d. With the fall of the dew the moon arose over
the bay, honey-colored in a violet sky, and played fantastic tricks
with the shifting light of the fires. And from within the cave came
softly the voice of A-ya, soothing a restless child.

CHAPTER XII

ON THE FACE OF THE WATERS

I

The People of the Cave were running short of arrows. The supply of
young hickory sprouts, on which they had depended for their shafts,
was almost exhausted. And within a two days' journey of the Caves
there was nothing to be found that would quite take the place of those
hickory sprouts. Neither Grom himself nor any other member of his
tribe had as yet succeeded in so fixing a tip of bone or flint to a
shaft of cane as not to interfere with its penetration. Some growth
must be found that was tough, perfectly straight, and tapering, while
at the same time so solid and hard of grain that it would take and
hold a point, and heavy enough for driving power. All this was
difficult to find, and Grom was convinced that it must be sought for
far afield. Life had been running uneventfully for months at the Great
Caves, and Grom's restless spirit was craving new knowledge, new
adventure.

On this quest of the arrow Grom took with him only two companions--his
slim, swift-footed mate, A-ya and that cunning little scout, Loob, the
Hairy One.

For the space of three days they journeyed due west from the Caves.
Then the range of downland which they had been following swept off
sharply to the south.

Being bent upon exploring to the westward--though he was not very
clear as to his reasons for his preference--Grom led the way down from
the hills into the rankly wooded plain. For two days more they pushed
on through incessant perils, the country swarming with black lions,
saber-tooth, and woolly rhinoceros. As they were not fighting, but
exploring, the price of safety was a vigilance so unremitting that it
soon began to get on their nerves, and they were glad to take a whole
day's rest in the spacious security of a banyan top, where nothing
could come at them but leopards or pythons. Neither leopards nor
pythons gave them any great concern.

On the second day after quitting their refuge in the banyan top, they
emerged from the jungle so suddenly that they nearly fell into a
river, whose whitish, turbid flood ran swirling heavily before their
feet. It was a mighty stream, a good half-mile in width, and at this
point the current was eating away