Page:The Cave Girl - Edgar Rice Burroughs.pdf/187

 “Has a good man ever been king?” asked Thandar.

The old fellow puckered his brow in thought.

“Not for a long time,” he said.

“That is because you always permit a bully and a brute to rule you,” said Thandar. “That is not the proper way to choose a king. Rather you should come together as we are come, and among you talk over the needs of the tribe and when you are decided as to what measures are best for the welfare of the members of the tribe then should you select the man best fitted to carry out your plans. That is a better way to choose a king.”

The old man laughed.

“And then,” he said, “would come a Big Fist or a Flatfoot and slay our king that he might be king in his place.”

“Have you ever seen a man who could slay all the other men of the tribe at the same time?”

The old man looked puzzled.

“That is my answer to your argument,” said Thandar. “Those who choose the king can protect him from his enemies. So long as he is a good king they should do so, but when he becomes a bad king they can then select another, and if the bad king refuses to obey the new it would be an easy matter for several men to kill him or drive him away, no matter how mighty a fighter he might be.”