or
escape were thinned indeed.

Yet not for an instant did his confidence waver. He had weathered worse
situations, and the muscles and cunning developed by a thousand jungle
battles were weapons superior to the flint-headed spears hemming him in.

Even as he came to a halt, his sharp eyes caught a glimpse of that stack
of spears he had passed when first entering the cave. One bronzed arm
shot out, circled the lot of those keen-pointed sticks and lifted and
flung them in one continuous motion.

The warriors outside were engulfed by the minor avalanche of flint and
wood. They stepped back precipitantly, and one of the men was tripped up
as a shaft slipped between his legs. With a shrill cry of terror he
tottered momentarily on the brink of the ledge, then went over
backwards, his despairing scream rising thinly on the night air.

Tharn had not waited to learn the outcome of his ruse. While the
remaining warrior was attempting to sidestep the shower of spears the
cave lord was upon him. Avoiding the flint point licking out at his
naked chest, he ducked and swung his free fist in a savage arc that
ended wrist deep in an unprotected belly.

Bent nearly double by the blow, the enemy Cro-Magnard was lifted
completely from his feet and propelled into space, his already
unconscious body tracing a perfect parabola to death on the ground sixty
feet below.

* * * * *

Although no enemy stood before him, Tharn was a long way from safety. A
spear thrown from the cave behind him passed scant inches from his head
signifying Gardak's personal guards had recovered their wits and were
after him once more. Below him a score of cave mouths were disgorging
armed fighting men and flaming torches dotted the cliffside. To attempt
to descend by the path that had brought him here was worse than
foolhardy.

As in most Cro-Magnon settlements, the chief's own cave was nearest the
cliff's top. A glance upward revealed to Tharn the escarpment's top not
more than twenty feet distant. To swarm up that almost vertical slope
while burdened with a body would have taxed the agility of little
Nobar, the monkey. But there was no other avenue of escape except to
battle an entire community--and no time to compute chances for scaling
those heights.

Already two warriors, each armed with a stone knife, had gained the
ledge on either side of him, grins of triumph curling their lips, while
a faint scuffling sound against