The hump on her back lifted her little skin coat into a hummock, like that on the back of the young aurochs, only that it stood out still more clearly, and she was short, though she was not squat, as I had once seen another humpbacked woman. She stooped hardly at all, and was slender and quick of movement, and knew well how to do all the things the mate of the hunter should do, and I knew that she would prove obedient and faithful. It was true that the naked children of the glen, and even some of the men and women, sometimes pointed at the hump, and cried aloud, and laughed. But what could that matter? They would point no longer when she came to my cave, for my cuff was heavy; and as for the men—well, they knew my arm. So I called to Black Bow—for it is not my way to wait when I have resolved—and we sat together upon our favourite big flat stone, and debated long. Truly Black Bow was in a stubborn mood that night.
I told him that I wanted Humpback for my mate, and that she must come to my hut; and he rose up and roared that it should not be; that she it was who did most of the labour, and that he would not part with her, though we were friends, and fished and hunted together, and were ready to fight each for the other, either against beast or man. His words did not change me. Perhaps they made me but have a greater desire for the woman who was so different from others, and my blood ran wild, and my anger rose at being thwarted, and I not only cajoled, but threatened, the man who had been my close companion. I told him that I would give him the best of my furred skins, and that I would bring much meat to his cave, and that, though we lived apart, we would be almost as one family, and, finally, he consented, it may be because of the look on my face, which he knew left him no choice; and why should there be a fight between us, who had been friends so long? So that matter was settled, and we thought of other things, and laughed and talked once more of the noose and the taming. And of that talk came many happenings, and great ones.
We had been made wiser because of our adventure with the aurochs bull, and our memory of what followed the affair of Gnawbones and the wood leopard. We saw that we must seek the capture only of the grass-eaters, and among these the ones which were weak enough to be overcome in any struggle. Only the smaller beasts could we wisely or safely take, or, even better, the young of the greater ones. We agreed upon that. Then, so interested in our fancy did we become, that we planned for another trial. What came of that made life better for me.
There remained, even in this region, some of the little horses which had formerly been abundant, as I had known from the scarred bones which lay deep on the floors of caves in many hillsides. They were the bones of horses eaten by the Cave men of the past, and bore the marks of their strong teeth. Other bones there were, and in some of the caves marks on the stone walls showed that they were rude pictures of these same horses. And, as I have said, there were scattering herds of them left; and, after long toil, we decided that we would capture a wild horse.
Strong was the rope that Humpback plaited, and smooth and free was the noose at the end; and then, with food in our skin pouches, we went a day’s journey to where we knew the creatures we sought fed in the valleys of the high hills. A night we slept there, and in the afternoon of that day we saw a herd of the little horses feeding slowly toward us down the narrow valley. Rich was the grass, but here and there throughout the valley’s narrowest part great rocks had fallen down from the heights, or had been rolled down in some ancient flood; and behind one of these we crouched, having first laid the open noose hidden in the grass some yards away. Should the herd feed near the rock, surely some one horse would find its feet within the snare. So we waited long, but nevertheless patiently, for this was a great undertaking.
Slowly the herd came on, and finally approached so near us that we no longer dared thrust forth our heads to note its progress. Finally its leader, a brown stallion, passed at some distance, while the herd fed scatteringly behind him. Then we saw, with delight, that, approaching so that she would pass not far from the rock, was a mare with a little colt beside her. Ah! could we but capture her! We remained as motionless as the great rock beside us, our hands gripping the rope, and our feet braced firmly. The slight wind blew toward us, and our scent would not reach the horses, and so they fed on, unknowing. Nearer and nearer came the mare, and at last she placed a fore foot fairly within the noose. I jerked the rope fiercely, the noose came up and closed upon the mare’s leg tightly and fairly just above the knee; and, as she leaped, we clutched the rope with a shout, and leaned backward with all our might.
The herd, led by the stallion, broke into flight, and was unseen in a moment as it swept around a turn in the valley. Only the mare and her frightened colt remained, but with the mare we had all we could do. She was but a little horse, and we were two great men; but with her first leap she pulled us from our feet, and it seemed that she might finally get away.
The struggle was long, but at last the desperate creature wearied of her leapings, and stood still, shuddering. We tried to approach her; but she began leaping again in her wild terror, and so threw herself, lying with her head down a little slope, and unable easily to regain her feet. We rushed in upon her, and pressed her head to the ground, and she was helpless. She lay very still, but all the time the young colt stumbled about, calling and whinnying in a weak way. What should we do?
The dogs we had often tied or led by a cord about the neck, so fastening it that it would not slip and strangle them, and why could we not do the same thing with the horse? So we unloosened the pinching rope from her leg, and tied the other end of it about her neck, so that it would not hurt her, but would not slip over her head, and then helped her to her feet again. She struggled more and more, but she was tired and heartbroken now, and at last we started, leading her to the glen, the colt following us clumsily.
Great was the clamour, and wild the shouting, when, the next day, Black Bow and I came into the glen, leading the little wild mare, very wearied and tame now, and followed by the little colt, which could hardly walk. There was much debate, and finally it was decided to build a wall across a wide ravine which ran into the glen, not far from the huts, and another wall across its foot, and there leave our captives, where they would have abundant food and water, and, it might be, thrive as well as over the broader plain. All this was done, and the mare became fat and more tame, and the colt grew swiftly, and was played with by the children. It was a great achievement, and one much to the credit of Black Bow and me. But with the capture of these two the enterprise did not end. There were others of the glen as wise and daring as we, and these also finally caught wild horses with noosed ropes, and at last we had in the pasture in the fenced valley a herd which promised to become a larger one. We would have wild horses to kill and eat in time of strait, we thought; but then a curious thing happened, and because of it none of the wild horses was killed, and they were held the greatest of our possessions.