"The beast-men! The beast-men!" rang out a chorus of screams; and the echoes of that cry pealed and reverberated in a deafening din.
Once more the light withdrew.... Murmuring with fear, the people stood staring toward the point of blackness where it had disappeared.
"The beast-men are coming! We must not let them come! If they come, we will all die!" howled Grumgra. And, lifting his club pugnaciously, he started toward the cave entrance.
Encouraged by his lead, most of the men quickly followed. Their clubs swung angrily; their shouts were threatening and furious....
The sequel was never quite clear to the survivors. To the women, huddled in a terrified band in the shadows to the rear, all that was apparent was that pandemonium broke forth. Even as their startled eyes caught glimpses of new lights that flashed and flickered from the outer blackness, their ears were assailed by unearthly screams more horrible even than the bellowing of Grumgra. And while the screams shivered and died down, there came to them the sound of scuffling, the thunder and thudding of terrific blows; vaguely they saw dark shapes that whirled and twisted, heavy arms that brandished mighty weapons, a tumult of tempestuous forms. As the conflict advanced, with a confusion of growls and mutterings, and groans, and shrieks, and yells, it seemed to grow constantly more bitter and violent; and there came a time when some of the women, screeching and clamoring like the men, seized clubs and plunged into the affray.
It was not many minutes before all was over. The howls of the combatants died away, to be succeeded by a series of shrieks and wailings as of men in retreat; the blur of struggling figures resolved itself dimly into individuals; and from the black cave entrance came the shouts of the triumphant and the moans of the wounded....
When the first pale light of morning made it possible to see clearly the results, it was found that five of the Umbaddu lay dead, their skulls shattered by the blows of clubs; while two were wounded so badly that their recovery seemed impossible, and Grumgra ordered them slain. As for the beast-men—they had left three corpses in the cave, great hideous corpses with monkeylike faces, bearlike mats of hair, evil black eyes, and ghastly blackened teeth all sharpened to a fine point.
CHAPTER XXII
The Beast-Men Score
After the night attack, the beast-men disappeared as mysteriously as they had arrived. Except for the three that lay slain in the cave, no sign of them was to be seen on the following morning—the cañon lay quiet and apparently untenanted, and from the woods there came no suspicious sound. And once again the Umbaddu wondered whether their foes had not finally departed.