The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Frightened Planet, by Sidney Austen

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Title: The Frightened Planet

Author: Sidney Austen

Release Date: August 23, 2010 [EBook #33513]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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[Illustration: With a tremendous heave, Karn hurled the giant idol to
the floor]

The Frightened Planet

By Sidney Austen

Karn was only a savage, but he knew a thing or two
about the way justice should be meted out--and he did it

Against the blackness of the early morning sky the huge ball traced an
arc of flame. Had Karn been watching the sky he would have seen the ball
slow in its descent and then come to a landing some distance ahead of
him. But he was too busy for that.

On the back of his neck the short hairs told him that pursuit was still
close behind. He put on a fresh burst of speed, his bare feet making no
sound on the trail he followed. Soon the early breeze would shift and
they would lose his scent.

Until then he was in danger from the males of Tur's tribe. Tur the
coward, Karn thought. Tur the bully. Tur the leader of the tribe. Tur
had never liked Karn. He had liked him even less as he grew into
magnificent Cro-Magnon manhood. Karn represented the challenge that must
come to every leader sooner or later.

Then the wind shifted and Karn slowed. They'd give him up now. He was
certain of that. But what to do next? He was all alone, an outcast from
his tribe. For a full-grown man to find another tribe was impossible.

Still, he wasn't sorry about the fight. It had been a good one. Tur was
still in his prime. He'd used his teeth and his feet and every trick he
knew. He wasn't quite as strong as Karn, nor as fast, but he'd had the
advantage of experience.

Only one thing Tur lacked, in common with the other members of the
tribe, and it was that which had lost him the fight. He had almost no
inventiveness. For Karn's questing mind Tur hated him. He could not
understand a ma