Then blackness blotted out the scene. CHAPTER XVII Marlin regained consciousness in the camp. He was stiff and weak and sick with the pain of his ankle. DuChane and the girl stood over him. "Sorry, old man," DuChane said regretfully. "You put up a good fight, but I had the advantage." Marlin made no reply. But in the days that followed, while slowly regaining his strength, he observed the pair. It was clear that he was definitely out of the picture. The girl, Norma, taciturn as ever, nevertheless followed DuChane with her eyes and seemed to dwell on his every word. Daily she accompanied him on the hunt, becoming as adept as a man with spear and club. Sometimes she returned early to prepare the evening meal. On one such occasion Marlin abruptly asked: "You like him? You're satisfied?" The girl, in her single brief garment of skins, dropped down beside him. She was tanned and strong-looking now, and a new radiance had replaced the old sullen look on her face. "You found me, didn't you?" she said slowly. "It was you who gave me back to life--and I've never thanked you." Marlin gingerly flexed his injured ankle. "Forget the thanks," he returned gruffly. "It seems funny," she went on, "to thank you for saving me. I used to reproach you for saving me the first time, and I tried to fling away the life you'd given back. But somehow, now, it's different. I want to live! I feel somehow that I've found the place where I belong--a world where living is real and glorious, as it should be." He looked at her thoughtfully. "I guess you're right. Everything's as it should be." As soon as he could walk with but a slight limp, he gathered up his spears and implements. "I've a notion there's better hunting farther south," he observed. DuChane avoided his eyes. Norma said nothing, but it was apparent that she wished to be alone with her man. "I'll drop around sometimes--keep in touch with you," Marlin assured them cheerfully. "So long." Thus casually, he set out alone in the wilderness. * * * * * For weeks he hunted along the shore of the murky sea. One day he picked up a shaft in which was bound a spearhead unlike any that either he or DuChane had fashioned. It was a crudely hammered thing of metal--and the red stain with which it was encrusted revealed that the metal was iron. While he stood looking at it, a shrill vituperation startled his ears, and two figures came dashing over the ridge beyond. In the brief glimpse he had before the pursuer felled the one in advance, he was sure the victim was a woman. She had fallen beneath the blow, but in an instant was on her feet, screaming, struggling, and scratching. Before the fury of her attack, the man retreated, and finally broke away, waving his spear ominously when she threatened to follow up the advantage. Both became aware of Marlin at the same instant. He walked toward them slowly.