“What duty? Oo-wee! do not keep me waiting. Must our talking be done with crossed horns?”
The Bison made haste to respond and thus avoid a clash. “We are surrounded by blood-thirsty beasts,” he bellowed. “One among them is the dread of all grass-eaters. I demand that the Mammoth and Rhinoceros visit the great Rock and drive him from his den.”
Wulli’s jaws set themselves tightly together. He looked straight into the other’s eyes without winking. “And this beast; who is he? His name?”
As if in reply, a faint rumble as of distant thunder was borne from the opposite heights far across the valley—a deep bass roar followed by a hoarse throaty cry:
“Gr-rr-r-un-nn-n Wau-au-gh-h!”
Every hoofed and horned animal trembled at the sound. The Bison was the first to recover his composure. He leered vengefully at the Mammoth and Rhinoceros:
“The Cave Lion himself has spoken. There sounds his challenge. Let our new-found champions go forth and drive him from his den.”