Og—Son of Fire

by Irving Crump

Og, flaming stick in hand, jumped up with a start to behold but vaguely through the steam a massive hairy and tusked head with upraised trunk and sinister little eyes, looming above him. Og knew only too well what it was and his heart all but stopped when he saw the evil thing. His people called it The Mountain That Walked, the great shaggy haired mammoth. They were so big and so strong and so fearless that even Sabre Tooth, the great cave tiger, slunk from them.

For one horror-fraught second the hairy boy stared at the terrible, massive head and trunk that waved slowly back and forth above him. He knew the great beast had marked him as an enemy. He knew that the curled trunk would strike swiftly and surely, that the great coils would close about him and that with one powerful toss he would be hurled skyward to fall and be trampled under the heavy feet of the ponderous beast. It was a terrible death to face and Og shrank back and shuddered as he watched the great trunk. He was so frightened he was no longer master of himself. It was as if the wicked little eyes had hypnotized him and held him spellbound. Slowly, with a weaving motion, a sinister swaying from side to side, the great trunk bent toward him, ready to strike.

Suddenly the boy thought of the stick; the fire brand that he held in his hand. It gave him courage. With a wild yell he leaped and whirled the burning club above his head aiming a blow at the big beast. The flaming end swept within a foot of the great animal’s face and with a snort it drew back. In that instant the hairy boy, still clinging to the lighted stick, bolted off through the fog of steam, the wolf cubs at his heels.

As swift as the wind he ran, and the giant mammoth, now thoroughly aroused, vented a thunderous trumpet and raced after him with an awkward shambling gait.

Although he was clumsy and ponderous the mammoth covered the ground as swiftly as Og did, his long trunk reaching out before him ready to seize his victim the instant he came within reach.

Had it been a long race Og most certainly would have been captured. He knew this too and he fled with swiftness borne of utter panic for he could hear the heavy thuds of ponderous feet close behind him, and the whistling, snorting of its breath seemed almost at his back. But fortunately as he raced on through the steam fog there suddenly appeared before him a great crevice rent in the hillside by the earthquake that had attended the volcanic eruption. It was like a deep but narrow wound in the hill, and Og knew that if he climbed into this the great mammoth could not follow. True, his snake-like trunk could reach inside but Og felt that if he could crawl beyond its length the animal could not force his body into the narrow opening.

With safety in sight Og leaped forward with renewed speed and literally hurled himself into the crevice, the wolf-dog cubs falling over each other to scramble in behind him. In a panic all three struggled, stumbled and crawled over rocks and earth clods and forced themselves back into the deepest, narrowest confines of this crack in the earth. There in the darkness that was lighted only by the tiny flames of the still burning torch that Og had clung to, they waited.

Presently The Mountain That Walked, with thunderous tread and whistling breath, reached the crevice. For a moment the great beast stopped and peered inside. Then scenting his enemy within he reached his snaky trunk into the earthy cave, and groped about.

The hairy boy and the wolf cubs shrank back trembling. To have this horrible thing within a few feet of their faces, was a terrible experience and for a time it shattered the courage of the trio. But when it became apparent that the animal could not reach them Og grew braver, so brave in fact that presently he fell to shouting terrible insults at the beast and brandishing his fiery stick. Indeed he mustered the courage to crawl close enough to the twisting trunk to jam the fire stick into its folds.

With a roar the trunk was withdrawn immediately and the hairy boy, laughing with glee, turned toward the cowering wolf cubs as if seeking their approval for his brave deed.