Argosy, Vol. 117, No. 2 — page 41: what you’re looking at

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

THE SON OF THE RED GOD. stopped the flow of blood from his wounds, but he was stiff and sore and lame. He tried to get to his feet, to stand up, but could not, and he lay quiet, listening to the far-off howl of the hunting wolves, Men- zono, the Slayers, and he wondered dully - why they had not smelled him out and finished what the Ta-an had begun. Slowly memory came back, and with it the thought of Va-m’rai in the Cave of Purification, and again he tried desperately to rise. This time he got to his hands and knees, and crawled some fifty yards to a little spring of clear water that bubbled out from between two rocks, where he drank deeply once and again, then plunged his head and arms into the basin. The sting of the cold water cleared his mind and braced his shaking limbs, and with the help of a stout stick he found lying by the spring he got to his feet and stag- gered off toward his cave, a mile or more away. He passed many of the caves of the tribesmen, and heard from within the grunts and snores of the sleepers, and far up the mountain he could make out, black in the moonlight, the form of the priest who guarded the cave where Va-m’rai was held prisoner. At length En-ro got to his home, the cave where he lived alone—his mother had died years before, in the Great Famine, and his father had been killed a few months back, in a fight with En-mai-sun-so, the Beast That Wears a Horn on His Nose— and here the Carver of Tusks dropped on his bed of leaves, drew his skin covers closely about him, and lay staring at the roof of the cave. Through the long day he lay there, now burning with fever, now shivering with cold, but always thinking, thinking, turn- ing over in his mind plan after plan to free the Swift Runner. He could hear the voices of the tribesmen as they passed to and fro, the calls of the women at their work, the cries of the children playing on the long, level bench of rock that lay below the caves; at times some one would pass the mouth of his cave and glance quickly in, but none entered to bring him aid, and Eo-ro knew well the reason—he had raised 191 his hand against the priests, and was ac- cursed. He thought bitterly of Men-ko’s promise that he should have great honor for moving the altar-stone, then brought his mind back to Va-m’rai and her danger, grateful for the law that would hold her seven days and seven nights in the Cave of Purifica- tion—before that time he would be well and strong! = Toward evening he rose, threw off his covers, went to the carcass of a sheep which lay on the stone shelf, cut off a chunk of meat, and, squatting at the mouth of the cave, tore the raw flesh in pieces with his strong teeth, gulping it down in great lumps and gobbets. His hunger satisfied, he took his staff and went to the spring, where he drank deeply, returning again to his cave, the men and women—even the children, who generally crowded about him when he went abroad—drawing aside and staring ‘silently at him as he passed. Back in his cave once more, he lay down, and, wrapping himself in his skins, was instantly asleep. So passed the next day and the next, but on the fourth En-ro gathered together all his possessions, his ax and daggers of flint, his carving tools, his throwing-stick and darts, his skins—one lion’s hide, three of the cave-leopard, and one of Menzono, the Slayer, all beasts that he himself had killed —and, not forgetting the ivory figure of the Star-Marked One, took his way with his load toward the forest. Silently the tribesmen watched him go, none raising a hand to stop him, either in love or in anger, for he was outcast and accursed. At the edge of the woods he stopped, turned, and looked back at the long row of caves, which, some higher, some lower, pierced the slope of the great mountain, at the level bench that lay below them, with forms of men and women and children passing back and forth along it, or gath- ered in groups for work or chat or play. Above the caves rose the naked side of the mountain, and En-ro could make out the Cave of Purification, the priest guard- ing it, his arms folded, his skin gleaming yellow in the late afternoon sunlight. cComichbook (C@