Page:Zakhar Berkut(1944).djvu/11

 In those days to undertake a hunt for big game was not just a means of pleasantly passing away the time but a grim and bloody risk, hazardous to life and limb. Bison, bears and wild boars are truculent, malignant brutes. Seldom did anyone ever succeed in killing one of them with a bow and arrow. Even deer were not bagged without a struggle. The actual kill most often had to be made by facing the animal and plunging a spear into its heart with all one’s might. If the spear missed its mark, the life of the hunter became greatly endangered, especially if he was unable at the crucial moment to find momentary refuge from which to launch a renewed attack with a hunting knife or a strong, long-handled battleaxe.

Therefore it was not surprising to find that Tuhar and his company prepared for the hunt as if for a siege of war, with a supply of ammunition, bows and arrows, a coterie of servants, provisions of food and even a reputable sorcerer who knew how to heal wounds.

Nor was there anything unusual in that Tuhar and his guests were themselves as fully armed as warriors except for steel helmets and armor which would have been too burdensome to manage on their trek through the jungle growth and over fallen timber of the mountainside. The only remarkable aspect of this expedition was the presence of Tuhar’s daughter, Peace-Renown, who not forsaking her father even in this adventure, ventured to join his company of hunters.

The Tukholian citizens, seeing her riding boldly and proudly among her father’s guests, like a straight young willow tree among the oaks, followed her mounted form with approving eyes and spoke thus to one another: “What a girl! She’d make a fine young soldier, and probably a better man than her father!”

This was no mean compliment for Tuhar Wolf was a man as physically solid and strong as a giant oak, broad of shoulders,