animals. A moment later
and he had drawn abreast of a sleek young mare, her slim ears backlaid
in terror.

Still running at full speed, the young man drew back his arm and sent
his spear flashing across the gap between him and the mare, catching her
full in the exposed side.

As though her legs had been jerked from under her, the creature turned a
complete circle in mid-air before crashing to the ground, her scream of
agony coming clearly to the three watching hunters.

Barkoo, when the young man knelt beside the kill, shook his head in
tight-lipped tribute.

"I might have known he would do something like this," he said,
exasperated. "When I asked him to come with us he refused; the sun was
too hot. Now he will laugh at us--taunt us as bad hunters."

"Some day he will not come back from the hunt," predicted one of the
men. "He takes too many chances. He goes out alone after Jalok, the
panther, and Tarlok, the leopard, with only a knife and a rope. Why,
just a sun ago, I heard him say Sadu, the lion, was to be next. Smart
hunters leave Sadu alone!"

Tharn, the son of Tharn, watched the three come slowly toward him. His
unbelievably sharp eyes of gray caught Barkoo's attempt at an
unimpressed expression, and his own lean handsome face broke in a wide
smile, the small even white teeth contrasting vividly with his sun-baked
skin.

He wondered what had caused the zebra herd to bolt before the hunters
could attempt their kill. He had caught sight of them an hour before
from the high-flung branches of a tree, and had hidden in the grass near
the probable route of the animals once Barkoo and his men had charged
them.

Barkoo, seeming to ignore the son of his chief, came up to the dead
zebra and nudged it with an appraising toe.

"Not much meat here," he said to Korgul. "A wise hunter would have
picked a fatter one."

Tharn's lips twitched with amusement. He knew Barkoo--knew he found
fault only to hide an extravagant satisfaction that the chief's son had
succeeded where older heads had failed; for Barkoo had schooled him in
forest lore almost from the day Tharn had first walked.

That had been a little more than twenty summers ago; today Tharn was
more at home in the jungles and on the plains than any other member of
his tribe. His confidence had grown with his knowledge until he knew
nothing of fear and little of caution. He took impossible chances for
the pure love of danger, flaunting his carelessness in the