“Is it enough?” cried Strong Hand presently, “Filthy-do-nothing—Marrowless-bone.”
“It is enough,” said No Man, and they let him go.
Directly he had gained his feet, he ran from that place with incredible swiftness, and howled as he ran.
“The picture bone,” said Fish Catch to One Eye, “is now ours, but knowing that you desire it, we give it to you to be a solace in your old age. And now it remains for you to choose between those admirably balanced but somewhat antiquated clubs which Strong Hand offers and this invaluable net knotted by myself.”
“Fish Catch—Strong Hand,” said One Eye, “I have thought of a way by which we may all be satisfied. The thought came to me when you fell upon No Man. Let each one of you take a club, and at the word fight, the one who wins shall give me his present and take the girl.”
Fish Catch measured Strong Hand with his eye; Strong Hand measured Fish Catch. They nodded, which meant that what the old man said was good talk.
The latter called over his shoulder into the cave.
“Maku, come out! There will be a fight!”
Maku came at once, eagerly. She was, as we have said, the image of her father, only less hairy. She was considered very alluring by the young men of the tribe.