CHAPTER XIV
THE PYTHON’S COILS
Despite the relief the coolness and clear air in the cave afforded, it was evident that the tree people were badly frightened at being inside the great cave that had been the home of the formidable sabre-toothed tiger. They cringed and whimpered and huddled in little frightened groups as Og led them forward through narrow passages, and they peered into the gloom ahead with frightened eyes. Og felt the same terror clutching at his stout heart. But the wolf cubs went bravely on ahead, and this, added to the fact that he had assumed the leadership and the responsibility of taking the tree people to safety, keyed up his courage to a certain extent and made him at least appear bolder than he really was.
Deeper and deeper he led them into the hollow in the mountain. It was a long, narrow cave in the beginning, hardly more than a passageway at some points, and long pendant stalactites hung from the roof while needle-like stalagmites protruded from the floor and in some places almost barred passage, or narrowed the cave so that Og and his horde of followers had sometimes to crawl under them or work their way around them. But they kept on because slowly smoke from the great forest fire was being drawn into the passage by draughts, and Og and the tree people wanted to get beyond the point where there was any smoke at all. Another reason why the hairy boy led on was because the wolf cubs continued to trot ahead of him and he felt that so long as they went on and exhibited no signs of fear whatever, it was safe for him to proceed with his followers.
It was a strange and weird procession they made as they traveled through the cave, with the hairy boy ahead carrying his torch with its feeble rays only partly dispelling the gloom and throwing a weird light on the tribe of tree people strung out behind him, chattering to each other and looking about in the darkness with fear in their eyes. In that procession were old ape men and young ape men and mothers with their babies clinging to their breasts, and all of them were trusting to the hairy boy to take them to safety.
And Og felt that trust, and somehow, in a way that he could not understand, it gave him faith and confidence in himself, and strength to go on, even though it was all as much of an ordeal to him as it was to the tree people.
They moved forward for some little time, when suddenly the passageway ended in a huge-vaulted cavern; a tremendous room large enough to accommodate them all with plenty of space to spare.
Coming out into this suddenly, Og stopped and so did the tree people. It was so large, and so filled with the gloom of night that it frightened all of them and they cowered and huddled together in a panicky mass and chattered softly to themselves as their eyes roved about trying to pierce the heavy enveloping blackness. But gradually, with the help of Og’s torch, their eyes became accustomed to the darkness and they could see from one end of the cavern to the other, and to its great dome-like roof from which hung stalactites of tremendous length. It was a weird cave, indeed, and the presence of great bats, almost as big as Og himself, that swept and soared in and out among the pillar-like pendants that reached downward from the ceiling, only added to its dreadfulness.
Great bats, almost as big as Og himself