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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a7b3860 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #65186 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/65186) diff --git a/old/65186-0.txt b/old/65186-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index a451d45..0000000 --- a/old/65186-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2827 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Beyond the Fearful Forest, by Geoff St. -Reynard - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Beyond the Fearful Forest - -Author: Geoff St. Reynard - -Release Date: April 29, 2021 [eBook #65186] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEYOND THE FEARFUL FOREST *** - - - - - BEYOND THE FEARFUL FOREST - - By Geoff St. Reynard - - No hunter had ever dared to follow the great Knifetooth - Bear into his Fearful Forest. For beyond it lay - a greater peril--the land of _The Nameless_.... - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy - April 1951 - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -_The bones lie light in the fertile soil of Sunset Fields. You can prod -them out with a few thrusts of your bare toes. The roots of the big -luxurious tree ferns carry skulls and skins and back-bones up to the -frond-filtered shining of day, and even the delicately questing purple -tendrils of the burrowflower may drag an occasional finger or toe bone -from its uneasy rest, so light they lie._ - -_The bones do not decay. Nobody knows why. Animal bones decay. The -skeletons of our own revered dead fall away to powder in a generation -or two. But the bones of Sunset Fields are like the unchanging granite -of the jagged cliffs, and of them we make our arrow points and lance -heads, our hammers and our needles. It is more difficult to work the -bones, to chip and flake them into form, than it is to shape our tools -of metal; for we have ways of heating and molding these, subtle methods -handed down from the far olden times of our fathers' fathers. There is -no way to heat and mold a bone._ - -_Our singers tell a legend that--oh, many years ago!--a man went by -stealth and slew another man with his lance. Not many of us believed -the legend even when we were children. To kill a man! Our singers say -that he possessed a beautiful woman whom the slayer desired. Who would -desire the woman of another man? Such a thing seems incredible and -childish, even to a child. There are women for all men, men for all -women, and do we not each love all others equally, reserving a special -love only for our own mate? But the legend is sung that after this -bloody deed was done, many men fought because of it, and their curst -bones lie in the earth of Sunset Fields forever, a memorial to their -fantastic stupidity._ - -_It is a legend of the singers. Nobody really knows why the bones do -not decay._ - -_Beyond Sunset Fields run the three brooks: the Gray, the Blue, and -the Crimson. Far to the south they meet, and there become the Wide -River that flows turbulently on until it reaches the silver dusk that -encircles the world. There was a man of our people who once set out to -find the end of the Wide River, but he never came back._ - -_Beyond the trio of brooks there rise the first grim ranks of the -Fearful Forest, line after line of tall broad-leafed trees so evenly -spaced you would think they had been planted by design. Pass the -palisades of this forest and brave its terrors, its darkness and great -angry beasts, and you will come after a time to the other side; and -there, beyond a black plain where nothing grows save crawling vines and -nauseous weed patches, you may see the towering cliffs of the country -of The Nameless...._ - - * * * * * - -I am a hunter. My father was a singer, and his mate also; but I have a -poor voice, good for little except to shout across the valleys to my -friends, so my father, affectionately calling me Bear-throat, counseled -me to become a hunter; and this I did. - -I am strong, of course. My arms are brown as a deer's hide and they -swell with muscle. My legs are sturdy and, though not thickset, can -carry me at a run for the space of a day without tiring. I do not boast -when I say this, for after all I am a hunter and my arms and legs are -my tools as much as my lances and arrows and metal knife. My name is -Ahmusk, though I am more generally hailed as Bear-throat, the nickname -my father gave to me. I have eyes the color of Blue Brook where it runs -into a deep pool. My hair, the pale golden hue of the earliest corn of -autumn, is cut short in the fashion of hunters, falling scarcely to my -shoulders in back, in front sliced off evenly just above my eyes. And I -think this is all that need be said concerning the person of Ahmusk the -hunter. - -The day of which I would speak first was a day of cheerful sun and -small breezes, with that crispness in the air that makes a man stand -tall and blink once or twice, and perhaps shout for joy. I did just -that, after I had wakened, and then I sat on the edge of my platform -and looking down the tree's trunk at the grass below I was astonished -at its bright new-seeming greenness. I sucked in a great chestful -of air and shouted again. In the tree nearest mine there were two -platforms, and now someone sat up on the higher and rubbed her eyes and -grumbled. "What is it, Bear-throat?" - -"The morning, girl, the morning," I said heartily. - -"Need you be a herald of the dawn _every_ day?" she asked, -mock-petulantly. And I laughed. - -"Throw off your furs and smell the wind, Lora," I told her. "In the -changing of the moon to nothing and back to fulness, the snow will -fly. Today is the best day of the year." - -"To you, every day is the best of the year, or at least you say so each -morning." She put back her sleeping furs and stood up, naked and young -and beautiful. "When we are mated," she said, "I will see that you wake -silently, and slide down the tree to find my breakfast while I sleep as -long as I wish!" - -"What a shrew," I said happily. "What a ruler of men." - -"You will see." She slipped her light garment over her head. "I will -quiet you down, young Bear-throat!" - -"I hope the day is soon, then, for your mating," growled her father -from the lower platform of their family's tree. "Perhaps good folk will -then be allowed to rest." - - * * * * * - -Grinning, I hung by my hands from the edge of my platform and dropped -to the ground. Fifteen feet from toe to turf is no drop at all to a -skilled hunter. The watchers were coming down the glen from their posts -of the night, yawning and rubbing their eyes. I hailed them and they -answered with waves of their arms. - -"Any disturbances?" - -"You would have heard, Ahmusk of the keen ears," said their leader. -"No, we glimpsed a knifetooth bear traveling his solitary way to the -Gray Brook, but if he killed thereafter we were too distant to hear -it. No noises save the small animals going and coming, going and -coming all night long." - -"It is nearly a moon's change since old Halfspoor ranged near the -valley," I said. "He will be coming back soon, if I know his ways; and -then there will be disturbances in the night." - -The leader of the watchers shivered. As far apart as we stood, I saw -him shudder. "But do not lose your day's sleep over him," I shouted -reassuringly. "This very moment I go to look for his track. If he -ranges within our lands I shall know, and a pair of hunters will watch -with you." - -"Watching is our duty, not yours," he answered a little sullenly. -"Beware of Halfspoor, or he will be using your pelt for a sleeping fur, -Ahmusk." - -I was angered, I suppose. A hunter's pride is a powerful thing. -"Halfspoor is only a knifetooth bear," I told him. "He is not, after -all, one of The Nameless." - -They looked at me in horror; and then they turned and went to their -trees without a word. I felt ashamed of myself. It was an evil thing -to use that terrible name so lightly. Then Lora had clambered down -her tree and was standing near me, looking up into my face, so that I -forgot all that I had been saying and knew only that every day this -girl became more lovely. - -"Good morning, Lora," I said. - -"Are you really going to look for Halfspoor?" she asked me, her eyes, -that were like the purple bells of the burrowflower, all wide and -wondering. - -"I am." - -"Perhaps he has left our lands." - -"I have known Halfspoor for five years, Lora, or it may be six. I know -his rangings and his times for killing; I recognize his track though it -be on the hardest ground, and I could tell you which snuffling grunt -was his if a full score of knifetooth bears were all talking at once. -He is due to come back today, or tomorrow or the next day. He is old -and wily, but set in his ways." - -"I hope he has died on the banks of the Wide River," she said, brushing -a strand of her onyx-black hair away from her face. "I hope his bones -are gnawed by jackal-rats." - -"And I hope your wish does not come true," I said lightly. "Because I -have chosen his hide for our mating rug, young Lora." - -"Oh!" she exclaimed suddenly, her great eyes going wide again. "I had -forgotten to tell you. I was asleep when you returned last night." - -"I trailed a wounded deer far down the Blue Brook, and caught him late. -What had you forgotten, sleek Lora?" - -"The guardian Laq asked me to be his mate. It was in the afternoon, and -he asked me in the presence of my father. When I reminded him that you -were to be my mate, he asked my father for me." - - * * * * * - -I was shocked, then angered above any anger I had ever known. "He asked -you, and then your _father_!" I roared. "What had your father to do -with it?" - -"Laq says that in the far olden times it was the custom to ask a -woman's parents. My father was enraged and told him that we were not -living in the far olden times. Laq said it was a pity we were not, -as then the people had respect for their guardians. And my father, -fuming and rumbling until I thought he would begin to give off sparks -like Ruddy Mountain, told Laq that even a guardian had no right to ask -for the promised mate of another man. Laq then departed, saying he -would ask me again after Halfspoor had killed you, dear Bear-throat. -Halfspoor again! His cruel words had slipped my mind until I spoke them -now. Must you go looking for Halfspoor?" - -"I must." Taking my bow from my shoulder, I tested it from habit, and -counted the arrows in my quiver to ascertain that there were fourteen -of them, for fourteen arrows are accounted lucky for a day's hunt. "I -do not understand Laq," I told her. "He has broken two of the strongest -customs. To ask you when you are promised ... and then to ask your -father for you, as though you were a bone hammer or a sleeping fur! Laq -must be losing his wits." - -"Perhaps he was drunk on tree fern juice." She dismissed Laq and -all his works with a shrug. "The sun has lifted over the hills, -Bear-throat. If Halfspoor is so much more attractive than I am, why -then go to him, young hunter with blind eyes." - -I patted her smooth cheek. "Young, but not blind. Did I not choose the -prettiest girl of all our folk, when we two were scarcely older than -sucklings?" And with this compliment, which made her preen, I left her -and walked swiftly down the glen toward Sunset Fields. - - * * * * * - -By the time I had crossed Sunset Fields and come to the Gray Brook, -I had forgotten Laq and pushed Lora to the back of my mind. The day -was perfect. Every bird in the world was making merry on his twig, -every small animal had left his burrow to romp drunkenly through the -underbrush, intoxicated with the bright keen air of morning. I passed -a doe with her fawn, trotting happily toward the water; and I did not -bring her down, though she would have been easy prey and good eating, -for we shared a joy that made us sib to one another. - -Still, for me the pleasure of autumn was now only a background against -which my thoughts of Halfspoor the bear marched in orderly fashion -while I reviewed them one by one. I recalled his slayings of men, his -occasional and very skillful stalking of the night watchers in their -trees at either end of our valley. I remembered how on this morning he -would be found asleep in his old lair under the two fallen petrified -tree ferns downstream near the Blue Brook, while on that morning he -would be gnawing the bones of bison or cave cat or perhaps even of -jackal-rat (for he was a dirty feeder, was Halfspoor), far up the -Crimson. I visualized his footprint, unique among knifetooth bears, -measuring as long as my arm from wrist to shoulder, and with three -outer toes gone from the right hind pug. As I waded through the Gray -Brook's chilled waters I could almost imagine that I saw the maimed -sign of his pad on the silver strand before me. "How well I know that -track!" I exclaimed to myself, with an egotistic pride in my craft; -and then I came out of the waters to find that, far from so clearly -imagining it in all its enormous crippled particulars, I had actually -been looking at the veritable track of Halfspoor himself. I was -exultant and humiliated at the same time. - -Halting above it, I tested my bow once more, and counted the fourteen -bone-pointed arrows in their quiver that I had made from the paw and -forearm pelt of another knifetooth bear, my lucky quiver with the claws -still hanging from its tip. The metal knife was in its sheath at my -hip, the bone hatchet dangled from a sling handy to my left hand. -I took a deep breath and began to follow the great mutilated prints -overland toward the second of the three streams. - -Soon I had crossed the Blue and was approaching the Crimson Brook. -Halfspoor was perhaps two hours ahead of me. Where he had trodden in -sand, the water had filled his track, and where he had ambled heavily -across grassy spaces, the blades had sprung nearly to uprightness -again. He was traveling slowly, inspecting logs and coverts, probably -talking to himself in the gruff complaining whine of his breed. Here -and there he had lingered a moment or two, and in these places I could -often catch a whiff of his rank ursine odor. - - * * * * * - -At first I had no desire to catch up with Halfspoor. Almost would I -rather have come face to face with one of The Nameless! No hunter is -a match for a full-grown knifetooth bear, standing as he does more -than twice as tall as a man, with an unbelievable bulk that must -outweigh twenty-five humans, every ounce of which is full of fight -and choler and wickedness. His twin saber-tusks jut down in great -deadly arcs, yellow and sharp and long as a hunting arrow. His head -is larger than that of any animal, even than that of the cave cat who -lives to the north and can be heard yowling a full day's journey away. -When a knifetooth bear opens his maw it is like staring into a huge -fang-rimmed scarlet well. His paws are swift gargantuan weapons that -can enfold and crush the largest stag. Oh, a terrible beast is old -knifetooth! And Halfspoor was the biggest, the angriest, the wisest and -most hateful of his tribe. - -I tracked him but did not hurry overmuch; when I had decided where -he would spend the night, I would return to the glen, and persuade a -dozen of our hunters to accompany me to find him. If he lay over a -kill, stupid and drowsy with eating, we would attack him. Some of us -might die, but Halfspoor also would die ... if we were lucky. By right -of my trailing I would then lay claim to his pelt, and from it make a -mating fur for Lora. And the watchers would feel happier as they sat -the nights through in their trees at the ends of the valley, because -Halfspoor would never trouble them again. - -On this I thought as I crossed the Crimson Brook, and saw the first -line of trees rising from gray tangled thickets that marked the -beginning of the Fearful Forest. Halfspoor's pugmarks went straight -toward them. And it was then that I began to form my daring plan. The -bear was obviously going to go to ground somewhere in the woodland, and -no hunter would follow me into that dreadful place after sundown. - -Why not follow him and kill him myself? - -Of all the folk, I alone had killed a knifetooth bear. Truly he had -been but partially grown, and I had not deliberately stalked him to -kill; no, I had blundered on him and it had been slay or be slain. But -in that fight I had learnt much of a knifetooth's tactics, blind spots -and weaknesses. His arm was now my quiver, his hide my sleeping rug. -Halfspoor was only twice his size, at most, and surely the best hunter -of the glen was a match for him? I who could loose four arrows and -notch a fifth before the first struck its mark a hundred paces off--why -should old tribal fears and the experiences of lesser men keep me from -trying my hand at conquering this maimed brute? - -I went into the dank dimness of the Fearful Forest. - - * * * * * - -There is something I do not like about a deep tangled forest, and -that is the lack of sunshine. The light is green and cool, and at -intervals you will see a thin beautiful shaft of yellow spearing down -from an opening far above; but unless you come to a glade there is no -chance of catching a glimpse of the sun in its glory riding the blue -fleece-clouded sky, and without the sun I feel lonely and somehow -half-lost. It is why I would make an indifferent watcher, for they must -wake by night and sleep by day. I am a sun-worshipper of the first -order. I need its blazing all about me in order to be wholly myself. - -Of all woodlands, the least lovely is the Fearful Forest. As I have -said, its trees are spaced evenly as though they had been planted by -someone in the far olden times. Their wide leaves are dark blue-green -with emerald veins running beneath the surface. Their boles are thick -and have rough hard bark, unlike the smooth-skinned tree ferns of -Sunset Fields. Between their roots orange and black mushrooms and -strange pale sick-looking fungi lurk, and crawling upward toward the -invisible sun go lichens of every hue from mauve to sanguine. Where -the branches begin there is a riot of parasitical growths, thick vines -and murderous mistletoe, climbing plants that bear huge trumpets of -orchids, every sort of disagreeable creeper that lives on the energy -of its stronger brethren. All this vile vegetation makes an almost -impenetrable roof over the whole Fearful Forest. On the ground between -the trees lie heaps of long-decayed touchwood, squat thickets of brier, -lightning-blasted limbs only beginning to crumble, and a deep soft -carpet of dead things, from the half-dissolved flora of which peer -white rib cases and gleaming, grinning skulls. The Fearful Forest reeks -of death, of murdered animals and plants, of life that is not healthy -nor productive of anything save more death. - -There are trails through the depths of this dismal woodland, paths -made by bears or stags or the giant dogwolves that range in packs of a -hundred. Smaller aisles are made by jackal-rats and the other lesser -animals. Halfspoor was following a deep trench of a trail that ran -almost straight toward the opposite side of the forest. - - * * * * * - -For a long while I followed this pathway, glancing at the ground -now and again to be sure the knifetooth bear had not turned off; -and my mind was oppressed against my will by thoughts of horror, -generated, doubtless, in the dreary sunless vistas about me. Indeed, -I would have gone back had it not been for the bold and idiotic plan -I had conceived, of slaying Halfspoor single-handed. Several times a -jackal-rat crossed my road, snarling at me, its scurfy brown hackles -lifted. The third such loathsome beast I skewered with an arrow out of -sheer dislike, retrieving my shaft before I passed on. - -Suddenly I halted. Before me on a patch of mold lay the print of the -bear, and within its great outline was a second track, that of a man. -Another human was following Halfspoor! I was astonished. I knew where -every hunter of the glen-folk ranged today, and none should be near the -Fearful Forest. Kneeling, I stared closely at the footmark. I knew it -well, as I knew the spoor of every man in this region. Laq the guardian -was before me in the woodland. - -Laq! He who had so oddly broken two of the oldest customs--say rather -immutable laws--of humanity. We are supposed to love one another -equally, and for the most part we do; reserving, as I have said, -a special love for our mates and a heightened reverence for our -guardians. But I could not feel any very powerful affection for the -guardian Laq that day. I was disgruntled and wrathful to find that he -was somewhere ahead. - -Certainly he had a perfect right to be in the Fearful Forest. The -guardians passed this way with some frequency, and no hunter or singer -or watcher of the night envied them their solitary journeys ... nor -their mysterious and appalling duties at their destination! - -For the guardians were the only barrier, as we all had been told from -childhood, that stood between mankind and The Nameless. The calling was -hereditary, limited to certain families. Dedicated at birth to their -lifelong task, the guardians learned their secrets from their fathers, -and imparted not a syllable of them to anyone outside the craft so long -as they lived. It was thought that perhaps only those of select blood -lines had minds capable of holding these secrets without going insane; -it was thought--oh, many many things were thought of the guardians! -Generally aloof, wrapped in the cloak of esoteric knowledge, they lived -among us as superior beings, complex where we were simple, sober where -we were light-hearted, supremely important where any one of us could be -replaced by a score of others. - -Over The Nameless the guardians had power, and kept them confined to -their stark and blighted-seeming country beyond the Fearful Forest. I -never knew a man so daring or so rash as to ask any sort of impertinent -question of a guardian, whether about his work or his cabalistic -secrets or his terrible charges. The less said or even thought of The -Nameless, the better. - -So the guardians moved between the glens and the jagged cliffs, revered -by men and shunned by beasts of prey, accepting food and comforts and -at times a mate from our ranks; the sole protection of humanity from -their age-old enemies.... - -_The Nameless!_ - - * * * * * - -Suddenly I realized I was approaching the limits of the Fearful Forest. -I peered keenly at the great mutilated tracks in the mold. Yes, it was -still Halfspoor I followed, and here was Laq's mark too. - -I think it was then that I began to feel fear, when I knew that I -should have to skirt the country of The Nameless. It never entered my -head that Halfspoor would go straight on across the blackened plain; -surely not even a bear would pass too near the forbidden lands. But he -was evidently going to have a distant look at them, and so perforce I -must have one likewise. - -Soon the trees thinned a little, and daylight crept toward me from -between their boles. Then in a few moments I stood on the edge of the -woodland. I began to sing to myself in a tuneless mumble. There was -very little joy in me, and I felt I would be happier with some man-made -noise, even such noises as came from my unskilled throat. - -One sweeping glance I gave the plain before me. There were the slimy -pools with their odious tufts of weeds and strings of water vines -emerging like sentient things of evil. There were the undulating bare -stretches of black dead soil from which nothing sprouted. And beyond, -strange cragged rocks and cairns upreared haphazardly in profusion for -many thousands of paces, until at last the raw red cliffs leaped up to -cry a halt to them and all this barren, frightful country ... beyond -the cliffs, what man knew what might be? - -One glance, and then I flung myself into a pile of touchwood, -scattering the punk in blinding, billowing clouds and bruising my -shoulder on a hidden stump. As I had heard the thin twang of a -bowstring, I now heard the quick heavy crump of an arrow striking a -tree, just before my face was buried in the crumbling tinder. I rolled -over behind a log, eyes full of the dry powdery stuff and nostrils -twitching against the longing to sneeze. My own bow was in my hand -and an arrow nocked before I rubbed my vision clear; then I peered -cautiously over the log in the direction whence the shaft had come. - - * * * * * - -Nothing moved, so presently I bounced to my feet and went over to the -right to inspect the arrow, which had buried itself two finger-lengths -in the bark. I broke it off and stared at the feathers and green-dyed -butt. It was one I had made myself. - -Standing without movement, I listened hard, and at last heard someone's -careless foot crack a twig in the distance. Then I allowed myself the -luxury of an ear-shattering sneeze. - -One of our own glen-folk had shot at me. There was no escaping that -fact. It might have been anyone save a hunter, for all of us made our -own weapons, giving the surplus to be divided among the less adroit men -of the other callings. - -In the split second between the string's song and the thunk of the -arrow, it had flashed into my mind that one of The Nameless was -shooting at me. For of course no one knew exactly what they did, just -how they injured men, or even what they looked like; they might be -ogres with twelve arms and seven heads, carrying half-a-dozen bows.... - -But this was an arrow of _my making_. That meant that the shot had -been a warning to return to a safer place, an admonition that I was -wandering too far, sent dramatically by one of the patrolling guardians. - -Yet why had he not merely stepped up and warned me? All the guardians -knew me well. They knew I would be tractable to any suggestion. Why had -he shot and fled? - -So conditioned is our race to amity and all-embracing brotherly love, -so incredible is the thought of violence between men, that it took -quite five minutes of cogitation before the terrible idea occurred -to me: that it might have been Laq, a jealous and hate-filled Laq, -shooting not to warn, but to murder. - -I remembered the legend of the bones of Sunset Fields, and a sickness -took me in the pit of the stomach for a while. Then I put the grotesque -thought from me, and went to look for Halfspoor's trail once more. - - * * * * * - -It ran clear and straight out across the black plain; I rubbed my chin -and hesitated briefly. Then, nocking an arrow, I strode out and away -from the edge of the Fearful Forest. My skin began to crawl, crawl -with dread, but with scowling eyes I traced the prints before me, and -there was no possibility in my mind of turning back now. Remembrance of -the shaft in the tree was angering me more with every step. Warning -or murder weapon, its insolent caveat was the final stimulation I had -needed to force my frightened body onward. - -If you are not a hunter, perhaps you will not understand the intense -and passionate ascendancy that a stalk may gain over a man's will. He -begins in a spirit of sport, it may be, thinking, "I shall pit my wits -against this stag--or bison, or cave cat--and see if I can out-think -him." Then after so long he begins to feel feverish about the temples, -his hands sweat, his breath comes shorter; and suddenly it is not an -idle hour's sport, but a whole life he is living in these moments, a -veritable microcosm of existence, and the quarry is not simply a great -dangerous animal, but all foemen, all desirable goals, everything he -wants for himself and in the same moment everything he has fought and -will fight forever. I cannot make it plainer. It is just this: the -longer the hunting, the more acute grows the urgency to come up with -and slay this fleeing creature, whether it be jackal-rat or eagle or -two-ton knifetooth bear. If the hunter be a real man, he will not cease -from pursuit while there is wind in his lungs and a modicum of strength -in his hands. - -Even though the game lead him into such a place as the country of The -Nameless, from which, as we all have been told from infancy, there -is no escape, your true hunter cannot stand and let it go. I had -been making pictures in my head for half a day's spooring, of what I -should do to this great ursine brute when I caught him; I was entirely -incapable of returning empty-handed. I think that even without the -impetus of that furtive skulker with the arrow, I would have gone on. -As it was ... I quickened my pace. - -The blackened plain was broader than it had seemed from the forest. I -trotted briskly over it, avoiding the stinking pools, and on all its -grim surface nothing moved except myself. The pugmarks of Halfspoor -went straight as an owl's death-strike toward the broken cairns and -ragged rocks. Biting my lips with determination, I followed them. I -was in a strange state of single-mindedness, like a man drunken on -fermented tree fern sap who knows only that he wants to do one thing -and that, no matter how ridiculous it may be, nothing will stop him -from doing it. - - * * * * * - -Already I had gone a thousand paces farther than any man of my -race--save the guardians--had ever gone before. The earth beneath my -bare toes was gritty, almost like powdered stone, and I did not wonder -that nothing grew here except in the scummy pools of stagnant rainwater. - -Now the first of the queer cairns was before me. Halfspoor had gone -around it. So did I. - -A shadow moved in the far corner of my left eye. I gazed swiftly -toward it, but it was gone. - -A shudder ran up the back of my legs and quivered across my shoulders -till my hands shook. Yet my stalking-madness would not let me be long -afraid. - -Here was a plot of ground between two walls of unevenly-piled rocks. -Trails of jackal-rats threaded its smooth surface, and across -Halfspoor's prints ran those of a big lone dogwolf. I was bewildered. -Could _this_ be the country of The Nameless, over which even the eagles -feared to soar? Or did it lie, perhaps, beyond those bleak cliffs -yonder? - -Here Halfspoor had caught himself a jackal-rat. Said I not that he was -a foul feeder? He had torn the scavenger in two and spent five or ten -minutes in wolfing down the tenderer portions. - -Where was he heading, this temerarious bear? What curious siren call -was luring him (and quite possibly me) to destruction? - -I paused by a wall, to pick out with the point of my knife a thorn that -had been working its way into my heel. This wall, now: it appeared to -have been built a-purpose. The base was straight and made of thick -square blocks, the upper rows knocked a little out of line but still -fairly even. Between the stones was a crumbly, grainy material, and in -places it still adhered to the rock in lumps and patches. I scratched -my head over it, forgetting Halfspoor. Suppose, now, a man wanted -to build a wall of such huge stones--provided he found a way to move -them in the first place, for they were enormously heavy--would he -not concoct some gummy or cohesive substance with which to hold them -together? And in the course of time, of many moons and years, would -this substance not possibly harden and then decay, leaving traces such -as I now pried away with my thumbnail? - -But what would a man want with a wall like this? - - * * * * * - -A light shone in my mind. Why, if he had such a wall erected across one -end of a glen, it might keep the carnivores from his tribe's trees, and -there would be no need for more than one or two night watchers! - -If I lived to return to our valley, I would lay this idea before my -people. It was amazingly simple, and yet new. Surely no one had ever -thought of it before. - -Well, I went on through the rocky ruins. - -Halfspoor was heading for the cliffs. In this bad unfamiliar soil it -was hard to judge the age of his traces, but I thought he could not be -more than half an hour ahead of me now. - -Again a shadow moved just beyond the range of my vision, and again when -I looked around it had gone. - -I thought of Laq. I should have traced his footprints at the edge of -the wood and discovered the truth concerning that arrow. - -Shadows.... - -I was not exactly happy. But I traveled on over Halfspoor's trail, -committed to the rash impulsive adventure beyond recall. At one point -I passed a lair, dug out beneath one of the shapeless cairns and lined -with torn fur, which stunk of dogwolf; the bones of many big hares -littered the ground before its mouth, but there were none of the fierce -occupants at home just then, and I passed on. There were more signs of -beasts hereabouts than one could find in all the valleys back beyond -Sunset Fields, and my amazement grew within me. This was not what the -guardians had told us concerning the country of The Nameless, they who -were doom and destruction to everything that drew breath. - -Here was a place where Halfspoor had seated himself to rest, in a -corner of the ancient walls. Tiny tufts of grizzled fur were left -sticking to the rough surface, where the bear had rubbed his back -contentedly over the stones. I inhaled deeply of his scent. He was not -far ahead now! - - * * * * * - -Indeed he was not; less than two hundred cautious paces had I gone -when his mighty frame rose before me, towering up beyond a rock so -abruptly that I thought he must have heard me and lain in wait. Then -I realized, even as my fingers flew in a panic to my quiver, that his -back was toward me and he was staring forward and up, making a guttural -pleading sort of noise in his chest. I could scarcely shoot him in the -back (it would only have enraged him anyway), so I slipped off to the -left and crept along behind a low broken wall until I judged I was -opposite him. Carefully I raised my head. There he was, all fourteen -feet of him, his monstrous head tipped back and his mouth open, so that -his twin fangs in profile seemed but a single terrible yellow tusk. -I might have lanced an arrow through his cranium then, but ... well, -Ahmusk the hunter is no assassin. When the day comes on which I dare -not fight fairly, even with a knifetooth bear, then I shall break my -bow and take to garland-weaving. - -I stared up to see what he was moaning at. Before him at a little -distance rose a thing like a flat-faced precipice, which I had been -watching and wondering about for some minutes. It appeared to have been -_constructed_, like the low walls I had examined; but its stones were -even larger than theirs, and its overall surface much smoother. At -regular intervals, and in series of evenly spaced lines, across this -uncanny cliff, there ran large square openings, like many blind eyes -in an ogre. There were five of these horizontal lines of holes, rising -up until the top of the cliff all shattered and craggy put an end to -them. I would say this strange erection was more than seventy feet high. - -Framed in one of the holes on the second level sat another knifetooth -bear, deep brown where Halfspoor was grizzled, smaller than the old -scoundrel by a third of his bulk, and--my word on it!--an expression of -coyness about her shaggy face that nearly made me burst out laughing. -This was the lodestone which had dragged him inexorably over the brooks -and through the Fearful Forest, even into the land of The Nameless. A -female! A bear-wench! - -She glared at him sidelong, her black nose pointed down and her -comparatively short two-foot fangs digging into her shoulder; while -Halfspoor, giddy and fatuous with love, made his drooling noises of -courtship. - - * * * * * - -I sat down with a bump--he was oblivious to me and to everything but -his light-o'-love--and chuckled helplessly. Then I frowned. What -should I do? Leap up and dance to attract his attention? Or leave -him to his wooing and trust to run across his trail another day? You -will understand that my stalking-fever, which even the country of -The Nameless had not been able to dispel, was misted away by this -development as though it had never been. Poor old Halfspoor! It would -be a scurvy trick to interrupt him now with death. - -And even as I thought these comradely thoughts, the whine of an arrow -came from nowhere and on its heels the angry squall of the giant bear. -I twisted round and looked over the wall. There was a shaft, fleshed in -his furry thigh; and Halfspoor was gazing at me with no friendliness -whatever. - -It was no time for idle wondering as to the source of that arrow. -Indeed, I think I knew instinctively who had sent it over my head into -the courting bruin. But as I leaped the scattered rocks and dodged the -higher walls of that ruinous place, I was seeking only an advantageous -battleground, not the stealthy prowler with the bow. At my back I -could hear the wrathful snorting of the knifetooth bear, the swift -thud-thud of his enormous paws, and the rattle of stones dislodged by -his whirlwind passage. - -My bow was in my hand, a lean arrow nocked on the cord. Hastily as I -ran I gripped two others between the fingers of my left hand. Skirting -a heap of gray lichen-grown rubble, I whirled on my toes and sent the -first missile back at him. When I could risk a glance again, he had -fallen a little behind, being some forty long paces in the rear, and -was swatting impatiently at the broken shaft protruding from his thigh. -I think my own shot had missed him, and considering my haste, I was not -surprised. - -I halted and taking a decent aim I loosed one at his head. At the -same moment he roared loudly, opening his immense mouth to its full -extent. Luck not being with me, the arrow glanced off one of his -overgrown fangs with a sharp click, which appeared to startle Halfspoor -considerably, because he stopped dead and blinked down his muzzle in a -quaint way. I shot the third of my arrows and tore a long red furrow up -one gray-sprinkled cheek. Then, as he was nearly atop me in four sudden -raging bounds, I fled like a hare amongst the ruins. His coughing and -bellowing echoed like implacable thunder in my ears. - - * * * * * - -There was a deep and narrow gut of a trench that ran between two high -stone walls. In jumping it I had an idea; doubled back, narrowly missed -being decapitated by a swipe of one savage paw, and dived over the -rocks into this curious thoroughfare. Scuttling like a jackal-rat, I -went on toes and fingers off to the right, with Halfspoor's vociferance -threatening to crack my eardrums. Two or three times he reached down -for a blow at my back, and I actually felt the wind of his pad's thrust -on my nape. Then he darted ahead, if such a titanic monster may be said -to dart, and leaning over one wall he waited for me. Clever brute! -He would scoop me out of my ditch like a fish from a runlet, would -he? I vaulted the wall opposite to his side and after one hasty shot -flew into a crazy labyrinth of ancient ramparts and disintegrating -inclosures. An insane bawling told me I had probably hit him again. I -had ten arrows left. My confidence was growing. Only let me find a tall -cairn to scale, and I would make Halfspoor into a positive porcupine -with those ten missiles. - -A sun-blind owl sat in a filthy nest among fallen blocks of stone. As I -dashed past, it blundered out and flew into my face, beating its heavy -wings and jabbing furiously at my eyes with its little hooked bill. I -fended it off with the bow, gripped my bone-headed hatchet and with a -long-armed glancing swing hit it under one of the big dazzled eyes. It -fell away, screeching, and I ran on. Halfspoor's grunt was close behind. - -Then, some distance off, I caught the sound of howling, and knew that -a pack of fierce dogwolves were running on a scent. I hoped they would -not come here to complicate matters. - - * * * * * - -There was a place where broken walls flanked a row of stones which -rose gradually upward, somewhat like a ladder placed halfway between -horizontal and vertical; that is, a man could step on one stone, then -up on the next, then the next, and so on, until he found himself quite -high in the air. The row ended on a flat floor open to the winds of -heaven, some twenty-odd feet from the ground; and here and there -around this flat place irregular rocky projections rose. I had seen -enough of this country by now to know that the projections must once -have been another wall, rising to enclose this flat floor. Why someone, -or something, had gone to so much trouble to make these ancient walls, -I could not imagine. At first I had thought it must have been a truly -gigantic being, to lift the huge stones. Now I had seen so many -inclosures roofed over (as we roof over our platforms with thick fronds -during the brief weeks of the winter) at a height of no more than nine -or ten feet, that I could not believe a giant had made them. Why should -he make a place in which he would have to lie down, never standing? But -on the other hand, that may have been the case. It was hardly the time -for philosophical speculations. I trotted up the stone ramp briskly and -cast my eyes about for a good shooting-nook. - -Halfspoor was hot after me. He dropped to all fours and came up the -graduated stones as though he had been using such conveniences all his -life--and it was not truly so different from climbing a rocky hill, -except that this was smoother going. I dashed for a heap of rubble at -one corner. Leaping this, I crouched down as Halfspoor hit the top at -a run. I shot at him and my ill luck was still with me, for again my -shaft glanced off one of his frightful tusks. Surely an evil fog lay -over my eyes that day! He charged in my direction and I had time for -but one more swift arrow, which I had the good sense not to aim at -his head. It buried half its length rather low in his shoulder and he -squalled resentfully. Then I slipped over the edge and dropped to the -ground. - - * * * * * - -I had calculated the drop well. It was too much for his bulk. He loomed -above me, raging. I put an arrow in his cheek, and he bit down hard -and spat out the head and part of the shaft. I drew a good bead on his -eye but he turned much more quickly than I had anticipated and the -missile whined away in the sky. He headed back for the climbing stones. -I looked about me. There was a broken inclosure nearby in one wall of -which was an entrance like a cave mouth, perhaps seven feet high by two -broad: it seemed as good a place as any to dodge into, and I did. There -I awaited his coming, controlling my breathing as best I could in order -that my next shots would not be so shamefully wasted. - -Then I heard the dogwolf pack much closer. They yapped and yowled, and -mingled with their excited noise was the petulant grunt of Halfspoor. -Still I waited, but he did not come. Then I knew by the sounds that the -dogwolves had surrounded him. Here was an odd happening! Certainly no -dogwolf would attack a knifetooth bear, even though he ran with five -score other canines. Only a very silly human hunter would pit himself -against old Halfspoor. - -But, by my love for Lora, they were shepherding him across the ruins! -I caught a glimpse of the old devil backing reluctantly up a mound, -and then as I gaped he turned and shambled off down a black ravine, -complaining and waving his forepaws angrily. In a great circle they -followed him, nipping at his heels, leaping out of range, and keeping -up an incessant clamor that sounded like boys teasing a captured cave -cat kitten. - -I counted the arrows in my quiver. There were six now. Ill luck rode -my shoulders that day. Halfspoor should be bleeding to death with -eight shafts in his chest and head; instead he had four or five -inconsiderable wounds, one of which I had not even given him. - -I spat on the ground, wishing I had a drink of water. Ahmusk, mighty -stalker of knifetooth bears! I laughed without mirth. Ahmusk, desperate -invader of the land of The Nameless. There, now, was a title for a -brave man; but I had come here in the grip of hunting-fever, and so -little credit attached to me for the deed. I was in a mood to revile -myself aloud. I smote my bare thigh and swore heartily. What should I -do now about Halfspoor? There was no profit in advertising my presence -to the dogwolf pack. They had been known to pull down men if they were -hungry. - - * * * * * - -I put my hands to my ears and rubbed them roughly, for of a sudden -they were tingling and prickling. It was as though I had heard a high -unpleasant sound; but except for the distant uproar of Halfspoor and -his annoyers, there was nothing. The country was bewitched, that was -it. There was a pause, and then my eardrums thrilled briefly again to -something I could not locate or analyze. - -I glanced behind me at the inclosure. Roofless, I had the feeling that -it must once have been roofed; there were low piles of rock trash all -about, as there would have been had the roof--fallen now--been somehow -impossibly made of stone. What prodigies of strength and skill had -wrought these incredible walls? I shook my head, and turned back to the -entrance. - -There was something approaching slowly over the ruined structures to my -right. I looked at it with widening eyes. It was about a hundred paces -off. For one sickening moment I believed it to be some horrid kind -of ogre, made of muck or rotted flesh or some such grisly matter; it -seemed slimy and _dead_.... - -Then the sun struck it, and I decided that it was simply covered with -long trailing dark hair, which glistened wetly in the rays of the dying -sun. - -It came on, and my knees smote together while my tongue stuck to the -roof of my sudden-dried mouth. - -In form it was like a man. Indeed, had a man been smeared with black -mud, and then been given a coat of heavy hair, oily or permanently damp -hair, he might well have resembled this creature. I judged it to be -about six feet or a little over, my own height; and so later it proved -to be. It moved oddly, with a sort of halting gait, weaving its arms -to keep its balance on the jagged rocks. I could see two deep blackish -pits in its head where its eyes would be, and matted straggly hair fell -lifelessly from its crown. It was naked, like an animal. - -I thought of my mother's old songs of the ogre-breed, which can take -all manner of shapes, but often emulate mankind, building their frames -magically from dead beasts or from the masses of decomposing vegetable -matter in the forests. Maybe my first idea had been right, and this was -an ogre of mire and pelts, all wickedness. - -At any rate, it was coming at me, if rather slowly; and so I put an -arrow to the string, being minded to die bravely as becomes a hunter of -the glen-folk. - -Seeing me raise the bow, it waved at me in protest, and with so human -a gesture that I could not shoot it, but only held my weapon ready. It -then raised one hand to its face, with something bright in its fingers -(it had fingers, I could see, like a man's), and my ears tingled again -to the unheard sound or vibration which had bothered me previously. - - * * * * * - -From the ruins behind it rose the noise of dogwolves barking. It -nodded, like a man who would say to himself, That is good. Then it came -on with its slow, almost apologetic pace. I lowered my bow. Somehow I -felt that it meant me no injury. - -When it was no more than half-a-dozen feet off, it halted; and we -stared at each other curiously. - -It was a hairy brute, to be sure, but evidently no ogre. Its thatch -glistened darkly, and seemed of the consistency of a cave cat's mane, -but without curls; lank, long, and thick. In the places where this -mantle did not grow, as on the cheeks and forehead and on the rounded -portions of the limbs, there was a short dusky shag, a nap like that -on a knifetooth bear's muzzle. The effect was startling, but on close -inspection not really ugly, and wholly without the impression of terror -which my first sight of it had brought. It appeared to be watching me -steadily, though its eyes were entirely hidden in their sunken shadowed -wells. Finally it put up its right hand to the level of its waist and -held it there. I could not see the significance of the gesture. After -a moment it thrust the open hand out to me in several short jabs. The -motion was entirely without menace. I could make nothing of it. - -It clasped its hands together and shook them. Then it stuck the right -one toward me again. I realized that it wished to touch my own hand! - -I shifted my bow to my left hand--so sure had I grown in these few -brief seconds that it meant no harm--and touched its hairy fingertips. -Instantly my hand was enfolded in a firm hearty grip, and moved rapidly -up and down. I cannot explain how or why the emotion swept over me, -but immediately I felt a warm friendship for this shaggy being, such a -feeling as I had never held before for anything save my fellow men and -women of the valleys. - -And there was something else. The gesture felt ... felt natural, and -proper, and almost _familiar_, as though I had done it many times -before! - -Mystified, I drew back my hand as he released it; and once more we -stood staring at each other without sound. - - * * * * * - -A movement at last caught my eye, and staring over his shoulder I saw -two great dogwolves breast a wall and come loping toward us. With a -warning cry I threw up my bow. In the time it took me to change hands -on it, he had peered back; then he gave a cry, remarkably manlike in -tone, and waved urgently at my face. Scowling, I dodged back to get -a shot at the foremost brute. At once the hairy thing knelt, as if -pleading, and the pair of dogwolves, coming up, fawned on him with -lolling scarlet tongues. - -My jaw dropped and I gasped, dumbfounded. - -The fierce beasts were his friends! - -I slung my bow over my shoulder, but took the precaution of grasping my -bone hatchet. The dogwolves stared at me, their hot eyes as puzzled as -no doubt my own were; but they made no move toward me. - -The hairy being stood up and came forward to touch me lightly on the -chest. Then he shook my right hand up and down again. The dogwolves -crept on their bellies to our shadows, and one of them, a giant of a -fellow, touched my foot with his wet nose, whining a little. - -If there has ever been a more astonished person than I was at that -second, he must have fainted away with his wonder. I know I grew quite -giddy. Now, I said to myself, if Halfspoor were to amble up to me -and ask for the loan of my knife, I think he would get it without a -question or a raised eyebrow! - -The big carnivores lay panting beside us, and the dark rough-coated -manlike creature rubbed his chin and stared at me from those deepset -eyes; which I could make out now, as they were glittering in a stray -beam of sunlight that fell across his strange face. - -He said something to me. It was not an animal's noise, but a reasonable -imitation of human speech, except that none of the words were familiar. - -At once I remembered the young hunter who had come to our glen several -years before, from a country far to the north. His language, while -much the same as ours, had words in it which we had never heard; and -the elders of the tribe said that probably other folk, living in other -isolated places, must have developed words of their own too. - - * * * * * - -This being, of course, seemed to me at first no more a man than were -the dogwolves at his feet. He had the same general form, yes, and -perhaps even the exact conformation of features under that mat of hair; -but what human by any stretch of the imagination could ever grow such a -pelt? - -Nonetheless, his voice was pleasing enough to the ear, and his speech -seemed separated into distinct words, though as I have said, none of -them were familiar to me. - -I said, "Friend what-is-it, you undoubtedly know what you're talking -about, but I do not. I would give a new set of hunting arrows to be -able to understand you." - -He uttered more words, pointing off to the west where the tall raw -cliffs were even now shutting off the lower half of the sun. - -"Yes," I said, "evening comes on, and you're afraid I'll wander over -into the country of The Nameless. Is that it? Never you fear, my -friend, I'll not go a step farther in that direction." - -But he took my hand, hesitantly and as though afraid that I might be -offended; and he tried to lead me westward. - -I hung back, and the dogwolves growled a little, but desisted when he -spoke to them. Then he signed to me, as plainly as one could imagine, -that there was food where he was taking me; and so because of my -grumbling belly I suffered him to lead me off among the ruins of this -fabulous place. - -As we walked I thought of Lora, and her distress in the morning when -she would find me still away; but not for anything would I tread the -paths of the Fearful Forest at night. I must find a sleeping place -nearby. - -We passed the flat-faced precipice with the five lines of square -openings, where Halfspoor's brown lady had been sitting. I pointed up -and said, "Knifetooth bear!" He cocked his head at me. I hunched my -shoulders, put two fingers athwart my lips for fangs, roared like a -bear and said, "Knifetooth!" again. - -The hairy one stopped, opened his mouth--he had teeth as even and -white as my own--and out of his throat came the exact duplicate of old -Halfspoor's battle cry. The dogwolves leaped and barked excitedly. I -nodded agreement and said, "Bear!" - -He said something guttural that sounded like _oorsa_. I made him repeat -it several times. It occurred to me that _ursus_ is another of our -names for old knifetooth; and my wonder grew apace. - -Pointing to myself, I then exclaimed, "Ahmusk!" - -He said my name with no difficulty, and then seemed rather confused; -for he tapped his own black chest and said, "Ahmusk?" - -I tried again. I touched the bigger of the two canines and said, -"Dogwolf." - -He mastered that more or less, and in return gave me his name for the -brute, which was _poort_ or _spoort_, I could not tell which. His -sibilants were tongued so lightly that they were difficult to hear. - - * * * * * - -I indicated myself and said, "Man." I prodded him and repeated it. Then -I realized consciously for the first time that I was now regarding him -as a species of human. He had taken me for kin before, as his former -use of my name as a generic term plainly proved. - -"Ahmusk," said I once more, beating my bosom. - -"Ahmusk," said he, pointing; and then, laying a shining-haired paw on -his own breast, "Dy-lee!" - -"Dy-lee," I said, charming him no end, for he capered grotesquely and -nodded his head till the lank thatch flew. - -Well, now we were acquainted. My pleasure at finding this strange -brute-man was out of all proportion to its apparent importance. -I suppose it was reaction to my hours-long suspicion that I had -played the complete fool in coming into this country, in following -the terrible Halfspoor, in ignoring the age-old forbiddance against -crossing into the land of The Nameless.... Now all seemed to have come -out well. Halfspoor, who had been proving more than a match for me, -had been harried off, evidently on orders from this Dy-lee creature, -by a pack of dogwolves. The Nameless were nowhere in evidence. Food -and possibly a tree for the night were in the offing. And I had made a -wonderful discovery, a brain-shaking find; for if I was right, I had -chanced upon a new branch of the family of men. - -Through the ruins we went, the dogwolves at our heels; and we were -as delighted with one another as two boys who have been given their -father's old bone hatchet to play with. - - * * * * * - -The silver dusk came up from the earth, spawned from the shadows of -the many ruinous walls and ramparts; and far ahead I saw a scarlet eye -wink out at us from the darkening cliff. I clutched Dy-lee's shaggy arm -involuntarily, and hissed at him, as though he understood the words, -"The Nameless!" - -He understood, at any rate, that I was frightened; for he patted me -awkwardly on the back two or three times, and said something in his -language meant, by the tone, to be reassuring. - -A hunter could not hang back where a brute-man like this went on. He -obviously knew what the scarlet eye was, and seemed utterly without -fear. And so after a time we had come near enough to it for me to see -that it was no ghastly orb of a Nameless ogre, but the mouth of a cave, -fairly high up the raw cliff, shining with the reflection of a fire -deep within it. - -Evidently Dy-lee meant to go into the cave, for soon we had struck a -well-worn path and were traveling upward. I imagined that there were -friends of his there, with whom he would eat before seeking his tree -for the night. Overcoming my dislike of caves with a wrenching effort, -I followed him up the path and stood on the threshold of the grotto, -having a last look about me. From this vantage point I could see the -glimmering of fires from several other great holes which had been -hidden from the plain. - -Then I went into the cave of Dy-lee the hairy man. - - * * * * * - -The fire, leaping merrily within a ring of stones, heated the long -tunnel-like cavern for many paces on all sides; and about it, some -cooking meat, some engaged in low-voiced conversation, and some making -or repairing noose-traps, snares for rabbits and birds such as our -children often play with, were a score or so of the long-maned people. -My last doubt as to their humanity vanished at sight of the flames, for -no animal can control fire. Except for their pelts, these folks might -have been my own. - -Some of them sprang to their feet as we entered, waving their arms and -shouting. Dy-lee quieted them with a crisp word, and putting his hand -on my shoulder he made a speech at which they all came crowding around, -each one wanting to shake my hand up and down. It was all wonderfully -friendly and heart-warming. Instinctively I loved these people, and -pitied them a little, too, for that they must live so close to the -terrible country of The Nameless. - -At thought of those malignant beings, I remembered Laq the guardian, -whose arrow (I felt sure) had goaded the bear Halfspoor into attacking -me; but at once I put the bitter thought from me, and shaking the hand -of one dark fellow while grinning amiably into the almost featureless -face of another, I moved to the fire and was given a haunch of hare, -all smoking and hot from the spits above the flames. After I had -wolfed this, while the whole company stared at me and chattered among -themselves. Dy-lee handed me some meat off the brisket of a doe. I -wondered how they managed to catch deer, for the only traps in evidence -were the small rabbit-snares, while none of them carried lances or bows -or even metal knives, but had some crude flint daggers with which they -made shift to cut up their meat. Then my eye fell on several of the -tame _poorts_, or dogwolves, lounging insolently about among the hairy -folk; and I recalled their pack chivvying Halfspoor over the ruins. -There was the answer! Incredible though it was, these men must have -trained their four-footed companions to pull down deer--even stag and -bison for all I knew--for the masters' larder. - - * * * * * - -I sat down on the floor by the ring of firestones, weary with tracking -and fighting and surprises. At once all of them came close to me and -seated themselves too, clamoring good-humoredly for their dinner. They -still peered curiously at me, but with such a friendly air that no -offense could be taken. As we ate, Dy-lee pointed to various members -of the group, or family, as it possibly was, and told me their names, -which I did my best to master. The oldest of them, a seven-foot giant -of a man with very long grizzled-silver hair falling in cascades all -over his body, was called Dy-vee, or Dy-veece, I could not be sure -which. He seemed to be the chief, or the grandfather, for when a bevy -of young females began to giggle loudly together, he spoke to them -with authority and they were hushed. - -The woman whom I took to be Dy-lee's mate was a slim, high-breasted -she, whose hair was sleeker and finer than his, and on whose face the -shag was lighter and not of so matted a nature. It was on this shy -creature that I first perceived the color of the cave folk's skin; when -I was told her name (which was Zheena), she put back the long hair of -her forehead with a very feminine gesture, and I saw that just around -her eyes, less deepsunk than the males', there was no fur at all. The -skin was white, like a winter's baby before it is tanned by the sun, -and seemed smooth and firm. I resolved, when I should know Dy-lee -better, to have a try at burrowing in the nap of his face to see if he -too were white beneath it. - -So we got through the meal somehow, between introductions and polite -gestures and much high laughter at our mispronunciations and general -inability to understand each other. When I had eaten all I could hold, -I leaned back against a wall of this cheerful cavern, with my hands -pillowing my head, and because my stomach was full and my heart light, -I began to sing. - -The effect was that of a lightning bolt striking among them. They stood -petrified for long seconds, and then came swarming from everywhere -to hear me; and I, whose voice is admittedly like that of a wounded -bison bellowing to its herd, stopped my song with a grunt and stared -openmouthed at the shaggy people. Dy-lee made quick eager motions to -me, opening his mouth time after time, and presently it was borne in -upon me that they wanted me to sing again. They wanted Bear-throat to -sing! - - * * * * * - -So I sang. I caroled a love ditty, which made all the females roll -their eyes and sigh; and I chanted a song of the hunt, which set all -the bare hairy toes to beating on the rock floor. I sang all the songs -I could recollect of my mother's repertory, the rollicking ones and the -sad ones, the lullaby tunes and the haunting melodies that told our -legends of the far olden times. For the space of at least two hours -I sang to them, and when at last I stopped, for lack of breath and -rawness of throat, and because I could not remember another song to -save me, you would have thought the cave was falling in, such a noise -they made. I saw then that many, many more had pressed into the place, -until it was packed with scores of the hairy folk, and there was no -vacant space anywhere in the grotto except for the little cleared place -on which I sat. Even their great dogwolves were lying about watching me -with quizzically cocked heads, and looking as though they enjoyed it. - -They liked _my_ singing! The all-but-tuneless caterwauling of -Bear-throat the hunter enchanted them to immobility! I could scarcely -believe it, even though they had listened to me for so long. - -I pointed at Dy-lee and by gestures, asked him to sing. He shook his -head and shrugged, an especially human movement; as plain as if he had -said it in words, I knew that neither he nor any of the others had ever -known what it was to lift the voice in song. They were a people wholly -without music. No wonder my bawling had enthralled them! - -Gradually, the cavern cleared; although they obviously wanted to stay -and listen to me, and gaze wide-eyed on my bronze hairless skin, old -grizzled Dy-veece shepherded them out into the night with gruff barks -of command. When only the family, or whatever this group might be, was -left, he came to me and after patting me a few times and shaking my -hand up and down, handed me a sleeping fur. It was cave cat, and very -like my own blankets at home. I looked to be led out to a tree then, -but saw that the folk were one by one lying down near the fire, wrapped -in their furs and evidently intent on sleeping in the cave. I think -this astonished me as much as anything I had seen in all that strange -day, for who ever heard of sleeping anywhere but on a tree platform? -Nevertheless, I could scarcely wound the feelings of my hosts by going -out alone and thus refusing their hospitality; so with a weak smile at -Dy-lee and his mate, who were watching me anxiously, I spread the great -yellow pelt on the bare rock, laid myself down on it, flipped the edges -over me, and closed my eyes with the certainty that I would not get a -blink of sleep all that night. - - * * * * * - -The next thing I knew was that I was very warm and drowsy, and that -something was pressing cozily against me from both right and left. I -opened my eyes, yawned, and found that I was flanked by a pair of the -tame dogwolves, who were snoring gently into my ears. The fire was -crackling under half-a-dozen spits loaded with meat, a number of the -dark-haired people were moving about quietly, and the sun was beating -straight in the door of the cavern with a cheerful orange light. - -Dy-lee, seeing that I was awake, brought me water in half the shell -of some great nut which I did not recognize; and Zheena, his mate, -presented me with a choice of fruits set on a wooden slab that had been -rounded and cleverly decorated with bright dyes. - -After rinsing my mouth and eating an apple, I rose and stepped over a -dogwolf to go to the opening and look out on a beautiful autumn day, -crisp and clear as the one before had been. Then, after a few deep -satisfying breaths, I returned and made a hearty breakfast of meat in -company with all the cave folk. - -When we had finished, Dy-lee led me down the path to the place of -ruins. By the vivid sunlight I could see that the walls at the base of -the cliff were somewhat less shattered than the first ones I had come -upon; and also that they were definitely no accidents of nature, but -constructed. I asked by gesture if his race had built these walls, and -he signed to me, No. - -Shortly we came to an enclosure that still bore its roof. I went and -peered into this strange square place, and Dy-lee kindly handed me a -long torch of bound reeds soaked in black oily matter and lighted, the -purpose of his carrying which on this bright morning I had not hitherto -understood. Now I realized that he meant me to see everything there -was to be seen, whether open or hidden from the light; and I smiled my -thanks as I took the brand. Dy-lee and his two dogwolves followed me -into the place. - -The roof was of stone, or perhaps of _a_ stone, for I could detect no -crack or joined place in all its surface. It was shored up by lesser -stones, long and thick and ornamented with carvings that resembled -the tendrils of the burrowflower. These must have been scratched into -the rock with a metal tool, I think; though it certainly would have -taken the whole lifetime of a man to accomplish all the carving I saw -there. I had never seen or heard of anyone carving deliberate designs -in anything before. The effect was lovely, albeit startling. Our -glen-folk decorated many things with dyes made of vegetables and roots -and minerals; but none had ever thought to adorn wood or stone with -carvings. And here again I was astonished, for after the first moment -or two, it seemed a natural and beautiful thing to do. It was like the -shaking of the hands, something that was surprising only at the first -acquaintance. - - * * * * * - -While I stared about me, Dy-lee passed into a far corner and began to -clear away a great heap of trash, broken wood, old discarded sleeping -furs, and other useless articles, which had been piled in a haphazard -fashion there. I followed him across the floor and saw that he had -cleared a space in the center of which was a square slab of stone set -into the floor, with a huge ring embedded in one side of it. This ring -he now grasped, and began to tug and haul at it, grunting with the -strain. The block of stone moved upward, fell, moved and fell again, -and it seemed it would take him an age to lift it free. So I put my -hand on the ring beside his. He relinquished it to me, I think out of -curiosity to see how powerful I was; and it was then I discovered that -I was much the stronger, for the slab came up out of its hole smoothly -and easily to my tug. Dy-lee straightened and said something in an -awe-struck voice. - -"That is the result of a hunter's life, friend Dy-lee," I said, -grinning. "If you stalked with a bow and a hatchet, rather than a pack -of dogwolves, you would be as strong as I." - -Pointing down into the black well exposed by the raising of the stone, -he indicated the torch in my hand. I thrust it down into the mouth of -the well. There was a kind of sputtering sound from the brand, which -I could not attribute to anything in particular, except perhaps that -the fire was afraid to go down into that jetty darkness. Peering past -it, I saw a line of the graduated stones that abounded in these ruined -places, going down like a curious tilted rock ladder into the depths of -the earth. Dy-lee made urgent motions to me, that I should go down. I -shook my head. "Not for an extra year of life, friend," I said. - -He took the torch from me and before I could stop him he had dropped -into the pit. The two dogwolves brushed by me and followed him down. - -Well, it ill became a hunter of the glen-folk to sit here gnawing his -knuckles when even the brute beasts showed no fear of this terrible -hole; so with many misgivings I took my first hesitant steps down the -underground passage. - -It was almost pleasant in the tunnel. I had expected chill and -dampness, but the walls were dry and quite warm to the touch, rather -like the rocks on the sides of Ruddy Mountain, which is the cone-shaped -hill that gives off sparks and smoke, far to the north of our land. -As we progressed downward, the flambeau lighting our way, I seemed to -notice even more heat; there may be a great fire somewhere beneath the -earth of the ruined country--who can tell? - - * * * * * - -Shortly we came to a level stretch of tunnel, and some few score paces -thereafter, to a widening portion which shortly became about as broad -as the inclosure with the stone roof. Here it was like an ordinary -cave, except that the floor and walls and ceiling were flat, with -sharp angles at the jointures. The thought was inescapable: the giants -or whoever had made all the walls and inclosures above had hollowed -out the earth and made this place likewise. I examined the wall in -one place (it was all alike, as much as I saw of it that day). Small -smooth stones of agreeably differing colors were set in rows to form -the surface, and their substance was such as I had never found before, -being sleek and wonderfully glossy, as lustrous as the hair of my Lora -in the morning sunlight. - -Dy-lee now seemed excited, and urged me to follow him swiftly through -the shining grotto. The dogwolves' claws clicked along the level -floor, and they constantly sniffed the air, which was musty and made -our breathing rather labored. The big torch crackled and blazed -brightly. - -At last we turned a corner--as sharply angled as those at the base of -the walls--and after one look I gave a cry of fear, of brain-breaking -wonder. - -How can I explain what I first thought I saw? It was ... it was as if -in this gallery there were many many square holes in the walls, and -each of these holes gave on a vista of vivid color and much apparent -movement; as though by some inconceivable magic there were different -worlds beyond each hole! - -I covered my eyes with an arm and moaned with terror. My knees smote -together, my teeth chattered. And when Dy-lee laid a reassuring hand on -my shoulder, I leaped as though Halfspoor himself had snorted in my ear. - -With murmurs meant to restore my confidence, he led me to one wall and -waited patiently until I found the courage to uncover my eyes. Then he -pointed to the first of the large square openings. Seeing that nothing -malignant had sprung out of it yet, and that the dogwolves had casually -lain down in the light dust of the floor, I gripped my nerves with the -teeth of my mind and peered closely. - - * * * * * - -Again I am at a loss for words to tell of this marvel. It was not a -hole or opening, it was but an enclosed place on the wall, overlaid -with a sheet of something so shiny and transparent that it must have -been water frozen there forever by unthinkable sorcery. Beneath this -motionless water, the figure of a woman looked out at us with calm -unwinking gaze. She was dressed in fantastic furs, blue and emerald and -gold, wrought in patterns that surely no one had ever seen before; her -face, crowned by the gaudy feathers of a bird, was like those of my own -people, being without hair and gentle-looking. After a long time of -staring, I reached out to touch this wonder, and the still water over -it felt cool and slick to my fingertips. The woman made no move as my -hand passed before her. I was thunderstruck. - -Dy-lee led me to the next enclosed place, and there was a man, clad -as fabulously as the woman, with a stern look of resolution on his -features. He seemed a curious hybrid, for while most of his face was as -smooth as mine, on his chin was a fringe of dark hair such as covered -Dy-lee's folk. Him I did not try to touch, for fear he should burst out -of the frozen water at me. - -With the third of these strange things I began to notice something -else: namely, that the people--there were two behind this water--seemed -very flat and completely without true substance. It is difficult to -explain. It was as though a man could be pressed flat as a leaf, and -still hold his form, his color, even his life (though this was in -abeyance, _suspended_ as it were, yet waiting to break into movement at -any second). - - * * * * * - -So we went down the long gallery, and I saw more multitudes of wonders -than ever I can tell. There were many sorts of folk in even more -awesome furs and pelts than the first; men clad entirely in what -appeared to be metal, and women in garments that surely never came -from the cave cat or doe or anything that walks our world today. There -were scenes I could not comprehend, enclosed flat places on the wall -which I could not make myself believe were flat places at all, but -rather must be the holes on vistas I had first thought them. These -showed tiny trees and brooks, figures of people smaller than my thumb, -even portions of the sky with infinitesimal clouds hanging motionless -therein. And it was after I had looked on two or three of these that -the truth began to come to me, like a fiery jewel of knowledge shining -murkily up through the black waters of my ignorance. For these were -not real people at all, nor real vistas, nor was there anything real -or magical about them at all; they were flat places on the walls, -whereon some clever man had laid multihued _dyes_, so that when all -were applied this representation of reality sprang to its mysterious, -incredible, unmoving life! - -I longed to ask Dy-lee if this was the true nature of the things, but -could not think how to do it by signs. I therefore simply pointed at -one of them and raised my brows questioningly. - -"_Peesha!_" said he. "_Peesha!_" - -It was, I gathered, a peesha. Whatever that might be. - -He put a finger on a certain part of this peesha, and said, "Tree!" - -I reeled. Literally I reeled, staggering back and dropping my jaw like -a fool. "Tree?" I gasped. "Yes, yes, a tree!" - -He made polite motions, asking me my word for it. - -"Tree!" I shouted. I pointed to the beasts at our feet. "Dogwolves," -I said, with one hand on my breast; then, aiming a finger at him and -still indicating the two animals, "poort," I said. He understood that, -for he nodded. I pointed to the wall. "Peesha," I cried, nodding to -him, and then, "flat place with many dyes," I said in my own tongue. -Finally, I waved at him and then at myself, and said, "Tree, tree. -Tree, _tree_!" - - * * * * * - -He grasped it then. He was as amazed as I had been. We had at least one -word in common. It suggested astonishing possibilities to me. Eagerly I -touched the sky in the representation before us, the clouds, the earth, -a small hillock; naming them and getting his names in return. Not -until we came to a brook did our languages coincide again. Then I said, -"Stream," and he said, as clearly as any man could, "River." "Yes, -yes!" I shouted. "River, river!" - -Babbling with excitement, he grasped my wrist and dragged me past -several of the dye-images to a large one that was without the -protecting rigid water, and which showed many men and women walking -about between stone inclosures such as littered the ground above us. -These inclosures, however, were not broken, but seemed whole and -strangely beautiful, being decorated lavishly with carving and dyes. -Some of them went up for hundreds of feet, as I could see by comparing -them with the size of the people. Before this peesha he halted and -proceeded to point out many things, naming them eagerly; but here we -could not find anything for which we had a mutual name. Indeed, it was -not remarkable, for most of the objects I had never seen until the day -before, and then only in a ruined state. - -And so we passed down the cavern until we came to the end, and crossed -its narrow width to go back along the other side, looking at Dy-lee's -uncanny "peeshas;" and at last we had seen them all, and I was too -shattered for speech. Nothing like it had ever been thought of, had -ever been dreamt of, had ever been seen by anyone in all my world, -before today. That one could do this with dyes! Some of them had had -no water--he called it _glaa_--over them, and these I had touched -cautiously, finding their surfaces raised slightly here and there; -and had come to the conclusion that the dyes had been mixed cleverly -with harder substances, so that when they were put on the wall, they -stiffened there and would not blur nor run together. - -And nearly as wonderful as these things was the fact that there were -points of contact in our languages, words which were the same in both -tongues. "Hand" was _and_ to him, or it may have been _hand_ also, as -his aspirates were breathed as lightly as his sibilants were tongued. -_Tree_, _river_, and _owl_ were the same. I grew quite wrought-up with -the fascination of the game, and could scarcely wait to tell Lora all -about it. - -We went up the slanted stones to the surface, and after he had -carefully hidden the entrance slab with the rubble again (I could not -guess from what or whom), he led me across the ruins to another whole -roofed inclosure. This one we entered by a hole far up in one wall, -raising two logs for a kind of bridge from the ground. Into this place -the dogwolves did not follow, but lay down outside to await us. - - * * * * * - -Dy-lee's torch was burning low. When we had dropped into the -inclosure, he chose two more from a pile of them stacked neatly in -a corner, and lit one from the first. It flared up redly, and again -we raised a ringed slab and descended into another warm dry place of -peeshas. By then, I may say, I had identified this with our own word -"picture," which we use to describe several things, such as the images -our minds form occasionally which seem to us very real, and also a -distant view of a beautiful countryside, as perhaps from a hill; I felt -certain that _peesha_ was _picture_, and dimly I was wondering if our -own race had once known this strange art of arranging dyes on walls. -Certainly the similarity of the two words would indicate something of -the sort. - -He led me to one of the pictures--I will use this other word from now -on--and held up the torch so that I could see it well. There was none -of the frozen water at all in this place. The things were done in large -squares on the rock wall, just as in the first underground grotto, but -there was no _glaa_, nor was any of the slippery curious stone set -around them. These walls were rougher and less shining. - -The first one was very old, faded, flaked here and there so that the -barren rock showed through. It portrayed a scene in just such a place -as the plain above had once been, and as I had seen in a number of the -other pictures. Tall inclosures rose into the air, with more lines of -openings across them than I could count. Strange birds flew above them, -looking stiff and featherless and glittery. If there were people on the -ground, they were too small to be seen. - -Gently he urged me to the next. Here was a scene among the walls, with -people moving about. They looked very like my glen-folk, excepting -always for the odd garments they wore, which covered all of their -persons but the faces and hands. Even upon their feet they seemed to -have garments. - -The third picture was terrible. In its ancient much-faded colors it -showed many men fighting. Not fighting bears, or cave cats, but _other -men_. Yes, here were dead men, with blood upon their breasts, and -others were locked in fierce combat. I turned from this view with a -sickness pulling at my belly, and Dy-lee felt much the same, for he -threw a hairy arm over my shoulders and bent his head sorrowfully even -as I. - - * * * * * - -The next few pictures were all the same, men slaying one another, -often with strange stick-like things, the nature of which I could not -imagine. From the attitudes it was plain that when one was pointed at -a man, the man died. It was some form of magic, such as an ogre might -dream of. - -Then we came to a picture which defied my comprehension for many -minutes. It was a place of high walls and inclosures, over which -flocks of the curious stiff-winged birds flew; and many of the tallest -inclosures were toppling, while fire raged in among them (I knew it was -fire by the marvelous crimson and scarlet of the colors, dimmed though -they were), and great clouds of smoke rolled out. - -There were others. I disliked them, I loathed them, but I could not -keep myself from looking intently at each one. It was impressed on me -that this was no legend, but a true thing that had happened in the far -olden times. These were my people dying, at the hands of others of my -people. I could not understand, but I could feel the truth of this -thing. - -Men slaying men! The legend of Sunset Fields had not lied! - -On the second wall there was an enormous picture, full seven paces -long and as high as the roof, and this one I could not grasp though I -studied it for a long time. It was a place such as this plain--once -there must have been many such, in the far olden times--from the center -of which there sprouted up a great mushroom, like those in the Fearful -Forest, but all creamy-white and so big as to shatter the imagination. -I cannot say how huge it was. All our glens and valleys would be hidden -in the shadow of such a mushroom. Though I looked at it until my eyes -watered, and Dy-lee had to light his third flambeau, still I could -not understand how such a thing could grow in the midst of the tall -inclosures. - -The next picture I could grasp, however. They were of ruins, like those -below which we stood, and all among the ramparts and broken walls were -the bodies of men. Some calamity had laid its dreadful hand on the -place. I wondered if the giant mushroom had been to blame, wreaking -this havoc as it grew. - -And now the pictures were different. No more men slaying men, or tall -majestic structures spearing the very sky with their tops, but only -ruins and blackened plains, raw cliffs and far-flung wastes, the -wreckage of great metal things I did not recognize, and among them a -few, a very few human figures, prowling like jackal-rats furtively in -the chaos. These pictures were all very ancient, with their dye-stuffs -flaked and marred by time. - - * * * * * - -There was a view of a prairie, waving with orange grass, on which moved -men who might have been my own tribe. Naked, with bows and hatchets, -they stalked an animal something like a cave cat, which had a great -mane of hair all down its back. I touched this picture and nodded to -Dy-lee. He pointed to me. He knew that these were my kindred. And this -picture too was older than the oldest man of the glen-folk, for it was -much dimmed and discolored. - -Down the walls I went, and now the pictures seemed to be less ancient, -and in them I saw a weird change coming over the race of men, for they -grew more hairy, and leaving the fields and pleasant glens (why, I -wonder?) they appeared to take up their homes in the blighted places -and in the caves of the raw red cliffs. Time passed, the pictures were -brighter and less flaked, and mankind was furred as a beast, growing -little by little to look like my friend, Dy-lee. - -This series of pictures I pored over for a long time, going back and -forth along the wall, judging the age of each in relation to the -others; and I could not apprehend why, but it was true--these men were -the same race, but growing shaggier in every succeeding picture. How -long was the time gap between the pictures? A generation, a hundred -years, a thousand? I could not tell. I went back across the floor to -look at the earliest pictures, those in which men fought together. -They exuded the aura of an incredible antiquity. And what of those in -the other cavern? Their dyes were more brilliant, newer looking; yet -the people were dressed in the queer garments that I saw in the oldest -portrayals here. Did it mean that there were folk existing even now -like them--folk impossible to believe in!--or simply that the dyes in -their pictures were better and lasted longer than these? There were -many things here that I could not understand, and I felt small and -stupid and as young as the youngest pink rabbit with still-blind eyes. - -Dy-lee made a speech then, indicating that I should look at the final -pictures; so I left my speculation and came to him and gazed. - - * * * * * - -Here, immediately after the series in which mankind grew hairy, was a -large square with dyes that were still vivid and clear, though it still -seemed quite an ancient picture. It portrayed a number of Dy-lee's folk -crouching amid the ruins, perhaps of this very plain above our heads. -Their attitudes showed perfectly that they were afraid, for they drew -back, with arms about their females and young ones. Then, in a cleared -space, there stood a man of my own race, smooth-skinned and wearing -the raiment of a guardian, the long fringed black fox pelts hanging -from his waist and the short mantle of white hares' skins about his -shoulders. He faced away from the cave folk, with his arms lifted in -just such a mystical gesture as I had often seen the guardians making; -and beyond him, from the edge of an especially well-limned forest, -there arose a being whose every line suggested evil--evil beyond the -power of words. There was no definite outline to the thing. It appeared -to change slightly even while I stared at it, as though the dyes had -been mixed with smoke or mist. It seemed to have horns, and then when -I looked again, the horns had vanished. There were great columns of -legs, and arms that hung loosely before its chest with an indescribable -air of menace. Perhaps there were two sets of arms. I could not tell. -It is strange to speak of a picture this way, for after all it was but -dyes of many shades laid upon rock; but all I could recall definitely -about the evil being, when I had turned away, was that its color was -that of a dead fish's belly, and that from its amorphous head there -blazed out two terrible eyes of purest lambent flame. - -The import of this whole picture was inescapable. Here were the -shaggy folk, here was a guardian of my own people, and here was a -representation of one of ... - -_The Nameless!_ - - * * * * * - -For long minutes I stared at my new friend Dy-lee, while the thoughts -churned in my brain. At last I shook myself, as a bear does on coming -out of a cold stream, and I began to try him with questions, partly in -gestures and partly in words which I hoped he might understand. First -I pointed to the shaggy folk. Yes, they were his people, he signed. -Then I indicated the guardian. He pointed at me. I shook my head. -Indicating my rough loincloth of cave cat fur, I showed him the rich -black and white apparel of the little figure, and then touched my bow -and quiver, my hatchet, my knife. No guardian carries a weapon of -any sort, as the beasts will never molest one of their craft. Dy-lee -seemed to know this, for he nodded vigorously, but then showed me -where we were similar--the brown furless face and body. I said, Yes, -that this man was of my people, but differing from me in profession. -He understood this. I asked him, after several tries, whether he had -often seen such men as this; and he signed to me, Yes, that there was a -place of meeting on the plain. I then asked if he had thought I was a -guardian when he first found me the afternoon before, and he answered, -No, pointing to my bow and hatchet. - -These folk having no weapons, I was at a loss to know how he had -recognized what mine were for; because the instant I had thrown up -my bow he had seen I meant to shoot, first him and then his tame -dogwolves. But after a moment's thought I remembered that in two or -three of the old pictures there were depictions of the bow and arrow. I -went back down the wall and found them. Evidently these people had once -known the use of such things, for here they were, rather hairy but not -yet covered with the thick shag, stalking a deer with bows. Somewhere -in their evolving they had either lost the art or found a better. Here, -in a later picture, they were hunting a great knifetooth bear. Ah, that -was it; they had domesticated the dogwolves, and given up the bow. I -imagined that it might have come in handy to protect themselves, for -surely they could not always travel amongst a howling pack of their -canine friends; but obviously they had discarded it entirely. - -I returned to the startling picture of the guardian, and pointing to -the horrid figure of The Nameless, I bent my head in pantomime and gave -an exaggerated shudder. - -Dy-lee repeated my motions exactly, and pointed away to where I -imagined they dwelt. He said something, apparently his name for the -beings. I said, "The Nameless." Again he shivered--it was a real -reaction this time--and pointed east. - - * * * * * - -East? But that was the direction in which lay the Fearful Forest, the -three brooks, Sunset Fields, and my own glen. I had not realized this -at his first motion, being somewhat confused by the underground cavern. -I shook my head, pointing west. _There_ dwelt The Nameless. - -He would have none of that. No, they lived to the east. I pointed west, -he pointed stubbornly east. - -But _I_ came from the east! If there were such beings in that -direction, would I not know it? I tried to tell him this, showing that -I came from there; very well, said he in signs, so did the guardians, -and I was obviously a relative, a son perhaps, or at least a member of -the tribe of the guardians. Yes, I agreed, but.... - -I gave it up. Could I still be confused by this roof that shut out the -sun? Hastily I looked at the last of the pictures, which were scenes of -hunting and domesticity, with one more guardian at the end, though not -with one of The Nameless; then I signed to him that we should leave the -place. He scrambled up to the opening and I followed, the daylight from -the high entrance hole of the inclosure above striking my eyes sharply -after the torch's flickering gleam. The dogwolves roused themselves and -nosed our hands as we came out among the broken stones. - -"There!" I said, showing him the west; and, "There!" said he, in his -own language, thrusting a dark furry finger eastward. Could we be -talking of different things? No, there had been the guardian and the -changing figure of horror. - -_The guardian?_ - -What had a guardian been doing here? And the one picture had been old, -but the other fairly recent, or I knew nothing of the manner in which -dyes fade with age! - -These hairy folk had seen guardians, not once in the dim past, but -evidently often, and recently; had not my friend signed to me that -there was a place of meeting, out on the blackened plain? No wonder -that Dy-lee and his folk, while charmed with my singing and interested -in me, had shown no overwhelming wonder. So the guardians knew, had -perhaps always known, that here in the ruins and the raw red cliffs -there lived another race of men! - - * * * * * - -I sat down on a flat rock and puzzled the matter over, beginning -with what I conceived the early history of these people--of both our -peoples--to have been. A terrible killing among men, with many strange -weapons that spread slaughter wholesale, resulting in a leveling of -their huge structures and a splitting of the race into two parts, one -remaining in places like this, the other going into the distant glens -and plains. The folk of the ruins gradually becoming hairy--could it -be because nature saw they needed protection for their tender flesh, -living as they did in caves? The thought made me open my eyes with -my own cleverness! Then the discarding of weapons and the taming of -the dogwolves. I wondered if they had thrown away _all_ weapons, or -whether they had some secret slaying tool for their defense? Or a magic -ointment to rub on their bodies? Or what? - -To this point it all seemed clear, and while it was a thing to churn -the imagination, still it was a plain and possible happening, not -destroying any concepts or deepsunk training of my youth; because no -man of my folk knew whence we had come, or anything of our history save -that it had always been, so far as our elders knew, the same as it is -now: easy and pleasant, with no enemies save the beasts of prey, and a -mate for every man and woman. - -But then came the problem of the guardians. These folk knew them too. -They passed between us, it was clear, living with us of the glens but -visiting these of the caverns. I tried Dy-lee with a question: did he -know there were many, many more like me, living beyond the Fearful -Forest? I made a mark in the gritty dirt with my knife point, showed -him that it stood for myself, then made a great number of similar marks -beside it and pointed east. He understood. He could scarcely believe -at first, but after a period of astonished grunts and reassurances, he -believed. There were many like me, over yonder to the east. - -Then something took him with eagerness, so that he nearly burst -with what he could not tell me; and at last he ran furiously away -to his cave, leaving me to sit with eyes popping till he returned -with a bag made of hide. From this he took a number of little bones, -hollowed and corked with plugs of wood, and some sticks tipped with -carefully-trimmed stiff feathers. Sensing that I would be curious, -he handed me one of the bones. I pried out the plug and saw that the -hollow was full of a green-blue dye, mixed, as I had suspected, with -something to make it stiff and thick. As I sniffed at it and touched -my fingertip to it gingerly, he set to work on the flat stone beside -me, dipping his feathered stick into first this bone and then that one, -making marks upon the cold rock. I watched the dyes spread and grow -into the shape of a man. - -Dy-lee, my friend, was a maker of pictures! - -I embraced him. I was overcome with his genius. That this -animal-looking fellow could himself make the wondrous _peeshas_! - - * * * * * - -Impatiently he motioned to me to be seated while he worked. I sat down -and, hoping to repay him for the pleasure I took in his craft, I began -to sing. He nodded vigorously and chuckled. We were enchanted with each -other's accomplishments. - -Watching him, I saw the roughly outlined form of a man grow into a tiny -likeness of myself, with hunter's loincloth and bow. He prodded me with -the stick, quite unnecessarily. I could see that it was Ahmusk there on -the flat stone. - -Then hastily he made pictures of two others, one of which seemed to be -his conception of a female of my race. Hesitantly then, he pointed -east. - -I told him, Yes, and flickered my fingers to show that there were many -of us there. His thatch-shaded eyes blinked with amazement. - -The next picture was that of a guardian, with black and white furs and -stern mien. I said the name aloud, and he said something like "rees," -which I took to be "guardian" in his tongue. - -With this series of pictures to aid us, we could make our queries -clear to one another. I asked how many of these guardians he had seen -or knew; and he answered, Fifteen or twenty. There being twenty-four -guardians living in our glen, I knew that all of them, or nearly all, -must at one time or another come here to commune with the hairy folk. - -I asked whether they ever lived with his people, and he said, No, that -they lived beyond the woods somewhere, he thought perhaps in the sky. I -managed to make him understand that they lived among my people, and he -seemed surprised that they had never told his folk of us. - -Then he made a curious little vague shape beyond his row of pictures, -which I could not fathom until he had dyed in two glowing fiery eyes; -when I knew that this was meant for one of The Nameless. I asked if he -had seen such an ogre, and he signed, No, that no man ever had except -the guardians; and that to see them was death. - -Then as well as I could I showed him that we knew of these things too, -calling them The Nameless. His word for them I could not dominate, -though he said it several times. - - * * * * * - -I wondered how he knew what they looked like, having never seen one; -but remembered the picture in the second underground inclosure. Then I -thought of the shadowy outlines of that thing, and it occurred to me -that this was possibly but a common symbol for the beings, as no man -knew their exact form. It was such a picture as a man might make, who -knew only that The Nameless were terrible, evil, beyond all thought -malignant. - -I then asked him whether the guardians protected his people from The -Nameless, and he said that they did. I told him by signs that this was -their function among us. He did not seem surprised, but again signaled -that they had never spoken of me and my tribe, and over this omission -he shook his head till the lank hair nearly stood on end. - -I told him that we, too, had not known of _them_. He sat with his chin -in his palm, biting his lips over this. - -I stared at the lightly-dyed portrayal of The Nameless. I pointed to it -and to the west. - -He laid a hand on my shoulder, as one might to a child when it is -making up a wild tale, and pointed eastward. - -We sat looking at each other and making these silly gestures back and -forth, until in one fearful flash of knowledge it came to me what the -truth was. - -The taste of this knowledge was at once bitter and sweet to me: sweet, -because it blotted out in an instant the only great fear of all my -race; bitter, because it showed me that for many generations both this -man's people and my own had been hoodwinked, shamed and overlorded by -the members of a single useless profession. For it had come to me that -now I knew who The Nameless truly were. - -Dy-lee was one of The Nameless, and so was Zheena his mate, and great -grizzled Dy-veece, and every member of that merry clan with whom I had -eaten and slept the night before.... - -Dy-lee was one of The Nameless, and so was--Ahmusk the hunter. - - * * * * * - -It must have taken me an hour to tell my friend this terrible, -wonderful truth which I had discovered. But finally he realized it, -and at first his wrath was dreadful to behold, and then he saw the -happiness in it and he danced for joy among his dogwolves. - -The simple fact was that for no-one-knew-how-long, the guild of -guardians had kept our two races apart and in horror of the things they -called The Nameless, for reasons I could not then even begin to guess; -had kept us apart by tales of monsters which existed only in their own -minds. For the first time in my life I knew pure black hatred of fellow -humans. Had I had the guardians there at that moment, I would have -slain them all. - -Yes, Dy-lee's people were The Nameless; and my glen-folk were The -Nameless to him, under whatever exotic name he called us. Nothing could -be plainer, for why else would he think The Nameless lived to the east, -while I had been taught they lived in the west? - -Now in my rage it came to me why Laq had shot at me in the Fearful -Forest, and later had pinked Halfspoor with an arrow to make the bear -attack me. He did not dare allow me to make friends here with the hairy -folk. It would topple him and his entire crew of liars and rascals. -He might have halted me yesterday afternoon with a word, but there -was Lora, whom he coveted. He had had a bow, a thing no guardian ever -owned--he must long ago have stolen it and some arrows, to practice -until he thought himself skilled enough to slay me. It did not seem -incredible now that he would plan to kill me for her. Nothing seemed -strange in the light of my new discovery. The world was topsy-turvy, -and surely all things must be possible to one of his loathsome breed. - -After we had stamped about for a while, talking furiously and -incomprehensibly to each other and shaking hands with fervor and -startling the dogwolves into howling many times, we went up to Dy-lee's -cave, where he called in all those of his folk who were nearby, and -laying his hand on my chest, he solemnly told them that I was one -of those creatures whom they had all feared for so many years. The -turmoil was frightful. Then, before they could flee, he shouted to them -what he had discovered. Of course it took much less time than it had -when I explained it to him, for he shared his language with them and -needed no elaborate signals. You never heard such a roar as went up -when he had finished. - -It was decided, to be brief, that Dy-lee should accompany me back -through the Fearful Forest to the glens, and there we two would -confront the guardians and fling their lifetime of lies into their -teeth. I gathered also that he would protect me on the journey from -wild beasts, though how without weapons he could do this, I did not -see. At any rate, he bade farewell to Zheena and I shook hands all -round and we started out across the ruins, with Dy-lee's two poorts, -the tame dogwolves, running before us with their scarlet tongues -lolling out and their noses in the air. - -As we went toward the Fearful Forest, I struck up a song; and to its -rhythm we marched bravely and in high genial comradeship. - - * * * * * - -The oppressive woodland closing in upon us, at about the first hour -after the zenith of the sun, my song died away on my lips; and we began -to converse together, partly in signs and partly in words. Besides -those our languages shared, we had learned a number of one another's -common words, and now questions and answers were more readily -understood. - -I asked him if the guardians had ever seen the pictures which he had -shown me. He said that he was not sure, but that he believed not, at -any rate not in his lifetime. They never seemed interested in anything -except being fed and catered to, and did not spend their nights in -the caves as I had done, nor had they ever sung to the hairy folk. I -gathered that Dy-lee had shown me the pictures out of gratitude for -the delight he had taken in my songs. It was the first time I had -ever gotten anything for my voice except a kick in the rump. I was -exceedingly pleased. - -Then he put to me a number of questions about my people, and as well as -I could I answered them. We discovered another mutual word, which was -"thorn," when I pried one from his foot with my knife. - -Then I thought of weapons, and showing him my metal blade, I asked if -he had not seen such things before. He examined it--I think he had -wanted to for hours, but was too polite to ask for it--and said that -such a knife was unheard of. I had already noticed the flint daggers -his people used, which were flaked to make a cutting edge of a sort, -but were really sharp only at the tip. My bow and arrows and my hatchet -he had seen in his ancient pictures, but mine were the first he had -ever handled. His hands were clumsy on them, and I should have hated -to let him loose a shaft anywhere in my vicinity. - -By signs and a few phrases I told him how we heat and mold the metal -for our few needs, and he was intrigued but a little skeptical. Did he -never hear of heating metal to make anything? No, he said, never. - - * * * * * - -But surely he knew of metal? Yes, he said, there were metal instruments -in use among his folk, but these had always been in existence, and no -man living knew the trick of making them. Then he brought out from some -hidden pouch or repository under the long hair on his side a thing like -a bright bronze bone, a small tube of metal with a hole at each end, -curiously shaped and carved with tiny marks that made no sense, for -they did not seem to be pictures or designs of anything at all. With -this, he told me, as I examined it, he would protect me if animals -should attack us; but when I asked him, How, he only smiled and laughed -to himself. I presumed he meant to surprise me, and did not press him -for details; which must have made him feel rather disappointed, for he -put away the tube with a snort. - -And these, I asked then, were the only weapons his folk had? Yes, he -said, they needed no others. But if he should lose his? There were -others, many others, hidden in the caves. But in time, I said, surely -all of the mysterious instruments would be gone, some lost, others -destroyed by accident; and then what would his people do? For they -could not make others, that was obvious. - -Well, I could not make him understand this query. He did not seem to be -able to visualize the distant future in the slightest degree. There had -always been the tubes, and so far as he knew, there always would be the -tubes. - -I gave it up, and privately decided that I would make him and Dy-veece, -and some of the other males, learn the rudiments of archery, whether -they liked it or not. - -We tramped on, and the Fearful Forest depressed us with its grim dark -trees and lack of sunlight, until at last we spoke no more to each -other, but traveled as silently as the two great dogwolves. And so it -was that we came upon Halfspoor where he sat in a glade feeding on the -body of a jackal-rat, and did not warn him of our coming until we stood -face to face with him across some twenty paces of the rotting carpet of -vegetation. - -Halfspoor gazed at us, and we, paralyzed, gazed upon Halfspoor; and -he gave a grunt and a bellow, and leaping to his hind feet he came -charging down at us. - -I sent one arrow into his chest before I turned to dash back down the -trail. I had it in mind to get amongst the trees before I fought, for -here there was nowhere to dodge, and dodging was my only defense -against the giant brute. Dy-lee was fumbling at his side, and the -dogwolves were leaping toward the knifetooth bear. I shouted to Dy-lee -to seek cover, though I knew he would not understand the words. I saw -a man in pelts of black and white moving furtively from the path some -hundred feet behind us, and I knew that a guardian had been following -us eastward. Then something took me across the shoulder blades with a -slap like a tree falling, and I was hurled six times my own length into -a patch of stabbing briers. - - * * * * * - -Even as I hit I was scrambling sideways, intent on reaching the other -side of the nearest tree; a hundred thorns were ripping my flesh, and -my back felt as though it were half broken. My ears were throbbing, I -supposed from the jolt of Halfspoor's blow. I tore myself out of the -briers, leaped with a pounce like a cave cat's across an open space and -took up a position of belligerent waiting behind a lichen-wrapped trunk. - -Halfspoor, had he followed me up at once, could have slashed me apart -before ever I got out of the clutch of the thorn bushes. He had -stopped, however, on the spot where he had slapped me, and was hovering -over Dy-lee making angry swipes at him. I thought for a moment that -Dy-lee was dead or unconscious, for he was huddled down in a dark -mass at the bear's feet. The dogwolves were harrying Halfspoor, one -snapping at his legs, the other leaping to get at his throat. I made -a grab over my shoulder and discovered that the quiver was empty. My -arrows had been scattered on the ground when I flew into the briers. - -As the bear was not even looking my way, I ran into the open to get -a shaft or two. I would have attacked him with my hatchet, but since -the vital spots of his skull and neck were a good twelve feet off the -ground, it would have been a futile and stupid gesture. - -An arrow discovered, I drew back the cord and sank another shaft in -the bear's massive chest. Even as I shot I realized that something was -singular indeed. Although Halfspoor towered over Dy-lee, who crouched -unprotected on the earth, and though the bruin was cuffing in his -direction, yet the blows were missing Dy-lee by several feet at the -least. All that the bear need do was take one step forward on those -gigantic pads and bend his back a trifle ... and there would be no more -Dy-lee. But that step and that bend he did not seem able to accomplish! -Like a fox caught in a trap, he swayed and screamed his fury, but did -not touch my friend Dy-lee. - -[Illustration: It would take more than one arrow to slay the huge -Knifetooth. Could he do the impossible?] - -When my arrow struck, he turned toward me and gave a bawl of horrible -anger. Even as I snatched up the only other arrow I could see and -darted for my tree, I caught a glimpse of Dy-lee jumping to his feet, -evidently unhurt. The dogwolves hampered Halfspoor, and I made the tree -a second before the old devil reached it. - - * * * * * - -He came round it after me, and I dodged about to keep it between us, -taunting him loudly. This was a game at which I was past master. I -could dive and scuttle all afternoon, if need be. - -Then with horror I saw that Dy-lee was coming toward us. I bawled at -him to go back--he would not know the words, but surely my frantic -motions could not be misunderstood--and then in desperation stood my -ground and shot my bolt at Halfspoor at a range of about five feet. It -was the third one to flesh itself in the barrel of his chest, but I -doubted that any of the three would prove mortal. Ribs and iron-hard -muscles would stop them from penetrating too deeply. - -Dropping like a stone, I then bounded straight between his charging -legs; was struck glancingly by one hind paw and whirled over and over -in the rotten humus. My hatchet found its way by old instinct into my -hand as I rolled. Then I leaped to my toes and--collided with Dy-lee! - -Memory of that instant is muddled. I know that I almost struck my -friend down before I realized who he was. I saw Halfspoor in a kind -of bloody haze, seeming to fill the world above us. Then Dy-lee put -a hand to his mouth and the great bear fell back a pace, snarling and -swatting the air. My head rang and I realized that there was blood in -my eyes. I wiped them clear and lifted the hatchet as I backed away. -The hairy man gripped my wrist and would not let me leave his side. I -thought that he had gone mad, and tugged at him frantically. But he -stood rock-firm, with one hand holding me steady and the other at his -mouth. - -All this took but a second or two, and then I ceased to struggle and -only stared at our terrible ursine foe. Halfspoor stood just out of -reach, and his actions were brainless, idiotic. He would slash at us -viciously, missing us by a foot or so; slap at the side of his head -with blows that would have split open a less solid skull; then back -up a little, moan, bellow, gnash his tusks, make as if to charge at -us--and beat his head again! - -I glanced at Dy-lee, who seemed calm and detached. The glint of the -bronze tube caught my eye. It was in his mouth and he was blowing -into it. I thought of the wooden whistles we make for our children; -but there came no noise out of this instrument. My head was, indeed, -ringing and pounding from the fight; yet I knew I was not deaf, for -Halfspoor was raising the dead with his uproar and I could hear that -very well. - -It was hardly the time for investigation of mysteries, however. -Impatiently I pulled at Dy-lee's arm. The bear would charge. Dy-lee -grinned (at least the hair on his cheeks moved as though he had -grinned), and throwing back his shoulders and inflating his lungs, -appeared to blow a tremendous gust of wind through the metal tube. -The dogwolves, who had been snapping at Halfspoor's toes, writhed on -their bellies and screeched piteously together, as if they had been -disemboweled. Magic! The poor brutes seemed in their last agony. - - * * * * * - -The knifetooth bear gave one frightful, indignant, stentorian yell, -which echoed weirdly from every tree around the glade. He administered -a final pummeling to the sides of his tormented head. And he turned -and made off into the forest as if all the cave cats in the world were -nipping at his tail! - -At the same time my eardrums were assailed by the most piercing _feel_ -of noise that they had ever experienced. And yet there was no sound -from the tube in Dy-lee's mouth. - -Now he removed it, stowed it in his secret pouch, laughed quietly to -himself, and walking across the mold, bent down and began to gentle the -groveling dogwolves. Slowly they responded, sitting up, nuzzling his -hands, and whining as if ashamed of their recent performance. - -Listening with one ear while rubbing the other, I heard old Halfspoor -smashing his way through the woodland, complaining bitterly to himself -in a loud voice. I could not blame him. If the stalwart dogwolves were -reduced to impotence by the sorcery of Dy-lee's tube, even bruin must -be pardoned for running from it. - -And then I heard a cry of pain and terror, a human sound that rose and -wailed and died to a hideous moaning; and without hesitation I ran off -on the bear's trail. He had found someone else in his mad career, and -that one had not escaped by magic! - -It was easy to see where he had passed. Thickets were crushed, even -small trees shattered off, and the bark of the giants shredded by angry -clawings. Perhaps I went two hundred yards. Then I found the man, where -Halfspoor had found him and snatched him up and flung him aside, broken -and dying, into a heap of touchwood. - -It was the guardian Laq, and he was dying if ever I saw a man die, with -a broken back and a leg that bent sideways in a way no leg was ever -meant to bend. I knelt beside him and he opened his eyes and recognized -me, and he spat feebly, for there was still hate in the man. I could do -nothing for him, could not even straighten his limbs or ease his head, -for motion would have slain him. - -"Lie easy, Laq," I said. "You must rest a while, and then I will help -you home." - -"When I have rested, I will slay you, Ahmusk the hunter," said he with -a curse. His hand moved feebly, and I saw he wished to pull the bow -closer, the bow that he had stolen and practiced with until he thought -he was skilled enough to murder me. I put it into his fingers, noticing -without much surprise that it was one which I had made and believed I -had lost somewhere. I gave him one of the arrows from his quiver, too, -and that was a mistake, for he stared sharply at me with his filming -dark eyes. "You think I am crippled," he said huskily, "but I will show -you when I have rested, Ahmusk. Lora will never come to your platform -and your mating furs." - - * * * * * - -I said nothing, for one cannot grow angry with a dying man, and there -was no kind word that my tongue could lay hold on; and so presently he -began to talk in a quiet, sane voice. - -"Of course I cannot let you live. You braved the land of the shaggy -people, and made friends with them; and you have a knowledge which must -never be given to our tribes. Men must have something to fear. It keeps -them decent." - -I do not know, even yet, whether he believed what he said; and I have -often pondered on it. Perhaps he had made himself believe it, for the -peace of his soul. - -"The legend of The Nameless goes on," he said, the bright froth -dripping from his lips. "Ahmusk dies.... My father was a guardian. He -preached to me that some dreadful calamity would occur if we allowed -the two races to come together. All the guardians were taught that. It -was dinned into them from their birth. Only the intelligent ones saw -what that calamity would be. Our craft would lose its privilege, its -honor, its reason for being." - -It was the same thought I had held. The guardians fattened on -adulation, and if that was taken from them, there would be nothing -left, for they were so accustomed to it that they could not conceive -becoming as other men. - -"It does no harm to tell you these things, Ahmusk, for you will shortly -die. Yes ... you understand, I saw very early that the basic ideas of -my craft were wrong, all wrong. There was no harm in letting you know -of the shaggy people, for they are as innocent and affectionate as -you; the harm lay in the breaking-up of our guild, and the...." He was -silent for so long that I thought he had lapsed into insensibility, -but after a while he repeated what he had said about mankind needing -something to fear. He used the same words, as though it were an excuse -he had learnt by rote long ago. - -"That is an untruth," I said. "Fear is evil, fear of anything is all -wrong. It is wickedness, Laq." - - * * * * * - -He looked up at me, and I think the naked truth came to his lips then, -and would not be denied; for he said, with a horrid gasp, "Ah, but -the reverence given us, Bear-throat! This is not lightly to be lost. -Think of it! In all the world we alone are above mankind. A hunter -is the same as a singer, the night watcher gains no more thanks, no -more prerogatives than the weaver of garlands. Only the guardian walks -clothed in honor and mystic glory! Do you think I can let you smash -us to the level of common clay, after so many generations of being -exalted?" - -He stopped again, and I thought of the first of his breed, those early -guardians who must have arisen after the terrible slaughters, when all -was hatred and terror and confusion. Did they then invent the legend of -The Nameless, to capitalize on the mutual fear of the two peoples? Did -they, perhaps, force the hairy folk into the wastes and caves, looking -ahead to a reign of vicious knowledge over ignorance? And were all -their descendants as cynical and utterly selfish as this Laq? - -"What of your brothers?" I asked him. "Do they know that no true harm -would come if the people knew the truth of The Nameless?" - -He laughed, horribly. "My fellow guardians are in the main sublimely -unaware of their futility," he said. "The dogmatic teachings of bigoted -fathers have made unthinking sons.... You understand, Ahmusk, that I -will slay you when I have rested." - -"Yes, Laq," I said, as he lay dying. - -"Ah, but how I would love to see their bubble of self-importance -pricked!" he muttered. Evidently he felt no kinship with them, but -sneered at them and us alike. "How they would flounder if the facts -were forced upon them!" - -I heard Dy-lee come up behind us, and the dogwolves snuffled at my -shoulders. Laq raised himself with a superhuman effort and cried, "The -bear! The knifetooth bear! Ahmusk, the bear comes! My whistle ... -my whistle! I cannot find my whistle ..." and so died, his fingers -clutching weakly at the broken bow that he had stolen so long ago, when -he first plotted to kill me for the sake of Lora. - - * * * * * - -I took the arrows from his quiver, and covered Laq with branches and -dead leaves, for I had no strength to bury him. Returning to the glade, -we managed to find the three arrows I had lost in the fight; then we -turned our faces eastward once more. - -We crossed the Crimson Brook and the Blue, and then at last we began to -talk with our signs and our halting phrases. - -"What is the tube?" I asked Dy-lee. "How did it drive off Halfspoor?" - -As well as he could, he showed me. It was a whistle, of a sort, and -though we men could not hear its note, he explained that the animals -could. A low sound, made by barely breathing into it, brought the -dogwolves barking happily to our sides; but a stronger puff caused them -to howl dolefully. I had seen what a really powerful blast on it could -do to even a knifetooth bear. - -"And the guardians have these whistles?" I asked him, and he answered, -Yes, they did, though Laq must have lost his. That was why they needed -no weapons when they strode the Fearful Forest. A man would not have to -slay a carnivore when he could chase it away in fright, with its ears -splitting. - -And yet, all I sensed when Dy-lee blew the thing was a tingling of the -eardrums. Strange and new! That an animal could hear a sound which a -man could not! - -But still I thought a bow and a few good arrows were not to be sneered -at, and resolved again to teach my friends their use, in preparation -for the time, even though it be hundreds of years hence, when all the -whistles shall be lost. - -I pictured Halfspoor in my mind, and how he had stood off from Dy-lee -and swung blows at the air when the whistle blew. I saw him run again, -cuffing his own ears to beat away the tearing, bone-rending sound of -the to-me-silent tube. What a host of miracles I had to tell to Lora! - -We crossed the Gray Brook and came to Sunset Fields, and the sun was -less than an hour from its setting in the west. There was a figure -running toward us, now in the waning sunlight, now in the dappling -shade of the tree ferns. I cried out joyfully, for it was my Lora. - -She neared us, and seeing Dy-lee and the dogwolves, cried out with -horror. "Ahmusk! Fly, or they will slay you!" - -"Come here, little fearful one," I said, "and I will open your mind to -a thousand new things!" - - * * * * * - -She stood there, regarding me, and the fear went out of her eyes, to be -replaced by a vast relief. "Then this creature will not harm you?" - -"Nor you either. This is my friend Dy-lee," I told her, and taking -her hand, put it into his. He shook it, and she smiled uncertainly. -"Ahmusk--the dogwolves?" - -I patted the biggest on the head. Oh, but that was my hour! "I have -made them gentle as fawns," I said, stretching the facts somewhat. - -Then she knew that all was well, and she leaped into my arms and kissed -me until I thought she would never be done; and yet truly I was sorry -when she stopped. "What has happened, Bear-throat? Where have you been -for two days, and who is this, and how does it come that the dogwolves -do not bite, and why are you all blood-smeared, and--" - -"Lora, Lora," I said, "I have a thousand things to tell you, but we -can never begin on them if you must chatter endlessly--" - -"And Halfspoor, did you find his track, and where will he spend the -night, and--" - -"Lora!" I shouted, enfolding her in a fierce embrace. "Listen to me, -and I shall tell you! Great Halfspoor ranges the Fearful Forest, where -I will meet him again one day. This is Dy-lee--" - -"And _what_ is Dy-lee?" she asked, her voice rather muffled against my -chest. - -I gave up. "I will tell you one thing," I said, "and then I will let -you babble until you run out of queries. I am like a man who has -feared lightning all his life, and has now been struck; and I not only -survive, but have found it a pleasant experience--" - -"Where were you hit by lightning? Where did you get all the thorn -scratches?" she asked. - -Dy-lee put his hand on my shoulder and said, pointing to Lora, "Zheena! -Zheena!" - -By which I think he meant to say that females are all alike, and so, -patting my girl on her shining head, I grinned across at him and -replied, "How right you are, Dy-lee, how very right you are!" - -"What did he say?" asked Lora. - -"He said that there is nothing in all the fine green world like a -woman." - -"Well!" said she, "you've learnt a little wisdom in your traveling, I -must say!" - -"A little," said I, "a little." - -And so we journeyed homeward to the glen and our people, we three good -new companions, and the dogwolves went before us and gamboled with -pleasure in the soft grass of the fields. - - * * * * * - -That night Dy-lee and I sat together on my platform, in the tawny-cream -light of a full autumn moon. Much had been told that evening, at a -council of all our glen-folk; much had been speculated, much had been -argued over. Some men had been shocked, some elated, some hurt--those -last were the guardians, most of whom could not believe my tale until -I showed them Dy-lee and repeated what Laq had said as he lay dying. -My shaggy comrade had dyed a picture for the folk on a big rock, and -astonished them all beyond measure. Our finest singers had performed -for him, and now he knew that Bear-throat was not such a marvelous -being after all. - -Lora and I had announced our mating time. I had three days in which to -find a cave cat and make our rug. Yes, a cave cat; I had decided to -give Halfspoor a rest for a while.... - -After the initial surprise of Dy-lee's appearance, our people had all -become very much interested in him. He was laden with gifts to take -home to the caves: bone tools and hatchets, metal knives, fine arrows -and bows, skins of white deer and sleek owl feathers, everything they -could think of which he might like. - -So now we sat together on the platform of my tree, our legs covered -with rugs against the chill of the night, and our eyelids drooping with -fatigue. Yet must I chatter a while longer, being reluctant to see this -glorious day end. - -"Dy-lee," I said, "many wanings of the moon will pass before we see -an end to the changes that are going to happen among our folk, yours -and mine. We will all be one folk soon." He nodded and smiled, just -as though he could understand me. "We have been kept a simple people, -naive and guileless; and that may be good. I think it is, and I think -we will not change our simplicity. We will only see things more -plainly. And there will be less fear." - -"Ahmusk," said Dy-lee. "Friend Ahmusk!" - -I gripped his hand in the gesture I found so satisfying. "And with -time, Dy-lee, we will find the answers to all sorts of questions, -questions that intrigue me so that I can scarcely wait till morning -to begin searching for the answers! Those whistles of yours, for -instance--who made them, and how, and is the secret of them truly that -their noise pierces the ears and maddens an animal with fear, or what? - -"And your pictures, Dy-lee, and our music: we will trade these to each -other and spend a thousand thousand contented hours with them!" - -He yawned, and lying down, pulled the furs up to his chin. Still would -I talk a few moments longer. - -"And some day, Dy-lee, we will know what caused your folk to grow all -shaggy, while we remained smooth-skinned. Maybe we will find out how -the men of the far olden times moved their great stones, and why they -made the tall inclosures. - -"First of all, of course, we must learn to speak to one another. I -shall learn your language, and you shall learn mine...." - -"But," put in a grumbling voice from the next tree, "if you do not -close your mouth and go to sleep, Bear-throat, I fear you will not -live to see tomorrow's sun, and so will miss all the fun. Go to sleep!" - -I chuckled. It was Lora's father. "Good-night, then," I said. "I shall -wake you early in the morning." - -"I'm sure you will. Good-night!" - -I rolled over beside Dy-lee and composed myself in my furs for the -night. At once a vast comfortable weariness came over me. - -"Perhaps," I murmured, "perhaps we shall even discover some day why it -is that the bones of Sunset Fields do not decay!" - -Dy-lee answered me with a soft grunt and then a snore. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Beyond the Fearful Forest</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Geoff St. Reynard</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: April 29, 2021 [eBook #65186]</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net</div> - -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEYOND THE FEARFUL FOREST ***</div> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illusc.jpg" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>BEYOND THE FEARFUL FOREST</h1> - -<h2>By Geoff St. Reynard</h2> - -<p>No hunter had ever dared to follow the great Knifetooth<br /> -Bear into his Fearful Forest. For beyond it lay<br /> -a greater peril—the land of <i>The Nameless</i>....</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy<br /> -April 1951<br /> -Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br /> -the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><i>The bones lie light in the fertile soil of Sunset Fields. You can prod -them out with a few thrusts of your bare toes. The roots of the big -luxurious tree ferns carry skulls and skins and back-bones up to the -frond-filtered shining of day, and even the delicately questing purple -tendrils of the burrowflower may drag an occasional finger or toe bone -from its uneasy rest, so light they lie.</i></p> - -<p><i>The bones do not decay. Nobody knows why. Animal bones decay. The -skeletons of our own revered dead fall away to powder in a generation -or two. But the bones of Sunset Fields are like the unchanging granite -of the jagged cliffs, and of them we make our arrow points and lance -heads, our hammers and our needles. It is more difficult to work the -bones, to chip and flake them into form, than it is to shape our tools -of metal; for we have ways of heating and molding these, subtle methods -handed down from the far olden times of our fathers' fathers. There is -no way to heat and mold a bone.</i></p> - -<p><i>Our singers tell a legend that—oh, many years ago!—a man went by -stealth and slew another man with his lance. Not many of us believed -the legend even when we were children. To kill a man! Our singers say -that he possessed a beautiful woman whom the slayer desired. Who would -desire the woman of another man? Such a thing seems incredible and -childish, even to a child. There are women for all men, men for all -women, and do we not each love all others equally, reserving a special -love only for our own mate? But the legend is sung that after this -bloody deed was done, many men fought because of it, and their curst -bones lie in the earth of Sunset Fields forever, a memorial to their -fantastic stupidity.</i></p> - -<p><i>It is a legend of the singers. Nobody really knows why the bones do -not decay.</i></p> - -<p><i>Beyond Sunset Fields run the three brooks: the Gray, the Blue, and -the Crimson. Far to the south they meet, and there become the Wide -River that flows turbulently on until it reaches the silver dusk that -encircles the world. There was a man of our people who once set out to -find the end of the Wide River, but he never came back.</i></p> - -<p><i>Beyond the trio of brooks there rise the first grim ranks of the -Fearful Forest, line after line of tall broad-leafed trees so evenly -spaced you would think they had been planted by design. Pass the -palisades of this forest and brave its terrors, its darkness and great -angry beasts, and you will come after a time to the other side; and -there, beyond a black plain where nothing grows save crawling vines and -nauseous weed patches, you may see the towering cliffs of the country -of The Nameless....</i></p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>I am a hunter. My father was a singer, and his mate also; but I have a -poor voice, good for little except to shout across the valleys to my -friends, so my father, affectionately calling me Bear-throat, counseled -me to become a hunter; and this I did.</p> - -<p>I am strong, of course. My arms are brown as a deer's hide and they -swell with muscle. My legs are sturdy and, though not thickset, can -carry me at a run for the space of a day without tiring. I do not boast -when I say this, for after all I am a hunter and my arms and legs are -my tools as much as my lances and arrows and metal knife. My name is -Ahmusk, though I am more generally hailed as Bear-throat, the nickname -my father gave to me. I have eyes the color of Blue Brook where it runs -into a deep pool. My hair, the pale golden hue of the earliest corn of -autumn, is cut short in the fashion of hunters, falling scarcely to my -shoulders in back, in front sliced off evenly just above my eyes. And I -think this is all that need be said concerning the person of Ahmusk the -hunter.</p> - -<p>The day of which I would speak first was a day of cheerful sun and -small breezes, with that crispness in the air that makes a man stand -tall and blink once or twice, and perhaps shout for joy. I did just -that, after I had wakened, and then I sat on the edge of my platform -and looking down the tree's trunk at the grass below I was astonished -at its bright new-seeming greenness. I sucked in a great chestful -of air and shouted again. In the tree nearest mine there were two -platforms, and now someone sat up on the higher and rubbed her eyes and -grumbled. "What is it, Bear-throat?"</p> - -<p>"The morning, girl, the morning," I said heartily.</p> - -<p>"Need you be a herald of the dawn <i>every</i> day?" she asked, -mock-petulantly. And I laughed.</p> - -<p>"Throw off your furs and smell the wind, Lora," I told her. "In the -changing of the moon to nothing and back to fulness, the snow will -fly. Today is the best day of the year."</p> - -<p>"To you, every day is the best of the year, or at least you say so each -morning." She put back her sleeping furs and stood up, naked and young -and beautiful. "When we are mated," she said, "I will see that you wake -silently, and slide down the tree to find my breakfast while I sleep as -long as I wish!"</p> - -<p>"What a shrew," I said happily. "What a ruler of men."</p> - -<p>"You will see." She slipped her light garment over her head. "I will -quiet you down, young Bear-throat!"</p> - -<p>"I hope the day is soon, then, for your mating," growled her father -from the lower platform of their family's tree. "Perhaps good folk will -then be allowed to rest."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Grinning, I hung by my hands from the edge of my platform and dropped -to the ground. Fifteen feet from toe to turf is no drop at all to a -skilled hunter. The watchers were coming down the glen from their posts -of the night, yawning and rubbing their eyes. I hailed them and they -answered with waves of their arms.</p> - -<p>"Any disturbances?"</p> - -<p>"You would have heard, Ahmusk of the keen ears," said their leader. -"No, we glimpsed a knifetooth bear traveling his solitary way to the -Gray Brook, but if he killed thereafter we were too distant to hear -it. No noises save the small animals going and coming, going and -coming all night long."</p> - -<p>"It is nearly a moon's change since old Halfspoor ranged near the -valley," I said. "He will be coming back soon, if I know his ways; and -then there will be disturbances in the night."</p> - -<p>The leader of the watchers shivered. As far apart as we stood, I saw -him shudder. "But do not lose your day's sleep over him," I shouted -reassuringly. "This very moment I go to look for his track. If he -ranges within our lands I shall know, and a pair of hunters will watch -with you."</p> - -<p>"Watching is our duty, not yours," he answered a little sullenly. -"Beware of Halfspoor, or he will be using your pelt for a sleeping fur, -Ahmusk."</p> - -<p>I was angered, I suppose. A hunter's pride is a powerful thing. -"Halfspoor is only a knifetooth bear," I told him. "He is not, after -all, one of The Nameless."</p> - -<p>They looked at me in horror; and then they turned and went to their -trees without a word. I felt ashamed of myself. It was an evil thing -to use that terrible name so lightly. Then Lora had clambered down -her tree and was standing near me, looking up into my face, so that I -forgot all that I had been saying and knew only that every day this -girl became more lovely.</p> - -<p>"Good morning, Lora," I said.</p> - -<p>"Are you really going to look for Halfspoor?" she asked me, her eyes, -that were like the purple bells of the burrowflower, all wide and -wondering.</p> - -<p>"I am."</p> - -<p>"Perhaps he has left our lands."</p> - -<p>"I have known Halfspoor for five years, Lora, or it may be six. I know -his rangings and his times for killing; I recognize his track though it -be on the hardest ground, and I could tell you which snuffling grunt -was his if a full score of knifetooth bears were all talking at once. -He is due to come back today, or tomorrow or the next day. He is old -and wily, but set in his ways."</p> - -<p>"I hope he has died on the banks of the Wide River," she said, brushing -a strand of her onyx-black hair away from her face. "I hope his bones -are gnawed by jackal-rats."</p> - -<p>"And I hope your wish does not come true," I said lightly. "Because I -have chosen his hide for our mating rug, young Lora."</p> - -<p>"Oh!" she exclaimed suddenly, her great eyes going wide again. "I had -forgotten to tell you. I was asleep when you returned last night."</p> - -<p>"I trailed a wounded deer far down the Blue Brook, and caught him late. -What had you forgotten, sleek Lora?"</p> - -<p>"The guardian Laq asked me to be his mate. It was in the afternoon, and -he asked me in the presence of my father. When I reminded him that you -were to be my mate, he asked my father for me."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>I was shocked, then angered above any anger I had ever known. "He asked -you, and then your <i>father</i>!" I roared. "What had your father to do -with it?"</p> - -<p>"Laq says that in the far olden times it was the custom to ask a -woman's parents. My father was enraged and told him that we were not -living in the far olden times. Laq said it was a pity we were not, -as then the people had respect for their guardians. And my father, -fuming and rumbling until I thought he would begin to give off sparks -like Ruddy Mountain, told Laq that even a guardian had no right to ask -for the promised mate of another man. Laq then departed, saying he -would ask me again after Halfspoor had killed you, dear Bear-throat. -Halfspoor again! His cruel words had slipped my mind until I spoke them -now. Must you go looking for Halfspoor?"</p> - -<p>"I must." Taking my bow from my shoulder, I tested it from habit, and -counted the arrows in my quiver to ascertain that there were fourteen -of them, for fourteen arrows are accounted lucky for a day's hunt. "I -do not understand Laq," I told her. "He has broken two of the strongest -customs. To ask you when you are promised ... and then to ask your -father for you, as though you were a bone hammer or a sleeping fur! Laq -must be losing his wits."</p> - -<p>"Perhaps he was drunk on tree fern juice." She dismissed Laq and -all his works with a shrug. "The sun has lifted over the hills, -Bear-throat. If Halfspoor is so much more attractive than I am, why -then go to him, young hunter with blind eyes."</p> - -<p>I patted her smooth cheek. "Young, but not blind. Did I not choose the -prettiest girl of all our folk, when we two were scarcely older than -sucklings?" And with this compliment, which made her preen, I left her -and walked swiftly down the glen toward Sunset Fields.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>By the time I had crossed Sunset Fields and come to the Gray Brook, -I had forgotten Laq and pushed Lora to the back of my mind. The day -was perfect. Every bird in the world was making merry on his twig, -every small animal had left his burrow to romp drunkenly through the -underbrush, intoxicated with the bright keen air of morning. I passed -a doe with her fawn, trotting happily toward the water; and I did not -bring her down, though she would have been easy prey and good eating, -for we shared a joy that made us sib to one another.</p> - -<p>Still, for me the pleasure of autumn was now only a background against -which my thoughts of Halfspoor the bear marched in orderly fashion -while I reviewed them one by one. I recalled his slayings of men, his -occasional and very skillful stalking of the night watchers in their -trees at either end of our valley. I remembered how on this morning he -would be found asleep in his old lair under the two fallen petrified -tree ferns downstream near the Blue Brook, while on that morning he -would be gnawing the bones of bison or cave cat or perhaps even of -jackal-rat (for he was a dirty feeder, was Halfspoor), far up the -Crimson. I visualized his footprint, unique among knifetooth bears, -measuring as long as my arm from wrist to shoulder, and with three -outer toes gone from the right hind pug. As I waded through the Gray -Brook's chilled waters I could almost imagine that I saw the maimed -sign of his pad on the silver strand before me. "How well I know that -track!" I exclaimed to myself, with an egotistic pride in my craft; -and then I came out of the waters to find that, far from so clearly -imagining it in all its enormous crippled particulars, I had actually -been looking at the veritable track of Halfspoor himself. I was -exultant and humiliated at the same time.</p> - -<p>Halting above it, I tested my bow once more, and counted the fourteen -bone-pointed arrows in their quiver that I had made from the paw and -forearm pelt of another knifetooth bear, my lucky quiver with the claws -still hanging from its tip. The metal knife was in its sheath at my -hip, the bone hatchet dangled from a sling handy to my left hand. -I took a deep breath and began to follow the great mutilated prints -overland toward the second of the three streams.</p> - -<p>Soon I had crossed the Blue and was approaching the Crimson Brook. -Halfspoor was perhaps two hours ahead of me. Where he had trodden in -sand, the water had filled his track, and where he had ambled heavily -across grassy spaces, the blades had sprung nearly to uprightness -again. He was traveling slowly, inspecting logs and coverts, probably -talking to himself in the gruff complaining whine of his breed. Here -and there he had lingered a moment or two, and in these places I could -often catch a whiff of his rank ursine odor.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>At first I had no desire to catch up with Halfspoor. Almost would I -rather have come face to face with one of The Nameless! No hunter is -a match for a full-grown knifetooth bear, standing as he does more -than twice as tall as a man, with an unbelievable bulk that must -outweigh twenty-five humans, every ounce of which is full of fight -and choler and wickedness. His twin saber-tusks jut down in great -deadly arcs, yellow and sharp and long as a hunting arrow. His head -is larger than that of any animal, even than that of the cave cat who -lives to the north and can be heard yowling a full day's journey away. -When a knifetooth bear opens his maw it is like staring into a huge -fang-rimmed scarlet well. His paws are swift gargantuan weapons that -can enfold and crush the largest stag. Oh, a terrible beast is old -knifetooth! And Halfspoor was the biggest, the angriest, the wisest and -most hateful of his tribe.</p> - -<p>I tracked him but did not hurry overmuch; when I had decided where -he would spend the night, I would return to the glen, and persuade a -dozen of our hunters to accompany me to find him. If he lay over a -kill, stupid and drowsy with eating, we would attack him. Some of us -might die, but Halfspoor also would die ... if we were lucky. By right -of my trailing I would then lay claim to his pelt, and from it make a -mating fur for Lora. And the watchers would feel happier as they sat -the nights through in their trees at the ends of the valley, because -Halfspoor would never trouble them again.</p> - -<p>On this I thought as I crossed the Crimson Brook, and saw the first -line of trees rising from gray tangled thickets that marked the -beginning of the Fearful Forest. Halfspoor's pugmarks went straight -toward them. And it was then that I began to form my daring plan. The -bear was obviously going to go to ground somewhere in the woodland, and -no hunter would follow me into that dreadful place after sundown.</p> - -<p>Why not follow him and kill him myself?</p> - -<p>Of all the folk, I alone had killed a knifetooth bear. Truly he had -been but partially grown, and I had not deliberately stalked him to -kill; no, I had blundered on him and it had been slay or be slain. But -in that fight I had learnt much of a knifetooth's tactics, blind spots -and weaknesses. His arm was now my quiver, his hide my sleeping rug. -Halfspoor was only twice his size, at most, and surely the best hunter -of the glen was a match for him? I who could loose four arrows and -notch a fifth before the first struck its mark a hundred paces off—why -should old tribal fears and the experiences of lesser men keep me from -trying my hand at conquering this maimed brute?</p> - -<p>I went into the dank dimness of the Fearful Forest.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>There is something I do not like about a deep tangled forest, and -that is the lack of sunshine. The light is green and cool, and at -intervals you will see a thin beautiful shaft of yellow spearing down -from an opening far above; but unless you come to a glade there is no -chance of catching a glimpse of the sun in its glory riding the blue -fleece-clouded sky, and without the sun I feel lonely and somehow -half-lost. It is why I would make an indifferent watcher, for they must -wake by night and sleep by day. I am a sun-worshipper of the first -order. I need its blazing all about me in order to be wholly myself.</p> - -<p>Of all woodlands, the least lovely is the Fearful Forest. As I have -said, its trees are spaced evenly as though they had been planted by -someone in the far olden times. Their wide leaves are dark blue-green -with emerald veins running beneath the surface. Their boles are thick -and have rough hard bark, unlike the smooth-skinned tree ferns of -Sunset Fields. Between their roots orange and black mushrooms and -strange pale sick-looking fungi lurk, and crawling upward toward the -invisible sun go lichens of every hue from mauve to sanguine. Where -the branches begin there is a riot of parasitical growths, thick vines -and murderous mistletoe, climbing plants that bear huge trumpets of -orchids, every sort of disagreeable creeper that lives on the energy -of its stronger brethren. All this vile vegetation makes an almost -impenetrable roof over the whole Fearful Forest. On the ground between -the trees lie heaps of long-decayed touchwood, squat thickets of brier, -lightning-blasted limbs only beginning to crumble, and a deep soft -carpet of dead things, from the half-dissolved flora of which peer -white rib cases and gleaming, grinning skulls. The Fearful Forest reeks -of death, of murdered animals and plants, of life that is not healthy -nor productive of anything save more death.</p> - -<p>There are trails through the depths of this dismal woodland, paths -made by bears or stags or the giant dogwolves that range in packs of a -hundred. Smaller aisles are made by jackal-rats and the other lesser -animals. Halfspoor was following a deep trench of a trail that ran -almost straight toward the opposite side of the forest.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>For a long while I followed this pathway, glancing at the ground -now and again to be sure the knifetooth bear had not turned off; -and my mind was oppressed against my will by thoughts of horror, -generated, doubtless, in the dreary sunless vistas about me. Indeed, -I would have gone back had it not been for the bold and idiotic plan -I had conceived, of slaying Halfspoor single-handed. Several times a -jackal-rat crossed my road, snarling at me, its scurfy brown hackles -lifted. The third such loathsome beast I skewered with an arrow out of -sheer dislike, retrieving my shaft before I passed on.</p> - -<p>Suddenly I halted. Before me on a patch of mold lay the print of the -bear, and within its great outline was a second track, that of a man. -Another human was following Halfspoor! I was astonished. I knew where -every hunter of the glen-folk ranged today, and none should be near the -Fearful Forest. Kneeling, I stared closely at the footmark. I knew it -well, as I knew the spoor of every man in this region. Laq the guardian -was before me in the woodland.</p> - -<p>Laq! He who had so oddly broken two of the oldest customs—say rather -immutable laws—of humanity. We are supposed to love one another -equally, and for the most part we do; reserving, as I have said, -a special love for our mates and a heightened reverence for our -guardians. But I could not feel any very powerful affection for the -guardian Laq that day. I was disgruntled and wrathful to find that he -was somewhere ahead.</p> - -<p>Certainly he had a perfect right to be in the Fearful Forest. The -guardians passed this way with some frequency, and no hunter or singer -or watcher of the night envied them their solitary journeys ... nor -their mysterious and appalling duties at their destination!</p> - -<p>For the guardians were the only barrier, as we all had been told from -childhood, that stood between mankind and The Nameless. The calling was -hereditary, limited to certain families. Dedicated at birth to their -lifelong task, the guardians learned their secrets from their fathers, -and imparted not a syllable of them to anyone outside the craft so long -as they lived. It was thought that perhaps only those of select blood -lines had minds capable of holding these secrets without going insane; -it was thought—oh, many many things were thought of the guardians! -Generally aloof, wrapped in the cloak of esoteric knowledge, they lived -among us as superior beings, complex where we were simple, sober where -we were light-hearted, supremely important where any one of us could be -replaced by a score of others.</p> - -<p>Over The Nameless the guardians had power, and kept them confined to -their stark and blighted-seeming country beyond the Fearful Forest. I -never knew a man so daring or so rash as to ask any sort of impertinent -question of a guardian, whether about his work or his cabalistic -secrets or his terrible charges. The less said or even thought of The -Nameless, the better.</p> - -<p>So the guardians moved between the glens and the jagged cliffs, revered -by men and shunned by beasts of prey, accepting food and comforts and -at times a mate from our ranks; the sole protection of humanity from -their age-old enemies....</p> - -<p><i>The Nameless!</i></p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Suddenly I realized I was approaching the limits of the Fearful Forest. -I peered keenly at the great mutilated tracks in the mold. Yes, it was -still Halfspoor I followed, and here was Laq's mark too.</p> - -<p>I think it was then that I began to feel fear, when I knew that I -should have to skirt the country of The Nameless. It never entered my -head that Halfspoor would go straight on across the blackened plain; -surely not even a bear would pass too near the forbidden lands. But he -was evidently going to have a distant look at them, and so perforce I -must have one likewise.</p> - -<p>Soon the trees thinned a little, and daylight crept toward me from -between their boles. Then in a few moments I stood on the edge of the -woodland. I began to sing to myself in a tuneless mumble. There was -very little joy in me, and I felt I would be happier with some man-made -noise, even such noises as came from my unskilled throat.</p> - -<p>One sweeping glance I gave the plain before me. There were the slimy -pools with their odious tufts of weeds and strings of water vines -emerging like sentient things of evil. There were the undulating bare -stretches of black dead soil from which nothing sprouted. And beyond, -strange cragged rocks and cairns upreared haphazardly in profusion for -many thousands of paces, until at last the raw red cliffs leaped up to -cry a halt to them and all this barren, frightful country ... beyond -the cliffs, what man knew what might be?</p> - -<p>One glance, and then I flung myself into a pile of touchwood, -scattering the punk in blinding, billowing clouds and bruising my -shoulder on a hidden stump. As I had heard the thin twang of a -bowstring, I now heard the quick heavy crump of an arrow striking a -tree, just before my face was buried in the crumbling tinder. I rolled -over behind a log, eyes full of the dry powdery stuff and nostrils -twitching against the longing to sneeze. My own bow was in my hand -and an arrow nocked before I rubbed my vision clear; then I peered -cautiously over the log in the direction whence the shaft had come.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Nothing moved, so presently I bounced to my feet and went over to the -right to inspect the arrow, which had buried itself two finger-lengths -in the bark. I broke it off and stared at the feathers and green-dyed -butt. It was one I had made myself.</p> - -<p>Standing without movement, I listened hard, and at last heard someone's -careless foot crack a twig in the distance. Then I allowed myself the -luxury of an ear-shattering sneeze.</p> - -<p>One of our own glen-folk had shot at me. There was no escaping that -fact. It might have been anyone save a hunter, for all of us made our -own weapons, giving the surplus to be divided among the less adroit men -of the other callings.</p> - -<p>In the split second between the string's song and the thunk of the -arrow, it had flashed into my mind that one of The Nameless was -shooting at me. For of course no one knew exactly what they did, just -how they injured men, or even what they looked like; they might be -ogres with twelve arms and seven heads, carrying half-a-dozen bows....</p> - -<p>But this was an arrow of <i>my making</i>. That meant that the shot had -been a warning to return to a safer place, an admonition that I was -wandering too far, sent dramatically by one of the patrolling guardians.</p> - -<p>Yet why had he not merely stepped up and warned me? All the guardians -knew me well. They knew I would be tractable to any suggestion. Why had -he shot and fled?</p> - -<p>So conditioned is our race to amity and all-embracing brotherly love, -so incredible is the thought of violence between men, that it took -quite five minutes of cogitation before the terrible idea occurred -to me: that it might have been Laq, a jealous and hate-filled Laq, -shooting not to warn, but to murder.</p> - -<p>I remembered the legend of the bones of Sunset Fields, and a sickness -took me in the pit of the stomach for a while. Then I put the grotesque -thought from me, and went to look for Halfspoor's trail once more.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>It ran clear and straight out across the black plain; I rubbed my chin -and hesitated briefly. Then, nocking an arrow, I strode out and away -from the edge of the Fearful Forest. My skin began to crawl, crawl -with dread, but with scowling eyes I traced the prints before me, and -there was no possibility in my mind of turning back now. Remembrance of -the shaft in the tree was angering me more with every step. Warning -or murder weapon, its insolent caveat was the final stimulation I had -needed to force my frightened body onward.</p> - -<p>If you are not a hunter, perhaps you will not understand the intense -and passionate ascendancy that a stalk may gain over a man's will. He -begins in a spirit of sport, it may be, thinking, "I shall pit my wits -against this stag—or bison, or cave cat—and see if I can out-think -him." Then after so long he begins to feel feverish about the temples, -his hands sweat, his breath comes shorter; and suddenly it is not an -idle hour's sport, but a whole life he is living in these moments, a -veritable microcosm of existence, and the quarry is not simply a great -dangerous animal, but all foemen, all desirable goals, everything he -wants for himself and in the same moment everything he has fought and -will fight forever. I cannot make it plainer. It is just this: the -longer the hunting, the more acute grows the urgency to come up with -and slay this fleeing creature, whether it be jackal-rat or eagle or -two-ton knifetooth bear. If the hunter be a real man, he will not cease -from pursuit while there is wind in his lungs and a modicum of strength -in his hands.</p> - -<p>Even though the game lead him into such a place as the country of The -Nameless, from which, as we all have been told from infancy, there -is no escape, your true hunter cannot stand and let it go. I had -been making pictures in my head for half a day's spooring, of what I -should do to this great ursine brute when I caught him; I was entirely -incapable of returning empty-handed. I think that even without the -impetus of that furtive skulker with the arrow, I would have gone on. -As it was ... I quickened my pace.</p> - -<p>The blackened plain was broader than it had seemed from the forest. I -trotted briskly over it, avoiding the stinking pools, and on all its -grim surface nothing moved except myself. The pugmarks of Halfspoor -went straight as an owl's death-strike toward the broken cairns and -ragged rocks. Biting my lips with determination, I followed them. I -was in a strange state of single-mindedness, like a man drunken on -fermented tree fern sap who knows only that he wants to do one thing -and that, no matter how ridiculous it may be, nothing will stop him -from doing it.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Already I had gone a thousand paces farther than any man of my -race—save the guardians—had ever gone before. The earth beneath my -bare toes was gritty, almost like powdered stone, and I did not wonder -that nothing grew here except in the scummy pools of stagnant rainwater.</p> - -<p>Now the first of the queer cairns was before me. Halfspoor had gone -around it. So did I.</p> - -<p>A shadow moved in the far corner of my left eye. I gazed swiftly -toward it, but it was gone.</p> - -<p>A shudder ran up the back of my legs and quivered across my shoulders -till my hands shook. Yet my stalking-madness would not let me be long -afraid.</p> - -<p>Here was a plot of ground between two walls of unevenly-piled rocks. -Trails of jackal-rats threaded its smooth surface, and across -Halfspoor's prints ran those of a big lone dogwolf. I was bewildered. -Could <i>this</i> be the country of The Nameless, over which even the eagles -feared to soar? Or did it lie, perhaps, beyond those bleak cliffs -yonder?</p> - -<p>Here Halfspoor had caught himself a jackal-rat. Said I not that he was -a foul feeder? He had torn the scavenger in two and spent five or ten -minutes in wolfing down the tenderer portions.</p> - -<p>Where was he heading, this temerarious bear? What curious siren call -was luring him (and quite possibly me) to destruction?</p> - -<p>I paused by a wall, to pick out with the point of my knife a thorn that -had been working its way into my heel. This wall, now: it appeared to -have been built a-purpose. The base was straight and made of thick -square blocks, the upper rows knocked a little out of line but still -fairly even. Between the stones was a crumbly, grainy material, and in -places it still adhered to the rock in lumps and patches. I scratched -my head over it, forgetting Halfspoor. Suppose, now, a man wanted -to build a wall of such huge stones—provided he found a way to move -them in the first place, for they were enormously heavy—would he -not concoct some gummy or cohesive substance with which to hold them -together? And in the course of time, of many moons and years, would -this substance not possibly harden and then decay, leaving traces such -as I now pried away with my thumbnail?</p> - -<p>But what would a man want with a wall like this?</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>A light shone in my mind. Why, if he had such a wall erected across one -end of a glen, it might keep the carnivores from his tribe's trees, and -there would be no need for more than one or two night watchers!</p> - -<p>If I lived to return to our valley, I would lay this idea before my -people. It was amazingly simple, and yet new. Surely no one had ever -thought of it before.</p> - -<p>Well, I went on through the rocky ruins.</p> - -<p>Halfspoor was heading for the cliffs. In this bad unfamiliar soil it -was hard to judge the age of his traces, but I thought he could not be -more than half an hour ahead of me now.</p> - -<p>Again a shadow moved just beyond the range of my vision, and again when -I looked around it had gone.</p> - -<p>I thought of Laq. I should have traced his footprints at the edge of -the wood and discovered the truth concerning that arrow.</p> - -<p>Shadows....</p> - -<p>I was not exactly happy. But I traveled on over Halfspoor's trail, -committed to the rash impulsive adventure beyond recall. At one point -I passed a lair, dug out beneath one of the shapeless cairns and lined -with torn fur, which stunk of dogwolf; the bones of many big hares -littered the ground before its mouth, but there were none of the fierce -occupants at home just then, and I passed on. There were more signs of -beasts hereabouts than one could find in all the valleys back beyond -Sunset Fields, and my amazement grew within me. This was not what the -guardians had told us concerning the country of The Nameless, they who -were doom and destruction to everything that drew breath.</p> - -<p>Here was a place where Halfspoor had seated himself to rest, in a -corner of the ancient walls. Tiny tufts of grizzled fur were left -sticking to the rough surface, where the bear had rubbed his back -contentedly over the stones. I inhaled deeply of his scent. He was not -far ahead now!</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Indeed he was not; less than two hundred cautious paces had I gone -when his mighty frame rose before me, towering up beyond a rock so -abruptly that I thought he must have heard me and lain in wait. Then -I realized, even as my fingers flew in a panic to my quiver, that his -back was toward me and he was staring forward and up, making a guttural -pleading sort of noise in his chest. I could scarcely shoot him in the -back (it would only have enraged him anyway), so I slipped off to the -left and crept along behind a low broken wall until I judged I was -opposite him. Carefully I raised my head. There he was, all fourteen -feet of him, his monstrous head tipped back and his mouth open, so that -his twin fangs in profile seemed but a single terrible yellow tusk. -I might have lanced an arrow through his cranium then, but ... well, -Ahmusk the hunter is no assassin. When the day comes on which I dare -not fight fairly, even with a knifetooth bear, then I shall break my -bow and take to garland-weaving.</p> - -<p>I stared up to see what he was moaning at. Before him at a little -distance rose a thing like a flat-faced precipice, which I had been -watching and wondering about for some minutes. It appeared to have been -<i>constructed</i>, like the low walls I had examined; but its stones were -even larger than theirs, and its overall surface much smoother. At -regular intervals, and in series of evenly spaced lines, across this -uncanny cliff, there ran large square openings, like many blind eyes -in an ogre. There were five of these horizontal lines of holes, rising -up until the top of the cliff all shattered and craggy put an end to -them. I would say this strange erection was more than seventy feet high.</p> - -<p>Framed in one of the holes on the second level sat another knifetooth -bear, deep brown where Halfspoor was grizzled, smaller than the old -scoundrel by a third of his bulk, and—my word on it!—an expression of -coyness about her shaggy face that nearly made me burst out laughing. -This was the lodestone which had dragged him inexorably over the brooks -and through the Fearful Forest, even into the land of The Nameless. A -female! A bear-wench!</p> - -<p>She glared at him sidelong, her black nose pointed down and her -comparatively short two-foot fangs digging into her shoulder; while -Halfspoor, giddy and fatuous with love, made his drooling noises of -courtship.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>I sat down with a bump—he was oblivious to me and to everything but -his light-o'-love—and chuckled helplessly. Then I frowned. What -should I do? Leap up and dance to attract his attention? Or leave -him to his wooing and trust to run across his trail another day? You -will understand that my stalking-fever, which even the country of -The Nameless had not been able to dispel, was misted away by this -development as though it had never been. Poor old Halfspoor! It would -be a scurvy trick to interrupt him now with death.</p> - -<p>And even as I thought these comradely thoughts, the whine of an arrow -came from nowhere and on its heels the angry squall of the giant bear. -I twisted round and looked over the wall. There was a shaft, fleshed in -his furry thigh; and Halfspoor was gazing at me with no friendliness -whatever.</p> - -<p>It was no time for idle wondering as to the source of that arrow. -Indeed, I think I knew instinctively who had sent it over my head into -the courting bruin. But as I leaped the scattered rocks and dodged the -higher walls of that ruinous place, I was seeking only an advantageous -battleground, not the stealthy prowler with the bow. At my back I -could hear the wrathful snorting of the knifetooth bear, the swift -thud-thud of his enormous paws, and the rattle of stones dislodged by -his whirlwind passage.</p> - -<p>My bow was in my hand, a lean arrow nocked on the cord. Hastily as I -ran I gripped two others between the fingers of my left hand. Skirting -a heap of gray lichen-grown rubble, I whirled on my toes and sent the -first missile back at him. When I could risk a glance again, he had -fallen a little behind, being some forty long paces in the rear, and -was swatting impatiently at the broken shaft protruding from his thigh. -I think my own shot had missed him, and considering my haste, I was not -surprised.</p> - -<p>I halted and taking a decent aim I loosed one at his head. At the -same moment he roared loudly, opening his immense mouth to its full -extent. Luck not being with me, the arrow glanced off one of his -overgrown fangs with a sharp click, which appeared to startle Halfspoor -considerably, because he stopped dead and blinked down his muzzle in a -quaint way. I shot the third of my arrows and tore a long red furrow up -one gray-sprinkled cheek. Then, as he was nearly atop me in four sudden -raging bounds, I fled like a hare amongst the ruins. His coughing and -bellowing echoed like implacable thunder in my ears.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>There was a deep and narrow gut of a trench that ran between two high -stone walls. In jumping it I had an idea; doubled back, narrowly missed -being decapitated by a swipe of one savage paw, and dived over the -rocks into this curious thoroughfare. Scuttling like a jackal-rat, I -went on toes and fingers off to the right, with Halfspoor's vociferance -threatening to crack my eardrums. Two or three times he reached down -for a blow at my back, and I actually felt the wind of his pad's thrust -on my nape. Then he darted ahead, if such a titanic monster may be said -to dart, and leaning over one wall he waited for me. Clever brute! -He would scoop me out of my ditch like a fish from a runlet, would -he? I vaulted the wall opposite to his side and after one hasty shot -flew into a crazy labyrinth of ancient ramparts and disintegrating -inclosures. An insane bawling told me I had probably hit him again. I -had ten arrows left. My confidence was growing. Only let me find a tall -cairn to scale, and I would make Halfspoor into a positive porcupine -with those ten missiles.</p> - -<p>A sun-blind owl sat in a filthy nest among fallen blocks of stone. As I -dashed past, it blundered out and flew into my face, beating its heavy -wings and jabbing furiously at my eyes with its little hooked bill. I -fended it off with the bow, gripped my bone-headed hatchet and with a -long-armed glancing swing hit it under one of the big dazzled eyes. It -fell away, screeching, and I ran on. Halfspoor's grunt was close behind.</p> - -<p>Then, some distance off, I caught the sound of howling, and knew that -a pack of fierce dogwolves were running on a scent. I hoped they would -not come here to complicate matters.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>There was a place where broken walls flanked a row of stones which -rose gradually upward, somewhat like a ladder placed halfway between -horizontal and vertical; that is, a man could step on one stone, then -up on the next, then the next, and so on, until he found himself quite -high in the air. The row ended on a flat floor open to the winds of -heaven, some twenty-odd feet from the ground; and here and there -around this flat place irregular rocky projections rose. I had seen -enough of this country by now to know that the projections must once -have been another wall, rising to enclose this flat floor. Why someone, -or something, had gone to so much trouble to make these ancient walls, -I could not imagine. At first I had thought it must have been a truly -gigantic being, to lift the huge stones. Now I had seen so many -inclosures roofed over (as we roof over our platforms with thick fronds -during the brief weeks of the winter) at a height of no more than nine -or ten feet, that I could not believe a giant had made them. Why should -he make a place in which he would have to lie down, never standing? But -on the other hand, that may have been the case. It was hardly the time -for philosophical speculations. I trotted up the stone ramp briskly and -cast my eyes about for a good shooting-nook.</p> - -<p>Halfspoor was hot after me. He dropped to all fours and came up the -graduated stones as though he had been using such conveniences all his -life—and it was not truly so different from climbing a rocky hill, -except that this was smoother going. I dashed for a heap of rubble at -one corner. Leaping this, I crouched down as Halfspoor hit the top at -a run. I shot at him and my ill luck was still with me, for again my -shaft glanced off one of his frightful tusks. Surely an evil fog lay -over my eyes that day! He charged in my direction and I had time for -but one more swift arrow, which I had the good sense not to aim at -his head. It buried half its length rather low in his shoulder and he -squalled resentfully. Then I slipped over the edge and dropped to the -ground.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>I had calculated the drop well. It was too much for his bulk. He loomed -above me, raging. I put an arrow in his cheek, and he bit down hard -and spat out the head and part of the shaft. I drew a good bead on his -eye but he turned much more quickly than I had anticipated and the -missile whined away in the sky. He headed back for the climbing stones. -I looked about me. There was a broken inclosure nearby in one wall of -which was an entrance like a cave mouth, perhaps seven feet high by two -broad: it seemed as good a place as any to dodge into, and I did. There -I awaited his coming, controlling my breathing as best I could in order -that my next shots would not be so shamefully wasted.</p> - -<p>Then I heard the dogwolf pack much closer. They yapped and yowled, and -mingled with their excited noise was the petulant grunt of Halfspoor. -Still I waited, but he did not come. Then I knew by the sounds that the -dogwolves had surrounded him. Here was an odd happening! Certainly no -dogwolf would attack a knifetooth bear, even though he ran with five -score other canines. Only a very silly human hunter would pit himself -against old Halfspoor.</p> - -<p>But, by my love for Lora, they were shepherding him across the ruins! -I caught a glimpse of the old devil backing reluctantly up a mound, -and then as I gaped he turned and shambled off down a black ravine, -complaining and waving his forepaws angrily. In a great circle they -followed him, nipping at his heels, leaping out of range, and keeping -up an incessant clamor that sounded like boys teasing a captured cave -cat kitten.</p> - -<p>I counted the arrows in my quiver. There were six now. Ill luck rode -my shoulders that day. Halfspoor should be bleeding to death with -eight shafts in his chest and head; instead he had four or five -inconsiderable wounds, one of which I had not even given him.</p> - -<p>I spat on the ground, wishing I had a drink of water. Ahmusk, mighty -stalker of knifetooth bears! I laughed without mirth. Ahmusk, desperate -invader of the land of The Nameless. There, now, was a title for a -brave man; but I had come here in the grip of hunting-fever, and so -little credit attached to me for the deed. I was in a mood to revile -myself aloud. I smote my bare thigh and swore heartily. What should I -do now about Halfspoor? There was no profit in advertising my presence -to the dogwolf pack. They had been known to pull down men if they were -hungry.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>I put my hands to my ears and rubbed them roughly, for of a sudden -they were tingling and prickling. It was as though I had heard a high -unpleasant sound; but except for the distant uproar of Halfspoor and -his annoyers, there was nothing. The country was bewitched, that was -it. There was a pause, and then my eardrums thrilled briefly again to -something I could not locate or analyze.</p> - -<p>I glanced behind me at the inclosure. Roofless, I had the feeling that -it must once have been roofed; there were low piles of rock trash all -about, as there would have been had the roof—fallen now—been somehow -impossibly made of stone. What prodigies of strength and skill had -wrought these incredible walls? I shook my head, and turned back to the -entrance.</p> - -<p>There was something approaching slowly over the ruined structures to my -right. I looked at it with widening eyes. It was about a hundred paces -off. For one sickening moment I believed it to be some horrid kind -of ogre, made of muck or rotted flesh or some such grisly matter; it -seemed slimy and <i>dead</i>....</p> - -<p>Then the sun struck it, and I decided that it was simply covered with -long trailing dark hair, which glistened wetly in the rays of the dying -sun.</p> - -<p>It came on, and my knees smote together while my tongue stuck to the -roof of my sudden-dried mouth.</p> - -<p>In form it was like a man. Indeed, had a man been smeared with black -mud, and then been given a coat of heavy hair, oily or permanently damp -hair, he might well have resembled this creature. I judged it to be -about six feet or a little over, my own height; and so later it proved -to be. It moved oddly, with a sort of halting gait, weaving its arms -to keep its balance on the jagged rocks. I could see two deep blackish -pits in its head where its eyes would be, and matted straggly hair fell -lifelessly from its crown. It was naked, like an animal.</p> - -<p>I thought of my mother's old songs of the ogre-breed, which can take -all manner of shapes, but often emulate mankind, building their frames -magically from dead beasts or from the masses of decomposing vegetable -matter in the forests. Maybe my first idea had been right, and this was -an ogre of mire and pelts, all wickedness.</p> - -<p>At any rate, it was coming at me, if rather slowly; and so I put an -arrow to the string, being minded to die bravely as becomes a hunter of -the glen-folk.</p> - -<p>Seeing me raise the bow, it waved at me in protest, and with so human -a gesture that I could not shoot it, but only held my weapon ready. It -then raised one hand to its face, with something bright in its fingers -(it had fingers, I could see, like a man's), and my ears tingled again -to the unheard sound or vibration which had bothered me previously.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>From the ruins behind it rose the noise of dogwolves barking. It -nodded, like a man who would say to himself, That is good. Then it came -on with its slow, almost apologetic pace. I lowered my bow. Somehow I -felt that it meant me no injury.</p> - -<p>When it was no more than half-a-dozen feet off, it halted; and we -stared at each other curiously.</p> - -<p>It was a hairy brute, to be sure, but evidently no ogre. Its thatch -glistened darkly, and seemed of the consistency of a cave cat's mane, -but without curls; lank, long, and thick. In the places where this -mantle did not grow, as on the cheeks and forehead and on the rounded -portions of the limbs, there was a short dusky shag, a nap like that -on a knifetooth bear's muzzle. The effect was startling, but on close -inspection not really ugly, and wholly without the impression of terror -which my first sight of it had brought. It appeared to be watching me -steadily, though its eyes were entirely hidden in their sunken shadowed -wells. Finally it put up its right hand to the level of its waist and -held it there. I could not see the significance of the gesture. After -a moment it thrust the open hand out to me in several short jabs. The -motion was entirely without menace. I could make nothing of it.</p> - -<p>It clasped its hands together and shook them. Then it stuck the right -one toward me again. I realized that it wished to touch my own hand!</p> - -<p>I shifted my bow to my left hand—so sure had I grown in these few -brief seconds that it meant no harm—and touched its hairy fingertips. -Instantly my hand was enfolded in a firm hearty grip, and moved rapidly -up and down. I cannot explain how or why the emotion swept over me, -but immediately I felt a warm friendship for this shaggy being, such a -feeling as I had never held before for anything save my fellow men and -women of the valleys.</p> - -<p>And there was something else. The gesture felt ... felt natural, and -proper, and almost <i>familiar</i>, as though I had done it many times -before!</p> - -<p>Mystified, I drew back my hand as he released it; and once more we -stood staring at each other without sound.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>A movement at last caught my eye, and staring over his shoulder I saw -two great dogwolves breast a wall and come loping toward us. With a -warning cry I threw up my bow. In the time it took me to change hands -on it, he had peered back; then he gave a cry, remarkably manlike in -tone, and waved urgently at my face. Scowling, I dodged back to get -a shot at the foremost brute. At once the hairy thing knelt, as if -pleading, and the pair of dogwolves, coming up, fawned on him with -lolling scarlet tongues.</p> - -<p>My jaw dropped and I gasped, dumbfounded.</p> - -<p>The fierce beasts were his friends!</p> - -<p>I slung my bow over my shoulder, but took the precaution of grasping my -bone hatchet. The dogwolves stared at me, their hot eyes as puzzled as -no doubt my own were; but they made no move toward me.</p> - -<p>The hairy being stood up and came forward to touch me lightly on the -chest. Then he shook my right hand up and down again. The dogwolves -crept on their bellies to our shadows, and one of them, a giant of a -fellow, touched my foot with his wet nose, whining a little.</p> - -<p>If there has ever been a more astonished person than I was at that -second, he must have fainted away with his wonder. I know I grew quite -giddy. Now, I said to myself, if Halfspoor were to amble up to me -and ask for the loan of my knife, I think he would get it without a -question or a raised eyebrow!</p> - -<p>The big carnivores lay panting beside us, and the dark rough-coated -manlike creature rubbed his chin and stared at me from those deepset -eyes; which I could make out now, as they were glittering in a stray -beam of sunlight that fell across his strange face.</p> - -<p>He said something to me. It was not an animal's noise, but a reasonable -imitation of human speech, except that none of the words were familiar.</p> - -<p>At once I remembered the young hunter who had come to our glen several -years before, from a country far to the north. His language, while -much the same as ours, had words in it which we had never heard; and -the elders of the tribe said that probably other folk, living in other -isolated places, must have developed words of their own too.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>This being, of course, seemed to me at first no more a man than were -the dogwolves at his feet. He had the same general form, yes, and -perhaps even the exact conformation of features under that mat of hair; -but what human by any stretch of the imagination could ever grow such a -pelt?</p> - -<p>Nonetheless, his voice was pleasing enough to the ear, and his speech -seemed separated into distinct words, though as I have said, none of -them were familiar to me.</p> - -<p>I said, "Friend what-is-it, you undoubtedly know what you're talking -about, but I do not. I would give a new set of hunting arrows to be -able to understand you."</p> - -<p>He uttered more words, pointing off to the west where the tall raw -cliffs were even now shutting off the lower half of the sun.</p> - -<p>"Yes," I said, "evening comes on, and you're afraid I'll wander over -into the country of The Nameless. Is that it? Never you fear, my -friend, I'll not go a step farther in that direction."</p> - -<p>But he took my hand, hesitantly and as though afraid that I might be -offended; and he tried to lead me westward.</p> - -<p>I hung back, and the dogwolves growled a little, but desisted when he -spoke to them. Then he signed to me, as plainly as one could imagine, -that there was food where he was taking me; and so because of my -grumbling belly I suffered him to lead me off among the ruins of this -fabulous place.</p> - -<p>As we walked I thought of Lora, and her distress in the morning when -she would find me still away; but not for anything would I tread the -paths of the Fearful Forest at night. I must find a sleeping place -nearby.</p> - -<p>We passed the flat-faced precipice with the five lines of square -openings, where Halfspoor's brown lady had been sitting. I pointed up -and said, "Knifetooth bear!" He cocked his head at me. I hunched my -shoulders, put two fingers athwart my lips for fangs, roared like a -bear and said, "Knifetooth!" again.</p> - -<p>The hairy one stopped, opened his mouth—he had teeth as even and -white as my own—and out of his throat came the exact duplicate of old -Halfspoor's battle cry. The dogwolves leaped and barked excitedly. I -nodded agreement and said, "Bear!"</p> - -<p>He said something guttural that sounded like <i>oorsa</i>. I made him repeat -it several times. It occurred to me that <i>ursus</i> is another of our -names for old knifetooth; and my wonder grew apace.</p> - -<p>Pointing to myself, I then exclaimed, "Ahmusk!"</p> - -<p>He said my name with no difficulty, and then seemed rather confused; -for he tapped his own black chest and said, "Ahmusk?"</p> - -<p>I tried again. I touched the bigger of the two canines and said, -"Dogwolf."</p> - -<p>He mastered that more or less, and in return gave me his name for the -brute, which was <i>poort</i> or <i>spoort</i>, I could not tell which. His -sibilants were tongued so lightly that they were difficult to hear.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>I indicated myself and said, "Man." I prodded him and repeated it. Then -I realized consciously for the first time that I was now regarding him -as a species of human. He had taken me for kin before, as his former -use of my name as a generic term plainly proved.</p> - -<p>"Ahmusk," said I once more, beating my bosom.</p> - -<p>"Ahmusk," said he, pointing; and then, laying a shining-haired paw on -his own breast, "Dy-lee!"</p> - -<p>"Dy-lee," I said, charming him no end, for he capered grotesquely and -nodded his head till the lank thatch flew.</p> - -<p>Well, now we were acquainted. My pleasure at finding this strange -brute-man was out of all proportion to its apparent importance. -I suppose it was reaction to my hours-long suspicion that I had -played the complete fool in coming into this country, in following -the terrible Halfspoor, in ignoring the age-old forbiddance against -crossing into the land of The Nameless.... Now all seemed to have come -out well. Halfspoor, who had been proving more than a match for me, -had been harried off, evidently on orders from this Dy-lee creature, -by a pack of dogwolves. The Nameless were nowhere in evidence. Food -and possibly a tree for the night were in the offing. And I had made a -wonderful discovery, a brain-shaking find; for if I was right, I had -chanced upon a new branch of the family of men.</p> - -<p>Through the ruins we went, the dogwolves at our heels; and we were -as delighted with one another as two boys who have been given their -father's old bone hatchet to play with.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The silver dusk came up from the earth, spawned from the shadows of -the many ruinous walls and ramparts; and far ahead I saw a scarlet eye -wink out at us from the darkening cliff. I clutched Dy-lee's shaggy arm -involuntarily, and hissed at him, as though he understood the words, -"The Nameless!"</p> - -<p>He understood, at any rate, that I was frightened; for he patted me -awkwardly on the back two or three times, and said something in his -language meant, by the tone, to be reassuring.</p> - -<p>A hunter could not hang back where a brute-man like this went on. He -obviously knew what the scarlet eye was, and seemed utterly without -fear. And so after a time we had come near enough to it for me to see -that it was no ghastly orb of a Nameless ogre, but the mouth of a cave, -fairly high up the raw cliff, shining with the reflection of a fire -deep within it.</p> - -<p>Evidently Dy-lee meant to go into the cave, for soon we had struck a -well-worn path and were traveling upward. I imagined that there were -friends of his there, with whom he would eat before seeking his tree -for the night. Overcoming my dislike of caves with a wrenching effort, -I followed him up the path and stood on the threshold of the grotto, -having a last look about me. From this vantage point I could see the -glimmering of fires from several other great holes which had been -hidden from the plain.</p> - -<p>Then I went into the cave of Dy-lee the hairy man.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The fire, leaping merrily within a ring of stones, heated the long -tunnel-like cavern for many paces on all sides; and about it, some -cooking meat, some engaged in low-voiced conversation, and some making -or repairing noose-traps, snares for rabbits and birds such as our -children often play with, were a score or so of the long-maned people. -My last doubt as to their humanity vanished at sight of the flames, for -no animal can control fire. Except for their pelts, these folks might -have been my own.</p> - -<p>Some of them sprang to their feet as we entered, waving their arms and -shouting. Dy-lee quieted them with a crisp word, and putting his hand -on my shoulder he made a speech at which they all came crowding around, -each one wanting to shake my hand up and down. It was all wonderfully -friendly and heart-warming. Instinctively I loved these people, and -pitied them a little, too, for that they must live so close to the -terrible country of The Nameless.</p> - -<p>At thought of those malignant beings, I remembered Laq the guardian, -whose arrow (I felt sure) had goaded the bear Halfspoor into attacking -me; but at once I put the bitter thought from me, and shaking the hand -of one dark fellow while grinning amiably into the almost featureless -face of another, I moved to the fire and was given a haunch of hare, -all smoking and hot from the spits above the flames. After I had -wolfed this, while the whole company stared at me and chattered among -themselves. Dy-lee handed me some meat off the brisket of a doe. I -wondered how they managed to catch deer, for the only traps in evidence -were the small rabbit-snares, while none of them carried lances or bows -or even metal knives, but had some crude flint daggers with which they -made shift to cut up their meat. Then my eye fell on several of the -tame <i>poorts</i>, or dogwolves, lounging insolently about among the hairy -folk; and I recalled their pack chivvying Halfspoor over the ruins. -There was the answer! Incredible though it was, these men must have -trained their four-footed companions to pull down deer—even stag and -bison for all I knew—for the masters' larder.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>I sat down on the floor by the ring of firestones, weary with tracking -and fighting and surprises. At once all of them came close to me and -seated themselves too, clamoring good-humoredly for their dinner. They -still peered curiously at me, but with such a friendly air that no -offense could be taken. As we ate, Dy-lee pointed to various members -of the group, or family, as it possibly was, and told me their names, -which I did my best to master. The oldest of them, a seven-foot giant -of a man with very long grizzled-silver hair falling in cascades all -over his body, was called Dy-vee, or Dy-veece, I could not be sure -which. He seemed to be the chief, or the grandfather, for when a bevy -of young females began to giggle loudly together, he spoke to them -with authority and they were hushed.</p> - -<p>The woman whom I took to be Dy-lee's mate was a slim, high-breasted -she, whose hair was sleeker and finer than his, and on whose face the -shag was lighter and not of so matted a nature. It was on this shy -creature that I first perceived the color of the cave folk's skin; when -I was told her name (which was Zheena), she put back the long hair of -her forehead with a very feminine gesture, and I saw that just around -her eyes, less deepsunk than the males', there was no fur at all. The -skin was white, like a winter's baby before it is tanned by the sun, -and seemed smooth and firm. I resolved, when I should know Dy-lee -better, to have a try at burrowing in the nap of his face to see if he -too were white beneath it.</p> - -<p>So we got through the meal somehow, between introductions and polite -gestures and much high laughter at our mispronunciations and general -inability to understand each other. When I had eaten all I could hold, -I leaned back against a wall of this cheerful cavern, with my hands -pillowing my head, and because my stomach was full and my heart light, -I began to sing.</p> - -<p>The effect was that of a lightning bolt striking among them. They stood -petrified for long seconds, and then came swarming from everywhere -to hear me; and I, whose voice is admittedly like that of a wounded -bison bellowing to its herd, stopped my song with a grunt and stared -openmouthed at the shaggy people. Dy-lee made quick eager motions to -me, opening his mouth time after time, and presently it was borne in -upon me that they wanted me to sing again. They wanted Bear-throat to -sing!</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>So I sang. I caroled a love ditty, which made all the females roll -their eyes and sigh; and I chanted a song of the hunt, which set all -the bare hairy toes to beating on the rock floor. I sang all the songs -I could recollect of my mother's repertory, the rollicking ones and the -sad ones, the lullaby tunes and the haunting melodies that told our -legends of the far olden times. For the space of at least two hours -I sang to them, and when at last I stopped, for lack of breath and -rawness of throat, and because I could not remember another song to -save me, you would have thought the cave was falling in, such a noise -they made. I saw then that many, many more had pressed into the place, -until it was packed with scores of the hairy folk, and there was no -vacant space anywhere in the grotto except for the little cleared place -on which I sat. Even their great dogwolves were lying about watching me -with quizzically cocked heads, and looking as though they enjoyed it.</p> - -<p>They liked <i>my</i> singing! The all-but-tuneless caterwauling of -Bear-throat the hunter enchanted them to immobility! I could scarcely -believe it, even though they had listened to me for so long.</p> - -<p>I pointed at Dy-lee and by gestures, asked him to sing. He shook his -head and shrugged, an especially human movement; as plain as if he had -said it in words, I knew that neither he nor any of the others had ever -known what it was to lift the voice in song. They were a people wholly -without music. No wonder my bawling had enthralled them!</p> - -<p>Gradually, the cavern cleared; although they obviously wanted to stay -and listen to me, and gaze wide-eyed on my bronze hairless skin, old -grizzled Dy-veece shepherded them out into the night with gruff barks -of command. When only the family, or whatever this group might be, was -left, he came to me and after patting me a few times and shaking my -hand up and down, handed me a sleeping fur. It was cave cat, and very -like my own blankets at home. I looked to be led out to a tree then, -but saw that the folk were one by one lying down near the fire, wrapped -in their furs and evidently intent on sleeping in the cave. I think -this astonished me as much as anything I had seen in all that strange -day, for who ever heard of sleeping anywhere but on a tree platform? -Nevertheless, I could scarcely wound the feelings of my hosts by going -out alone and thus refusing their hospitality; so with a weak smile at -Dy-lee and his mate, who were watching me anxiously, I spread the great -yellow pelt on the bare rock, laid myself down on it, flipped the edges -over me, and closed my eyes with the certainty that I would not get a -blink of sleep all that night.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The next thing I knew was that I was very warm and drowsy, and that -something was pressing cozily against me from both right and left. I -opened my eyes, yawned, and found that I was flanked by a pair of the -tame dogwolves, who were snoring gently into my ears. The fire was -crackling under half-a-dozen spits loaded with meat, a number of the -dark-haired people were moving about quietly, and the sun was beating -straight in the door of the cavern with a cheerful orange light.</p> - -<p>Dy-lee, seeing that I was awake, brought me water in half the shell -of some great nut which I did not recognize; and Zheena, his mate, -presented me with a choice of fruits set on a wooden slab that had been -rounded and cleverly decorated with bright dyes.</p> - -<p>After rinsing my mouth and eating an apple, I rose and stepped over a -dogwolf to go to the opening and look out on a beautiful autumn day, -crisp and clear as the one before had been. Then, after a few deep -satisfying breaths, I returned and made a hearty breakfast of meat in -company with all the cave folk.</p> - -<p>When we had finished, Dy-lee led me down the path to the place of -ruins. By the vivid sunlight I could see that the walls at the base of -the cliff were somewhat less shattered than the first ones I had come -upon; and also that they were definitely no accidents of nature, but -constructed. I asked by gesture if his race had built these walls, and -he signed to me, No.</p> - -<p>Shortly we came to an enclosure that still bore its roof. I went and -peered into this strange square place, and Dy-lee kindly handed me a -long torch of bound reeds soaked in black oily matter and lighted, the -purpose of his carrying which on this bright morning I had not hitherto -understood. Now I realized that he meant me to see everything there -was to be seen, whether open or hidden from the light; and I smiled my -thanks as I took the brand. Dy-lee and his two dogwolves followed me -into the place.</p> - -<p>The roof was of stone, or perhaps of <i>a</i> stone, for I could detect no -crack or joined place in all its surface. It was shored up by lesser -stones, long and thick and ornamented with carvings that resembled -the tendrils of the burrowflower. These must have been scratched into -the rock with a metal tool, I think; though it certainly would have -taken the whole lifetime of a man to accomplish all the carving I saw -there. I had never seen or heard of anyone carving deliberate designs -in anything before. The effect was lovely, albeit startling. Our -glen-folk decorated many things with dyes made of vegetables and roots -and minerals; but none had ever thought to adorn wood or stone with -carvings. And here again I was astonished, for after the first moment -or two, it seemed a natural and beautiful thing to do. It was like the -shaking of the hands, something that was surprising only at the first -acquaintance.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>While I stared about me, Dy-lee passed into a far corner and began to -clear away a great heap of trash, broken wood, old discarded sleeping -furs, and other useless articles, which had been piled in a haphazard -fashion there. I followed him across the floor and saw that he had -cleared a space in the center of which was a square slab of stone set -into the floor, with a huge ring embedded in one side of it. This ring -he now grasped, and began to tug and haul at it, grunting with the -strain. The block of stone moved upward, fell, moved and fell again, -and it seemed it would take him an age to lift it free. So I put my -hand on the ring beside his. He relinquished it to me, I think out of -curiosity to see how powerful I was; and it was then I discovered that -I was much the stronger, for the slab came up out of its hole smoothly -and easily to my tug. Dy-lee straightened and said something in an -awe-struck voice.</p> - -<p>"That is the result of a hunter's life, friend Dy-lee," I said, -grinning. "If you stalked with a bow and a hatchet, rather than a pack -of dogwolves, you would be as strong as I."</p> - -<p>Pointing down into the black well exposed by the raising of the stone, -he indicated the torch in my hand. I thrust it down into the mouth of -the well. There was a kind of sputtering sound from the brand, which -I could not attribute to anything in particular, except perhaps that -the fire was afraid to go down into that jetty darkness. Peering past -it, I saw a line of the graduated stones that abounded in these ruined -places, going down like a curious tilted rock ladder into the depths of -the earth. Dy-lee made urgent motions to me, that I should go down. I -shook my head. "Not for an extra year of life, friend," I said.</p> - -<p>He took the torch from me and before I could stop him he had dropped -into the pit. The two dogwolves brushed by me and followed him down.</p> - -<p>Well, it ill became a hunter of the glen-folk to sit here gnawing his -knuckles when even the brute beasts showed no fear of this terrible -hole; so with many misgivings I took my first hesitant steps down the -underground passage.</p> - -<p>It was almost pleasant in the tunnel. I had expected chill and -dampness, but the walls were dry and quite warm to the touch, rather -like the rocks on the sides of Ruddy Mountain, which is the cone-shaped -hill that gives off sparks and smoke, far to the north of our land. -As we progressed downward, the flambeau lighting our way, I seemed to -notice even more heat; there may be a great fire somewhere beneath the -earth of the ruined country—who can tell?</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Shortly we came to a level stretch of tunnel, and some few score paces -thereafter, to a widening portion which shortly became about as broad -as the inclosure with the stone roof. Here it was like an ordinary -cave, except that the floor and walls and ceiling were flat, with -sharp angles at the jointures. The thought was inescapable: the giants -or whoever had made all the walls and inclosures above had hollowed -out the earth and made this place likewise. I examined the wall in -one place (it was all alike, as much as I saw of it that day). Small -smooth stones of agreeably differing colors were set in rows to form -the surface, and their substance was such as I had never found before, -being sleek and wonderfully glossy, as lustrous as the hair of my Lora -in the morning sunlight.</p> - -<p>Dy-lee now seemed excited, and urged me to follow him swiftly through -the shining grotto. The dogwolves' claws clicked along the level -floor, and they constantly sniffed the air, which was musty and made -our breathing rather labored. The big torch crackled and blazed -brightly.</p> - -<p>At last we turned a corner—as sharply angled as those at the base of -the walls—and after one look I gave a cry of fear, of brain-breaking -wonder.</p> - -<p>How can I explain what I first thought I saw? It was ... it was as if -in this gallery there were many many square holes in the walls, and -each of these holes gave on a vista of vivid color and much apparent -movement; as though by some inconceivable magic there were different -worlds beyond each hole!</p> - -<p>I covered my eyes with an arm and moaned with terror. My knees smote -together, my teeth chattered. And when Dy-lee laid a reassuring hand on -my shoulder, I leaped as though Halfspoor himself had snorted in my ear.</p> - -<p>With murmurs meant to restore my confidence, he led me to one wall and -waited patiently until I found the courage to uncover my eyes. Then he -pointed to the first of the large square openings. Seeing that nothing -malignant had sprung out of it yet, and that the dogwolves had casually -lain down in the light dust of the floor, I gripped my nerves with the -teeth of my mind and peered closely.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Again I am at a loss for words to tell of this marvel. It was not a -hole or opening, it was but an enclosed place on the wall, overlaid -with a sheet of something so shiny and transparent that it must have -been water frozen there forever by unthinkable sorcery. Beneath this -motionless water, the figure of a woman looked out at us with calm -unwinking gaze. She was dressed in fantastic furs, blue and emerald and -gold, wrought in patterns that surely no one had ever seen before; her -face, crowned by the gaudy feathers of a bird, was like those of my own -people, being without hair and gentle-looking. After a long time of -staring, I reached out to touch this wonder, and the still water over -it felt cool and slick to my fingertips. The woman made no move as my -hand passed before her. I was thunderstruck.</p> - -<p>Dy-lee led me to the next enclosed place, and there was a man, clad -as fabulously as the woman, with a stern look of resolution on his -features. He seemed a curious hybrid, for while most of his face was as -smooth as mine, on his chin was a fringe of dark hair such as covered -Dy-lee's folk. Him I did not try to touch, for fear he should burst out -of the frozen water at me.</p> - -<p>With the third of these strange things I began to notice something -else: namely, that the people—there were two behind this water—seemed -very flat and completely without true substance. It is difficult to -explain. It was as though a man could be pressed flat as a leaf, and -still hold his form, his color, even his life (though this was in -abeyance, <i>suspended</i> as it were, yet waiting to break into movement at -any second).</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>So we went down the long gallery, and I saw more multitudes of wonders -than ever I can tell. There were many sorts of folk in even more -awesome furs and pelts than the first; men clad entirely in what -appeared to be metal, and women in garments that surely never came -from the cave cat or doe or anything that walks our world today. There -were scenes I could not comprehend, enclosed flat places on the wall -which I could not make myself believe were flat places at all, but -rather must be the holes on vistas I had first thought them. These -showed tiny trees and brooks, figures of people smaller than my thumb, -even portions of the sky with infinitesimal clouds hanging motionless -therein. And it was after I had looked on two or three of these that -the truth began to come to me, like a fiery jewel of knowledge shining -murkily up through the black waters of my ignorance. For these were -not real people at all, nor real vistas, nor was there anything real -or magical about them at all; they were flat places on the walls, -whereon some clever man had laid multihued <i>dyes</i>, so that when all -were applied this representation of reality sprang to its mysterious, -incredible, unmoving life!</p> - -<p>I longed to ask Dy-lee if this was the true nature of the things, but -could not think how to do it by signs. I therefore simply pointed at -one of them and raised my brows questioningly.</p> - -<p>"<i>Peesha!</i>" said he. "<i>Peesha!</i>"</p> - -<p>It was, I gathered, a peesha. Whatever that might be.</p> - -<p>He put a finger on a certain part of this peesha, and said, "Tree!"</p> - -<p>I reeled. Literally I reeled, staggering back and dropping my jaw like -a fool. "Tree?" I gasped. "Yes, yes, a tree!"</p> - -<p>He made polite motions, asking me my word for it.</p> - -<p>"Tree!" I shouted. I pointed to the beasts at our feet. "Dogwolves," -I said, with one hand on my breast; then, aiming a finger at him and -still indicating the two animals, "poort," I said. He understood that, -for he nodded. I pointed to the wall. "Peesha," I cried, nodding to -him, and then, "flat place with many dyes," I said in my own tongue. -Finally, I waved at him and then at myself, and said, "Tree, tree. -Tree, <i>tree</i>!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>He grasped it then. He was as amazed as I had been. We had at least one -word in common. It suggested astonishing possibilities to me. Eagerly I -touched the sky in the representation before us, the clouds, the earth, -a small hillock; naming them and getting his names in return. Not -until we came to a brook did our languages coincide again. Then I said, -"Stream," and he said, as clearly as any man could, "River." "Yes, -yes!" I shouted. "River, river!"</p> - -<p>Babbling with excitement, he grasped my wrist and dragged me past -several of the dye-images to a large one that was without the -protecting rigid water, and which showed many men and women walking -about between stone inclosures such as littered the ground above us. -These inclosures, however, were not broken, but seemed whole and -strangely beautiful, being decorated lavishly with carving and dyes. -Some of them went up for hundreds of feet, as I could see by comparing -them with the size of the people. Before this peesha he halted and -proceeded to point out many things, naming them eagerly; but here we -could not find anything for which we had a mutual name. Indeed, it was -not remarkable, for most of the objects I had never seen until the day -before, and then only in a ruined state.</p> - -<p>And so we passed down the cavern until we came to the end, and crossed -its narrow width to go back along the other side, looking at Dy-lee's -uncanny "peeshas;" and at last we had seen them all, and I was too -shattered for speech. Nothing like it had ever been thought of, had -ever been dreamt of, had ever been seen by anyone in all my world, -before today. That one could do this with dyes! Some of them had had -no water—he called it <i>glaa</i>—over them, and these I had touched -cautiously, finding their surfaces raised slightly here and there; -and had come to the conclusion that the dyes had been mixed cleverly -with harder substances, so that when they were put on the wall, they -stiffened there and would not blur nor run together.</p> - -<p>And nearly as wonderful as these things was the fact that there were -points of contact in our languages, words which were the same in both -tongues. "Hand" was <i>and</i> to him, or it may have been <i>hand</i> also, as -his aspirates were breathed as lightly as his sibilants were tongued. -<i>Tree</i>, <i>river</i>, and <i>owl</i> were the same. I grew quite wrought-up with -the fascination of the game, and could scarcely wait to tell Lora all -about it.</p> - -<p>We went up the slanted stones to the surface, and after he had -carefully hidden the entrance slab with the rubble again (I could not -guess from what or whom), he led me across the ruins to another whole -roofed inclosure. This one we entered by a hole far up in one wall, -raising two logs for a kind of bridge from the ground. Into this place -the dogwolves did not follow, but lay down outside to await us.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Dy-lee's torch was burning low. When we had dropped into the -inclosure, he chose two more from a pile of them stacked neatly in -a corner, and lit one from the first. It flared up redly, and again -we raised a ringed slab and descended into another warm dry place of -peeshas. By then, I may say, I had identified this with our own word -"picture," which we use to describe several things, such as the images -our minds form occasionally which seem to us very real, and also a -distant view of a beautiful countryside, as perhaps from a hill; I felt -certain that <i>peesha</i> was <i>picture</i>, and dimly I was wondering if our -own race had once known this strange art of arranging dyes on walls. -Certainly the similarity of the two words would indicate something of -the sort.</p> - -<p>He led me to one of the pictures—I will use this other word from now -on—and held up the torch so that I could see it well. There was none -of the frozen water at all in this place. The things were done in large -squares on the rock wall, just as in the first underground grotto, but -there was no <i>glaa</i>, nor was any of the slippery curious stone set -around them. These walls were rougher and less shining.</p> - -<p>The first one was very old, faded, flaked here and there so that the -barren rock showed through. It portrayed a scene in just such a place -as the plain above had once been, and as I had seen in a number of the -other pictures. Tall inclosures rose into the air, with more lines of -openings across them than I could count. Strange birds flew above them, -looking stiff and featherless and glittery. If there were people on the -ground, they were too small to be seen.</p> - -<p>Gently he urged me to the next. Here was a scene among the walls, with -people moving about. They looked very like my glen-folk, excepting -always for the odd garments they wore, which covered all of their -persons but the faces and hands. Even upon their feet they seemed to -have garments.</p> - -<p>The third picture was terrible. In its ancient much-faded colors it -showed many men fighting. Not fighting bears, or cave cats, but <i>other -men</i>. Yes, here were dead men, with blood upon their breasts, and -others were locked in fierce combat. I turned from this view with a -sickness pulling at my belly, and Dy-lee felt much the same, for he -threw a hairy arm over my shoulders and bent his head sorrowfully even -as I.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The next few pictures were all the same, men slaying one another, -often with strange stick-like things, the nature of which I could not -imagine. From the attitudes it was plain that when one was pointed at -a man, the man died. It was some form of magic, such as an ogre might -dream of.</p> - -<p>Then we came to a picture which defied my comprehension for many -minutes. It was a place of high walls and inclosures, over which -flocks of the curious stiff-winged birds flew; and many of the tallest -inclosures were toppling, while fire raged in among them (I knew it was -fire by the marvelous crimson and scarlet of the colors, dimmed though -they were), and great clouds of smoke rolled out.</p> - -<p>There were others. I disliked them, I loathed them, but I could not -keep myself from looking intently at each one. It was impressed on me -that this was no legend, but a true thing that had happened in the far -olden times. These were my people dying, at the hands of others of my -people. I could not understand, but I could feel the truth of this -thing.</p> - -<p>Men slaying men! The legend of Sunset Fields had not lied!</p> - -<p>On the second wall there was an enormous picture, full seven paces -long and as high as the roof, and this one I could not grasp though I -studied it for a long time. It was a place such as this plain—once -there must have been many such, in the far olden times—from the center -of which there sprouted up a great mushroom, like those in the Fearful -Forest, but all creamy-white and so big as to shatter the imagination. -I cannot say how huge it was. All our glens and valleys would be hidden -in the shadow of such a mushroom. Though I looked at it until my eyes -watered, and Dy-lee had to light his third flambeau, still I could -not understand how such a thing could grow in the midst of the tall -inclosures.</p> - -<p>The next picture I could grasp, however. They were of ruins, like those -below which we stood, and all among the ramparts and broken walls were -the bodies of men. Some calamity had laid its dreadful hand on the -place. I wondered if the giant mushroom had been to blame, wreaking -this havoc as it grew.</p> - -<p>And now the pictures were different. No more men slaying men, or tall -majestic structures spearing the very sky with their tops, but only -ruins and blackened plains, raw cliffs and far-flung wastes, the -wreckage of great metal things I did not recognize, and among them a -few, a very few human figures, prowling like jackal-rats furtively in -the chaos. These pictures were all very ancient, with their dye-stuffs -flaked and marred by time.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>There was a view of a prairie, waving with orange grass, on which moved -men who might have been my own tribe. Naked, with bows and hatchets, -they stalked an animal something like a cave cat, which had a great -mane of hair all down its back. I touched this picture and nodded to -Dy-lee. He pointed to me. He knew that these were my kindred. And this -picture too was older than the oldest man of the glen-folk, for it was -much dimmed and discolored.</p> - -<p>Down the walls I went, and now the pictures seemed to be less ancient, -and in them I saw a weird change coming over the race of men, for they -grew more hairy, and leaving the fields and pleasant glens (why, I -wonder?) they appeared to take up their homes in the blighted places -and in the caves of the raw red cliffs. Time passed, the pictures were -brighter and less flaked, and mankind was furred as a beast, growing -little by little to look like my friend, Dy-lee.</p> - -<p>This series of pictures I pored over for a long time, going back and -forth along the wall, judging the age of each in relation to the -others; and I could not apprehend why, but it was true—these men were -the same race, but growing shaggier in every succeeding picture. How -long was the time gap between the pictures? A generation, a hundred -years, a thousand? I could not tell. I went back across the floor to -look at the earliest pictures, those in which men fought together. -They exuded the aura of an incredible antiquity. And what of those in -the other cavern? Their dyes were more brilliant, newer looking; yet -the people were dressed in the queer garments that I saw in the oldest -portrayals here. Did it mean that there were folk existing even now -like them—folk impossible to believe in!—or simply that the dyes in -their pictures were better and lasted longer than these? There were -many things here that I could not understand, and I felt small and -stupid and as young as the youngest pink rabbit with still-blind eyes.</p> - -<p>Dy-lee made a speech then, indicating that I should look at the final -pictures; so I left my speculation and came to him and gazed.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Here, immediately after the series in which mankind grew hairy, was a -large square with dyes that were still vivid and clear, though it still -seemed quite an ancient picture. It portrayed a number of Dy-lee's folk -crouching amid the ruins, perhaps of this very plain above our heads. -Their attitudes showed perfectly that they were afraid, for they drew -back, with arms about their females and young ones. Then, in a cleared -space, there stood a man of my own race, smooth-skinned and wearing -the raiment of a guardian, the long fringed black fox pelts hanging -from his waist and the short mantle of white hares' skins about his -shoulders. He faced away from the cave folk, with his arms lifted in -just such a mystical gesture as I had often seen the guardians making; -and beyond him, from the edge of an especially well-limned forest, -there arose a being whose every line suggested evil—evil beyond the -power of words. There was no definite outline to the thing. It appeared -to change slightly even while I stared at it, as though the dyes had -been mixed with smoke or mist. It seemed to have horns, and then when -I looked again, the horns had vanished. There were great columns of -legs, and arms that hung loosely before its chest with an indescribable -air of menace. Perhaps there were two sets of arms. I could not tell. -It is strange to speak of a picture this way, for after all it was but -dyes of many shades laid upon rock; but all I could recall definitely -about the evil being, when I had turned away, was that its color was -that of a dead fish's belly, and that from its amorphous head there -blazed out two terrible eyes of purest lambent flame.</p> - -<p>The import of this whole picture was inescapable. Here were the -shaggy folk, here was a guardian of my own people, and here was a -representation of one of ...</p> - -<p><i>The Nameless!</i></p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>For long minutes I stared at my new friend Dy-lee, while the thoughts -churned in my brain. At last I shook myself, as a bear does on coming -out of a cold stream, and I began to try him with questions, partly in -gestures and partly in words which I hoped he might understand. First -I pointed to the shaggy folk. Yes, they were his people, he signed. -Then I indicated the guardian. He pointed at me. I shook my head. -Indicating my rough loincloth of cave cat fur, I showed him the rich -black and white apparel of the little figure, and then touched my bow -and quiver, my hatchet, my knife. No guardian carries a weapon of -any sort, as the beasts will never molest one of their craft. Dy-lee -seemed to know this, for he nodded vigorously, but then showed me -where we were similar—the brown furless face and body. I said, Yes, -that this man was of my people, but differing from me in profession. -He understood this. I asked him, after several tries, whether he had -often seen such men as this; and he signed to me, Yes, that there was a -place of meeting on the plain. I then asked if he had thought I was a -guardian when he first found me the afternoon before, and he answered, -No, pointing to my bow and hatchet.</p> - -<p>These folk having no weapons, I was at a loss to know how he had -recognized what mine were for; because the instant I had thrown up -my bow he had seen I meant to shoot, first him and then his tame -dogwolves. But after a moment's thought I remembered that in two or -three of the old pictures there were depictions of the bow and arrow. I -went back down the wall and found them. Evidently these people had once -known the use of such things, for here they were, rather hairy but not -yet covered with the thick shag, stalking a deer with bows. Somewhere -in their evolving they had either lost the art or found a better. Here, -in a later picture, they were hunting a great knifetooth bear. Ah, that -was it; they had domesticated the dogwolves, and given up the bow. I -imagined that it might have come in handy to protect themselves, for -surely they could not always travel amongst a howling pack of their -canine friends; but obviously they had discarded it entirely.</p> - -<p>I returned to the startling picture of the guardian, and pointing to -the horrid figure of The Nameless, I bent my head in pantomime and gave -an exaggerated shudder.</p> - -<p>Dy-lee repeated my motions exactly, and pointed away to where I -imagined they dwelt. He said something, apparently his name for the -beings. I said, "The Nameless." Again he shivered—it was a real -reaction this time—and pointed east.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>East? But that was the direction in which lay the Fearful Forest, the -three brooks, Sunset Fields, and my own glen. I had not realized this -at his first motion, being somewhat confused by the underground cavern. -I shook my head, pointing west. <i>There</i> dwelt The Nameless.</p> - -<p>He would have none of that. No, they lived to the east. I pointed west, -he pointed stubbornly east.</p> - -<p>But <i>I</i> came from the east! If there were such beings in that -direction, would I not know it? I tried to tell him this, showing that -I came from there; very well, said he in signs, so did the guardians, -and I was obviously a relative, a son perhaps, or at least a member of -the tribe of the guardians. Yes, I agreed, but....</p> - -<p>I gave it up. Could I still be confused by this roof that shut out the -sun? Hastily I looked at the last of the pictures, which were scenes of -hunting and domesticity, with one more guardian at the end, though not -with one of The Nameless; then I signed to him that we should leave the -place. He scrambled up to the opening and I followed, the daylight from -the high entrance hole of the inclosure above striking my eyes sharply -after the torch's flickering gleam. The dogwolves roused themselves and -nosed our hands as we came out among the broken stones.</p> - -<p>"There!" I said, showing him the west; and, "There!" said he, in his -own language, thrusting a dark furry finger eastward. Could we be -talking of different things? No, there had been the guardian and the -changing figure of horror.</p> - -<p><i>The guardian?</i></p> - -<p>What had a guardian been doing here? And the one picture had been old, -but the other fairly recent, or I knew nothing of the manner in which -dyes fade with age!</p> - -<p>These hairy folk had seen guardians, not once in the dim past, but -evidently often, and recently; had not my friend signed to me that -there was a place of meeting, out on the blackened plain? No wonder -that Dy-lee and his folk, while charmed with my singing and interested -in me, had shown no overwhelming wonder. So the guardians knew, had -perhaps always known, that here in the ruins and the raw red cliffs -there lived another race of men!</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>I sat down on a flat rock and puzzled the matter over, beginning -with what I conceived the early history of these people—of both our -peoples—to have been. A terrible killing among men, with many strange -weapons that spread slaughter wholesale, resulting in a leveling of -their huge structures and a splitting of the race into two parts, one -remaining in places like this, the other going into the distant glens -and plains. The folk of the ruins gradually becoming hairy—could it -be because nature saw they needed protection for their tender flesh, -living as they did in caves? The thought made me open my eyes with -my own cleverness! Then the discarding of weapons and the taming of -the dogwolves. I wondered if they had thrown away <i>all</i> weapons, or -whether they had some secret slaying tool for their defense? Or a magic -ointment to rub on their bodies? Or what?</p> - -<p>To this point it all seemed clear, and while it was a thing to churn -the imagination, still it was a plain and possible happening, not -destroying any concepts or deepsunk training of my youth; because no -man of my folk knew whence we had come, or anything of our history save -that it had always been, so far as our elders knew, the same as it is -now: easy and pleasant, with no enemies save the beasts of prey, and a -mate for every man and woman.</p> - -<p>But then came the problem of the guardians. These folk knew them too. -They passed between us, it was clear, living with us of the glens but -visiting these of the caverns. I tried Dy-lee with a question: did he -know there were many, many more like me, living beyond the Fearful -Forest? I made a mark in the gritty dirt with my knife point, showed -him that it stood for myself, then made a great number of similar marks -beside it and pointed east. He understood. He could scarcely believe -at first, but after a period of astonished grunts and reassurances, he -believed. There were many like me, over yonder to the east.</p> - -<p>Then something took him with eagerness, so that he nearly burst -with what he could not tell me; and at last he ran furiously away -to his cave, leaving me to sit with eyes popping till he returned -with a bag made of hide. From this he took a number of little bones, -hollowed and corked with plugs of wood, and some sticks tipped with -carefully-trimmed stiff feathers. Sensing that I would be curious, -he handed me one of the bones. I pried out the plug and saw that the -hollow was full of a green-blue dye, mixed, as I had suspected, with -something to make it stiff and thick. As I sniffed at it and touched -my fingertip to it gingerly, he set to work on the flat stone beside -me, dipping his feathered stick into first this bone and then that one, -making marks upon the cold rock. I watched the dyes spread and grow -into the shape of a man.</p> - -<p>Dy-lee, my friend, was a maker of pictures!</p> - -<p>I embraced him. I was overcome with his genius. That this -animal-looking fellow could himself make the wondrous <i>peeshas</i>!</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Impatiently he motioned to me to be seated while he worked. I sat down -and, hoping to repay him for the pleasure I took in his craft, I began -to sing. He nodded vigorously and chuckled. We were enchanted with each -other's accomplishments.</p> - -<p>Watching him, I saw the roughly outlined form of a man grow into a tiny -likeness of myself, with hunter's loincloth and bow. He prodded me with -the stick, quite unnecessarily. I could see that it was Ahmusk there on -the flat stone.</p> - -<p>Then hastily he made pictures of two others, one of which seemed to be -his conception of a female of my race. Hesitantly then, he pointed -east.</p> - -<p>I told him, Yes, and flickered my fingers to show that there were many -of us there. His thatch-shaded eyes blinked with amazement.</p> - -<p>The next picture was that of a guardian, with black and white furs and -stern mien. I said the name aloud, and he said something like "rees," -which I took to be "guardian" in his tongue.</p> - -<p>With this series of pictures to aid us, we could make our queries -clear to one another. I asked how many of these guardians he had seen -or knew; and he answered, Fifteen or twenty. There being twenty-four -guardians living in our glen, I knew that all of them, or nearly all, -must at one time or another come here to commune with the hairy folk.</p> - -<p>I asked whether they ever lived with his people, and he said, No, that -they lived beyond the woods somewhere, he thought perhaps in the sky. I -managed to make him understand that they lived among my people, and he -seemed surprised that they had never told his folk of us.</p> - -<p>Then he made a curious little vague shape beyond his row of pictures, -which I could not fathom until he had dyed in two glowing fiery eyes; -when I knew that this was meant for one of The Nameless. I asked if he -had seen such an ogre, and he signed, No, that no man ever had except -the guardians; and that to see them was death.</p> - -<p>Then as well as I could I showed him that we knew of these things too, -calling them The Nameless. His word for them I could not dominate, -though he said it several times.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>I wondered how he knew what they looked like, having never seen one; -but remembered the picture in the second underground inclosure. Then I -thought of the shadowy outlines of that thing, and it occurred to me -that this was possibly but a common symbol for the beings, as no man -knew their exact form. It was such a picture as a man might make, who -knew only that The Nameless were terrible, evil, beyond all thought -malignant.</p> - -<p>I then asked him whether the guardians protected his people from The -Nameless, and he said that they did. I told him by signs that this was -their function among us. He did not seem surprised, but again signaled -that they had never spoken of me and my tribe, and over this omission -he shook his head till the lank hair nearly stood on end.</p> - -<p>I told him that we, too, had not known of <i>them</i>. He sat with his chin -in his palm, biting his lips over this.</p> - -<p>I stared at the lightly-dyed portrayal of The Nameless. I pointed to it -and to the west.</p> - -<p>He laid a hand on my shoulder, as one might to a child when it is -making up a wild tale, and pointed eastward.</p> - -<p>We sat looking at each other and making these silly gestures back and -forth, until in one fearful flash of knowledge it came to me what the -truth was.</p> - -<p>The taste of this knowledge was at once bitter and sweet to me: sweet, -because it blotted out in an instant the only great fear of all my -race; bitter, because it showed me that for many generations both this -man's people and my own had been hoodwinked, shamed and overlorded by -the members of a single useless profession. For it had come to me that -now I knew who The Nameless truly were.</p> - -<p>Dy-lee was one of The Nameless, and so was Zheena his mate, and great -grizzled Dy-veece, and every member of that merry clan with whom I had -eaten and slept the night before....</p> - -<p>Dy-lee was one of The Nameless, and so was—Ahmusk the hunter.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>It must have taken me an hour to tell my friend this terrible, -wonderful truth which I had discovered. But finally he realized it, -and at first his wrath was dreadful to behold, and then he saw the -happiness in it and he danced for joy among his dogwolves.</p> - -<p>The simple fact was that for no-one-knew-how-long, the guild of -guardians had kept our two races apart and in horror of the things they -called The Nameless, for reasons I could not then even begin to guess; -had kept us apart by tales of monsters which existed only in their own -minds. For the first time in my life I knew pure black hatred of fellow -humans. Had I had the guardians there at that moment, I would have -slain them all.</p> - -<p>Yes, Dy-lee's people were The Nameless; and my glen-folk were The -Nameless to him, under whatever exotic name he called us. Nothing could -be plainer, for why else would he think The Nameless lived to the east, -while I had been taught they lived in the west?</p> - -<p>Now in my rage it came to me why Laq had shot at me in the Fearful -Forest, and later had pinked Halfspoor with an arrow to make the bear -attack me. He did not dare allow me to make friends here with the hairy -folk. It would topple him and his entire crew of liars and rascals. -He might have halted me yesterday afternoon with a word, but there -was Lora, whom he coveted. He had had a bow, a thing no guardian ever -owned—he must long ago have stolen it and some arrows, to practice -until he thought himself skilled enough to slay me. It did not seem -incredible now that he would plan to kill me for her. Nothing seemed -strange in the light of my new discovery. The world was topsy-turvy, -and surely all things must be possible to one of his loathsome breed.</p> - -<p>After we had stamped about for a while, talking furiously and -incomprehensibly to each other and shaking hands with fervor and -startling the dogwolves into howling many times, we went up to Dy-lee's -cave, where he called in all those of his folk who were nearby, and -laying his hand on my chest, he solemnly told them that I was one -of those creatures whom they had all feared for so many years. The -turmoil was frightful. Then, before they could flee, he shouted to them -what he had discovered. Of course it took much less time than it had -when I explained it to him, for he shared his language with them and -needed no elaborate signals. You never heard such a roar as went up -when he had finished.</p> - -<p>It was decided, to be brief, that Dy-lee should accompany me back -through the Fearful Forest to the glens, and there we two would -confront the guardians and fling their lifetime of lies into their -teeth. I gathered also that he would protect me on the journey from -wild beasts, though how without weapons he could do this, I did not -see. At any rate, he bade farewell to Zheena and I shook hands all -round and we started out across the ruins, with Dy-lee's two poorts, -the tame dogwolves, running before us with their scarlet tongues -lolling out and their noses in the air.</p> - -<p>As we went toward the Fearful Forest, I struck up a song; and to its -rhythm we marched bravely and in high genial comradeship.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The oppressive woodland closing in upon us, at about the first hour -after the zenith of the sun, my song died away on my lips; and we began -to converse together, partly in signs and partly in words. Besides -those our languages shared, we had learned a number of one another's -common words, and now questions and answers were more readily -understood.</p> - -<p>I asked him if the guardians had ever seen the pictures which he had -shown me. He said that he was not sure, but that he believed not, at -any rate not in his lifetime. They never seemed interested in anything -except being fed and catered to, and did not spend their nights in -the caves as I had done, nor had they ever sung to the hairy folk. I -gathered that Dy-lee had shown me the pictures out of gratitude for -the delight he had taken in my songs. It was the first time I had -ever gotten anything for my voice except a kick in the rump. I was -exceedingly pleased.</p> - -<p>Then he put to me a number of questions about my people, and as well as -I could I answered them. We discovered another mutual word, which was -"thorn," when I pried one from his foot with my knife.</p> - -<p>Then I thought of weapons, and showing him my metal blade, I asked if -he had not seen such things before. He examined it—I think he had -wanted to for hours, but was too polite to ask for it—and said that -such a knife was unheard of. I had already noticed the flint daggers -his people used, which were flaked to make a cutting edge of a sort, -but were really sharp only at the tip. My bow and arrows and my hatchet -he had seen in his ancient pictures, but mine were the first he had -ever handled. His hands were clumsy on them, and I should have hated -to let him loose a shaft anywhere in my vicinity.</p> - -<p>By signs and a few phrases I told him how we heat and mold the metal -for our few needs, and he was intrigued but a little skeptical. Did he -never hear of heating metal to make anything? No, he said, never.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>But surely he knew of metal? Yes, he said, there were metal instruments -in use among his folk, but these had always been in existence, and no -man living knew the trick of making them. Then he brought out from some -hidden pouch or repository under the long hair on his side a thing like -a bright bronze bone, a small tube of metal with a hole at each end, -curiously shaped and carved with tiny marks that made no sense, for -they did not seem to be pictures or designs of anything at all. With -this, he told me, as I examined it, he would protect me if animals -should attack us; but when I asked him, How, he only smiled and laughed -to himself. I presumed he meant to surprise me, and did not press him -for details; which must have made him feel rather disappointed, for he -put away the tube with a snort.</p> - -<p>And these, I asked then, were the only weapons his folk had? Yes, he -said, they needed no others. But if he should lose his? There were -others, many others, hidden in the caves. But in time, I said, surely -all of the mysterious instruments would be gone, some lost, others -destroyed by accident; and then what would his people do? For they -could not make others, that was obvious.</p> - -<p>Well, I could not make him understand this query. He did not seem to be -able to visualize the distant future in the slightest degree. There had -always been the tubes, and so far as he knew, there always would be the -tubes.</p> - -<p>I gave it up, and privately decided that I would make him and Dy-veece, -and some of the other males, learn the rudiments of archery, whether -they liked it or not.</p> - -<p>We tramped on, and the Fearful Forest depressed us with its grim dark -trees and lack of sunlight, until at last we spoke no more to each -other, but traveled as silently as the two great dogwolves. And so it -was that we came upon Halfspoor where he sat in a glade feeding on the -body of a jackal-rat, and did not warn him of our coming until we stood -face to face with him across some twenty paces of the rotting carpet of -vegetation.</p> - -<p>Halfspoor gazed at us, and we, paralyzed, gazed upon Halfspoor; and -he gave a grunt and a bellow, and leaping to his hind feet he came -charging down at us.</p> - -<p>I sent one arrow into his chest before I turned to dash back down the -trail. I had it in mind to get amongst the trees before I fought, for -here there was nowhere to dodge, and dodging was my only defense -against the giant brute. Dy-lee was fumbling at his side, and the -dogwolves were leaping toward the knifetooth bear. I shouted to Dy-lee -to seek cover, though I knew he would not understand the words. I saw -a man in pelts of black and white moving furtively from the path some -hundred feet behind us, and I knew that a guardian had been following -us eastward. Then something took me across the shoulder blades with a -slap like a tree falling, and I was hurled six times my own length into -a patch of stabbing briers.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Even as I hit I was scrambling sideways, intent on reaching the other -side of the nearest tree; a hundred thorns were ripping my flesh, and -my back felt as though it were half broken. My ears were throbbing, I -supposed from the jolt of Halfspoor's blow. I tore myself out of the -briers, leaped with a pounce like a cave cat's across an open space and -took up a position of belligerent waiting behind a lichen-wrapped trunk.</p> - -<p>Halfspoor, had he followed me up at once, could have slashed me apart -before ever I got out of the clutch of the thorn bushes. He had -stopped, however, on the spot where he had slapped me, and was hovering -over Dy-lee making angry swipes at him. I thought for a moment that -Dy-lee was dead or unconscious, for he was huddled down in a dark -mass at the bear's feet. The dogwolves were harrying Halfspoor, one -snapping at his legs, the other leaping to get at his throat. I made -a grab over my shoulder and discovered that the quiver was empty. My -arrows had been scattered on the ground when I flew into the briers.</p> - -<p>As the bear was not even looking my way, I ran into the open to get -a shaft or two. I would have attacked him with my hatchet, but since -the vital spots of his skull and neck were a good twelve feet off the -ground, it would have been a futile and stupid gesture.</p> - -<p>An arrow discovered, I drew back the cord and sank another shaft in -the bear's massive chest. Even as I shot I realized that something was -singular indeed. Although Halfspoor towered over Dy-lee, who crouched -unprotected on the earth, and though the bruin was cuffing in his -direction, yet the blows were missing Dy-lee by several feet at the -least. All that the bear need do was take one step forward on those -gigantic pads and bend his back a trifle ... and there would be no more -Dy-lee. But that step and that bend he did not seem able to accomplish! -Like a fox caught in a trap, he swayed and screamed his fury, but did -not touch my friend Dy-lee.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus.jpg" alt=""/> - <div class="caption"> - <p>It would take more than one arrow to slay the huge Knifetooth. Could he do the impossible?</p> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>When my arrow struck, he turned toward me and gave a bawl of horrible -anger. Even as I snatched up the only other arrow I could see and -darted for my tree, I caught a glimpse of Dy-lee jumping to his feet, -evidently unhurt. The dogwolves hampered Halfspoor, and I made the tree -a second before the old devil reached it.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>He came round it after me, and I dodged about to keep it between us, -taunting him loudly. This was a game at which I was past master. I -could dive and scuttle all afternoon, if need be.</p> - -<p>Then with horror I saw that Dy-lee was coming toward us. I bawled at -him to go back—he would not know the words, but surely my frantic -motions could not be misunderstood—and then in desperation stood my -ground and shot my bolt at Halfspoor at a range of about five feet. It -was the third one to flesh itself in the barrel of his chest, but I -doubted that any of the three would prove mortal. Ribs and iron-hard -muscles would stop them from penetrating too deeply.</p> - -<p>Dropping like a stone, I then bounded straight between his charging -legs; was struck glancingly by one hind paw and whirled over and over -in the rotten humus. My hatchet found its way by old instinct into my -hand as I rolled. Then I leaped to my toes and—collided with Dy-lee!</p> - -<p>Memory of that instant is muddled. I know that I almost struck my -friend down before I realized who he was. I saw Halfspoor in a kind -of bloody haze, seeming to fill the world above us. Then Dy-lee put -a hand to his mouth and the great bear fell back a pace, snarling and -swatting the air. My head rang and I realized that there was blood in -my eyes. I wiped them clear and lifted the hatchet as I backed away. -The hairy man gripped my wrist and would not let me leave his side. I -thought that he had gone mad, and tugged at him frantically. But he -stood rock-firm, with one hand holding me steady and the other at his -mouth.</p> - -<p>All this took but a second or two, and then I ceased to struggle and -only stared at our terrible ursine foe. Halfspoor stood just out of -reach, and his actions were brainless, idiotic. He would slash at us -viciously, missing us by a foot or so; slap at the side of his head -with blows that would have split open a less solid skull; then back -up a little, moan, bellow, gnash his tusks, make as if to charge at -us—and beat his head again!</p> - -<p>I glanced at Dy-lee, who seemed calm and detached. The glint of the -bronze tube caught my eye. It was in his mouth and he was blowing -into it. I thought of the wooden whistles we make for our children; -but there came no noise out of this instrument. My head was, indeed, -ringing and pounding from the fight; yet I knew I was not deaf, for -Halfspoor was raising the dead with his uproar and I could hear that -very well.</p> - -<p>It was hardly the time for investigation of mysteries, however. -Impatiently I pulled at Dy-lee's arm. The bear would charge. Dy-lee -grinned (at least the hair on his cheeks moved as though he had -grinned), and throwing back his shoulders and inflating his lungs, -appeared to blow a tremendous gust of wind through the metal tube. -The dogwolves, who had been snapping at Halfspoor's toes, writhed on -their bellies and screeched piteously together, as if they had been -disemboweled. Magic! The poor brutes seemed in their last agony.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The knifetooth bear gave one frightful, indignant, stentorian yell, -which echoed weirdly from every tree around the glade. He administered -a final pummeling to the sides of his tormented head. And he turned -and made off into the forest as if all the cave cats in the world were -nipping at his tail!</p> - -<p>At the same time my eardrums were assailed by the most piercing <i>feel</i> -of noise that they had ever experienced. And yet there was no sound -from the tube in Dy-lee's mouth.</p> - -<p>Now he removed it, stowed it in his secret pouch, laughed quietly to -himself, and walking across the mold, bent down and began to gentle the -groveling dogwolves. Slowly they responded, sitting up, nuzzling his -hands, and whining as if ashamed of their recent performance.</p> - -<p>Listening with one ear while rubbing the other, I heard old Halfspoor -smashing his way through the woodland, complaining bitterly to himself -in a loud voice. I could not blame him. If the stalwart dogwolves were -reduced to impotence by the sorcery of Dy-lee's tube, even bruin must -be pardoned for running from it.</p> - -<p>And then I heard a cry of pain and terror, a human sound that rose and -wailed and died to a hideous moaning; and without hesitation I ran off -on the bear's trail. He had found someone else in his mad career, and -that one had not escaped by magic!</p> - -<p>It was easy to see where he had passed. Thickets were crushed, even -small trees shattered off, and the bark of the giants shredded by angry -clawings. Perhaps I went two hundred yards. Then I found the man, where -Halfspoor had found him and snatched him up and flung him aside, broken -and dying, into a heap of touchwood.</p> - -<p>It was the guardian Laq, and he was dying if ever I saw a man die, with -a broken back and a leg that bent sideways in a way no leg was ever -meant to bend. I knelt beside him and he opened his eyes and recognized -me, and he spat feebly, for there was still hate in the man. I could do -nothing for him, could not even straighten his limbs or ease his head, -for motion would have slain him.</p> - -<p>"Lie easy, Laq," I said. "You must rest a while, and then I will help -you home."</p> - -<p>"When I have rested, I will slay you, Ahmusk the hunter," said he with -a curse. His hand moved feebly, and I saw he wished to pull the bow -closer, the bow that he had stolen and practiced with until he thought -he was skilled enough to murder me. I put it into his fingers, noticing -without much surprise that it was one which I had made and believed I -had lost somewhere. I gave him one of the arrows from his quiver, too, -and that was a mistake, for he stared sharply at me with his filming -dark eyes. "You think I am crippled," he said huskily, "but I will show -you when I have rested, Ahmusk. Lora will never come to your platform -and your mating furs."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>I said nothing, for one cannot grow angry with a dying man, and there -was no kind word that my tongue could lay hold on; and so presently he -began to talk in a quiet, sane voice.</p> - -<p>"Of course I cannot let you live. You braved the land of the shaggy -people, and made friends with them; and you have a knowledge which must -never be given to our tribes. Men must have something to fear. It keeps -them decent."</p> - -<p>I do not know, even yet, whether he believed what he said; and I have -often pondered on it. Perhaps he had made himself believe it, for the -peace of his soul.</p> - -<p>"The legend of The Nameless goes on," he said, the bright froth -dripping from his lips. "Ahmusk dies.... My father was a guardian. He -preached to me that some dreadful calamity would occur if we allowed -the two races to come together. All the guardians were taught that. It -was dinned into them from their birth. Only the intelligent ones saw -what that calamity would be. Our craft would lose its privilege, its -honor, its reason for being."</p> - -<p>It was the same thought I had held. The guardians fattened on -adulation, and if that was taken from them, there would be nothing -left, for they were so accustomed to it that they could not conceive -becoming as other men.</p> - -<p>"It does no harm to tell you these things, Ahmusk, for you will shortly -die. Yes ... you understand, I saw very early that the basic ideas of -my craft were wrong, all wrong. There was no harm in letting you know -of the shaggy people, for they are as innocent and affectionate as -you; the harm lay in the breaking-up of our guild, and the...." He was -silent for so long that I thought he had lapsed into insensibility, -but after a while he repeated what he had said about mankind needing -something to fear. He used the same words, as though it were an excuse -he had learnt by rote long ago.</p> - -<p>"That is an untruth," I said. "Fear is evil, fear of anything is all -wrong. It is wickedness, Laq."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>He looked up at me, and I think the naked truth came to his lips then, -and would not be denied; for he said, with a horrid gasp, "Ah, but -the reverence given us, Bear-throat! This is not lightly to be lost. -Think of it! In all the world we alone are above mankind. A hunter -is the same as a singer, the night watcher gains no more thanks, no -more prerogatives than the weaver of garlands. Only the guardian walks -clothed in honor and mystic glory! Do you think I can let you smash -us to the level of common clay, after so many generations of being -exalted?"</p> - -<p>He stopped again, and I thought of the first of his breed, those early -guardians who must have arisen after the terrible slaughters, when all -was hatred and terror and confusion. Did they then invent the legend of -The Nameless, to capitalize on the mutual fear of the two peoples? Did -they, perhaps, force the hairy folk into the wastes and caves, looking -ahead to a reign of vicious knowledge over ignorance? And were all -their descendants as cynical and utterly selfish as this Laq?</p> - -<p>"What of your brothers?" I asked him. "Do they know that no true harm -would come if the people knew the truth of The Nameless?"</p> - -<p>He laughed, horribly. "My fellow guardians are in the main sublimely -unaware of their futility," he said. "The dogmatic teachings of bigoted -fathers have made unthinking sons.... You understand, Ahmusk, that I -will slay you when I have rested."</p> - -<p>"Yes, Laq," I said, as he lay dying.</p> - -<p>"Ah, but how I would love to see their bubble of self-importance -pricked!" he muttered. Evidently he felt no kinship with them, but -sneered at them and us alike. "How they would flounder if the facts -were forced upon them!"</p> - -<p>I heard Dy-lee come up behind us, and the dogwolves snuffled at my -shoulders. Laq raised himself with a superhuman effort and cried, "The -bear! The knifetooth bear! Ahmusk, the bear comes! My whistle ... -my whistle! I cannot find my whistle ..." and so died, his fingers -clutching weakly at the broken bow that he had stolen so long ago, when -he first plotted to kill me for the sake of Lora.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>I took the arrows from his quiver, and covered Laq with branches and -dead leaves, for I had no strength to bury him. Returning to the glade, -we managed to find the three arrows I had lost in the fight; then we -turned our faces eastward once more.</p> - -<p>We crossed the Crimson Brook and the Blue, and then at last we began to -talk with our signs and our halting phrases.</p> - -<p>"What is the tube?" I asked Dy-lee. "How did it drive off Halfspoor?"</p> - -<p>As well as he could, he showed me. It was a whistle, of a sort, and -though we men could not hear its note, he explained that the animals -could. A low sound, made by barely breathing into it, brought the -dogwolves barking happily to our sides; but a stronger puff caused them -to howl dolefully. I had seen what a really powerful blast on it could -do to even a knifetooth bear.</p> - -<p>"And the guardians have these whistles?" I asked him, and he answered, -Yes, they did, though Laq must have lost his. That was why they needed -no weapons when they strode the Fearful Forest. A man would not have to -slay a carnivore when he could chase it away in fright, with its ears -splitting.</p> - -<p>And yet, all I sensed when Dy-lee blew the thing was a tingling of the -eardrums. Strange and new! That an animal could hear a sound which a -man could not!</p> - -<p>But still I thought a bow and a few good arrows were not to be sneered -at, and resolved again to teach my friends their use, in preparation -for the time, even though it be hundreds of years hence, when all the -whistles shall be lost.</p> - -<p>I pictured Halfspoor in my mind, and how he had stood off from Dy-lee -and swung blows at the air when the whistle blew. I saw him run again, -cuffing his own ears to beat away the tearing, bone-rending sound of -the to-me-silent tube. What a host of miracles I had to tell to Lora!</p> - -<p>We crossed the Gray Brook and came to Sunset Fields, and the sun was -less than an hour from its setting in the west. There was a figure -running toward us, now in the waning sunlight, now in the dappling -shade of the tree ferns. I cried out joyfully, for it was my Lora.</p> - -<p>She neared us, and seeing Dy-lee and the dogwolves, cried out with -horror. "Ahmusk! Fly, or they will slay you!"</p> - -<p>"Come here, little fearful one," I said, "and I will open your mind to -a thousand new things!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>She stood there, regarding me, and the fear went out of her eyes, to be -replaced by a vast relief. "Then this creature will not harm you?"</p> - -<p>"Nor you either. This is my friend Dy-lee," I told her, and taking -her hand, put it into his. He shook it, and she smiled uncertainly. -"Ahmusk—the dogwolves?"</p> - -<p>I patted the biggest on the head. Oh, but that was my hour! "I have -made them gentle as fawns," I said, stretching the facts somewhat.</p> - -<p>Then she knew that all was well, and she leaped into my arms and kissed -me until I thought she would never be done; and yet truly I was sorry -when she stopped. "What has happened, Bear-throat? Where have you been -for two days, and who is this, and how does it come that the dogwolves -do not bite, and why are you all blood-smeared, and—"</p> - -<p>"Lora, Lora," I said, "I have a thousand things to tell you, but we -can never begin on them if you must chatter endlessly—"</p> - -<p>"And Halfspoor, did you find his track, and where will he spend the -night, and—"</p> - -<p>"Lora!" I shouted, enfolding her in a fierce embrace. "Listen to me, -and I shall tell you! Great Halfspoor ranges the Fearful Forest, where -I will meet him again one day. This is Dy-lee—"</p> - -<p>"And <i>what</i> is Dy-lee?" she asked, her voice rather muffled against my -chest.</p> - -<p>I gave up. "I will tell you one thing," I said, "and then I will let -you babble until you run out of queries. I am like a man who has -feared lightning all his life, and has now been struck; and I not only -survive, but have found it a pleasant experience—"</p> - -<p>"Where were you hit by lightning? Where did you get all the thorn -scratches?" she asked.</p> - -<p>Dy-lee put his hand on my shoulder and said, pointing to Lora, "Zheena! -Zheena!"</p> - -<p>By which I think he meant to say that females are all alike, and so, -patting my girl on her shining head, I grinned across at him and -replied, "How right you are, Dy-lee, how very right you are!"</p> - -<p>"What did he say?" asked Lora.</p> - -<p>"He said that there is nothing in all the fine green world like a -woman."</p> - -<p>"Well!" said she, "you've learnt a little wisdom in your traveling, I -must say!"</p> - -<p>"A little," said I, "a little."</p> - -<p>And so we journeyed homeward to the glen and our people, we three good -new companions, and the dogwolves went before us and gamboled with -pleasure in the soft grass of the fields.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>That night Dy-lee and I sat together on my platform, in the tawny-cream -light of a full autumn moon. Much had been told that evening, at a -council of all our glen-folk; much had been speculated, much had been -argued over. Some men had been shocked, some elated, some hurt—those -last were the guardians, most of whom could not believe my tale until -I showed them Dy-lee and repeated what Laq had said as he lay dying. -My shaggy comrade had dyed a picture for the folk on a big rock, and -astonished them all beyond measure. Our finest singers had performed -for him, and now he knew that Bear-throat was not such a marvelous -being after all.</p> - -<p>Lora and I had announced our mating time. I had three days in which to -find a cave cat and make our rug. Yes, a cave cat; I had decided to -give Halfspoor a rest for a while....</p> - -<p>After the initial surprise of Dy-lee's appearance, our people had all -become very much interested in him. He was laden with gifts to take -home to the caves: bone tools and hatchets, metal knives, fine arrows -and bows, skins of white deer and sleek owl feathers, everything they -could think of which he might like.</p> - -<p>So now we sat together on the platform of my tree, our legs covered -with rugs against the chill of the night, and our eyelids drooping with -fatigue. Yet must I chatter a while longer, being reluctant to see this -glorious day end.</p> - -<p>"Dy-lee," I said, "many wanings of the moon will pass before we see -an end to the changes that are going to happen among our folk, yours -and mine. We will all be one folk soon." He nodded and smiled, just -as though he could understand me. "We have been kept a simple people, -naive and guileless; and that may be good. I think it is, and I think -we will not change our simplicity. We will only see things more -plainly. And there will be less fear."</p> - -<p>"Ahmusk," said Dy-lee. "Friend Ahmusk!"</p> - -<p>I gripped his hand in the gesture I found so satisfying. "And with -time, Dy-lee, we will find the answers to all sorts of questions, -questions that intrigue me so that I can scarcely wait till morning -to begin searching for the answers! Those whistles of yours, for -instance—who made them, and how, and is the secret of them truly that -their noise pierces the ears and maddens an animal with fear, or what?</p> - -<p>"And your pictures, Dy-lee, and our music: we will trade these to each -other and spend a thousand thousand contented hours with them!"</p> - -<p>He yawned, and lying down, pulled the furs up to his chin. Still would -I talk a few moments longer.</p> - -<p>"And some day, Dy-lee, we will know what caused your folk to grow all -shaggy, while we remained smooth-skinned. Maybe we will find out how -the men of the far olden times moved their great stones, and why they -made the tall inclosures.</p> - -<p>"First of all, of course, we must learn to speak to one another. I -shall learn your language, and you shall learn mine...."</p> - -<p>"But," put in a grumbling voice from the next tree, "if you do not -close your mouth and go to sleep, Bear-throat, I fear you will not -live to see tomorrow's sun, and so will miss all the fun. Go to sleep!"</p> - -<p>I chuckled. It was Lora's father. "Good-night, then," I said. "I shall -wake you early in the morning."</p> - -<p>"I'm sure you will. Good-night!"</p> - -<p>I rolled over beside Dy-lee and composed myself in my furs for the -night. At once a vast comfortable weariness came over me.</p> - -<p>"Perhaps," I murmured, "perhaps we shall even discover some day why it -is that the bones of Sunset Fields do not decay!"</p> - -<p>Dy-lee answered me with a soft grunt and then a snore. 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