The evening world. Newspaper, July 13, 1915, Page 13

Sp i ir a By EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS | Author of “TARZAN OF THE APES,” Ete, ee a is SYNOPSIS OF PRECEDING CHAPTERS, & care man, loves and is loved by Nat-ul, frites hes ce, ae * Ciel Ny, teturaing =," ,-t, her py it prureait, by a PS the night ia CHAPTER III. (Continued) MMB)CARCE breathing, she lay | ye) | Hestening. Was it man or U the deserted haunts of her tribe? Higher and higher sound of the midnight prowler, ‘That the creature, whatever it was, the caves seemed all too apparent. Tt would be but a question of minutes lace. Nat-ul grasped her knife more firm- directly beneath her. ‘Then, after a few moments, they Nef they now retreated down the steep bluff. Presently they ceased before she could quiet her fears, she at last fell into a deep slumber. He rose and stretched himself, etanding in the glare of the new sun feet above him slept the girl he loved. WNu gathered up his weapons and his to the spring where he quenched his thirst to the sea. Here he removed his loin: kin that covered his held his knife, for it Feptiles inhabited the Restless (Cearright, the Frank A, Munsey Oomyany.) ee Of « hunting trip time ‘range sone oulalde dhe cares A Real Cave Woman. Deast that roamed through ® the face of the cliff came the ‘was making a systematic search of 1 before it would reach her hiding ly. The sounds ceased upon the ledge @ere resumed, but to the girl's re- entirely, and though it was hours At dawn Nu, the son of Nu, awoke. upon the ledge before his cave, Fifty bear skin and moved silently down Then he passed through the jungle houlders and waded into the surf. In hie right hand he iy Catefully he bathed, keeping a wary itch for enemies in the water or ‘wpon the land behind. In him was no fear, for he knew no other existence than that which might present at any moment the neoessity of battling for his life with some slimy creature of the deep, or ly ferocious denizen of the jun- , Mevor the hills, °fo Nu it was but a part of the day's work. “His ablutions completed the troglo- dyte replaced his loin-cloth and his shaggy fur, took up his weapons and his burden and set forth upon the trail of his father’s people. And above him, as he passed again along the foot of the “cliff, the woman that he loved slept in ignorance of his presence, ‘When at last Nat-ul awoke the sun was high in the heavens. ~ The girl came cautiously down the cliff face, looking first in one direo- tion and then another, often pausing for several minutes at a time to listen, All about her were the noises of the jungle and the sea and the air, for great birds and horrid winged reptiles threatened primeval-man as sorely from above as did the carnivéra of the land from his own plane. Bhe came to the Spree rr assed on into the jung’ bo of food, for she was half fam- ished, Fruits 4 vegetables and the egas of birds were what she sought, nor was she long in satisfying the cravings of her appetite. Nature was infinitely more bountiful in those days than at the present, for she had in- finitely more numerous and often far greater stomachs to satisfy then than no’ assed through the jungle is eer Sho had wanted to but alone she dared not. Now she stood wondering in which direc- tion the tribe had gone. She knew that ordinarily if they had been trav- elling either north or south they would follow the hardepacked sand of the beach, for there the travelling was easiest, but the tide would have washed away thelr spoor long before nis t o had seen signs of thelr passa, Nan beside the jungle, but the trail was an old, well-worn one traversed daily by many feet, so she had not heen able to guess from it that it con- tained the guide to the direction her a taken. oy HES upon the beach trying to reason out her future plans It be- came apparent that If the tribe had gone north she would have met them om her*return from ~ Barren Cliffs yesterday, and so, as she gil must have gone south. i ‘And so the turned her own foot- ‘south away from her people ani from Nu, the son of Nu. CHAPTER IV. On the Trail of Nat-ul. AT-UL kept to the beach as he tramped = southward, Upow her right was the jungle, upon her left the great sea, stretching away yw not whither. bie Ae {t represented the boundary of the world-all Beyond was an ap- waste of water, mths southeast she could see the outlines of islands, They were p et shroude familiar onset they formed the mystery, Gaversation among her peerat on them? We: was there upo! mathe ti And, it 90, were the rextures men and women like a vere as full of at-ul they were anata mystery as are the stare ind planets to us, but she knew less of teem than we do of the countless Seiiilant islands that dot the asllent pea of space—they were further from Nat-ul and her people than is Mars Font was as utterly unknown to = ‘was a telescope. Not a neyond & rise of ground ahead of Nat-ui fifty or sixty men, women and children were busy beside a little stream that flowed into the sea, ‘When Nat-ul topped the rise and her eyes fell upon these strangers she dropped suddenly flat upon her stomach behind a bush. she watched the peculiar ac- toma of these people, *the men and women tending the had not met fath 4 noted the constraint of their Tt was evident that they had but Just arrived after a long march. They differed in many ways from any people she had ever seen. The! f the less @angerous 6 which fed upon grasse: Their head-dresses bore the horns of bulls and antelope, giving them, alto- gether, a most fearsome aspect, But it was their habitations and the work upon which they were aged which caused Nat-ul the greatest wonderment. caves at all. They were constructed of a number of long = saplin, leaned = inward against one anothér in a circle and covered about with skins and brush, or the great fronds of giant palm well as t of the plant’ which known to-day, as it was in Nat-ul's time, as elephant's ear because of its resemblance to that portion of the great pachyderm, The weapons of these people were unlike those with which Nat-ul was familiar. The stone axe was of a different the sp 0 juter, its point bei and having one end of a long, pl i} » While the bal Their caves were not coil at the warrior's side. Nat-ul knew nothing of fisherfolk. Her own people often caught fish. Sometimes they speared them with their light spears, but they did not make a business of fishing. So she did not know that the spears of these strangers answered the double pur- pose of weapons of warfare and har- poons. ‘What interested her most, how- ever, was the strange work upon which many of the people were en- gaged. They had cut down a number of large trees, which they had chopped d burned into different lengths, from fifteen to twenty feet. With their stone axes they had hewn away the bark and heavier growth along the upper surface of the logs. The softer, pithy centres had been scooped out and fires built within. Nat-ul could not but wonder at the purpose of all this labor. She beh 8 carefully, extinguishing with water any blaze that séemed threatening to pierce too far from the centre of a tree. Deeper and deeper the flames ate until there remained but a thin outer husk of fire-hardened wood. So intent was the. girl strange sights before her that @ not note the approach of a. | warrior from the jungle at her a sh. i bison hide fell from 4 bra dragging upon the ground behind im. Upon his head the skull of the bull fitted firmly—a primitive helmet clothed in its dri akin and with the short, stout horns protruding at right t angles from his temples. In gis right hand was the stout har. poon and at his waist the coil of sinew rope.” The robe, falling away in front, disclosed a well-knit, mus- cular figure, naked but for a loin cloth of d in in which were stuck his #tone knife and axe. r For eral minutes he stood watch- ing the girl, his eyes glowing at the beauties of her profile and lithe, Bracefyl figure. Then, very cautious- ly, he ¢rept toward her. It was Tur of the Boat Bullders, Never in his life hed Tur looked upon a more beautiful woman. To eee her was to want her. Tur must own ber. He was almost upon her when a dried twig snapped beneath his tread. Like a startled antelope, Nat-ul was upon her feet. At th me instant Tur leaped for- ize her. She was between the camp she had» been ward to him and watohing. To run\toward them would have meant certain capture. Like a shot she wheeled right Into Tur's outstretched arms, but as they closed to grasp her they encircled but empty air, Nat-ul had ducked be- h the young warrior's eager em- ace and was fleeing north along the beach like a frightened deer. After her sprang Tur, calling upon her to stop; but with terror-goaded speed the fleet-footed Nat-ul raced on. A hundred paces behind her came Tur. For a short distance she might outstrip him, he knew, but in tHe end his mightier muscles would prevail, Already she was lagging. No longer was the distance between them growing. Soon it would lessen, He would close up upon her—and then! To the north of the Barren Cilffs Nu overtook the tribe of Nu, his er, He came upon them during a per- iod of rest, and as he approached he man- ners as they greeted him. The young women looked at him with sorrowing eyes. Hi} young warrior friends did not smile as he called their names In passing. Straight to Nu, his father, he went, as became a returning warrior, He found the chief sitting with Tha he- fore a small fire where a ptarmigan, clay-wrapped, was roasting. His father rose and greeted him, id Nu, the son of Nu. There was a pleasure in the older man’s eyes at sight of his son, but no upon his lips. He glanced at the ead pelt of Ur, ‘Oo did not return?” he asked. “Oo did not return,” replied the son. Nu, the son of Nu, looked about among the women and children and the uneasy warriors. She he sdught was not there. His mother came and kissed him did Una, his sister. “Where is Nat-ul?” asked Nu, the son of Nu. His mother and his sister looked at other and then at his father. . the chief, looked at Th Tha rose and came before the young man. He laid his hand upon the other's shoulder. “Since your mother bore you,” he said, “always have I loved you— loved you second only to Abt, my own son. Some day I hoped that you would become my son, for I saw that you loved Nat-ul, my daughter. But now Nat-ul has gone away with Hud. We know not how it happened, but Ra-el, the daughter of Kor, says that she went willingly.” He got no fur- 3 2 ther. “Ee fi lie!" cried Nu, the son of Nu. “Nat-ul never went willingly with Hud or any other, When. did they go? Whither went they? Tell me, and I will follow and bring back Nat-ul, and with her own lips she will give Ra-el the lie. “1 will bring her back {f she still lives, but unless she escaped Hud she is dead, for whe would have died rather than mate with another than I have spoken. Which way went they?” No one could tell him, All that they knew was that when the tribe set out from their old dwell- ings Hud and Nat-ul could not be found, and then Ra-el had come for- ward and said that the two had fled together. When he questioned Ra-el he could glean nothing more from her, but she stuck obstinatgly to her as- wertion that Nat-ul bad gone willingly. “And wilt Nu, the son of Nu, be such a fool as to follow after a wom- an «who has chosen another mate when there are those as beautiful whom Nu, the son of Nu, could have for the asking?” she said, At her words the young man saw the motive behind her statement that Nat-ul had run away voluntarily with Hud, and now he was more positive than ever that the girl did not speak the truth, Her words recalled many little oc- currences in the past that had slipped by unnoticed at a time when all bis thoughts were of the splendid Nat-ul. It was evident that Ra-el would have liked Nu for herself, The young man returned to his father’s side. “I go,” he said, “nor shall I return until I know the truth," The older man laid his hand upon the shoulder of the young “Go, he father’s heart goes with you In silence Nu, the son of Nu, re- traced his steps southward toward the Barren Cliffs. Lt was his intention to return Mrectly to the former\dwell- ings of his people and there ¥earch out the spoor of Hud and Nat-ul. A great rage burned in his heart as he thought of the foul deed that Hud had done. The tribe of Nu had ed far beyond the status of ts. “your They acknowledged certain property rights, among them the = inalienab! right of the man to his mate, and, going @ step further, the right of the woman to mate as she chose, That Nat-ul had chosen to mate with Hud, Nu would not for a mo- ment admit. He knew the courageous nature of the girl; and knowing it, knew that had she preferred Hud to him she would have mated with the man of her choice openly after the manner of the tribe. or No, Nat-ul would never have run off with any man~not even himself! Half way up the face of the Barren Cliffs Nu was arrested by a faint moan, coming aparently from a cave at his right. He had no time to de- vote to the pleasures of the chase, but there was a human note in the sound that he had heard that brought him up all suddenly alert and listening. After a moment it was repeated. No, there could be no doubt of it— that sound came only from a human throat, Cautiously Nu crept toward the mouth of the cave from which the moaning seemed to issue. At the entrance he came to a sudden halt at the sight that met his ey in the half light of the en- trance, lay Hud in a pool of blood. The man was breathing feebly. Nu called him by name, Hud opened his eyes. When he saw who stood over him he shrugged his shoulders and lay still, as though to say, “the worst has already been done to me n do no more!" “Where is Nat-ul?" asked Nu. Hud shook his head, Nu knelt be- side him raising his head in his armas. “Where is Nat-ul, man?” he cried, shaking the dying warrior. “Tell me before you die, I do not ask if she went with you willingly, for T know that she did not—all T ask is what have you done with her? Does she live? And if she lives, where is she?” Hud tried to speak. The effort cost him dear, But as last he managed to whisper a few words. “She—did—this," he panted. nm yvent—away. T don't—know—" ped, and died. Nu dropped him back upon the stone floor of the cave and ran out upon the ledge. He searched about the face of the cliff, even going down upon all fours and creeping from you ca ledge to ledge, oftentimes with his nose close to the trail—sniffing. After half an hour of going back and forth over the same ground and following a rocky nt upward toward the summit of the cliff a dozen times, as though proving and reproving the correctness of de-« ductions, Nu at | set forth across the Barren Cliffs and down onto the beach beside the Resti Sea. Here he found the spoor more Pe f marked in many places above igh tide where Nat-ul's little sandals had left their legible record in the soft loam or upon the higher sand that the water had not reached. The way led southward, and south- ward hurried Nu, the son of Nu. Straight to the old dwellings led the trail. There Nu found evidence that Nat- ul had spent the night in cave above the one in which he hi ep! There was the bed of grasses and trace of the delicate aroma that our blunted sense of smell could never have detected, but which was plain to Nu, and deliciously familiar. A pang of regret seized him as he realized that his Nat-ul had been so close to him, and that he had un- wittingly permitted her to main alone and unprotected amid the countless dangers of (heir savage world, and to go forth, none knew where, into other myriad dangers. Returning to the foot of the cliff, he once more came upon the girl's spoor. Again it led south along the beach, Swiftly he followed it until it stopped bdhind a little clump of bushes at the top of a rise in the ground. Before Nu realized that this was the south- ern limit of the trail he had seen the village beyond and the people engaged in what to him seemed strange oo- cupation. He knew thdt the same sight had brought Nat-ul to a halt a few hours before, and now he saw where she had lain upon Her stomach watching, just as he was watching. For a few minutes he lay observ- ing the workers and seeking through the little cluster of skin and thatch shelters for some sign that Nat-ul was a prisoner there. Nu had never seen a boat or guessed that such « thing might be. His people had been hunters trom time immemorial. They had geome down from the great plateaus far in- land but a@ few generations since. Then for the first time had his fore- fathers seen the ocean, As yet they had not met wit! need that required them to navigate its waters, nor had they come in con- tact with the Boat Builders who dwelt far south at the mouth of a great river that emptied into the Restless Sea. Now for the first time Nu saw both x the boats and the Boat Builders. For the first time he saw artificial shelters, and to Nu they seemed frail and uncomfortable things by compart- son with his eternal caves. The Boat Builders had been several days in th new camp. What had driven them so far north of their ancestral home, who ma ens? ® tribal feud, perhaps; or the birth of a new force that was to drive them and their progeny across the face of the world in restless wanderings to the end of time—the primitive wan- derlust from which so many of us suffer and yet would not forego. As he watched, Nu saw that of all the workers one tall young giant la- bored most rapidly, His haste seemed almost verging upon fren: Nu wondered what could be about upon the felled tree trunk that required so much exertion. Nu did not like work of that nature. It is true that he had never done any manual labor outside the needs of the chase, but intuitively he knew that he disliked it. He-was a hunter, a warrior, and even then, in his primitive and un- tutored mind, there arose a species of contempt for xe drudge. At last, tinog of watching, he turned his attention again to the spoor he had been following. Where had Nat-ul gone after lying here be- hind these bushes? Where was she now? CHAPTER V. Among the Boat-Builders, U crawled about until he saw evidences of the girl's quick leap to her feet and her rapid flight, Then it was he came upon the foot- prints of Tur. Now Nu's blood ran hot. It surged through his heart and pounded against his temples—Nat~ us, his Nat-ul was in danger! He saw where the girl had dodged past the man, He saw distinctly in the sand the marks of Tur's quickly turning foot- as he wheeled in pursuit, He saw that the two had been running rapidly along the beach toward the north—the man following the girl, and then, to his surprise, he saw that the man had come to a sudden stop, had taken a few steps forward, stood for some time looking seaward and then turned and raced back toward the strange camp at breakneck speed, And the girl's trail had continued toward the north for perhaps a hun- dred paces beyond the point at which the man had halted, Nu followed it easily—they were fresh signs since the last high tide, alone and un- crossed upon a wide stretch of smooth, white sand, Nu followed the dainty Imprints of Nat-ul's swiftly flying little feet for 4 hundred paces beyond the end of the man’s pursuit—and came to a dead, bewildered halt @ footprints ended abruptly upon the beach midway betweqn the ocean ind the jungle, About them was only an expanse of unbroken sand. They simply ceased, that was all, They did not double back upon themselves. ‘They did not enter the ocean. They did not approach the jungie. They stopped as though Nat-ul had sudden- ly been swallowed by @ great hole in the beach, But there was no hole. Nu halted and looked about in every direction. There was no trace of any ai thing about, Where had Nat-ul gone What had become of her? Had the footprints of the man who had pur. sued her reached the point upon the sand where hers ended, Nu would have concluded that he had picked up and carried her back to his 0 village; but the man dred paces behind Na trail ceased, nor had he approached closer to the spot. And when he had returned to his village he had done so at a rapid run, and the of his spoor in. dicated that he had not been burdened with @ heavy load, For some time Nu stood in be- wildered thought, but at last he turned back toward the village of the Boat Builders. Nu knew little of the supernatural, and go he turned first to the nearest material and natural cause of Nat-ul's disappearance that he could conceive—the man who had pursued her. And that man had returned to the village of the strangers who were diligently burning and scooping the hearts out of felled trees. Nu returned to the vantage of the bush before the village. Here he lay down again to watch—-he was posi- tive that in some way these people were responsible for the disappear- “Re of Nat-ul. hey knew where she wi judging by his own estimate girl he knéw that the man who had seen her and pursued her would not Nehtly relinquish his attempts to ob- tain hent Nu had seen thes women of tho strangers—beside his Nat-t) they looked like the shes of the ape-folk, No, the man would seek to follow and capture the radiant stranger. Nu wished that he could guess which of the men it was who h chased Nat-ul. Something told him that it was the young giant who worked with such feverish haste, so u watched him moat closely. At last Tur's boat was completed, The centres of the trees the Boat Builders selected for their craft were soft, and easily burned and scooped. The fires kindled in the hollowed trunk served a dauble purpose—they ate away the harder portions nearer the outside and at the same time tended to harden what remained, The result was a fayrly light and stanch dugout. boat was finished he When T called to several of the other workers. These came and lending a hand with Tur dragged the hollowed log down to the water. One of the women came with a long stick, larger at o: end than the other, and with the large end flattened upon both sides, It was a padd Tur tossed this into the boat and then fopning through the surf ne launched «his primitive craft upon the crest of a receding roller, leaped in, and seizing the paddle struck out vigorou against the next incoming wave. Nu watched him with wide eyes. His estimate of the man rose in leaps and bounds. Here was sport! And Nu did not have to attempt the feat he had witnessed to know that it required skill and courage. Only brave man would venture the perils of the awful waters, Where was he going? Nu saw that he paddled straight out into the sea. In the distance were the islands, Could he be going to these? Nu, from childhood, had ways longed to explore those di lands of mystery. These people had found a way. Nu had learned something--an aero- plane could not have presented greater wonders to him than did this crude dugout, For a while he watched the man and the little boat, They grew smaller and smaller as wind, tide and the sturdy strokes of the paddler carried the hollowed log further out to sea, Then Nu turned his attention once more to the other workers, He saw that they, completing thelr bo ‘They were talking back and forth among themselves, raising their voices, as they were scattered over a considerable distance about the vil- lage. Nu caught a word now and then. The language was similar to his own. He discovered that they wei talking about the man who had just departed, and about his venture, Nu wanted to hear more, He crept cautiously to his right into the jungle, circling about until he was in the rear of the camp. Then be approached through the dense vegetation to the little clearing the strangers had made about their shelters, peered through the curtain of led creepers that hid view he saw the camp 00, were rapidly turnal fires that kept off the beast: of prey by night. He saw the cook- ing fire before each rude shelter. TUMBLE TOM—He Finds the Lost Treasure of Bylow-Land y found himself accused of having eaten nibble! The Soy Mouse, gnawit into the wistful eyes invi Tv they, faithfully, ain Se wenine tat neaenataecting lh ennnianpnapiaetinttttenntereemeniiaa cine tasenampesneven by King's pie a misty low-land Nib- his way Tom \ Tom, too proud to Beg pardon Hearts deed to do some lowed, stones, metal and rich raiment, of the of reat deed meen ‘om lost es Sieber ear cate ee eR, A Placing a lar teeth, Tom'sent e emerald his balance and ahead to herald his advent to the Queen of ‘Hearts. Bearing the ruby crown ¢, together with in the Counfry Mouse's and of precious pel ny ‘With great rejoicing and blowing of trumpets the recelved Tumble Tom, He had indeed tumbled int luck when he tumbled over that precipice and found many yea aga, and for which all he oteren many years for al of Bylowsand ta searched. "The: Bvening World Daily Magazine, Tuesday. July 13, A COMPLETE NOVEL EACH WEEK IN THE EVENING WORLD He saw the pots of clay—something new to him, He saw the women and the children and the men. They did not differ own people, though rments and weapons were dix- similar, And now he could hear all conversation. ‘She must be beautiful,” a man was saying, “or would not venture across this strange water to those unknown lands in search of her,” and he grinned broadly, casting a knowing glance at a young woman who sat ing, scraping, scraping with bit of rpened flint upon the hide of an aurochs, pegged out upon the ground before her. ‘The young woman looked up with an ualy a . ‘Let him bring her back,” cried, “and she will no longer be beautiful. This will I do to her face,” and she fell to scraping viciously eho upon the skin. “Tur was very angry when she escaped him,” continued the man. “He almost had his hands upon her; but he will find her, though whether there will be enough left of her to bring back is hard ito myself, rather doubt it and think that it A ey 4 1915 _By the auroch’s skin. She did not hee hia Nght footfall, A baby, now sitting by her side Playing with the auroe! tall, looked up to see the stranger close him. He lunged toward his mother with a lusty shriek. m Instantly the camp was in commo- jon. No need now for stealth, With a war whoop that pipet have sprung im a score of lusty lunge Nu leaped through the village among the frightened women and the startled men, awakened rudely from their ep. Straight toward the boat ran Nu and upon his heels raced the three warriors. ‘One was coming toward him from the side, He waa quite close, #0 close that he came upon Nu at the same tnatant that the latter reachod the boat. The two fell upon one an- foolish thing-for Tur to w: 18 other. witp their great axes, but Nu, time thi the edn of Nu, was a mighty warrior Nu was nonplused. Could it be He dodged the blow of the other's possible that the man they called Tur Was pursuing Nat-ul to those distant Islands? How could Nat-ul be there? Tt was impossible. And yet there seemed little doubt from the conversation he had over- heard that the man war following some woman across the water to the mysterious lands—a woman he had Just surprised and chased that very day, and who had eluded him. ‘Who else could it be Nat-ul? CHAPTER VI. The Fight in the Surf. RESENTLY all the boats are completed, and one by one the men drag them down ‘clone to the water. The: laid in them their paddi their axes and thelr harpoons, just as Tur had before he departed. Nu watches them with feverish in- ter At last all have been launcifed and are being paddled vigorously be- yond the surf. In the comparatively smoother water the boats turn to- werd the north and south, scattering. Evidently they are not bound for the distant islands. Nu sees a warrior rise suddenly in the bow Bf one of the boats and hurl his spear quickly into the water. Im- mediately there is a great commotion in thle boat and in the water beside it. There are three men in each boat. Two in the boat Nu ts watching paddle frantically away from the thing that lashes the sea beside them, Nu guessed what had occurred, , Tho ‘spearman had buried bis weapon in some huge creature of the deep, and the battle was on. They were too far out for Nu‘to see the details of the conflict, but he saw the boat towed swiftly by the ‘wounded creature as it raced toward the open sea. He saw the Boat. pull joser alonguide and another ‘spear juried into the fleeing thing. He understood now why these men tied their spear-heads to long ropes. He saw the eadden commotion in the dugout a& the hunted turned upon the hunters. He saw the swift stroke of a mighty flipper a it rose from the water and fell across the boat, He saw the other boats hurrying toward the scene of battle, but befo: they reached spot all was quie save for two pie of bobbing tree trunk and the head and shoulders of a =} = man who clung to one of them, A few minutes later he was dragged into another boat, and the fleet dis- persed again to search out other prey. Soon all were out of might beyond a Promontory but a single craft which fished before the village. These men evidently sourht leas formidable game, and Nu could see that from the teeming sea they wore dragging in great fish almost as rapidly as they could hurl their weapo: Soon the boat was com- pletely filed, and with their great load the men paddled slowly inshore. As they came a sudden resolution formed in Nu's mind. The sight of the dangerous sport upon the waters had filled him with @ strong desire to emulate these strangers, byt greater than that was the power of another suggestion which the idea held forth, As the men dragged the boat upon the beach the women came down to meet them, carrying great bags of bull hide sewn with bullock sinews, Into these they gathered the fish, dragging their loads over the grognd toward their camp fires, The men, their day's work evidently finished, stretched out beneath the shade of trees to sleep. This was the time! Nu moved stealthily to his hands and knees. He grasped his long spear and his stone ax tightly in his hands. The boat lay upon the open beach. ‘There was no near point where he might re: it undetected by the women. The alternative rather ap- pealed to Nu’s warlike nature. It was nothing less than rushing directly through the village Hi 0 to hin feet and advanced e lightly among the shelters. No need to give the alarm before he wan detected, He was directly behind the young woman who scraped axe, and before his adversary could recover himaelf to deliver a second Nu's weapon fell upon his skull, crushing it If tt had been an egg: shel the boat rr Now Nu seised and dragged it toward the wa hv stran, fend himself against the remaining warriors. With savage howls they were upon him, their women huddied upon the beach behind them shouting wild cries of encouragement to thei» men and deflance to the enemy. a aban- doned the boat and rushed to, meet in antagoni His long spear, thrown with the power of his mighty muscles, passed through the body of the foremost Boat Builder who was upon the point of hurling his stout harpoon at Nu. Down went the harpooner. Up rose a chorus of howls and lamentations from the women. Now the second warrior closed upon the troglodyte, It was too close for spear work, and so the fellow dropped his heavy: weapon and leaped to cloge quarters with his knife, Down the two men went into the knee-deep water, strik- ing at one another with their knives as they sought death holds with their free hands, A great roller rumbled in upon them, turning them over and over as it carried th up the beach: Still they fought, spluttering and choking im the salty brine; but when the wave receded It left a corpse behind it upon the beach, stabbed’ through and through the great hairy chest by the long, keen knife of Nu, the aon of Nu. The cave-man rose, dripping, to his feet and turned back toward the sea. bank — had carried the boat out with it, other, The women, furibus now at the® done the death of their three men, rushed for. ward to drag down the victok, Sa age creatures they were, but lit Jess sinister than their males. Thi long hair streamed tn the wind. Their faces were distorted by rage and hatred, They screamed aloud their taunts and insults and chal- lenges; but Nu did not want to battle with them, Instead he dove into the surf and struck out for the drifting boat. His spear was lost, but he clung to 5 ae knife he had returned to hi rin, we They waists, but reach. In a moment more he had come to the side of the boi Tossing in. his ax he clamvered over the side, scarce escaping overturning the hollowed log. Once safely within, he took up the paddle, an unaccustomed imple- ment, and, fashioning his strokes after those of the men he had watched, he made headway from the shore. - The tide and the wind helped him, but he found, too, that he quickly mastered the art of paddling. rat he discovered that when he paddled exclusively upon the side of his spear head the boat turned in the opposite direction, and so he under- into the water to their Nu was beyond their vod why the boatmen had paddled alternately upon one side und the other, hen he did this the’ craft kept 4 traighter course in the direc- tion he wished to go—the distant land of mystery, Half way across the water that spread betw the mainland and the nearest island & monstrous shape loomed auddenty close to the boat's side. A long neck, surmounted by a huge reptilian head, shot above the sur- face, and wide gaping jaws opened to seize the paddler, Protruding eyes giared down upon him, and then the thing struck. Nu dodged to one side and struck back with his knife. ‘With @ hiss and scream the creat- ure dove beneath the surface only to reappear a moment later upon the op- posite side of the boat. Blood flowed from the knife wound in its neck. Again it enarned at the man—again the knife found its neck as Nu crouched to one side to elude the gaping Jaws. Once more the thing dove, and almost simultaneously a mighty tail rose high vuy vs the water above the man's head, Nu seized the paddle and drove the boat forward just as that terrific engine of destruction fell with a we By Eleanor chorer “Sir Knight Tumble Tom,” the Queen of Hearts dubbed hima. “Any wish of Koln said a ee wv bs ‘om kissed |. “Permission, to» search for the bandits,” pleaded our hero, a ‘ours will be granted, Sir after this ceremony EL THE_EVERING WORLD Garrison’s Finish W. B. M. FERGUSON _ ft touched the tered it inte wood, For a minutes was churned to white, stained by the creature's blood, thrashed about in impotent Then, Nu al ay, the great carcass ceased and upon its side, On went Nu, paddili Ro ge energy toward xpected A, nd he could scarce ty a, Tut aga wae tnere he could | nol ie" y tng ‘wim through sountiess ngere the face of terrible ae yersation he though try as he could not it was expected to find land. The wind had risen wince Nu eet out upon hie Journey. Already the waves. were high, Upped with white, island lay straight before was all that saved the ilation, fortunate ‘quarry swam Through = innumerable @wept the little tree deposi! a abo “i nh pot hen i. ve e rollers wi other boat a short distance trom’ u That this delonged to the y ne had no! doubt and saiging hie ¥ tened to it, to low the other's epoor ment a. lean-cut and distinet in the Nu found the impress of Ture dais, nor co! lodyte that they had been pd my aged jt ul upon t The trail led ontory into a deep Up the centrs of ae i course of a ri downward toward the sea. From time to time the evidently essayed to scale the first upon one side and then but each time he ‘ttempt before the ties and dangers of the crags. To Nu the ascent would have a ane matter! Be a0 he why the man turned back tlme after clambering but tance from the base of Tur was not a cliff dweller. His penis had come from a level river valley beside the country where cliffs and i caves were the exception rather (Ba the rul he had had but tise ip climbing of this sort. al hig steps, and here, at wfhnaged to clamber out tablelad that stretched summit. Across this the trail led, E suddenly toward the west at the edg of another ravine, The : with which the Cord wheeled right oaks t that lo Nu a had sudde@ly attracted the tention toward the new that he had p ata to inventigat Could he here have discovered. woman he sought? Wae he al in pursuit of Nat-ul—if it was, cook wf nae ‘he even now in session of er’ . Nu, too, wheeled to the wéat raced along the well-marked trail Since he had come y th of Tur, Nua areater than ¢ er. This hie Be pee gg he was } gaining upon man who ote ty unconscious of the fact that he i being pursued, he Down the steep side ot ee Tur must have slid and ” most reckless fashion, At th tom was a dense forest, fi which the tratl led back ot frantic but futile attempts to ¢ ntie bu a the opposite heights, What had he seen or heard er lowed that had led ey! to make jesperate attempta to gain Be site summit? Should fra ‘ollow or clamber vantage point the other had to reach? Instant the troglodyte For an tated. Then he wheeled toward the png with the agility of 1 r ma ae, it, self, by mighty biceps and to the tiny foothold it afforded, , Again a gnarled root or crevice aided him In his ascent Presently he crawled over the. and stood erget once more on ground, ¢ Nu looked about warily—there no sign of the man or the Then he examined the ground in enlarging cire! but no poor as he sought rewarded his eager He had about decided te the bottom of the ravine and f Tur's spoor when, clear from the west, there came to hig the scream of a woman in dist) And scarce had its first note upon the aie then Ly te, son of J was dashing in tl the sound. if praiega, (To Be Continued.) = f projecting rock above his head, % ling out over space as ba ie 9 * * GOING AWAY FOR THEE | SUMMER? Remember The Bye #)) ning World prints each week af complete up-to-date novel week's reading! Have The ning World sent to your mer address,