“Close in! close in!” shouted One Eye, brandishing his torch in a fury of excitement. But the cave men were too much frightened to obey. They were scattered by the stampeding mammoth, and were too scared and confused to obey their leader. What made things worse was that they had never been used to obeying the orders of anyone.
But Bolo and Fisher obeyed. Bolo had drawn a little away from the rest of the hunters. He had swung his stout bow down from his shoulder and carefully fitted an arrow to the taut string. No one noticed the sharp twang as the arrow left the bowstring, but all saw one of the mammoths rear suddenly with pain and plunge into the midst of the herd. Startled at this sudden onslaught, the herd pressed a little closer to the edge of the cliff, and then—
Never in all his life did Bolo hear again such a terrific shriek as the falling mammoth gave. For many nights after that he covered his ears as he lay down to sleep so that he might not hear it again in his dreams. Then came the sickening crash as the gigantic body struck the rocks below. The men turned and fled, and the remaining mammoths, in a frenzy of fear, tore back down the landward side of the cliffs into the valley. For some moments the hunters, wide-eyed and breathless, watched the herd as it lumbered down the valley, until at last it passed behind the hills and was gone.
When the cave men hurried down to the river’s edge they found the immense, shaggy carcass of the dead mammoth lying in the shallow water at the base of the cliff. They could not move it to dry land, so they waded out to it and went to work to cut it up with their long flint knives right where it was.
But first they sent four of the swiftest runners back to the Valley of Caves, and to another Clan who lived far up the river, to tell them all to come and partake of the feast. From every direction they came, men, women and children, and by the time the hunters had the great carcass cut up and carried to the shore there was a great gathering of hungry cave people who all rejoiced at the prospect of so delicious a feast.
They stayed here several days, feasting and resting. Then, every woman, loaded with meat, and every man, carrying a heavy club to protect the party from attacks of wild beasts, they took their way back to the Valley of Caves. They all knew that if the men should carry the meat themselves they might all be killed by wolves or other savage beasts. So the men kept themselves ready to fight while the women bore the burdens.
There was great rejoicing when they reached home again. Every one praised One Eye for his wisdom and courage, and they all agreed that he should be their leader as long as he lived.
“Bolo will be as wise as his father,” said Flame. “Wiser, too, perhaps,” she added, nodding her head sagely, for she thought of the important secret that no one in the Clan knew except herself and the two boys.
“Then Bolo shall be our leader after his father is dead,” said old Bek. But he suspected what Flame meant.