smiling-Eyed is my woman. Is it not so, Yonyo?"

Yonyo came sedately forward, and admitted that it was so--and there was
no one who had anything more to say, although Woonoo the Hot-Blooded
and Kuff the Bear-Hunter did scowl furiously and mutter angrily under
their breath. Ru, however, did not heed them, but proceeded forthwith
to perform a little ceremony which the tradition of the tribe made
necessary. Taking a sharp bit of flint, he cut a sudden gash in Yonyo's
left arm; then, while the blood gushed forth and she bit her lip to
keep back a groan, he made a similar wound in his own arm, muttered a
prayer to the god of the cave, and let a drop of his blood flow into
the released blood of Yonyo and mingle with it. And thus was their
marriage solemnized.

Then, with Yonyo's hand tucked in one of his hands and his club gripped
in the other, he led his bride away with him into their secret nook
among the shadows.

After they had disappeared, an excited chattering burst forth among the
tribespeople, for never had so quiet a wedding been known before. The
older and more experienced folk predicted that not many days would pass
before Ru would be beating Yonyo with his club and taking another woman.

But soon they forgot all about Ru's marriage in contemplation of a more
momentous event.

Curious throngs would gather daily to watch their chieftain and his
chosen ten at practice with the "wonder stick"--and an atmosphere of
dread anticipation filled the cavern, gradually rising to a pitch
of apprehension that compelled prayers from the lips of the more
fearful-minded and put the others in a constant state of shuddering
excitement. For the people realized that the "wonder stick" was to be
the ultimate test not only of Ru's power but of the tribe's chances for
very life.

Ru himself understood this fact not less clearly than any of the
others. He knew that the failure or success of the weapon would decide
his own future and that of his people; and he looked forward to the
approaching conflict with something of the sensations of a general who
knows that a single defeat will mean disaster, a single victory win him
an eternal crown.

Recognizing how much was at stake, he planned his campaign with the
most careful forethought. When at length the chosen day arrived, he
led his ten followers down the cliff in the early dawn, when the
first tinge of gray was barely beginning to touch the cliffs. All had
been carefully trained in the use of the "wonder stick"; and each
man carried one of the weapons and eight or ten flint-tipped arrows.
Confidently they stole from the cave, while the other men stood by in a
glowering silence and the women poured forth encouragement, advice, and
tears; stealthily and without a sound, each a shadow against the dark
rocks, they made their precarious way along the ledges and to the base
of the precipice.

Having reached the floor of the cañon, they crept forward a few dozen
yards with Ru at their head; then, following orders which had been
drilled into their heads beforehand, each concealed himself behind a
boulder. And, until the daylight shone full upon them, not a sound nor
a motion came from any of that watching band.

The beast-men meanwhile were unaware of their presence. The invaders
could see the hideous black forms swarming about the brink of the
river, could see them dipping into the water with hoarse gibbering
and hissing laughter; they could watch some sucking in long thirsty
draughts, some chewing greedily at great bones, some casting logs into
the blazing fire, and some snarling and quarreling like embattled dogs.

Suddenly, leaping up from behind his rock with waving arms, Ru let
forth a shrill and blood-curdling scream, the battle-cry of his
tribe--"Oo-ow, oo-ow, oo-ow!" And at the same time his followers darted
into the open, brandishing their bows high in air and joining in Ru's
ferocious howl. And the watchers on the cliff above took up the call,
so that it seemed like the roaring of a multitude.

The beast-men, startled, ceased their screeching and jabbering, and
stared as if thunderstruck at their unexpected foes. For a moment they
seemed unable to utter a sound; then confused low cries of surprise and
fear broke from their lips.

Headed by Ru, the assailants were meanwhile striding forward. And
the hairy, growling throng, unorganized and terror-smitten, appeared
uncertain whether to charge and overwhelm the intruders or dash for
safety to the woods.

But when Ru and his followers were within a hundred yards of the
nearest beast-man, a tall befeathered individual stalked forth from the
crowd, beating his chest and growling pugnaciously. In his enormous
right hand was a club nearly as tall as himself; above his thick
eyebrow ridge was a ghastly painted streak of red; his teeth, chiseled
to a point and stained black, gaped like the fangs of some gruesome
monster. At his side, encouraged by his boldness, shambled a dozen of
his fellows, their forms gigantic and stooping, their evil little eyes
staring out from thickets of black hair. All snarled and angrily swung
their clubs, while behind them their people pressed, gibbering at a
distance, as if expecting Ru's tiny band to turn and flee.

But they did not turn and flee. Some, indeed, did tremble and draw back
a pace; but there came the reassuring, commanding voice of Ru: "Now,
now is the time!" And instead of taking flight, they hastily adjusted
the arrows to their bows.

Still the feathered one stalked onward, side by side with his mighty
companions. The space between them and Ru had been cut in half; in
another instant the invaders would feel the touch of their clubs.

"Now, now is the time!" repeated Ru. And the bows were drawn back by
powerful hands, then furiously recoiled. There came a sudden whizzing
sound--and an amazing thing befell.

Howling with agony, two of the beast-men stopped short, clutched at
long sticks protruding from their chests, staggered, and fell to earth
while the blood spouted from new-made wounds.

Their fellows, startled and aghast, halted and turned with bewildered
cries to the smitten ones. But even while they gaped and hesitated,
there came another whizzing sound, and one of the men screamed, dropped
his club, and wildly clutched a crimson wrist; while another, reeling
as the blood burst from the split arteries of his neck, gave out a
series of horrible gasps and gurgles, and toppled helplessly to earth.

Again came the battle-cry of the Umbaddu--"Oo-ow, oo-ow, oo-ow!"--taken
up by the watchers on the cliff, and repeated in a long-drawn, furious
chorus.

And while the uninjured beast-men, rooted to the spot by terror, gaped
stupidly at their foes, they heard once more that mysterious whizzing
sound--and still another of their number shrieked with pain, and fell
to earth with a long reddened stick protruding from between his ribs.
And this time the stricken one was the feathered giant!

A low moan of horror and dismay sounded from the watching ranks of
beast-men. And rising to a deep-toned dreary monody, it seemed like the
mourning of a multitude.

Simultaneously, louder and more insistent than before, there rang forth
that terrorizing battle-cry, "Oo-ow, oo-ow, oo-ow, oo-ow, oo-ow!"

Then came another ominous whizzing, and another beast-man fell with a
scream. And brandishing his bow high above his head, Ru started forward
with a great leap; while after him dashed his followers in a yelling
band.

The beast-men screeched with terror. Those nearest the charging squad
dropped their clubs, wheeled about, and dashed pell-mell toward their
frightened fellows.

It was as though they had touched a spark to dry straw. The flight
turned into a panic; in all directions the beast-men began to scamper,
howling and bellowing with fear, tumbling over one another in mad haste
to escape, scattering and running like stampeding sheep. Into the
concealment of the woods they vanished, men, women, and children in an
insane mob, until in a moment the last of them had been lost to view.

And Ru, following with hoots and screams of triumph, knew that the
battle had been won. The beast-men would not return; the "wonder stick"
had made the new cave secure for his people....

High above him, from the throng on the cliff, there still sounded that
tremulous, victorious chorus, "Oo-ow, oo-ow, oo-ow, oo-ow, oo-ow,
oo-ow...."

                              CONCLUSION

For many generations the legends of the Umbaddu told of the deeds of Ru
the Eagle-Hearted. From father to son, and from father to son, and then
again from father to son, passed the stories of the great chieftain
who had brought his tribe to the warm lands and the cave above the
river, and who had driven out the beast-men and given his people the
"wonder stick." It was known how he had twice died and come back to the
world; how he had made friends of the wind-spirit and the spirit of
the waters; how he had tamed even the wild creatures, so that a great
wolf, whom none other dare approach, would come out of the woods to
lick his hands. And it was said that he had led his tribe through many
bold hunts and many brave wars; and that always at his side walked his
woman, Yonyo the Smiling-Eyed.

Mothers, whispering by the light of the cave fire when winter nights
were long, would counsel their half-grown lads to try to be like Ru;
fathers would murmur how tall he was of limb, how firm of arm, how
noted for his courage from his childhood days.... Thus the years and
the centuries went by, while the Umbaddu tribe throve and multiplied,
and sent out its children to occupy caves near at hand and then caves
many days' travel away.... And as the waves of migration spread, and
the people wandered into strange hills and woods, and sowed the seeds
of that which was one day to transform the world, they bore with them
always one prized and reverenced name, the name of him who was not as
other men but was kin to the spirits of the air and the fire--the name
of Ru the Eagle-Hearted.

                                THE END