The Ape Boy’s lips curled in a hideous snarl: “I hate them.” His distorted face expressed only contempt and loathing.
“And you will join us?”
“But you object to my flint-making,” protested the youth; and yet as a recluse and foe of men, he inwardly viewed the other’s suggestion with no little favor. “I cannot give it up. I would rather make flints and abide alone than put them aside for the Mammoth and Rhinoceros.”
“We do not object to your flint-making,” Hairi replied. “We merely cannot see why you choose to do it. Will you join us?”
The Ape Boy looked from one to another of the pair and hesitated. They were huge, superb creatures; his heart warmed.
“Why not?” a voice within him asked. “What friends more wonderful than the Mammoth and Rhinoceros, could a lone man wish? Forget those who drove you into the world an outcast and throw in your lot with this mighty pair.”
He hesitated. “But the Rhinoceros; are his wishes the same as yours? He has not yet spoken.”
“He and I think as one,” Hairi answered quickly. “Is it not so, Wulli?”
But the Rhinoceros failed to respond. Wearied by the conversation, he had fallen asleep with head hung low upon his ample chest.
The Ape Boy peered into his face and grinned: “Doesn’t he look odd that way; so big, fat and peaceful? We might do something; just to tease him; run away and hide. We can go down into the valley and be back in time to find him wondering what has become of us. He will be surprised when he awakens.”