At the same moment his eyes were startled by a sudden movement, and he saw a huge shadowy shape creeping along the ground. But he had no time to wonder what it was. Almost before he realized what was happening, Wuff had vanished. Ru was aware of a slim form catapulting through the air—then there came a howl that set the whole camp astir. And, with furious suddenness, the huge creeping shape sprang up, and towered to monstrous proportions. It lifted enormous arms, and swung a colossal club—and a small four-legged form, leaping through the air, nipped the giant on the elbows; then as suddenly withdrew; then once more darted forward and nipped the giant on the shins; then with lightning rapidity disappeared; then for a third time charged and slashed the calves of the giant's legs. The club-wielding one, thus assaulted, shrieked and bawled in leonine rage and thrashed madly at the air; but in the darkness he was half-blinded, and the strokes of his club were wild and uncontrolled; while his foe, gifted with better sight, continued to lunge and cut and then to vanish, with movements so incredibly rapid as constantly to elude the grasp of the huge clutching fingers.
In a minute, the struggle was over. The great figure disappeared at a run, to be lost among the crowd of his awakened fellows; while Wuff, slinking back to Ru's side, licked his chops contentedly and sank down to resume his interrupted sleep.
When morning dawned, it was observed that the body of Grumgra was reddened with half a dozen new-made slashes. But no one dared refer to the wounds in Grumgra's hearing; and there was much whispered comment that everyone knew better than to make public.
Meanwhile Ru noticed that the people kept at a greater distance from Wuff than ever before. As for himself, he looked upon Wuff with a new affection. Reaching down and stroking the wolf's fur, he murmured gentle words into the creature's ear: "Good Wuff! Good Wuff! You have saved my life! You would not let Grumgra come upon us in the night, would you, little wolf? You would fight for me as no one else would! You are the best friend I ever had!"
And Wuff, hearing these words, stood listening patiently and with eyes that shone steadily and brightly; and Ru swore to himself that his comrade understood.
From that time forth, Ru would never leave Wuff far from his sight; and his vigilance, both for his own sake and for that of his four-footed friend, was never for a moment relaxed.
But a day or two later there came a diversion of so exacting a nature that it required the full attention of Grumgra and Zunzun as well as of Ru himself, and left them little leisure for thoughts of vengeance.
By this time the tribe had been following the southern trail for possibly four or five months. No record, of course, could be kept of the days that passed, and it was impossible even to estimate the distance traversed; but when the people had left their cave it had been late spring, and now the leaves on the trees had commenced to turn yellow and brown; and the days, intensely warm for a while, had begun to be varied by a refreshing coolness at night and in the early morning. No one could be sure as yet whether they had exchanged their own land of bitter winter for a warmer region; but there were those who whispered that it had been colder than this in their old cave at the season of falling leaves; and even the confirmed grumblers admitted that they had entered a fairer country than they had left. Not that the scenery was as majestic, for there were not the same white-banded glaciers and overshadowing mountains—but the world about them seemed less harsh and unfriendly. The storms that came trumpeting out of the thunder-laden skies did not seem as severe as those they had known of old; the woods, flowering with vines and bushes unknown before, offered abundant nuts and succulent fruits they now tasted for the first time; while here and there were wide grassy meadows through which they could travel more easily and with greater safety than through the forest.
Best of all, to their minds, was the fact that now, for the first time since leaving the cave, they had an abundance of animal food. Deer of a hundred species browsed among the woods; bison and wild boars and cattle were becoming plentiful; occasionally they would catch sight of a galloping herd of horses, and the mammoth and the rhinoceros offered tempting if inaccessible prey. There was the corresponding drawback, of course, that dangerous carnivores were becoming numerous; not infrequently they crossed the tracks of bears, hyenas, and wolves, and once or twice they caught glimpses of the rare but dreaded sabertooth. Yet, perhaps because easier prey was to be found, the tribe was not much molested; it lost only two children and one old man to the wild beasts in the course of several months. And after they had held one or two successful hunts, and every member of the tribe had feasted and gorged to capacity, they were all in a more cheerful mood. They murmured that they had reached a land where they might halt and make their home.