t of beating her, but
only wished to comfort and shield her, then she felt quite sure he was
a god, and her heart nearly burst with the passion of her love.

II

It galled Grom's proud heart to find himself now compelled, through
loss of the fire, to go warily, to scan the thicket, to keep hidden,
to hold spear and club always in readiness, and to climb into a tree
at night for safety like the apes. But he let no sign of his chagrin,
or of his anxiety, appear. Like the crafty hunter and wise leader that
he was, he forgot no one of his ancient precautions.

They had by this time passed beyond the special haunts of the red bear
and the saber-tooth. Twice they had to run before the charge of the
great wooly rhinoceros, against whose massive hide Grom's spear and
club would have been about as effective as a feather duster. But they
had fled mockingly, for the clumsy monster was no match for them in
speed. Once, too, they had been treed by a bull urus, a gigantic white
beast with a seven-foot spread of polished horns.

But his implacable and patient rage they had cunningly evaded by
making off unseen and unheard, through the upper branches. They came
to earth again half a mile away, and ran on gaily, laughing at the
picture of the furious and foolish beast waiting there at the foot of
the tree for them to come down. Once a prowling leopard confronted
them for a moment, only to flee in great leaps before their instant
and unhesitating attack. Once a huge bird, nearly nine feet high, and
with a beak over a foot in length, struck at them savagely, with a
shrill hissing, through a fringe of reeds, because they had
incautiously come too near its nest. But they killed it, and feasted
on its eggs. And so, without further misadventure, they came at last
to the skirts of their own country, and looked once more on the
rounded, familiar, wind-swept tops of the Little Hills, sacred to the
barrows of their dead.

It was toward sunset, and the long, rosy glow was flooding the little
amphitheater wherein the remnants of the tribe were gathered, when
Grom crossed the brook, and came striding up the slope, with A-ya
close behind him. She had been traveling at his side all through the
journey, but here she respected the etiquette of her tribe, and fell
behind submissively.

Hardly noticing, or not heeding if he noticed that the tribe offered
no vociferous welcome, and seemed sullenly surprised at his
appearance, Grom strode straight