Tales of Space and TimeWells, H. G. (Herbert George)
Science
Tales of Space and Time
Wells, H. G. (Herbert George)
Science fiction, English
Suddenly the huge furry hind-quarters of the bear came into view,
beneath the bulge of the chalk that had hidden him. He was still
clambering gingerly down the nearly vertical surface. His head was yet
out of sight, but they could hear him talking to himself. "Pig and
monkey," said the cave bear. "It ought to be good."
Eudena struck a spark and blew at it; it twinkled brighter and
then--went out. At that she cast down flint and firestone and stared
blankly. Then she sprang to her feet and scrambled a yard or so up the
cliff above the ledge. How she hung on even for a moment I do not know,
for the chalk was vertical and without grip for a monkey. In a couple of
seconds she had slid back to the ledge again with bleeding hands.
Ugh-lomi was making frantic rushes about the ledge--now he would go to
the edge, now to the gully. He did not know what to do, he could not
think. The she-bear looked smaller than her mate--much. If they rushed
down on her together, _one_ might live. "Ugh?" said the cave bear, and
Ugh-lomi turned again and saw his little eyes peering under the bulge of
the chalk.
Eudena, cowering at the end of the ledge, began to scream like a gripped
rabbit.
At that a sort of madness came upon Ugh-lomi. With a mighty cry, he
caught up his axe and ran towards Andoo. The monster gave a grunt of
surprise. In a moment Ugh-lomi was clinging to a bush right underneath
the bear, and in another he was hanging to its back half buried in fur,
with one fist clutched in the hair under its jaw. The bear was too
astonished at this fantastic attack to do more than cling passive. And
then the axe, the first of all axes, rang on its skull.
The bear's head twisted from side to side, and he began a petulant
scolding growl. The axe bit within an inch of the left eye, and the hot
blood blinded that side. At that the brute roared with surprise and
anger, and his teeth gnashed six inches from Ugh-lomi's face. Then the
axe, clubbed close, came down heavily on the corner of the jaw.
The next blow blinded the right side and called forth a roar, this time
of pain. Eudena saw the huge, flat feet slipping and sliding, and
suddenly the bear gave a clumsy leap sideways, as if for the ledge. Then
everything vanished, and the hazels smashed, and a roar of pain and a
tumult of shouts and growls came up from far below.
Eudena screamed and ran to the edge and peered over. For a moment, man
and bears were a heap together, Ugh-lomi uppermost; and then he had
sprung clear and was scaling the gully again, with the bears rolling and
striking at one another among the hazels. But he had left his axe below,
and three knob-ended streaks of carmine were shooting down his thigh.
"Up!" he cried, and in a moment Eudena was leading the way to the top of
the cliff.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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