Argosy, Vol. 117, No. 2 — page 43: what you’re looking at

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

7 THE SON muscles gently, not to alarm the snake. Full five hundred breaths he drew while raising his hand, so slowly did he move, keeping the dagger-point ever toward the snake’s head—the reptile would strike to- ward a moving object. But even this gentle motion roused the Fanged Death, which lifted its head and weaved it from side to side, searching for danger, seeking the threat. Back and forth, in and out of the ray of moonlight went that evil, deadly head, the black tongue playing in and out like forked lightning, the little beady eyes glistening; back and forth, back and forth, till En-ro felt himself grow dizzy from watching, and braced himself against the sodden languor that overspread him. | At last his hand, clutching the dagger, was at his shoulder; he rested a moment, steadied himself and struck; the snake felt the motion of his body, the head darted . forward, too swift for eye to see, the mouth was thrown open, the fangs, grazing En-ro’s hand, clicked against the flint; the sharp point, driven by the double force of the snake and of the warrior’s arm, pierced the reptile’s head. En-ro twisted on his side and threw off the crushing weight, and the Fanged Death, slain by a human hand, writhing, twisting, thrashing, fell down, down, tearing leaves from the branches of the tree, till it landed on the ground, forty feet below. En-ro, sick, dizzy, shaken, limbs trem- bling, sweat starting from his body, lay, belly down, on the ‘platform, his head over the edge, clutching the branches, vomiting again and again, and listening to the noise as the dying snake thrashed about among the underbrush. But after a time its strug- gles grew fainter and fainter, and at length ceased, the young warrior conquered the - trembling of his limbs, and lay down to await the dawn. The four days that followed were spent by En-ro in hunting. He lay in wait beside the trail that led to a water-hole, and with darts from his throwing-stick slew two wild sheep; with his flint hunting-knife he skinned and butchered them, taking only the very choicest pieces of the meat, for he dared not carry extra weight, and he made 3 ARGOSY / OF THE RED GOD. 193 an attempt to sun-dry some of this, hanging portions by strands of vines from the limb of a,tree, that it might be safe from beasts. After all, however, it was stolen by the birds, and he gave over the effort, storing the rest of his provisions under a pile of stones. He also added to his stock of darts, cut- ting straight shafts from the trees of the forest, and binding to them, with thongs from the hides of the sheep, carefully shaped and polished heads that he had brought from his cave, though he knew that the green wood, as it dried out, would warp and twist. Still, he counted on using these darts first, saving till afterward his ones of sea- soned stuff. The new darts he placed in the sun, that the raw, untamed hide might shrink, and bind the heads firmly to the shafts. -He slew a young sheep, and made a water-bag of the skin, cutting off the head and hoofs, beating the carcass with a club till the bones were broken and the flesh loosened from the skin. Then, drawing out bones and flesh and entrails, and turning the hide inside out, that he might scrape it, afterward he tried the openings in the skin with other thongs of rawhide, except the one at the neck, which was nearly closed by sewing, using an over-and-over stitch; the skin would be water-tight when the thongs hardened. He had no time to tan this hide, to keep it soft, so he filled the bag with small stones and let it harden, afterward shaking the stones out, the bag thus keeping its open shape. Va-m’rai had been in the Cave of Purifica- tion En-ro, looking at the sky as soon as he woke, shortly. after dawn, saw great banks of dark clouds gathering far down in,fhe west. He climbed hurriedly down from his perch in the oak-tree, went to his store of meat, and hastily swallowed a few lumps of flesh. He knew instinctively, as any animal might, that with a hard day’s work before him he was better off with but little in his stomach, so he rose from the ground with his hunger still only partly satisfied. OOK (C@) On the morning of the ninth day that (C@)