Her questioning eyes told him she knew he was lying. But she was wise, and held her tongue.
After a long time he could hold himself in no longer. "Do you ever wonder," he asked intensely, "why we live this way? I mean—have men always lived like this, in caves, killing their meat and gorging themselves on it, and then starving until they killed again?"
Lo's dark eyes met his boring glance, but she said nothing. She was feminine enough, and civilized enough, to realize it wasn't an answer he wanted, but an audience.
In a moment he went on. "You and I aren't like the others, Lo. The Old Man and all the rest of the people aren't happy unless they are eating. But we can be happy talking, and ... wondering."
She smiled at him in happy understanding. "Luk-no says you are lazy," she said naïvely. "But I know you work hard even when you are quiet. Else how would you find things to make like the Thing that Floats?"
He warmed at her mention of his raft. It was only a short while ago that he had conceived the idea of tying a bundle of logs together to ferry things across the river, but now it was in daily use. But when his mind rested on Luk-no, he scowled.
"Some day I will kill him," he promised savagely. "Always he interferes."
Luk-no was a great, stubby trunk of a man who resented Lo's interest in Rog and took every chance to get in his way. His greatest delight was to carry tales of his laziness to Sarak, who would promptly beat his son with a club. Such treatment rankled under Rog's skin.
Then he forgot his hatred of the black-browed one in contemplation of other things. "I do not like the way we live," he said simply. "Our caves are cold and sometimes wet. Our weapons are scarcely able to kill the animals we need before they kill us. I do not like the way the Old Man rules us, telling us what we can do and what we cannot do. Why shouldn't I make better things for myself if I want, instead of being beaten for not working? Some day...."
Lo caught up the thread of thought quickly. "I know," she nodded. "Some day you will challenge Sarak and kill him. Then you will be the Old Man! You will be the one who rules!"