Page:Weird Tales Volume 4 Number 4 (1924-12).djvu/31

30 raven tresses and wonderful sloe-black eyes. And in those eyes gleamed the wonder-light of the great love, and he knew that this woman was his mate as surely as he knew that his only foe would be not only the terrible Aa.

But Gra, son of Gra, did not dream. His heart was filled with a great hate for the one who had dared to inter- fere with his plans; for Gra, son of Gra, did not wish to hunt the great beast, Aa. Much rather would he re- main in the sanctuary of Gra, his father, and bask in the pleasant plau- dits of the admiring crowd as he strutted proudly about, garbed in his garment made from the shaggy coat of the mighty cave bear. Far into the night he lay awake, scheming, planning, plotting, seeking some way he might win the girl, Zo-na, and yet not. jeopardize his own precious hide.

With the rising of the sun, Ra-nor slipped quietly away into the great jungle that lay between the Great Cliffs and the sea. But Gra, son of Gra, was not so simply satisfied. He, too, rose with the first rays of the morning light, and made his way to the cave of Na-nor, the flint-maker. From his store he selected the best weapons he could find: a stone ax, a keen-tipped lance, and a long, needle- like dagger of stone that had caused Na-nor many an unsuccessful attempt before he had obtained his objective. Then he breakfasted before the cave of Gra, his father, on the flesh of rein- deer, and listened to the many words of council that the old chieftain spoke into his ears. Then, leisurely, con- scious of the many eyes that were up- on him, Gra, son of Gra, entered the jungle.

And Zo-na, as she watched him take his leave, again experienced that odd sensation of impending disaster, that strange fo ing of danger for the one who had gone on before him into the mighty forest.

HE noonday sun shone down upon the lone figure of Ra-nor, as he plodded on into the trackless jun- gle, searching out the spoor of the great beast, Aa. His eyes scanned every inch of the ground over which he passed, reading the signs as plainly as if it were a printed page; here was where Gur, the shaggy cave bear, had passed; there, where the foliage was erushed and trampled, the woolly mammoth had crashed on its cumber- some way.

On, and still on, sometimes going on all fours, his nose close to the ground that his keen sense of smell might de- tect the presence of Aa, even if his sharp eyes failed todo so. At last the troglodyte came to the spot where the trail of the great cat crossed his own and he pressed on with redoubled speed. The trail led him to where the great, fernlike trees grew on the sides of the cliffs until it came to an end at the mouth of a large, dark eave. The mouth of the cave was lit-. tered with clean-picked bones of rein- deer, bison, mammoth, even the bones of the cave bear.

Here, indeed, was the lair of Aa, the mighty saber-tooth tiger, who al- ready had robbed the people of Gra of three stalwart sons. Perhaps, thought Ra-nor, their bones, too, were in that gruesome pile. He found a stone about the size of his hand and hurled it into the recesses of the cave. His only answer was the sound of the mis- sile as it struck one of the walls. Evi- dently Aa was not at home. So much the better: For some time Aa must return, and he would find a warm wel- come awaiting him.

Ra-nor climbed into. the branches of a tree from which he could com- mand a view of all the approaches to the cave, and waited until the shad- ows of the night began to fall, but Aa did not return. Boldly, Ra-nor crept into the very lair of the huge cat and made his bed on the floor of the cave.