Adventure Magazine Cover — page 150: what you’re looking at

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144 weak for the task, and the fishermen, poor bowmen and unhandy with spear and stone hatchet, proved themselves redoubtable wielders of the bludgeon, with which weapon they were accustomed to settle their disputes among themselves. The hunters fled after a short fight, and Lean Ak himself was knocked down and given a severe clubbing by Ufu the Great, so that the hunting-chief was scarcely able to struggle free and run away. This adventure exasperated Lean Ak even more than might have been expected. To have been beaten by the fish-catchers! Their prowess with the cudgel only in- creased his contempt for them—the Cro- Magnons deemed clubbing a woman’s way of fighting. There was, however, but one thing to do, and that was to go on hunting persistently in the hope that a good head of game would make its ap- pearance at last—when it did the hunters would fortify themselves with a meal, and then they would be capable of spearing and hatcheting all the fish-catchers that breathed. The hunter stuttered with rage as he told the merchants his story, and when he had done the leader of the vending-men, a shrewd and malicious fellow, visualized in his mind an opportunity to play a sad trick upon Ufu the Great, whom he thought a fat rascal. On the previous day the mer- chants had seen an old woolly rhinoceros some distance down the river. The brute, had not wandered far probably, and its steaks would serve excellently to fortify the hunters for an attack upon the fisher- men. So the malicious merchant told Lean Ak’s man of the circumstance. The other merchants were angry at this; it threatened to put a quietus upon Ufu the Great, with whom they were accustomed to barter profitably. ‘They charged their leader with letting malice get the better of his wis- dom, and a wordy quarrel ensued, a quarrel which the hunter did not stop .to listen out. He went on speeding legs to carry the tidings to his leader. Lean Ak was in sore spirits that day. He squatted apart from his men, who were gathered at the base of the cliff that had served as the tribe’s refuge against the chill, sweeping winds, and were devouring a collection of roots and field-mice. He nursed despair, seeing little prospect of ever teaching any sons of his how to hunt. Adventure And he nursed several knots that rose on his skull where the chieftain-magician’s club had impacted. He was at a point where tears would have relieved a weaker man, when the tribesman ran in bringing the malicious merchant’s story. Though nightfall was not far off, Lean Ak ordered his men away to the place that the mer- chant had described. The hunters slept on the bank of the river that night, ready to comb the country in the morning. It was hours after day- break that they took up the heavy trail of the rhinoceros. They followed rapidly, and presently came in sight of the shaggy brute browsing at leisure. Lean Ak’s many excursions had ac- quainted him with the lay of the country at this point, and he knew of a cliff not far distant which the hunters could utilize in encompassing the death of the huge beast. He hastily laid his plans with his men to form a sudden yelling line before which the rhinoceros would break in panic, and then to direct its flight toward the.cliff, over which it would dash in its blind terror. Keeping himself behind cover, Lean Ak made his apologies to the divine animal for the injury they would do to it, after which the line of tribesmen arose, began yelling fearfully, and advanced toward their prey. But the rhinoceros was a savage old brute, and instead of turning tail and galloping in the direction of the cliff it charged the nearest yelling hunter, which was Lean Ak. The hunting-chief turned and made heroic strides. The rhinoceros continued after him, and the man saw over his shoulder that the beast was gaining rapidly on him. Lean Ak headed toward the river where he could dive and elude his pursuer. The rhinoceros was close behind when he gained the miry bank of the river and plunged into the water. The brute in its rush floun- dered into a stretch of yielding clay. The man had passed over it safely, but the pon- derous rhinoceros sank in deeply, and after a short struggle was imbedded to its belly in the trap of clay. The hunters came up and were able to surround and shower blows upon the brute, and Lean Ak, who under the strong im- pulse of his flight had swum under water for a heroic length of time, now came to shore. He seized a bludgeon and a short, heavy spear, and bounded nimbly onto the CORMICLO© S (C@