CHAPTER XVI
I found her down in the old neighborhood near the blueberry swamp,where my mother lived and where Lop-Ear and I had built our firsttree-shelter. It was unexpected. As I came under the tree I heard thefamiliar soft sound and looked up. There she was, the Swift One, sittingon a limb and swinging her legs back and forth as she looked at me.
I stood still for some time. The sight of her had made me very happy.And then an unrest and a pain began to creep in on this happiness. Istarted to climb the tree after her, and she retreated slowly out thelimb. Just as I reached for her, she sprang through the air and landedin the branches of the next tree. From amid the rustling leaves shepeeped out at me and made soft sounds. I leaped straight for her, andafter an exciting chase the situation was duplicated, for there she was,making soft sounds and peeping out from the leaves of a third tree.
It was borne in upon me that somehow it was different now from the olddays before Lop-Ear and I had gone on our adventure-journey. I wantedher, and I knew that I wanted her. And she knew it, too. That was whyshe would not let me come near her. I forgot that she was truly theSwift One, and that in the art of climbing she had been my teacher. Ipursued her from tree to tree, and ever she eluded me, peeping back atme with kindly eyes, making soft sounds, and dancing and leaping andteetering before me just out of reach. The more she eluded me, the moreI wanted to catch her, and the lengthening shadows of the afternoon borewitness to the futility of my effort.
As I pursued her, or sometimes rested in an adjoining tree and watchedher, I noticed the change in her. She was larger, heavier, moregrown-up. Her lines were rounder, her muscles fuller, and there wasabout her that indefinite something of maturity that was new to her andthat incited me on. Three years she had been gone--three years at thevery least, and the change in her was marked. I say three years; it isas near as I can measure the time. A fourth year may have elapsed, whichI have confused with the happenings of the other three years. The more Ithink of it, the more confident I am that it must be four years that shewas away.
Where she went, why she went, and what happened to her during that time,I do not know. There was no way for her to tell me, any more than therewas a way for Lop-Ear and me to tell the Folk what we had seen whenwe were away. Like us, the chance is she had gone off on anadventure-journey, and by herself. On the other hand, it is possiblethat Red-Eye may have been the cause of her going. It is quite certainthat he must have come upon her from time to time, wandering in thewoods; and if he had pursued her there is no question but that it wouldhave been sufficient to drive her away. From subsequent events, I am ledto believe that she must have travelled far to the south, across a rangeof mountains and down to the banks of a strange river, away from any ofher kind. Many Tree People lived down there, and I think it must havebeen they who finally drove her back to the horde and to me. My reasonsfor this I shall explain later.
The shadows grew longer, and I pursued more ardently than ever, andstill I could not catch her. She made believe that she was tryingdesperately to escape me, and all the time she managed to keep justbeyond reach. I forgot everything--time, the oncoming of night, and mymeat-eating enemies. I was insane with love of her, and with--anger,too, because she would not let me come up with her. It was strange howthis anger against her seemed to be part of my desire for her.
As I have said, I forgot everything. In racing across an open space Iran full tilt upon a colony of snakes. They did not deter me. I was mad.They struck at me, but I ducked and dodged and ran on. Then there was apython that ordinarily would have sent me screeching to a tree-top. Hedid run me into a tree; but the Swift One was going out of sight, and Isprang back to the ground and went on. It was a close shave. Then therewas my old enemy, the hyena. From my conduct he was sure something wasgoing to happen, and he followed me for an hour. Once we exasperated aband of wild pigs, and they took after us. The Swift One dared a wideleap between trees that was too much for me. I had to take to theground. There were the pigs. I didn't care. I struck the earth withina yard of the nearest one. They flanked me as I ran, and chased me intotwo different trees out of the line of my pursuit of the Swift One. Iventured the ground again, doubled back, and crossed a wide open space,with the whole band grunting, bristling, and tusk-gnashing at my heels.
If I had tripped or stumbled in that open space, there would have beenno chance for me. But I didn't. And I didn't care whether I did or not.I was in such mood that I would have faced old Saber-Tooth himself, or ascore of arrow-shooting Fire People. Such was the madness of love...withme. With the Swift One it was different. She was very wise. She didnot take any real risks, and I remember, on looking back across thecenturies to that wild love-chase, that when the pigs delayed me shedid not run away very fast, but waited, rather, for me to take up thepursuit again. Also, she directed her retreat before me, going always inthe direction she wanted to go.
At last came the dark. She led me around the mossy shoulder of a canyonwall that out-jutted among the trees. After that we penetrated a densemass of underbrush that scraped and ripped me in passing. But she neverruffled a hair. She knew the way. In the midst of the thicket was alarge oak. I was very close to her when she climbed it; and in theforks, in the nest-shelter I had sought so long and vainly, I caughther.
The hyena had taken our trail again, and he now sat down on the groundand made hungry noises. But we did not mind, and we laughed at him whenhe snarled and went away through the thicket. It was the spring-time,and the night noises were many and varied. As was the custom at thattime of the year, there was much fighting among the animals. Fromthe nest we could hear the squealing and neighing of wild horses, thetrumpeting of elephants, and the roaring of lions. But the moon cameout, and the air was warm, and we laughed and were unafraid.
I remember, next morning, that we came upon two ruffled cock-birds thatfought so ardently that I went right up to them and caught them by theirnecks. Thus did the Swift One and I get our wedding breakfast. They weredelicious. It was easy to catch birds in the spring of the year. Therewas one night that year when two elk fought in the moonlight, while theSwift One and I watched from the trees; and we saw a lion and lionesscrawl up to them unheeded, and kill them as they fought.
There is no telling how long we might have lived in the Swift One'stree-shelter. But one day, while we were away, the tree was struckby lightning. Great limbs were riven, and the nest was demolished. Istarted to rebuild, but the Swift One would have nothing to do with it.As I was to learn, she was greatly afraid of lightning, and I could notpersuade her back into the tree. So it came about, our honeymoon over,that we went to the caves to live. As Lop-Ear had evicted me from thecave when he got married, I now evicted him; and the Swift One and Isettled down in it, while he slept at night in the connecting passage ofthe double cave.
And with our coming to live with the horde came trouble. Red-Eye had hadI don't know how many wives since the Singing One. She had gone the wayof the rest. At present he had a little, soft, spiritless thing thatwhimpered and wept all the time, whether he beat her or not; and herpassing was a question of very little time. Before she passed, even,Red-Eye set his eyes on the Swift One; and when she passed, thepersecution of the Swift One began.
Well for her that she was the Swift One, that she had that amazingaptitude for swift flight through the trees. She needed all her wisdomand daring in order to keep out of the clutches of Red-Eye. I could nothelp her. He was so powerful a monster that he could have torn me limbfrom limb. As it was, to my death I carried an injured shoulderthat ached and went lame in rainy weather and that was a mark of hishandiwork.
The Swift One was sick at the time I received this injury. It musthave been a touch of the malaria from which we sometimes suffered;but whatever it was, it made her dull and heavy. She did not have theaccustomed spring to her muscles, and was indeed in poor shape forflight when Red-Eye cornered her near the lair of the wild dogs, severalmiles south from the caves. Usually, she would have circled aroundhim, beaten him in the straigh
t-away, and gained the protection of oursmall-mouthed cave. But she could not circle him. She was too dull andslow. Each time he headed her off, until she gave over the attempt anddevoted her energies wholly to keeping out of his clutches.
Had she not been sick it would have been child's play for her to eludehim; but as it was, it required all her caution and cunning. It was toher advantage that she could travel on thinner branches than he, andmake wider leaps. Also, she was an unerring judge of distance, and shehad an instinct for knowing the strength of twigs, branches, and rottenlimbs.
It was an interminable chase. Round and round and back and forthfor long stretches through the forest they dashed. There was greatexcitement among the other Folk. They set up a wild chattering, that wasloudest when Red-Eye was at a distance, and that hushed when the chaseled him near. They were impotent onlookers. The females screeched andgibbered, and the males beat their chests in helpless rage. Big Facewas especially angry, and though he hushed his racket when Red-Eye drewnear, he did not hush it to the extent the others did.
As for me, I played no brave part. I know I was anything but a hero.Besides, of what use would it have been for me to encounter Red-Eye? Hewas the mighty monster, the abysmal brute, and there was no hope for mein a conflict of strength. He would have killed me, and the situationwould have remained unchanged. He would have caught the Swift One beforeshe could have gained the cave. As it was, I could only look on inhelpless fury, and dodge out of the way and cease my raging when he cametoo near.
The hours passed. It was late afternoon. And still the chase went on.Red-Eye was bent upon exhausting the Swift One. He deliberately ran herdown. After a long time she began to tire and could no longer maintainher headlong flight. Then it was that she began going far out on thethinnest branches, where he could not follow. Thus she might have gota breathing spell, but Red-Eye was fiendish. Unable to follow her, hedislodged her by shaking her off. With all his strength and weight, hewould shake the branch back and forth until he snapped her off as onewould snap a fly from a whip-lash. The first time, she saved herself byfalling into branches lower down. Another time, though they did notsave her from the ground, they broke her fall. Still another time, sofiercely did he snap her from the branch, she was flung clear across agap into another tree. It was remarkable, the way she gripped and savedherself. Only when driven to it did she seek the temporary safety of thethin branches. But she was so tired that she could not otherwise avoidhim, and time after time she was compelled to take to the thin branches.
Still the chase went on, and still the Folk screeched, beat theirchests, and gnashed their teeth. Then came the end. It was almosttwilight. Trembling, panting, struggling for breath, the Swift One clungpitiably to a high thin branch. It was thirty feet to the ground, andnothing intervened. Red-Eye swung back and forth on the branch fartherdown. It became a pendulum, swinging wider and wider with every lungeof his weight. Then he reversed suddenly, just before the downward swingwas completed. Her grips were torn loose, and, screaming, she was hurledtoward the ground.
But she righted herself in mid-air and descended feet first. Ordinarily,from such a height, the spring in her legs would have eased the shockof impact with the ground. But she was exhausted. She could not exercisethis spring. Her legs gave under her, having only partly met the shock,and she crashed on over on her side. This, as it turned out, did notinjure her, but it did knock the breath from her lungs. She lay helplessand struggling for air.
Red-Eye rushed upon her and seized her. With his gnarly fingers twistedinto the hair of her head, he stood up and roared in triumph anddefiance at the awed Folk that watched from the trees. Then it was thatI went mad. Caution was thrown to the winds; forgotten was the will tolive of my flesh. Even as Red-Eye roared, from behind I dashed upon him.So unexpected was my charge that I knocked him off his feet. I twinedmy arms and legs around him and strove to hold him down. This would havebeen impossible to accomplish had he not held tightly with one hand tothe Swift One's hair.
Encouraged by my conduct, Big-Face became a sudden ally. He charged in,sank his teeth in Red-Eye's arm, and ripped and tore at his face. Thiswas the time for the rest of the Folk to have joined in. It was thechance to do for Red-Eye for all time. But they remained afraid in thetrees.
It was inevitable that Red-Eye should win in the struggle against thetwo of us. The reason he did not finish us off immediately was that theSwift One clogged his movements. She had regained her breath and wasbeginning to resist. He would not release his clutch on her hair, andthis handicapped him. He got a grip on my arm. It was the beginning ofthe end for me. He began to draw me toward him into a position wherehe could sink his teeth into my throat. His mouth was open, and he wasgrinning. And yet, though he had just begun to exert his strength, inthat moment he wrenched my shoulder so that I suffered from it for theremainder of my life.
And in that moment something happened. There was no warning. A greatbody smashed down upon the four of us locked together. We were drivenviolently apart and rolled over and over, and in the suddenness ofsurprise we released our holds on one another. At the moment of theshock, Big-Face screamed terribly. I did not know what had happened,though I smelled tiger and caught a glimpse of striped fur as I sprangfor a tree.
It was old Saber-Tooth. Aroused in his lair by the noise we had made, hehad crept upon us unnoticed. The Swift One gained the next tree to mine,and I immediately joined her. I put my arms around her and held herclose to me while she whimpered and cried softly. From the ground camea snarling, and crunching of bones. It was Saber-Tooth making his supperoff of what had been Big-Face. From beyond, with inflamed rims and eyes,Red-Eye peered down. Here was a monster mightier than he. The Swift Oneand I turned and went away quietly through the trees toward the cave,while the Folk gathered overhead and showered down abuse and twigs andbranches upon their ancient enemy. He lashed his tail and snarled, butwent on eating.
And in such fashion were we saved. It was a mere accident--the sheerestaccident. Else would I have died, there in Red-Eye's clutch, and therewould have been no bridging of time to the tune of a thousand centuriesdown to a progeny that reads newspapers and rides on electric cars--ay,and that writes narratives of bygone happenings even as this is written.