In spite of this apparently sound logic, Pic failed to convince himself of its justice. Then, too, the girl had smiled upon him, he suddenly remembered. It was but the faintest glimmer of a friendly greeting—but she had smiled.
With a yell that could have been heard for miles, he leaped down from the rock-pulpit and went bounding off through brake and thicket, over rock and fallen tree, with the speed of the wind. The sharp rocks and thorns tore his limbs, the vines and branches overhead bruised his head and shoulders; but he heeded none of them. As he sped over the rock-strewn plateau, the one thought in his mind was: would he reach the Ferrassie shelter before it was too late? Dazed, bleeding and so exhausted he could hardly stand, at last he burst into the open and halted on the edge of the cliff overlooking the meadow and Mousterian camp below.
The Cave-folk were all gathered about the butcher-block. Kneeling before it, with head bent low, was a slim figure, the sight of which together with the dark form of a man standing over her with upraised ax, made Pic’s blood run cold.
Putting hands to his mouth, he uttered a piercing cry that carried clear and strong to the group below. All looked up quickly and saw him as he stood outlined against the blue sky. A chorus of wild, unearthly yells arose:
“The Ape Boy; there he stands! Death to him!” And high and shrill above the tumult, rang out the screams of the old hag:
“After him, every one of you if you would live to see the next sunrise. Seize and bring him to the block.”
The Cave-men answered with savage yells and raced to the cliff. In a moment they were swarming upward like a pack of famine-maddened wolves. They held their weapons between closed jaws, leaving their limbs free to cling and climb. High above them, Pic leaned over the edge with arms held out imploringly.
“Faster, faster, clumsy dolts,” he urged the panting men. “Will you lag or must I throw down your next meal upon your heads?”
All paused amazed. They had expected him to turn and flee or at least make some effort to defend himself. He surprised them by doing neither. He had chosen his fate and was prepared to die as he had lived—with a smile upon his lips; and then a strange thing happened.