e....

Five clubs were thrown; there should have been six. Only Mog, the
sullen, retained his hold on his murderous weapon. As his fellows loosed
their cudgels, Mog sprang forward, caught the paralyzed girl about the
waist with one immense hairy arm, and before the others could fathom his
intentions, had turned and fled back along the pathway as quickly as his
short bowed legs could carry him.

[Illustration: Mog snatched Alurna into his arms and made off through
the forest]

The remaining five watched Mog's hurried flight until he had passed from
sight. His purpose in stealing the she was clear; their surprise came
only from his way of taking her--and the fact that seldom did a Hairy
Man mate with a member of another race. But then Mog was a surly brute,
unable to find among his own people a mate willing to endure his temper
and moods.

* * * * *

The Neanderthal men gathered about the bodies of the five guards. Gorb,
true to character, took up several of the scattered weapons and examined
them closely, noting with envy that they had been fashioned with far
greater skill than he possessed. He puzzled long over the bows and
arrows, but his limited intelligence could make nothing of them and he
finally cast them aside.

At last the five took up their march toward the distant mountains. They
moved more cautiously now than before, realizing they might meet more of
the hairless men.

Urb, still in the lead, noticed, a while later, that the forest was
beginning to thin out. Soon he caught a glimpse of a plain marking the
edge of the woods. He paused, nose searching the humid breeze.

They edged forward at a brief guttural command from their leader, until
they came to open ground.

Before them, beyond level grassland, rose the gray stone walls of
Sephar, looming huge and impressive in the light of early evening. White
tuniced warriors lolled before broad gates leading to many stone
buildings beyond.

Urb shook his head regretfully. "We must look elsewhere for caves," he
said. "To make our homes near here would mean much fighting with the
hairless ones. It is better to go where we may live in peace. Come."

With bowed shoulders and awkward shuffling gait the five frightful men
turned back for the long journey to the distant caves of their people.

Soon they were filing silently past the five motionless bodies in the
center of the trail. And through narrowed, blood-filled eyes, thro