t spelled his doom. One blow of the
huge smiting-stone laid him dead. Anak hurled Invar's spear and again
his weapon found its mark. The Neanderthaler roared with pain and sank
gradually to his knees. Uglik dashed in, knife in hand. He threw himself
on the prostrate monster and stabbed him again and again. The blows
struck home, but with a last effort the apeman threw off his assailant
and struck at him with the huge stone which had already robbed the tribe
of two of its members. Before the blow could fall, Samo, one of the
hunters, threw himself in the way and took the blow on his arm. The arm
bone snapped like a pipestem, but it was the monster's dying effort.
With a shudder, he fell back dead.

* * * * *

A ferocious howl rent the air. With a smiting-stone in each hand, the
female charged down at them. She was somewhat smaller than the male, but
still a match for any two of the men. Uglik's face paled as he wrenched
Invar's spear from the dead male and turned to face her. The howl was
repeated from farther up the ravine. Two more males were approaching at
a lumbering run, smiting-stones in either hand. Uglik was a brave man,
but he was also a cautious leader. He did not care to expose his tribe
to almost certain annihilation and he led a wild retreat down the
valley, Samo, with his arm hanging limp, bringing up the rear. The
Neanderthalers did not follow into the open valley.

Again at the camping place, Uglik called his hunters into council. The
situation was grave enough. With the Neanderthalers so near them, it
meant eventual annihilation to stay where they were, yet there was no
place they could go. They had been driven from their old home by hordes
of men who came up from the south. They had fought to retain their
ancestral hunting grounds where they had dwelt since the beginning of
time, but a series of defeats at the hands of overwhelming numbers had
dwindled down the tribe until a migration was necessary. They had
followed the migrating game toward the unknown north.

Several times they had tried to stop, but each time they had found the
land in possession of other and stronger tribes. Their men had been
killed and their women stolen until they again took up their march to
the north. From the hundred that had formerly called Uglik "Father,"
there now remained only a score of women and children, a half dozen
youths, and five able-bodied hunters, besides Uglik.

South, they d