Adventure Magazine Cover — page 147: what you’re looking at

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

The Fight for the Cave moment the light was lost sight of as the hunting-chief turned a corner in the tunnel. What terror would befall? There was consternation in the cave. But Ufu the Great spoke reassuring words. The man’s impiety would bring calamity upon his own shoulders. He would never return. The Fish would devour him. The fishermen heard this with satisfac- tion; Lean Ak’s hunters with misgiving. Commoners, they too were afraid of cavern depths, and perhaps there might be a monstrous devouring fish in the black hole. Their fear of the unknown disposed them to the chieftain-magician’s fantastic stories and subtle reasonings. Ufu the Great assured the hunters that their leader was lost to them. Many men had gone into that hole, but not one had ever emerged; the fishermen agreed solemn- ly to this. And since Lean Ak had perished in his impiety, Ufu the Great became the hunters’ leader. Lean Ak’s followers were shaken, and when the morning passed without the hunting-chief’s reappearance, they accepted Ufu the Great’s prononuce- ments without protest. The chieftain-magician commanded them to deliver their weapons over to the fisher- men by way of propitiating the fish. The leaderless band obeyed dubiously. This prudent measure taken, Ufu the Great ordered every one to the river-bank to fish, so that they might celebrate an exceptional banquet to calm the wrath of the Fish. They fished joyfully through the day, all save the hunters, who fished sadly, and the six daughters of Ufu the Great, who did not fish at all. The sisters were filled with grief at the fearful end of their lover, and after a while they returned to the cave to bewail. They squatted themselves at a respectful distance from the black hole and kept a melancholy vigil. ee lation. He had found the tunnel to be long, narrow and winding; it led to no interior cavern. But its walls held many even spaces, which in the wavering lamplight gleamed white like good fortune. The artist saw the true cause of his past troubles. What a wretched place his native cave had been, with its jagged walls upon which no effective magic could be worked, : LEAN AK had come upon a reve- IAI As he made his way through the rocky gallery the light of his lamp fell upon an occasional painting executed by the artists of long years past.. What superb heads of game must the men of old have con- jured with those walls to ply their craft upon! Lean Ak put down his lamp and set to work. He had never abandoned his artist’s implements, but through all his wander- ings had carried them in a bag secured around his girth. Now he took forth his bone tubes filled with ocher earth pigment mixed with animal grease, his hammer and his stylus of flint. He set about graving the outlines of a rhinoceros on the lime- stone wall, pigmenting the chiseled lines as he proceeded. What consequences would follow from his flouting the chieftain-magician’s pro- hibition to venture into the tunnel? Lean Ak gave no thought to that, his mind was too full. He saw game returned under the conjuring of the pictures he would paint. He saw his service completed, and himself in a pleasant cave and possessed of the six daughters of Ufu the Great. He would live the hunter’s life he loved, and his sons would be hunters after him. It was hours before he thought of leaving the tunnel. In the cave the six daughters of Ufu the Great still squatted like effigies, their wails more doleful than ever. “‘The Fish has eaten him,” droned one of them. The others swayed in lamenting assent. _The fire on the hearth sputtered occasion- ally, and there was the sibilant sound of the wind outside. In all else the cave was deep in silence. the sisters cried out in fright as the flame of a lamp appeared in the black hole before them. Then Lean Ak stepped through the opening. Scarcely noticing his betrothed ones, he strode out, of the cave. He wanted to look away over the hills where men could hunt beasts, where arrows might fly, where game would die to the thudding of stone hatchets. The six daughters, who followed him, did not disturb his reverie. They could see that flame was in their stern lover’s brain. They stood near the cave entrance, and watched him as he stared moodily down the valley. After a moment Lean Ak turned to them. 3 “Listen,” he cried, and again turned his face to the lower end of the valley. GO .TOO AMUG SS (C@