Adventure Magazine Cover — page 146: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

140 himself and his band in return for the chieftain-magician’s six daughters. DURING the succeeding days amity prevailed in the cave. The hunters demonstrated a liking for their labor, and conducted vigorous warfare against the two leopards. They had several skirmishes with the huge cats, in which one of the leopards received an arrow in its flank. Finally the beasts could be found no longer, and it was evident that they had been frightened away from the hillside. THE ARTIST PAINTED A PICTURE BUT DID NOT COMPLETE IT Kops IN THE rear wall of the cave there was a large black hole; Lean “ Ak frequently stood off and peered into its obscurity. To what did it lead? To a long gallery, the hunting-chief said to himself, and perhaps to an_ interior cavern. it was in such place that the cave artists found favorite expanses of limestone wall whereon to execute their pictures. Lean Ak was an artist; most hunting-chiefs were. He was a magician, too. For drawing pictures on cave walls was one of the rites of magic. By fashioning the image of the animal the artist conjured the animal itself. Lean Ak reasoned long before that the scarcity of game had beset his tribe be- cause the walls of his native cave had been deficient for the purposes of magic. Quite probably, he now meditated, the tunnel to the rear of the fishermen’s cave would afford him the means of conjuring unlimited heads of game. The black hole in the rear wall of the cave was to the fishermen a source of terror. No mgn ventured in it; no man was per- mitted to venture near it, lest his temerity bring misfortune upon the tribe. Among the Cro-Magnons cave-depths were feared by all men save by the artists. And when the fishermen’s forefathers had abandoned the hunting-tradition they had abandoned the magic of pictures also; it was used chiefly in controlling the fortunes of the chase. Theré had been no artist among the tribe for generations. Indeed, Ufu the Great had announced the fact that the opening in the cave wall Adventure was sacred to the Fish, and that no man could venture into its black depths and return alive. Judge then what reply was given to Lean Ak when he stated that he purposed exploring the tunnel. The pro- hibition was so peremptory that he was constrained to respect it. But life was beginning to irk the hunters wofully. During the days when they had skirmished with the leopards they had been fairly content, being given a generous mea- sure of the hunting-life to which they were accustomed. Now that they were set to the tame pursuit of fishing they grew weary of Ufu the Great and his anglers. The former respect for the fat tribesmen vanished. With familiarity, the marvel of catching fish grew pale. They nourished a great suspicion that the fishermen were sorry fighters. And especially they grew Jaiemeiiaul of the Fish. The divinity that had come down to them from their forefathers was the mighty rhinoceros, and, while at first they had relished the bountiful banquets of fish, they soon again remembered with longing the feasts of seasons past when — they had partaken of their own god, who was the greatest of gods—for they knew that rhinoceros steaks were the strongest and bravest morsel that ever came between human jaws. Lean Ak had shared the disdainful sentiments of his tribesmen, and now, as Ufu the Great grew fantastic about what horrors the Fish would inflict upon any one who ventured into the black tunnel— a place for an artist to paint pictures—his contempt grew supreme. One morning Lean Ak squatted on his heels and contemplated the black hole for a long time. The hunters were chipping flint for new weapons. working bone for fish-hooks. Several wo- men were roasting fish over the hearth fire, while others stitched garments with bone needles and thongs of animal hide. Ufu the Great squatted near the fire while one of his men painted broad stripes of red across his great countenance. -Lean Ak was dreaming of the pictures he could paint on the walls of the tunnel. Finally his ardor passed out of control. He went to the fire, lighted a lamp, and before anybody could interfere with him he had gone to the rear of the cave and plunged into the black hole. After a CORIICLOO© S Fishermen were — (©)