Tales of Space and TimeWells, H. G. (Herbert George)
Science
Tales of Space and Time
Wells, H. G. (Herbert George)
Science fiction, English
Then terror came in their hearts, not the terror that numbs, but the
terror that makes one silent and swift. They were cut off now on two
sides. They were in a sort of corner of pursuit. On the right hand, and
near by them, came the men swift and heavy, with bearded Uya, antler in
hand, leading them; and on the left, scattered as one scatters corn,
yellow dashes among the fern and grass, ran Wau and the women; and even
the little children from the shallow had joined the chase. The two
parties converged upon them. Off they went, with Eudena ahead.
They knew there was no mercy for them. There was no hunting so sweet to
these ancient men as the hunting of men. Once the fierce passion of the
chase was lit, the feeble beginnings of humanity in them were thrown to
the winds. And Uya in the night had marked Ugh-lomi with the death word.
Ugh-lomi was the day's quarry, the appointed feast.
They ran straight--it was their only chance--taking whatever ground came
in the way--a spread of stinging nettles, an open glade, a clump of
grass out of which a hyæna fled snarling. Then woods again, long
stretches of shady leaf-mould and moss under the green trunks. Then a
stiff slope, tree-clad, and long vistas of trees, a glade, a succulent
green area of black mud, a wide open space again, and then a clump of
lacerating brambles, with beast tracks through it. Behind them the chase
trailed out and scattered, with Uya ever at their heels. Eudena kept the
first place, running light and with her breath easy, for Ugh-lomi
carried the Fire Stone in his hand.
It told on his pace--not at first, but after a time. His footsteps
behind her suddenly grew remote. Glancing over her shoulder as they
crossed another open space, Eudena saw that Ugh-lomi was many yards
behind her, and Uya close upon him, with antler already raised in the
air to strike him down. Wau and the others were but just emerging from
the shadow of the woods.
Seeing Ugh-lomi in peril, Eudena ran sideways, looking back, threw up
her arms and cried aloud, just as the antler flew. And young Ugh-lomi,
expecting this and understanding her cry, ducked his head, so that the
missile merely struck his scalp lightly, making but a trivial wound, and
flew over him. He turned forthwith, the quartzite Fire Stone in both
hands, and hurled it straight at Uya's body as he ran loose from the
throw. Uya shouted, but could not dodge it. It took him under the ribs,
heavy and flat, and he reeled and went down without a cry. Ugh-lomi
caught up the antler--one tine of it was tipped with his own blood--and
came running on again with a red trickle just coming out of his hair.
Uya rolled over twice, and lay a moment before he got up, and then he
did not run fast. The colour of his face was changed. Wau overtook him,
and then others, and he coughed and laboured in his breath. But he kept
on.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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