cked his powerful legs about its
loins, and plunged his flint knife into its side, seeking the savage
heart.

Roaring, snarling and spitting in a frenzy of rage, Sadu reared high and
toppled back upon the human leech. But Tharn's legs locked only the
tighter while the heavy knife, backed by biceps like banded layers of
steel, sank home again and again.

Had the battle endured seconds longer the outcome might very well have
been reversed. But before then Tharn's weapon tore twice into that
untamed heart, and Sadu, with a final fearsome shriek, collapsed to move
no more.

As Tharn rose to his feet, his calm gray eyes met the awed,
half-mesmerized gaze of the boy whose life he had saved. At sight of the
incredulous expression on the young face, the cave lord's firm lips
curved in a winning smile that lighted up his strong, noble features.

As for Trakor, he could not have moved or spoken had his life depended
on it. There was no doubt in his mind but that he was in the presence of
one of the gods old Wokard often described. Who else but a god could
slay Sadu with only a knife; who else but a god could possess such a
combination of inhuman strength and unbelievable agility? The noble
poise of that handsome head above broad shoulders, the soft sinuous
curves of that straight and perfect figure, the unclouded bronze skin,
the calm dignity of bearing and manner--all those things were attributes
of the benign gods who watched over and protected the people of Gerdak's
tribe.

Tharn's smile broadened as he guessed something of what was running
through the boy's mind.

"Do you," he asked, "hunt often for Sadu with only a spear?"

Trakor shivered. "I would not hunt him with a forest of spears! When he
came out of the grasses my blood turned to water and my toes crawled
under my heels. Now I know what it is to be afraid!"

"You should have taken to the trees while I fought with Sadu," Tharn
said. "Had he killed me, he would have slain you as well."

"Even Sadu cannot kill a god," the boy said simply.

Tharn blinked. "A god? I am no god. I am Tharn, a man of the caves, like
you."

Trakor, while tremendously flattered at being compared with the
stranger, was far from convinced that Tharn was telling the truth.

"A caveman could not slay Sadu thus," he declared, pushing a bare toe
gingerly against the dead beast's back. "No, you are a god, for gods
have been described to me many times by old Wokard, who knows all about