under its jaw. The bear was too
astonished at this fantastic attack to do more than cling passive. And
then the axe, the first of all axes, rang on its skull.

The bear's head twisted from side to side, and he began a petulant
scolding growl. The axe bit within an inch of the left eye, and the hot
blood blinded that side. At that the brute roared with surprise and
anger, and his teeth gnashed six inches from Ugh-lomi's face. Then the
axe, clubbed close, came down heavily on the corner of the jaw.

The next blow blinded the right side and called forth a roar, this time
of pain. Eudena saw the huge, flat feet slipping and sliding, and
suddenly the bear gave a clumsy leap sideways, as if for the ledge. Then
everything vanished, and the hazels smashed, and a roar of pain and a
tumult of shouts and growls came up from far below.

Eudena screamed and ran to the edge and peered over. For a moment, man
and bears were a heap together, Ugh-lomi uppermost; and then he had
sprung clear and was scaling the gully again, with the bears rolling and
striking at one another among the hazels. But he had left his axe below,
and three knob-ended streaks of carmine were shooting down his thigh.
"Up!" he cried, and in a moment Eudena was leading the way to the top of
the cliff.

In half a minute they were at the crest, their hearts pumping noisily,
with Andoo and his wife far and safe below them. Andoo was sitting on
his haunches, both paws at work, trying with quick exasperated movements
to wipe the blindness out of his eyes, and the she-bear stood on
all-fours a little way off, ruffled in appearance and growling angrily.
Ugh-lomi flung himself flat on the grass, and lay panting and bleeding
with his face on his arms.

For a second Eudena regarded the bears, then she came and sat beside
him, looking at him....

Presently she put forth her hand timidly and touched him, and made the
guttural sound that was his name. He turned over and raised himself on
his arm. His face was pale, like the face of one who is afraid. He
looked at her steadfastly for a moment, and then suddenly he laughed.
"Waugh!" he said exultantly.

"Waugh!" said she--a simple but expressive conversation.

Then Ugh-lomi came and knelt beside her, and on hands and knees peered
over the brow and examined the gorge. His breath was steady now, and the
blood on his leg had ceased to flow, though the scratches the she-bear
had made were open and wide. He squatted up and sat