Tales of Space and TimeWells, H. G. (Herbert George)
Science
Tales of Space and Time
Wells, H. G. (Herbert George)
Science fiction, English
"It's only one of those pink monkey things," said the Eldest Mare.
"They're a sort of river monkey. They're quite common on the plains."
Ugh-lomi continued his oblique advance. The Eldest Mare was struck with
the want of motive in his proceedings.
"Fool!" said the Eldest Mare, in a quick conclusive way she had. She
resumed her grazing. The Master Horse and the Second Mare followed suit.
"Look! he's nearer," said the Foal with a stripe.
One of the younger foals made uneasy movements. Ugh-lomi squatted down,
and sat regarding the horses fixedly. In a little while he was
satisfied that they meant neither flight nor hostilities. He began to
consider his next procedure. He did not feel anxious to kill, but he had
his axe with him, and the spirit of sport was upon him. How would one
kill one of these creatures?--these great beautiful creatures!
Eudena, watching him with a fearful admiration from the cover of the
bracken, saw him presently go on all fours, and so proceed again. But
the horses preferred him a biped to a quadruped, and the Master Horse
threw up his head and gave the word to move. Ugh-lomi thought they were
off for good, but after a minute's gallop they came round in a wide
curve, and stood winding him. Then, as a rise in the ground hid him,
they tailed out, the Master Horse leading, and approached him spirally.
He was as ignorant of the possibilities of a horse as they were of his.
And at this stage it would seem he funked. He knew this kind of stalking
would make red deer or buffalo charge, if it were persisted in. At any
rate Eudena saw him jump up and come walking towards her with the fern
plumes held in his hand.
She stood up, and he grinned to show that the whole thing was an immense
lark, and that what he had done was just what he had planned to do from
the very beginning. So that incident ended. But he was very thoughtful
all that day.
The next day this foolish drab creature with the leonine mane, instead
of going about the grazing or hunting he was made for, was prowling
round the horses again. The Eldest Mare was all for silent contempt. "I
suppose he wants to learn something from us," she said, and "_Let_ him."
The next day he was at it again. The Master Horse decided he meant
absolutely nothing. But as a matter of fact, Ugh-lomi, the first of men
to feel that curious spell of the horse that binds us even to this day,
meant a great deal. He admired them unreservedly. There was a rudiment
of the snob in him, I am afraid, and he wanted to be near these
beautifully-curved animals. Then there were vague conceptions of a kill.
If only they would let him come near them! But they drew the line, he
found, at fifty yards. If he came nearer than that they moved off--with
dignity. I suppose it was the way he had blinded Andoo that made him
think of leaping on the back of one of them. But though Eudena after a
time came out in the open too, and they did some unobtrusive stalking,
things stopped there.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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