aving spent considerable time hunting
and exploring in the immediate vicinity of camp. A dozen times that day
was my life threatened by fearsome creatures of the earth or sky,
though I could not but note that the farther north I traveled, the
fewer were the great dinosaurs, though they still persisted in lesser
numbers. On the other hand the quantity of ruminants and the variety
and frequency of carnivorous animals increased. Each square mile of
Caspak harbored its terrors.

At intervals along the way I found bits of muslin, and often they
reassured me when otherwise I should have been doubtful of the trail to
take where two crossed or where there were forks, as occurred at
several points. And so, as night was drawing on, I came to the
southern end of a line of cliffs loftier than any I had seen before,
and as I approached them, there was wafted to my nostrils the pungent
aroma of woodsmoke. What could it mean? There could, to my mind, be
but a single solution: man abided close by, a higher order of man than
we had as yet seen, other than Ahm, the Neanderthal man. I wondered
again as I had so many times that day if it had not been Ahm who stole
Lys.

Cautiously I approached the flank of the cliffs, where they terminated
in an abrupt escarpment as though some all powerful hand had broken off
a great section of rock and set it upon the surface of the earth. It
was now quite dark, and as I crept around the edge of the cliff, I saw
at a little distance a great fire around which were many
figures--apparently human figures. Cautioning Nobs to silence, and he
had learned many lessons in the value of obedience since we had entered
Caspak, I slunk forward, taking advantage of whatever cover I could
find, until from behind a bush I could distinctly see the creatures
assembled by the fire. They were human and yet not human. I should
say that they were a little higher in the scale of evolution than Ahm,
possibly occupying a place of evolution between that of the Neanderthal
man and what is known as the Grimaldi race. Their features were
distinctly negroid, though their skins were white. A considerable
portion of both torso and limbs were covered with short hair, and their
physical proportions were in many aspects apelike, though not so much
so as were Ahm's. They carried themselves in a more erect position,
although their arms were considerably longer than those of the
Neanderthal man. As I watched them, I saw that the