So enormous are the great carnivora of Caspak that they must feed
perpetually to support their giant thews, and the result is that they
will eat the meat of any other creature and will attack anything that
comes within their ken, no matter how formidable the quarry. From
later observation--I mention this as worthy the attention of
paleontologists and naturalists--I came to the conclusion that such
creatures as the cave-bear, the cave-lion and the saber-tooth tiger, as
well as the larger carnivorous reptiles make, ordinarily, two kills a
day--one in the morning and one after night. They immediately devour
the entire carcass, after which they lie up and sleep for a few hours.
Fortunately their numbers are comparatively few; otherwise there would
be no other life within Caspak. It is their very voracity that keeps
their numbers down to a point which permits other forms of life to
persist, for even in the season of love the great males often turn upon
their own mates and devour them, while both males and females
occasionally devour their young. How the human and semihuman races
have managed to survive during all the countless ages that these
conditions must have existed here is quite beyond me.
After breakfast Ajor and I set out once more upon our northward
journey. We had gone but a little distance when we were attacked by a
number of apelike creatures armed with clubs. They seemed a little
higher in the scale than the Alus. Ajor told me they were Bo-lu, or
clubmen. A revolver-shot killed one and scattered the others; but
several times later during the day we were menaced by them, until we
had left their country and entered that of the Sto-lu, or hatchet-men.
These people were less hairy and more man-like; nor did they appear so
anxious to destroy us. Rather they were curious, and followed us for
some distance examining us most closely. They called out to us, and
Ajor answered them; but her replies did not seem to satisfy them, for
they gradually became threatening, and I think they were preparing to
attack us when a small deer that had been hiding in some low brush
suddenly broke cover and dashed across our front. We needed meat, for
it was near one o'clock and I was getting hungry; so I drew my pistol
and with a single shot dropped the creature in its tracks. The effect
upon the Bo-lu was electrical. Immediately they abandoned all thoughts
of war, and turning, scampered for the forest which fringed our path.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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