Then, striding forward still another step, he thundered: "Sparrow-Hearted, you and I have a fight to finish! Let us finish it now! After that, I will take the Smiling-Eyed!"
The club was lifted to its full height above Grumgra's head; a snort of defiance came from the lips of the chieftain, mingling with the shrill scream of Yonyo. Ru, with limbs trembling, pressed back against the cave wall; he clutched his bow hopelessly, without thought for its usefulness; all power of action seemed to have deserted him as he cowered against the rock, waiting for the end....
Then came an instant's precious respite. Wuff, who had been skulking among the shadows to the rear, sprang with a snarl toward Grumgra. Grumgra, wheeling about, swung his club not at his human foe but at the beast. He missed by less than an inch. Frightened by the crash of the descending cudgel, Wuff went scurrying out of reach as if at the sound of an explosion; while Grumgra turned once more to the chastisement of Ru.
But in that swift interval something had happened to the imperiled man. His quivering limbs had ceased to quiver; his fingers had taken a steadier grip on the bow; he had remembered how deadly was the weapon in his hands. Quickly, fiercely, and with something of a savage delight, he pressed the arrow to the bowstring, forced it far back with a vehement bending and straining of the heavy shaft, and then—for the desperate fraction of a second—waited.
Grumgra, gloating in the rout of Wuff, halted for an incalculably brief period to see Ru confronting him with a pointed stick. But he took little note of this queer device; striding forward with a roar of triumph, he lifted his club for the devastating stroke.
That stroke was never taken. As the club prepared to descend, something smote Grumgra furiously in the chest. Suddenly all things went black before him; he stopped short, dropped his club, staggered, and clutched with both hands at a long stick projecting from above his heart. The blood spouted in a torrent down his side, his black hair was matted with red, his eyes rolled and twisted crazily, a ferocious howl issued from his lips; then, almost instantly, he reeled, pitched forward, and plunged heavily on to the cavern rocks.
CHAPTER XXV
The Ascension of Ru
As the huge form of the chieftain crashed to earth, Ru leaped warily to the farther side of the cave, half expecting Grumgra to rise and return to the attack. But Grumgra did not rise; the great sprawled shape lay stiff and motionless where it had fallen. And as the terrible slow seconds dragged by, there came to the two watchers an appalling realization of what had happened.
"He is dead!" muttered Ru, under his breath.