THE CAVE BOY.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2074, 28 December 1907, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE CAVE BOY.

(By AVilliam MacLeod Raine.. AVearlod' with yesterday’s long hunt, the Cave Boy slept till the sun crept in and shook slumber from his eyes. He bad followed far into tlio. Hill Country before making his kill, and had plodded bade with the dead buck oil his shoulders. Night’s myriad stars had been out ere lie had finished gorging himself and crawled into his hole. AA’herefore he had slepit far beyond his usual time before lie flung aside the thlick brush that filled the mouth of his cave and otepped out for his morning sun-beat. are was a beautiful young animal in the prime of adolescence. Straight as a willow wand, with rippling muscles flowing free, he stood liithlygraceful, an untamed Apollo of the primeval wilderness. The rich young world he inhabited could have; found no more perfect representative than this splendid embodiment, of the fit survival. The sun-tan. of a long summer. had left him a berry-broiwii from head to heel save where the wolfskin girded lilis loins'. As alert, as keen, as tho free forest creatures around him, he was every wliit-as wild. Only this differentiated him from 'them: he was there master because through many generations of vanished ancestors he had struggled into the possession of that strange power which dimly .grappled with the eternal AYliy. With a cry of delight he bounded down tho path to the gleaming river. Flinging aside hia loin-skin the youth plunged into the cool stream. Long ho buffeted the current in the sheer lust of battle, flinging the- waves from hiim forcefully as he eliot through tho water. At last, sated with the joy of his swim., he lay down in tho warm sand that the sun might dry. his lean u-ude body. Presently he went hack up the path and set himself methodically to prepare his morning meal. AA T ith definite patience ho rah a blunt-pointed stick along a groove of its own making in another stick, moving it to .and fro so swiftly tlio eye could scarce follow. From the dry leaves and tiny twigs which he had gathered a thin flame soon crept into a roaring fire supplied with fuel of larger branches. Into this he roiled some large stones to heat, meanwhile half filling a skinlined 'hollow with water and a long strip of venison. AVken the stones were at a red hot heat he put them one .after another into the water until it boiled. This operation ho repeated again and again. AVhen he judged the meat sufficiently cooked, ho ate a prodigious quantity of it, seasoning it with berries and washing it down with water.

•Carefully ho put out his fire, lest some wanderer might discover his cave and appropriate its treasures. He then sallied forth for the adven-. turos of the day, carrying his sling, liis pointed stono dagger, and his knotted club.

It was" neither tho snapping of a twig nor the rustic of hushes thatbrought him to a sudden halt- .with ears pricked. No sound had broken tho vague stirring of the forest life, but his instinct for danger had warned him of an intruder. He glided behind a treo and waitod, his sling poised, his club clutched tightly. Presently there debouched into tho open grove from the denser woods beyond a young savage and his mate. Ho w.as a bill man, .broad of shoulder, deep of chest, ferocious of aspect. His gnarled mace was not more knotted than the swelling -muscles that leaped under the leathery skill. Tho breadth of his massive trunk •the 1 eng'h of -Iris great arms, told of brutal power. Lower crouched the Caro Boy to escape the eye of his formidable enemy. His intent gaze followed the -approach of tho hill-dwellers, who wore manifestly on tlioir way to the river to fi-.li. The woman walked behind her master carrying a rough woven basket thonged to her .shoulders. Slio was very young, hut as beautiful in her unfettered grace as he was terrible in his barbaric strength.

Since the nill-dwellers had killed bis parents a half-score yens before, the Cave Boy had fought for his c.vn hand against a. world intxoiably intent on crushing tho weak His ev-ry thought had been i« -urvive, to evade t-lio menace of h'h environment, to kill rather .lian be killed. But now a now emotion surged up in him. The mating inst-nct, the desire of .possession, leaped full-armed to life. HL young blood spun with the fierce ex-

altation of his passion. Swiftly he stepped out into the pathway and confronted the Hill Man, a tacit challenge to keep his own if he could. The Hill Man understood and accepted without question. Ho gave a roar that echoed through tho forest, and stopped to. await the onset. Respite tho Cavo .Boy’s sinewy grace of form and catlike agility, the battle looked too unequal for the issue to lio long in doubt. He was still but a youth, his muscles not yet hardened to flexible steel, his power still immature; whereas his gigantic opponent was of gorilla strength. Lightning-like tho Cave Boy freighted and flung his missiles. Once, twice, thrice lie scored, then tossed, aside the sling and bounded lightly forward to catch the foe in the pail, of hjs bleeding blindness. lAVitli a bellow of rage tho Hill Man. sprang to meet him. His mace whirled and crashed down, but his agile opponent leaped aside and, almost at tho same instant, forward and back. On tho giant’s forehead, where the stone bound in tho end of the Cave Boy’s club had struck, a purple splash showed angrily. Like a wild bull tho Hill Man charged, thrashing fiercely in his rage at the alert dodging figure that flashed in and out with unerring precision. Hazed by the shower of blows that fell on him, the Hill Man filled the wilderness with hoarse cries of mad anger. In his rag© he was like a trapped wild beast fighting for freedom without hope or direction. Once indeed his descending club caught tho other a glancing blow and hurled him to tho ground. But' the Cave Boy was up and. away before he could follow, ducking here and- there from the terrible blows, with the reeling instinct for self-preservaton, until the dizziness had left him. Then he harassed the Hill Man. mercilessly, tempting him to futile rushes and striking homo once and again. The great figure swayed like a pillar about to fall, but his vigilant enemy would risk nothing by a too rash coup. AVitli narrowed eyes the Cave Boy crept forward toward, the blinded bleeding thing lie had at bay. The Hill Man struck, stumbled, and went down. Panther-like the Cave Boy leaped. His dagger flashed and pinned the cry in the Hill Man’s threat. For a few heart-beats the dagger worked as regularly as a .piston-rod. AA’licn the Cavo Boy nose his enemy was dead. He looked down at the inanimate thing that had been but a few minutes ago so full of lusty life, and a wave of exultation flooded him. He bad made his first kill of his own kind, •made it in fair fight against odds. He was no longer the cave 'boy but the Cavo Man. His proud glance swept the grove triumphantly and fell with a shook of surprise on the forgotten woman. She was watching him with fascinated fearful eyes out- of which looked a defiant shyness that knew him for her master but would not recognize it. She was his to do with as he pleased, this slim sweet creature of lithe rounded curves and- soft dimpled cheeks. Since he had won her in fight, she was his slave. The intoxication of it mounted to liis brain. But lie did not speak nor move toward her. Ho had l to adjust himself to this new .sense of ownership, for he had no idea what manner of animal AA 7 oman might be. AA 7 itliout> curiosity his wild life had known her only at a distance. She was to fetch, and carry, to bear burdens and to perpetuate the species. 'So .much he knew; no more. And now in a moment lie found himself the mate of this dusky, sullen, wholly .adorable daughter of Eve, at whom- lie looked and was swept by a new sweet emotion altogether out of 'bis ken. Gravely the, took in the physical-at-tributes of. Iris new possession. Though she filled him with an indescribable joy, lie was yet almost as afraid a her as she was of him.

And she was quick to see it. AA’liei daring greatly, lie took up wonder ingly one of the heavy strands of rop--txl, hair that hung down her back fir past her hips, her strong .white teeth Hashed . and almost met in the fleshy part of liis upper arm. She was ofl at once like a deer, running free and strong lip the trail toward the liiills He leaped after her with the swift tigerish lo.po of the forest, snatch ing up a- broken grape-vine of convenient length as he .ran. (He thought her splendid, superb, in the blaze <x her anger. But he knew what to d« now, and ho was ready to do it with the more passion because lie lovefi her..

Slie led him a long chase, for bt was weary and wounded with the marks of a desperate battle. 'But 1? -ran her down at last, and she turned on him in pan-ting fury. He lashed, her with the grape-vine, the while she fought back with all her healthy young ani-m-al vigor. But he was the stronger, and of a sudden she fell still, taking her punishment with so: teeth till she could endure mo more in silence. With a cry of submission she fell quivering at his feet, beseech* iDg him to beat her no more. Ho lifted her, and she stood before him with downcast eyes. Plainer than words, her attitude—the drooping head, the flame of color in lieu soft tanned l cheeks, the sweet indescribable shyness of her post —ao cep ted tho new relationship, told him that slio was his, and -asked 'him to be good to her. His nostrils whiffed a faint- savor oi sweetness from her, and he turned abruptly away with a gesture t-liat bade her follow. Sho plodded after him in a silcnco .that endured hour after hour .till the shadows of evening fell. He was stiff and lame from ais wounds, but ho marched buoyantly with liis face to the stare, thanking all his pagen gods for the love of woman.

Presently ho knew without .turning that she was beginning to lag, and, still in silence, he accommodated hiß pace to hers. Later, when the wolveß howled in. tho jungle bordering the trail, she crept close to his heels. He slipped back a- step or two and his fingers groped in tho darkness till they -found her littlo brown fist and closed on at. With the contact there pulsed through him a .glow of divine content that was not passion. So hand in hand they went dawn the path that led to his cave by the river bank. -