He beat his wives--not that he ever had more than one wife at a time,
but that he was married many times. It was impossible for any woman to
live with him, and yet they did live with him, out of compulsion. There
was no gainsaying him.

No man was strong enough to stand against him.

Often do I have visions of the quiet hour before the twilight. From
drinking-place and carrot patch and berry swamp the Folk are trooping
into the open space before the caves. They dare linger no later than
this, for the dreadful darkness is approaching, in which the world is
given over to the carnage of the hunting animals, while the fore-runners
of man hide tremblingly in their holes.

There yet remain to us a few minutes before we climb to our caves. We
are tired from the play of the day, and the sounds we make are subdued.
Even the cubs, still greedy for fun and antics, play with restraint. The
wind from the sea has died down, and the shadows are lengthening with
the last of the sun's descent. And then, suddenly, from Red-Eye's cave,
breaks a wild screaming and the sound of blows. He is beating his wife.

At first an awed silence comes upon us. But as the blows and screams
continue we break out into an insane gibbering of helpless rage. It is
plain that the men resent Red-Eye's actions, but they are too afraid
of him. The blows cease, and a low groaning dies away, while we chatter
among ourselves and the sad twilight creeps upon us.

We, to whom most happenings were jokes, never laughed during Red-Eye's
wife-beatings. We knew too well the tragedy of them. On more than one
morning, at the base of the cliff, did we find the body of his latest
wife. He had tossed her there, after she had died, from his cave-mouth.
He never buried his dead. The task of carrying away the bodies, that
else would have polluted our abiding-place, he left to the horde. We
usually flung them into the river below the last drinking-place.

Not alone did Red-Eye murder his wives, but he also murdered for his
wives, in order to get them. When he wanted a new wife and selected the
wife of another man, he promptly killed that man. Two of these murders
I saw myself. The whole horde knew, but could do nothing. We had not yet
developed any government, to speak of, inside the horde. We had certain
customs and visited our wrath upon the unlucky ones who violated those
customs. Thus, for example, the individual who defiled a drinking-place
would be attacked by every o