r
waist belt before he had made his announcement.

"Anak, the Chief Hunter, gave it to her," he repeated slowly. "Anak
killed the buck, and half of the liver is, by the law of the tribe, his
to dispose of. Does the Father deny the right?"

* * * * *

Uglik lowered the point of his spear and thought rapidly. Anak's act
constituted unheard-of rebellion against his authority. On the other
hand, the Chief Hunter was the cleverest tracker of the tribe and a
mighty warrior in battle. The tribe of Ugar had lost most of its
warriors in their long six-month march north from the fertile valley
where the Mediterranean Sea now rolls. Uglik was too wise a leader to
waste men on a trivial quarrel, able though he felt himself to kill
Anak, should the latter cry the rannag, the duel to the death by which
the Father must at any time prove to any challenger, his right to rule.

"It is the right of the killer to dispose of half of the liver of the
kill," he conceded. "It is also the right of the stronger to take what
he wills from the weaker. To Esle belongs the liver. The girl will not
be punished. Anak will join me at meat."

Anak's face flushed momentarily at the arrogant tone of the Father's
ruling. He realized, as well as Uglik, what had caused the Father to
condone his semi-rebellion. He shrugged his shoulders and sat down
beside Uglik.

Uglik ate slowly, looking meditatively at Una as she tore off chunks of
the meat with her strong teeth and swallowed them. The girl was about
eighteen and in the first flush of womanhood. Her tawny brown skin
gleamed like satin in the firelight, which was reflected from her
slightly curling masses of black hair. She stood eight inches over five
feet and her entire body was built on generous lines, lines of perfect
health and almost masculine strength. Anak's eyes followed the direction
of Uglik's gaze and he grew thoughtful in turn.

"Is the Father satisfied with the Chief Hunter?" he asked ceremoniously.

"The Father is," replied Uglik in similar vein.

"Then the Chief Hunter has a boon to ask."

"Name it."

"I desire that maiden, Una, be given to me."

"What?"

Uglik could hardly believe his ears. All of the women of the tribe
belonged of immemorial right to the Father. While he might lend one for
a time to a favored hunter as a mark of distinction, the suggestion that
he completely relinquish his claim to one of them, and a young and
handsome one at